RMFL COMMISSIONER PROPOSES NEW PLAYER MOVEMENT RULE; INCLUDES PROVISION FOR A “FREE MOVEMENT” WINDOW FOR ALL PLAYERS

RMFL - Rocky Mountain Football League Commissioner, Jared Neumeier, has submitted the following letter to the RMFL Managing Board for review. Contained within is a proposal to change the Player Movement Rule for the Rocky Mountain Football League.

Managing Board members have been given until Tuesday, September 4^th to submit a final vote on the proposal. If accepted, the time frames/suspension penalties would be adjusted as described in the proposal for a 2007 implementation.

If the proposal is not approved, then the current system as defined by the RMFL Constitution would remain in effect.

LETTER & COMMISSIONER’S PROPOSAL:

As most of us know, a "better" player movement rule has been needed by the RMFL for a long time. Usually, there have been complaints with the current rule, however, no one has been able to come up with something better.

We are constantly fighting the priority battle between letting our "Volunteer" players choose their team as they are, after all, free agents AND maintaining proper competitive balance and preventing recruitment/incentives that might create a single dominant team that simply had the resources and/or money to entice enough great players to create an unbeatable team... thusly ruining the league for ALL PLAYERS.

There is no one that can say with absolute certainty what would happen if there was ABSOLUTE AND FREE MOVEMENT ANY TIME, however, I for one, don't want to find out. If we allowed it... and a “super-team” was built by a GM that perhaps was bent on creating one... and had the resources and wherewithal to do it, it would be too late once that team was created to "go back" and change again. We would have another Rhino-Raider situation and too many players and teams would be shut out of competition for the RMFL title.

I would like to propose the following Player Movement Rule which I believe does several key things that EVERYONE seems to value. It is a compromise proposal which DOES ALLOW free movement, DOES protect team management AND, it also PLACES ENFORCEMENT OF THE RULE DIRECTLY IN THE HANDS OF THE COMMISSIONER... thusly getting the GM that is losing a player out of the PR mess that ensues when a GM is given the option of free release or asking for enforcement of the rule.

1. The previous constitutional exclusions remain in tact. If a player moves into a new RMFL area, regardless of the rules below, he is free to change teams. He will have to submit an e-mail to the RMFL League Office declaring his move and it will be up to the league office to grant the exclusion based upon whether the move is significant enough to fall within the rule. He should plan on being required to submit proof of the move. Also, the exclusion for a new team forming in a non-saturated market area also applies. However, a rule of no more than 10 players may transfer from an established team to a newly forming team, regardless of where the team is forming. If more than 10 players submit for transfer, the RMFL League Office will have the sole descretionary right to determine which 10 shall be allowed to transfer (i.e. this may not be based on first applied/first transferred). Currently, the only Saturated Market area is defined as the boundaries of Provo thru Salt Lake City to the boundaries of Ogden. A re-definition of the Saturated Market area, if done in January, would not be retroactive to any player moves submitted before that time.

***2. ANY player is allowed to FREELY change teams via an e-mail sent directly from that player to the Commissioner of that teams league after the teams last game up until August 31st. HOWEVER, no more than 5 players from one team may move to another team without the express permission of the Commissioner. If there are more than 5, only the first 5 would be free to change to the same team, based on e-mail dating. The "Maximum of 5" rule applies to ALL transfers of one established team to another, regardless of which time frame any of them occur.

***3. EVERY RMFL team that wants to protect its right to retain players MUST SUBMIT a list of their primary 25 players to the RMFL no later than August 31st. The Players shall be referred to as "PROTECTED" Players. These would HAVE to be their primary starting players, kickers and rotation players. These lists would be posted on the RMFL web site. It will be at the discretion of Commissioner to remove any names from a teams list if the Commissioner deems that the player listed does not meet the criteria required to be on the player list. The team submitting would not be allowed a substitute if a player(s) is removed by the commissioner. This would be to protect from a GM protecting more than 25 players by not including key players that he/she is certain don’t need to be listed, but were starters and feels certain they will return.

3. Between September 1st and October 31st, "PROTECTED" players that submit an e-mail to the league to change teams WOULD BE REQUIRED TO SIT THE FIRST REGULAR SEASON GAME WITH THE NEW TEAM. THE TEAM THEY LEAVE WOULD HAVE NO AUTHORITY TO WAIVE THE SUSPENSION. THAT AUTHORITY WOULD REMAIN WITH THE RMFL LEAGUE OFFICE ALONE.

