Official Tour Rules thread

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Here it is gang, the [b:2a07d9f8a7]revised[/b:2a07d9f8a7] official Tour Rules for 2004. Please note we have made several changes to the format in response to feedback we received from members, including the fact that there will be seven events on this year's circuit, but you will only have to play in five to be eligible to make it to the Champions League at the end of the year. Also, because of the requirement that you don't have to play in all leagues, players will be ranked by their average scores, and not their cumulative scores. If you choose to play in six or seven leagues, your average score will be based on all your teams, not just your five highest scores.

Changes below are noted in [b:2a07d9f8a7]bold[/b:2a07d9f8a7] text. These revised rules clarify the process to be used in filling out your draft card during live drafts and establish penalties for managers who either leave off a player they live drafted or autodraft a player another manager took during the live draft. In addition, we have added the 200-innings pitched maximum for relievers with a penalty for violators.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]I. Membership[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

The deadline for membership is whenever the final league in Round 3 starts. Please see the [URL=http://forums.sportingnews.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/3546013823/m/29910481321]Official SOM 2004 Tour Sign-up List thread[/URL] to sign up. All members are required to give an email address so that we can contact you during the season. The only monetary requirement is to purchase your required number of teams.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]II. Qualifying Events[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

The Tour will consist of seven Qualifying Events that will be used to rank players. The top 12 ranked Tour players will play in a year-end Champions League to determine the overall champion. Some qualifying leagues for an event will need "fillers" due to the fact that we won’t have an even numbered membership (divisible by 12) and we will probably have some "dropouts" during the season. "Fillers" are non-Tour players who will play in the qualifying league for the sheer joy of competition; “Fillers” can also be Tour players who will play in an extra league just to fill out the league but whose score for that league will not count towards their official Tour standings. Every tour member must play in at least five of the seven Tour events to be eligible to compete in the Champions League. The rankings will be based on each player’s average score and not their cumulative score.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]III. Qualifying events schedule[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

Rules for each type of league are listed in Section V. Theme league and Penngray’s Auction League will be defined in Section VI.

Event 1 (autodraft, no unique league requirement)
April 4 or 11

Event 2 (Optional theme leagues; all are live draft, no DH) - $60 million salary cap; NL only; AL only
May 2 or 9

Event 3* (live draft)
June 6 or 13

Event 4 (autodraft No. 2, no DH)
July 4 or 11

Event 5* (auction league)
August 1 or 8

Event 6 ($100 mil theme league)
Sept. 5 or 12

Event 7* (Live draft, no DH)
Oct. 3 or 10

[b:2a07d9f8a7]IV. Point system/Tie breaker[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

For non-* events

1 point for each regular season win
15 points for winning a regular season division title
10 points for winning the wild card position
10 points for making the finals
10 points for winning a league championship

For * events

1 point for each regular season win
25 points for winning a regular season division title
20 points for winning the wild card position
10 points for making the finals
15 points for winning a league championship

Tie Breaker
1) No. Of events played.
2) Championships won
3) Finals made
4) Playoffs made
5) Regular season total wins
6) Total run differential for all five leagues
7) Total run differential for theme leagues only
8) Pick 3 winner

[b:2a07d9f8a7]V. Draft Rules[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

A Tour member assigned by the board will create each qualifying league so that the league creation, entry, password etc are controlled.

Live draft League Rules

1) Each manager will, upon signing up for a league, choose one of the states/province that has a daily pick 3 number.

2) The daily pick 3 number will be used to determine the draft order with the lowest number being given the first pick in odd-numbered rounds. The order will reverse in the even-numbered rounds for a serpentine type draft.

3) The evening lottery drawing numbers will be used to determine draft order. All 12 positions in a league must be filled prior to 7PM EST or 7PM EDT in order for the lottery results of that particular evening to be used.

4) A manager will have 2 hours in which to make a player selection. Managers who draft in either the No. 1 or No. 12 position will have two hours in which to make both of their picks when they have back-to-back selections - not two hours per pick. If a manager does not make a draft selection within that time period, the manager with the next draft position may select a player. The manager who was bypassed may make a selection anytime afterward. The clock is OFF in all first rounds to ensure everyone is present.

5) The live drafts will consist of 18 rounds, which includes stadium (which can be picked at any time during the draft). The last eight players will be determined through the TSN autodraft engine. All live drafts will be conducted using Penngray’s software. [b:2a07d9f8a7]When filling out your draft cards, please rank your eight non-drafted players first, then your 17 drafted players. All players taken during the live draft must be on your autodraft card. Failure to do so will result in a penalty of 10 Tour points for each player.

The 10-point penalty can be avoided if the manager does ALL of the following:

A) Announce his mistake to the league via a message to every manager in the league and then proclaim his intention to pick the player back up during waivers. He must do this by 9 p.m. ET on the night after the draft runs (i.e., the day BEFORE the waivers process).
B) Cut his most expensive non-live drafted player prior to 12 p.m. ET on the day waivers are scheduled to run.
C) Use his first waiver claim on the player he left off his draft card; if he decides to release a player in conjunction with this claim, the player he releases must be one of the additional eight players he picked up during the autodraft and cannot be one of the players he selected in the live draft. In addition, he must announce which player he will be releasing so that every manager will be aware that this player will be in the free agent pool immediately after the waivers conclude.

