Attention/Atención/Aufmerksamkeit TPBL

Just so we all know, this is just a launchpad/communications base for the TPBL's reboot. It may take a while for us to get things going again. mostly dependent on when we can get a more permanent FTP-capable solution, for our download/upload pleasure.

But what can I do to make the process faster?

We have a few options laid out for us. The first of which is to use a site like Drive Headquarters. Drive HQ will host our league file, and, to the best of my knowledge, supports FTP upload in a way in which we can use it. I will try setting up an account which we can use in this fashion, but everyone is encouraged to find similar FREE services that would suit our needs. Drive HQ would cost ~3 USD a month, which is as cheap as I can find. Problem is, I won't know if we can use it, until I pay.

Anyone is free to setup a website (much like Rob did for the first TPBL). This takes a lot of extra time, and I'm not willing to invest that much into the site. We did not have the most active online following while Rob was commish, and I don't see too much changing under a new reign of terror. However, if someone wants to step up to the plate and provide a new site, I'll happily work within it.

Lastly, we could use a site like Allsimbaseball which is tailor made for OOTP, but, again, would cost $10 per month (or $5 if we don't care about league reports).

BEFORE ANYONE DOES ANYTHING, PLEASE WAIT FOR THE GM CHECK-IN TO GATHER MORE REPLIES!!!

If people are really serious about this, I'm happy to foot the bill for Allsimbaseball. I'm a computer idiot, so can't manage the site, but happy to pay via paypal. If that helps thing go more smoothly for whoever the new Commish will be, then happy to do it.

Only 11 GMs have checked in so far. Things do not look good for the TPBL.

I'm currently in another league (for now) that switched over to allsimbaseball and have had issues downloading the file in-game ever since. I have to do each sim manually, which is a pain in the butt, so if we go that route, I'm likely out.

We could find some GM's by posting avail postitons in a OOTP forum...their would be some good teams available.

Finding 17 more GMs is not trivial.

I'm sure it could be done, but we'd need a website first. It would take that initial commitment. And after that, there is no guarantee that we'll fill the league.

Agreed, getting a website is most important right now. But it seems we are making progress.

Where do we currently stand? Still need 17?

Royals GM wrote:

Where do we currently stand? Still need 17?

I count 15 check-ins, meaning our league is half full at this point. We've got to fill either another 15 slots or figure out an alternate plan.

Any ideas guys?

Contract the league to two 8 league teams? What're we gonna do?

Most of us are in other leagues. Why don't we try to get some of the more active gms from our other leagues to join up with us and then beyond that we can post on the OOTP forums. Do we have a perm site for the league? How's the file coming along? I say we go ahead and get a perm site up where we can show the league reports to teams interested. If we can't fill the league at that point, we can just start a new league on the site. I'm certain we could fill a new league if we can't get people on board here. A lot of people don't like to take on teams that have been trashed by previous owners, but love to start from scratch and mold the team in their own way. Just my 2c. I know I'm very opinionated for a guy that either is incapable or doesn't have time to do the work. Haha.

Well, we have a few members that expressed interest/ability in being able to work on a perm site. I have no problems managing a site, but don't want to spend the time and effort on something that might amount to nothing. The lack of activity on these boards is a little depressing to me.

Matt said he would foot the bill for an allsimbaseball site, but you said you have problems with their FTP?

How do we feel about using the forums as our main site (no front page), and using an FTP file sharing site to spread the league file? Obviously I'd prefer to have an entire site, but it doesn't look like any one is willing to step up to the plate.

I'm in a league on Allsim and have had zero issues with the file there. I can attest that their FTP works perfectly fine for 90% of people - occasionally there are issues (like KC is having), but everyone else in the Allsim league seems to be working fine.

That said, I think if we're going to do something, we need to go ahead and do it. It doesn't look like we'll get close enough to full back - we've lost too many guys. Perhaps contracting down to two 8 team leagues would let us move forward (of course, any major changes we make to the league structure will probably upset a couple of guys who will leave).

We could play out the 2012 season on an accelerated sim schedule, and then decide what we are going to do, insofar as league structure and the future of the TPBL. I'd almost think it would be fun to go back to the two division playoff race of the pre-wildcard era. I think as long as we have a discussion about it, no one will be upset enough to leave. In fact, it would be enough to bring at least one GM back (Jordan marlins).