4. Between November 1st and December 31st, "PROTECTED" players that submit an e-mail to the league to change teams WOULD BE REQUIRED TO SIT THE FIRST TWO REGULAR SEASON GAME WITH THE NEW TEAM. THE TEAM THEY LEAVE WOULD HAVE NO AUTHORITY TO WAIVE THE SUSPENSION. THAT AUTHORITY WOULD REMAIN WITH THE RMFL LEAGUE OFFICE ALONE.

5. Between January 1st and February 28th, "PROTECTED" players that submit an e-mail to the league to change teams WOULD BE REQUIRED TO SIT THE FIRST THREE REGULAR SEASON GAMES WITH THE NEW TEAM. THE TEAM THEY LEAVE WOULD HAVE NO AUTHORITY TO WAIVE THE SUSPENSION. THAT AUTHORITY WOULD REMAIN WITH THE RMFL LEAGUE OFFICE ALONE.

6. Non-protected players (i.e. not on the list) would be allowed free movement via an e-mail to the RMFL league office.

7. Beginning March 1st, ANY "PROTECTED" PLAYER (see 3.) that wants to change from his previous team to another team MUST wait until after his current team has played 3 regular season games and then can make a request to change based on lack of playing time with his current team to the RMFL Commissioner's Office. ANY OTHER PLAYER must wait until after his current teams' first game and then can submit a request to change teams based on lack of playing time. This will necessitate an early initial roster deadline for ALL TEAMS of March 1st of each season.

8. A team that knowingly plays a suspended player for any reason SHALL ultimately FORFEIT the game the player participated in. There is no "Statute of Limitations" on this rule. A FORFEIT SHALL BE AWARDED by the RMFL league office if proof is submitted or witnessed by the commissioner of this violation.

I believe that this proposal meets EVERYTHING people have complained about for the past many years.

First, it gives players a time frame to leave without penalty... and his GM plenty of time to know that he won't be back and can plan accordingly. The longer he waits, the less time his GM has to re-think his roster, the larger the penalty.

Second, it takes the onus from enforcement OUT OF THE GM's HANDS. There will be no more Message Board bashing/pressuer on a GM because a player may be getting penalized for changing teams. A GM WILL NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO GRANT FREE RELEASE ONCE HIS "PROTECTED LIST" IS SUBMITTED AND FINAL. Note, if a player doesn't want to be on the list, he can simply petition the RMFL for "Free Agency" prior to the list coming out. He doesn't even have to know what team he wants to go to. (This would all be explained in an in depth Web Site article that I would leave up all off season).

Third, this gives complete free move ability to ALL non-protected players... (i.e. guys that were not a starter or primary rotation player for their previous team). Although, it still protects a team from losing too many of even those guys to a nearby team (as they are all important for depth purposes, of course).

Finally, it takes away ALL DESCRETIONARY RIGHTS of the Commissioner regarding allowing the movement. The RMFL League Office, whether it be the overall RMFL Commissioner in the off-season or the League Commissioners between February and July, will only have the abililty to enforce the rule. No appeals, no begging, pleading, etc. It will be like if an offensive lineman false starts. The flag gets thrown and the penalty is enforced.

If you are the team that is going to be getting the transferring player, it would be your responsibility to inform the player of the process on how to move over. ALL PLAYERS, including non-protected players need to submit an e-mail to the effect, even if they are joining your team because they moved.

There may very well be some questions on this proposal. Feel free to write back with questions or suggestions for changes. For the next week (until August 20), I just want feedback. After that point I will call for a vote. If you want everyone to read your feedback, "reply to everyone" and not just me. Don't count on me to forward to the rest of the board. Please do not call me unless you absolutely have to, it is my off-season, too. After the feeback submission time frame is expired, I will 1) simply call for a vote on this proposal, 2) edit this proposal and call for a vote on it or 3) develop more than one version of the proposal that you will all vote on, including keeping the same system in place.

Thank you for your time. Again, let me know if you have any questions.

Jared Neumeier

Commissioner, Rocky Mountain Football League