Two or more franchise members or a franchise member and a franchise applicant agree to share equally their entire core area, they become co-franchises.

Non-core area may be owned in common under a co-franchise arrangement but this is not different from the case of franchises with shared non-core area, and would be treated the same as prescribed for franchises (see Section 11.6). Co-franchises with the same non-core area are called full co-franchises and co-franchises with different, though partially overlapping non-core areas are called partial co-franchises. All co-franchise arrangements are permanent and are usually entered into voluntarily by two existing franchises or an existing franchise and a co-franchise applicant but, on rare occasions, they also can be imposed through inter-league agreements. The latter shall be limited to instances where both franchises were previously established in separate leagues. ENYTB has two such agreements as noted below in sections 12.6 and 12.7.

NOTE: Two franchises that agree to share their secondary core area only, remain separate franchises and the secondary area is treated the same as shared non-core area.

Section 12.1 Qualifications

Except for the separate core area requirement, applicants for a co-franchise must meet the same qualifications as for a franchise (see Section 11.1). The co-franchise applicant seeks to share the entire core area (primary and secondary) of an existing franchise member.

Section 12.2 General Participation Rights

The participation rights of the co-franchise member are the same as the franchise member (see Section 11.5) except these rights are shared equally between or among co-franchises. For example, co-franchises have an equal right to participate in all age divisions of the League and to register an unlimited number of teams in each.

RULE 50 Should either co-franchise partner become inactive, the active partner shall have temporary exclusive rights to his core area during the period of inactivity.

RULE 51 Should either co-franchise member abandon its membership, the active partner would be reclassified as a franchise member.

All teams owned by the inactive or abandoned co-franchise, once started in the League, shall be entitled to continue in the League from one year to the next, provided they remain in good standing with the League.

Section 12.3 Franchise Area Rights

The core franchise area is owned jointly and equally by all co-franchise partners. The same would be true of any overlapping non-core area. Non-overlapping non-core area is owned by that partner alone.

RULE 52 All rules applicable to the franchise areas of franchise members are also applicable to co-franchises e.g., permanency, mandatory surrender, inactivation, restoration and abandonment.

Section 12.4 General Player Rights

See Article XVI for a comprehensive discussion of member’s rights to players.

Co-franchises have the same general rights as franchise members except that many of these rights are shared equally between or among co-franchisees within the overlapping portion of their franchise areas. In particular, all restricted players residing in the overlapping portion of the franchise area shall have the option of playing for any of the co-franchisees.

RULE 53 Co-franchises shall share rights to all restricted players within any overlapping franchise area no differently than if the territory were shared as non-core area between or among franchises (See Rules 35, 36 and 37). Any restricted player residing in an area shared by two or more co-franchises may play for the co-franchise of his choice. Once that choice is first exercised, that player’s rights shall reside exclusively with that co-franchise.

RULE 54 A co-franchise member’s roster is protected within the League from one year to the next.

Section 12.5 Player Release Rights

RULE 55 Each co-franchise shall have the exclusive power to grant releases to its own protected players. Included in Rule 39.

As provided in Section 12.4, co-franchise members share the rights to restricted players in their franchise area.

RULE 56 Any restricted player residing in an area shared by two or more co-franchises shall need to obtain a release from each of the various co-franchises sharing player rights in his home area in order to play for a member outside that area.

By Rule 38, sub-franchise owners within a co-franchise area have no power to grant releases.

Section 12.6 2002 Agreement Re: WASAREN Participation

Early in 2002, the League was granted the exclusive local rights to establish an AABC sanctioned Pee Wee Reese Division (12U, later extended to 11U in 2003). The WASAREN League, like ENYTB was AABC sanctioned at the 13U and 14U age divisions at that time. Most of the franchise area between the two leagues was separate but some portions overlapped. ENYTB voluntarily established rules to ensure that none of the existing franchises from the WASAREN League would be excluded from participating in ENYTB’s newly formed 12U Division.

1. Any AABC/WASAREN League registered team in the year of this ruling (2002) is granted the right to participate in the Pee Wee Reese Division of the ENYTB. In the event such a franchise is not active in Pee Wee Reese in the first year of this ruling, its right to do so in the future will be preserved for three years from the date of this ruling (through the start of the 2004 season).

2. Any territory that was single franchised in the year of this ruling (2002) shall remain single franchised within the ENYTB’s Pee Wee Reese Division provided the franchise is or becomes an ENYTB member prior to another franchise being established.

3. Sub-franchises shall be mandated in the PWR Division alone, in any territory that was franchised in both AABC affiliated Leagues in 2002, and the WASAREN franchise establishes ENYTB teams in the PWR Division alone.

4. Co-franchises shall be mandated in the PWR Division alone, in any territory that was franchised in both AABC affiliated Leagues in 2002, and the WASAREN franchise meets ENYTB’s qualifications for a co-franchise.

5. During the window of this agreement, all existing franchise members shall continue to have the right to enter into such discretionary limited franchise arrangements with new applicants as it wishes e.g., co-franchises, sub-franchises and limited sub-franchises.

6. No franchise from the WASAREN League, prior to establishing a franchise or co-franchise in ENYTB persuant to this agreement, has any standing with ENYTB to prevent it from granting membership to new applicants in any territory franchised within the WASAREN League and not the ENYTB. Any new non-WASAREN members during the window of this agreement would be granted temporary status until 2004. At that time, they may apply for any membership status that they would qualify for. If a WASAREN team has established a franchise in ENYTB during this window period, its membership status would be determined in conjunction with the WASAREN member. Should it not qualify for a franchise or co-franchise, and not be granted a sub-franchise, any of its teams already established within the League shall have the right to continue their League participation as they age up.

7. Should a WASAREN member avail itself of the provisions of this agreement and establish an ENYTB membership and then abandon that membership, it would be treated in accordance with ENYTB’s usual abandonment rules.

Section 12.7 2004 Agreement Re: CDABL Participation

Late in 2003, the UNYSABA (the local AABC Association) notified its members that the CDABL, would no longer be recognized as an AABC affiliate. In response, the ENYTB voluntarily agreed to grant all of the 2003 CDABL franchises membership status in the ENYTB, consistent with the provisions of the 2002 WASAREN Agreement (see Section 12.4) IF they applied for membership for the 2004 season.