If a manager leaves two players he live drafted off his draft card, he must follow each of the steps above for BOTH players he did not draft, which means he has to cut his two most expensive non-live drafted players by 12 p.m. ET on the day waivers are scheduled to run AND use his first two waiver picks to pick up his live drafted players.

If a manager leaves three or more players he live drafted off his draft card, he is fined 10 points per player more than 2, assuming he adheres to A and B in this section. If a manager chooses not to do ALL OF THE ABOVE, he will be penalized 10 points off his Tour point total for EACH player he left off his draft card and did not pick back up during waivers.

In addition, if you mistakenly autodraft a player that belongs to another manager, you must trade him back to the rightful manager PRIOR to waivers. Failure to do so will result in a penalty of 10 Tour points.
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6) Managers will enter their teams into the league in the following order. Managers’ whose first-round draft positions are 1, 4, 7 and 10 will comprise the East Division. Managers’ whose draft positions are 2, 5, 8 and 11 will comprise the Central Division. Managers’ whose draft positions are 3, 6, 9 and 12 will comprise the West Division.

7) All rules established by TSN will govern the league after its establishment.

8) Trading is allowed during the draft. No uneven numbered trades allowed. All teams must have 17 players after the live portion of the draft is completed.

Auto draft league rules

1) Unique stadiums are NOT required, and divisional assignments will NOT be made in an effort to expedite the process for the first autodraft league only. The second autodraft league will require unique stadiums and will have a stadium draft using a Pick 3 lottery to determine the order.

2) All rules established by TSN will govern the leagues after its establishment.

VI. Theme league and Penngray’s Auction League

In addition to the two live drafts and the two autodrafts, there will be two theme rounds and an auction league using Penngray’s software. The first theme round (Event No. 2) will consist of three different themes - $60 million salary cap; NL only or AL only. The second theme league will be a $100 million salary cap that will use the standard rules that apply to the typical $80 million league.

$60 million salary cap league

1) It will be an 18-round live draft, which includes stadium. The 17 players selected cannot be worth more than $56 million. After waivers are run, each manager’s team must be under the $60 million salary cap.

2) All rules established by TSN will govern the leagues after its establishment.

AL or NL only

1) $80 million salary cap

2) No DH will be used in either format

3) Managers may only use players with an NL team on their SOM card in the NL only league; and managers may only use players with an AL team on their SOM card in the AL only league.

4) All rules established by TSN will govern the leagues after its establishment.

Auction League rules

1) You can only have a maximum of $160 million in open bids and closed bids.

2) Managers must open at least four new players per day and no more than six until you have a total of 26 players opened or closed.

3) Opening minimum bid is .3 million for players $3 million or less, $1 million for players over $3 million

4) Bid increments are $.1 for bids $3 million or less, $.5 for bids over $3 million.

5) Bids expire once their 24-hour period is up.

6) Maximum 33 players per team

7) Managers cannot bid on more than two stadiums at any given time – either open or closed bids. Also, managers may not bid on stadiums they have previously used in the Tour.

8) All managers must be able to fill out a valid TSN draft card at the end of the auction. Failure to meet this requirement is a penalty of dropping your two highest bid players and replacing them to meet the TSN draft card requirement. Managers are responsible for monitoring their draft card while the auction is in progress to make sure they will be able to meet TSN roster requirements (i.e. 10 pitchers, including at least 1 closer with a C1 rating or higher, 15 hitters, at least 2 of whom must be catchers).

9) No trading is allowed during the auction. Please do not discuss future trades either because it does impact the bidding process.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]VI. Relief pitcher usage[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

Beginning with Event 3, the Tour will feature a rule that limits relievers to 200 innings of relief. This is an effort to keep managers from abusing relievers. Any manager found to be in violation of this limit will be penalized 10 Tour points [b:2a07d9f8a7]per reliever who goes over 200 innings[/b:2a07d9f8a7].

[b:2a07d9f8a7]VII. SOM Tour Violations[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

The board reserves the right to vote to remove any member found cheating.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]VIII. TSN involvement[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

TSN has zero involvement in the setup or managing of the SOM Tour. TSN is not offering discounts or prizes. This is an idea created by the community and run by the community.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]IX. Stadium requirement[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

Managers will be required to play in different stadiums during the Tour schedule, INCLUDING the Championship League. You cannot pick the same park twice. If you do pick a park twice, you will be fined 25 points off your total. In addition, all leagues will require unique stadiums (i.e. two managers can’t use the same stadium) with the exception of the opening autodraft league.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]X. Manager name[/b:2a07d9f8a7]

To make it easier to track the Tour standings, please use your Board ID as your team manager’s name. This must be the same for each event.

[b:2a07d9f8a7]Disclaimer[/b:2a07d9f8a7]: Please note that the Board of Directors reserves the right to tweak or modify some of these rules during the Tour if events warrant.

[RiggoDrill]

8)

[james]

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