I am good either way, I can pull a couple players but we will need to have things ready to go before they will commit.

If we are looking to re-start, can the owners that are with teams they dont like switch up to available teams?

I'm ok with people switching even if we don't use a new file. Teams that we can't fill could be contracted.

Given it would be difficult to find 10-15 owners to fill out a league that is two seasons old, I would be in favor of restarting the league rather than contracting the current league. We have a good core of owners, and could use the new financial system that was developed. We could pick which teams we want, and then fill out the rest via the ootp forum. Of course, we could also have co-commisioners to prevent the league dying again...

We've all put in so much more for it to start over but at this point I just want the league up and running again.

Yeah, I agree with Atlanta - I'd hate to see all the work we've put in (and the team I've shaped so far) reset. I'd prefer contraction to a restart, but either way, I just want to see the league get back going.

I would of course be back and I am happy to commish either short-term to get things moving or permanently if it all goes well. If we get an active league going again, I would be happy to step down from the Phillies and be a commish without a team if that helps as well.

I would prefer to keep the MLB style 30-team set up rather than contract, as said already most people are in other leagues and we can find a couple of players each, failing that (once re-started) the OOTP boards are likely to lead to a few GMs joining. I don't think it would be too hard to fill a league advertised as established and only two seasons in. Alternatively, I could undertake to step down from the Phillies and GM every team without an owner (hopefully only a short-term thing and very limited trading if any), just in the short-term before the teams fill up.

If the only option is to contract or to re-start then I would still commish. The important thing is to get some activity before the holidays as I don't see any hope for the league if we hit 2011 without an active league. Personally I would say that we spend this week setting the league up and start rolling again over the weekend. Once things move then things will accelerate.

Our options are:

1) Fold the league and forget about it.
2) Fold the league and start another.
3) Re-start the league but contracted so we have near 100% GMs at re-start.
4) Re-start the league in its current format.

With contraction we would need to consider how we do it. If all players from the teams being contracted are simply dumped as free agents then those teams with big cash reserves will be able to snap up very good players for cheap as teams at their budget will not be able to bid. If we draft players a similar problem exists and also it would take a very long time given we are talking hundreds of players. The financial knock-ons are also relevant as it would change the finances considerably. I see too many issues for this to be able to work reasonably but I may have missed something.

With a re-start of the current format, the main decisions would be how to fill the GM-less teams, whether commish/league presidents take on some of the teams (but not trade with themselves obviously) or whether the AI does it before we can fill them. I still don't think recruiting new members would be too difficult but we would need some sign of life to do it. I think it is time to bite the bullet and get the league file up on allsimbaseball and some activity on the forum from remaining GMs.

So, where are we with this ? It is taking too long to get going. I fear we will lose more owners.

Please advise!

Here's my commitment....

I wish to see this league up and running from where we were....contracting, altering or restarting has little appeal to me.

Though my time and skills are limited, I will work to help enlist others to join the league to fill out the remaining teams.

I'm willing to give us 4 more weeks to fill up the slots and restart the sims before we think about closing it down.

If after another 2 weeks, we are still stuck discussing options and not making progress toward getting things up and running, I think we should conclude that this league should be laid to rest and all of us be free to pursue other leagues or start another.

Just one man's opinion....

Jobo

I am for option 2 or 4, I just want to play. I am not in favor of contraction though.

I prefer either 2 or 4 as well. If we can find enough owners to get it down to 5-6 teams left, I would be open to even having some of the current owners run the open teams, with the caveat that no trading would be allowed for those teams. At least this way the teams wouldn't totally tank. That way we can get to the next off-season and likely find some new teams since most gms like to get in during the off-season. I would much prefer this to contraction, but we have a lot of work to do if we are going to get the old file up and find new teams for 10+ openings. I think maybe we should set some goals as to how many slots we fill by next week and if we can't meet that goal, we look at starting a new league from scratch. Just my 2c. Waiting around trying to fill teams with the current file is going to get tougher and tougher to do the longer we wait, imo. Not to mention current owners possibly losing interest. Let's set some goals, make a decision, and get the ball rolling. I think a vote on Phillie's 4 choices is a good starting point. Perhaps we should get a poll up, set a deadline, for voting, and roll with the results of the poll at the deadline?