League News

Elite Division Plan Coming Out Of Special Elite Division Meeting

I’d like to thank the members that came out for our Elite Division meeting yesterday as well as our Exec Committee officers (Matt Terry, Jaimie Kosowsky and Ed Smith) and Bill Kelts who stayed for back-to-back meetings.

Lots of ideas re: Elite models were discussed. Those ideas led us to the following conclusions and plan.

(1) It was generally agreed by all in attendance that we should not tear apart existing teams to form Elite teams. It was widely recognized that player loyalty would be a major obstacle to doing so. So, no common draft;

(2) Most think there are not enough players to form four truly elite teams at this time (Keith Rogers/ST Dodgers);

(3) Some of elite team candidates in attendance said their teams already follow an elite scheduling model i.e., they already schedule themselves the way the league is proposing. Some therefore asked why bother trying to impose a one size fits all scheduling model on the Elites (Javier Sanchez/CD Storm);

(4) One club said all they really care about is having better regular season competition than is afforded in their age division so as long as they can register "up" to play teams one year older, they are happy and don’t need an Elite Division, at least not at the younger ages (Mike Fox/ADK Heat);

(5) An All-Star team approach was discussed as an alternative i.e., form one ENYTB All-Star Elite team and send it to a few Showcases and have it represent ENYTB in sanctioned tournaments (Matt Terry/Devil Cats).

(6) Ed Frye preferred an approach that created a whole new level of play (Elite) similar to how Gold did when introduced years ago. He said we would have to accept that it would be accomplished in steps i.e., it wouldn’t start out as four ST Dodger type teams. It would be more like three very strong GOLD quality teams plus the Dodgers (maybe) and over time, as the Elite Division brand gained credibility, more and more of the top players would be attracted to it and eventually it would approach being a truly Elite Division (the crawl before you walk before you run approach);

(7) A regional approach to forming Elite teams was discussed e.g., North, South, East and West Regions. Again, problem is that you would be tearing apart existing teams;

(8) To get around geographic limitations, another approach would be to assign clubs to four coalitions and each coalition would be restricted to ENYTB players from clubs in their own coalition. But this approach would still result in the likely destruction of existing teams. ENYTB could impose a limit that no team loses more than two players to a coalition team but stong consensus was it was better to go with whole teams that are constructed in conformance with ENYTB's recently revised RFA rules;

(9) Bill Kelts gave his view of the type of Elite Model he would like to see.

First, he wants to see Elite franchises granted to four ENYTB franchise members with a strong interest in Elite Division play and with high quality fields, preferrably with lights. This would give the Elite division stability over time and increase its attractiveness.

The Elite franchises would have first shot at being the four Elite teams each year. These teams would be whole teams coming from their own programs that would not involve the destruction of ENYTB existing teams any more than is normally allowed via current RFA rules.

(10) In years where the Elite franchises couldn’t produce an elite team, it would be offered to other top ENYTB teams.

The Elite franchise would nominate its replacement and the nominee would need to achieve majority approval by the Elite division Governing Committee;

(11) Governance - The Elite Division model would be owned by ENYTB but self-governed by a 5 man committee where each Elite franchise owner would have a seat (and vote) on a 5 man committee. The league would appoint an Elite Div Director. Latter would break all tie votes.

Each Elite franchise owner would own an elite franchise tag. The tag could be transferred to another ENYTB member by majority vote.

(12) Under the Kelts’ model, team names would be the same each year e.g., ENYTB Yankees, ENYTB Red Sox, ENYTB Dodgers, ENYTB Mets etc. to achieve brand recognition and sponsor support. Games would be played at the same high quality fields eah year with one possible exception. Let’s say the Devil Cats were the Yankees Elite franchise. In years they didn’t have an Elite team, the replacement team would still be the Yankees team and they could either play at the Devil Cats Stadium or its own home field if that team had access to a top quality home field that was conveniently located;

(13) The four Elite teams could represent ENYTB in the NCTS of any or all of its four sanctioning affiliates or something else altogether, as decided by the Elite Division. The Elite teams would share equally in the full cost of the post-season program they adopted (priced on a break-even basis, the same as all ENYTB post-season offerings);

(14) Bill Kelts also offered a regular season scheduling model: (a) teams would meet early in the off-season to coordinate and agree on non-league schedules (for Elite tournaments etc.); (b) regular season play would begin about the 2nd week of June; (c) our four Elite teams would play each other two weekday games per week for some number of weeks; (d) each Elite team would be responsible for bringing one non-local Elite team into town for a weekend to play a round-robin vs our four Elite teams; and, (e) a local gold/elite team would be selected to play one weekend round-robin vs our four Elite teams.

(15) General feeling is that is too late at this point to develop a consistent non-local schedule for 2014. Nonetheless, it would be important to have all Elite team candidates to meet as soon as possible to coordinate regular season scheduling dates and post-season plans.

(16) For 2014, the Elite division will be offered in ages 16u and 17u only.

Teams at younger ages can register “up” if they want, or double register, to obtain higher competition if they wish. All such teams would be subject to the $75 Mercy Rule loss penalty (self-policing mechanism).

(17) The ENYTB Senior Management Board shall designate the original four Elite franchises and notify them by email. Where the elite franchise has no Elite team for the 2014 season, the Elite tag will be offered to ENYTB members with stand-in Elite teams.

(18) Conclusion: resolved to get an earlier start in 2015 for program coordination.

(19) Ed Frye nominates Bill Kelts as Elite Division Director.

Thank you.
Ed Frye