To the Current Owners of Hometown Season 16:

There have been lots of complaints in the previous seasons of Hometown that unrestricted budgets have resulted in an unfair advantage to some teams for the International Free Agent (IFA) market.  Last season, there were a number of proposed solutions and a whole lot of arguing back and forth.  We decided to table the discussion until Season 16 (where we are currently).  We're going to open the subject back up, but I want to set a few ground rules first.  First of all, let’s try to keep the debate off the world chat (WC) - it's obnoxious and counterproductive when two or three owners dominate all of the discussion.  If you have issues to raise or points to make, I would prefer that you send it to me in a trade chat (TC) or a sitemail.  I will make sure everyone has their say and that opinions get posted.  I want to keep this discussion civil- if someone disagrees with your opinion, that's their right- the onus is on you to raise salient points that will change their mind, not to tell them they're wrong or stupid or whatever.

We will be using the blog site for posting the talking points, and everyone will need TC or sitemail me their votes, when we call for them.  You have the right to abstain- however, I will be looking for a majority of those who have voted.  For example, of the 32 teams, if 11 vote 'yes' and 10 vote 'no' and 11 'abstain', then I'm counting that as a 'yes' vote.  Therefore, I wouldn't abstain unless you're absolutely sure you don't care about the outcome.  Let me further point out that I don't care what the world decides, just that the majority rules.  If we decide to make a rule change, it will go into effect next season (17).  I don't want to hear complaining from either side given the decision.  If you're not happy with the way the ruling goes, you're completely within your right to not come back next season.  We're doing this because we're trying to make sure the world is representative of what the owners want, so again- majority rules.

So those are the ground rules.  Last year we discussed adding either a salary floor or an IFA cap.  I will be posting a description of each plan on the blog, and some pros/cons to those two plans as well as a list for doing 'nothing' and keeping things the way they are.  HERE'S THE WAY THE VOTING WILL LIKELY GO: I will post the pros/cons on Tuesday, August 23rd.  We'll have five days to look at the potential plans and vote on what we would like to do- institute the salary floor, the IFA cap, or do nothing at all.  Voting will close that Saturday, August 27th. AFTER we tabulate the votes, we will look at the breakdown and decide whether another vote is needed.  If there is majority (17 votes or more) for any particular option, we're done and we go with whatever decision had the majority rule.  If there is no majority, we will take whichever 'rule change' had the higher vote count and have a second round of voting starting Sunday, August 28th and ending Wednesday, August 31st to either institute the chosen plan or leave things the way they are.  For example, if we take the first vote and there are 11 votes for the IFA cap, 9 votes for the salary floor, and 12 votes for no change, there will be a second round of voting between IFA cap and leaving things the way they are- the salary floor will be off the table.

That's it for now- please TC or sitemail me with any questions, comments, or input for the discussion.  Thanks for your cooperation.