Mogul Challenge Rules

[takaplan]

- No computer trading.

- Each team begins with 75 pts cash.

- Teams must be fiscally responsible; you cannot buy yourself a trip to the Winners' League by raiding the free agent market and falling way into debt.

- Any team that finishes the final season in debt on October 31 will be disqualified.

- Each team can post in the Press Releases thread in the league forums. For every post (up to 3 posts per season), the GM will receive 2 pts cash which will be distributed at the end of the season.

- The commissioner reserves the right to veto and reverse any trade deemed to be collusion.

- Teams may not rent players. Example: Atlanta is in last place in July. New York is fighting for first place. Atlanta trades Tom Glavine to New York for the remainder of the season. After the season, New York trades Glavine and some cash as a thank you back to Atlanta.

We now have a new rule in place, effective November, 2005:
- Any team placing a bid in free agency for more than 100 points for a 1 year contract will not be allowed to renegociate the contract until September of that season. This rule will only be enforced if the renegociated contract is below 100 points.

- Sports Mogul Inc. has final authority on all decisions and reserves the right to modify or amend these rules at any time without notice. We mean this! This is supposed to be a fun competition, so don't try to sue us if you think we have changed the rules on you.

TIEBREAKERS
1. Number of World Series wins
2. Average Record
3. Number of League Championships
4. Number of Playoff Appearances

[dturkenk]

I'm assuming we can only join one of these leagues, right?

[takaplan]

Yes, you can only join one Challenge league.

[jordsjays]

You ever do a 20 day or even a 30 day challenge I'm in but I can't stand 60 day sims.Oh well I'll watch from the sidelines I guess:)

[monte]

I'll be watching from the sidelines too but only because I'm already in 3 leagues I really like and don't want to leave any of them.

I'm more worried about owners leaving my leagues just to take this 'challenge'. Did you guys think of that potential downside when you put BBMO's backing behind these leagues? It seems like the effect on existing leagues can only be negative. I think it would have made more sense to maybe open up an extra slot for Silver and Gold members to be able to participate.

Ah well.....I guess it'll still be cool to have a tournament given that everyone thinks they are the best around here ;) Now maybe we'll find out....

[phreaque]

I have to agree with Monte. People will leave their leagues to join the "official" BBMO league. This will cause major problems with small leagues who barely have enough people to get buy right now as it is. I also agree that adding an extra slot to all members who showed interest would eliminate this. As it stands now, I expect to lose at least 2 maybe 3 people from my league for the duration of this tournament. They will most likely lose their current teams and be forced to find another league upon their return. How do you determine who gets what team as well? What if the Yankees win every series in every league? (unlikely but bear with me...) When you put those winners in the same league, who gets the Yankees? Best record and most mogul points get 1st choice or what? It just seems like too many downfalls and too many loopholes for somebody to argue "I would have won if..."

[James Grove]

To make sure that the teams are as even as possible, each of the teams has been shuffled and equalized.

The payrolls are roughly the same on all the teams.

And we have used the same database for each of the leagues, so they are all starting off identical.

-James

[williethebasset]

What are/is the prize(s)?

[takaplan]

We are not ready to make an official announcment on prizes yet, but they might be products from our company store at Cafepress: www.cafeshops.com/sportsmogul

The winner will get the best prize, with the second and third place finishers also receiving prizes.

[hiro]

I understand you have tried to balance each team,but don't you think Boston might be too good for an equalized game?

[John]

They tried as best as they could to equalize but Oh my god you're right Boston is out of this world in Mogul Challenge 2. They have 5 #1 starters! But there bullpen sucks and besides Palmeiro, Guerrero, Konerko and G.Vaughn all the batters are not major league material. Mr.Chip is a lucky man to be owning that team though. There's no doubt if Mr.Chip does a good job Boston will be in the winner's circle.

[DodgersGM]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to change one of the EST leagues to PST...Challenge2 is near full which means new GM's will have no choice but to play EST.

[takaplan]

Mogul Challenge 3 will become a PST league.

Thanks for your feedback!

[playshogi]

Running a contest with prizes where a purchase is required is kind of unusual. I'd have to quit my current league to join the challenge league, or upgrade my account. Usually, contests like this don't require a purchase.

[takaplan]

Hi,
It is 100% legal. It's not like a random drawing where you look under the cap of your Sprite to see if you won something. It's just a system of leagues set up as a competition, awarding a prize to the winner.

Thanks for playing Mogul Challenge!

[malpits]

I know its early days yet but I just want to know some thing.

1) The top 20 managers of each league go though to the next stage?

2) How will you decide what teams they are as it many be a little unfair if its first come first serve for teams that have done better, so will it be the teams that finish with the highest points get to choose their team first?

3) Do you know what the winner will get yet? and I live in the UK so if I win (which I dont think I will) will it create a problem?

Thanks.

[takaplan]

1. Yes, the top 20 from each league will move on.

2. Not sure yet, but maybe like the top 5 GM's from each league will have the chance to choose their teams before everyone else does.

3. The prizes are not finalized, but could be something from our company store at www.cafepress.com/sportsmogul/. Cafepress can ship worldwide, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Tom

[TSquare64]

Tom:

can u pls explain to me why posting in the Forum should get 2 pts each?

T

Texas GM in Challenge 3

[takaplan]

Posting an article in the Press Release thread gets you 2 pts.

I've seen this happen in a couple of other leagues, and I really enjoyed it; it seemed to increase activity and made the league alot more fun.

It's basically an incentive for GM's to stay active and check the forums.

:)

Tom

[change]

gaining points for posting isnt a good idea... it has nothing to do with running a team

[takaplan]

Change,
Thanks for your comments. However, it definitely has to do with running the team, IMHO.

Look at it this way: you're the GM. Part of your job is to hold press conferences, send out press releases, and not alienate the media. Posting team news, highlights, etc. is just an extension of this.

When you play BBMO, you basically are the owner, GM, PR department, and manager all in one, so I think it makes sense.

Again, I think it is a very good system, as it definitely increases participation and forum activity. And that's what makes leagues stick out from the rest, and makes them that much more enjoyable.

Thank you for your feedback!

Tom

[malpits]

I have to agree I think its good, it adds some thing else to the game, where you can showoff of make up reasons why you team is losing. It makes it more enjoyable.

[TSquare64]

I think is good for the fun of the game..but realistically, it wouldn't have any effect on the performace of the team. That;s why i don;t think points should be award for each posting, especially in the Challenege League, where every points are SO important!...is only a suggestion

[takaplan]

Exactly- we want the Challenge Leagues to be fun! That's the whole idea :)

[dturkenk]

I sort of agree with TSquare here. It seems a little inconsistent to have a rule against ending in debt and then ways to get free cash that counteract that rule.

Also, maybe it's just me, but I'd rather not see 10 posts a year from a player in the press release section giving updates to their season just so they can get some money. I have no problem with occasional postings when something momentous happens (no hitter, 20 game winning streak, etc) but a post saying "I went 10-12 this month. I thought I'd be better" really doesn't add anything to the leage and in fact makes me less likely to read the forums.

Sorry for the rant, and I accept the fact that this rule has been out there from the beginning. I guess I just hope you take this into consideration when planning future contests.

[change]

no one gets paid millions of dollars a year to tell their thoughts about their team though, getting paid to post about it makes it a job, not fun (and makes no sense)

[malpits]

I think its good as I like writing silly stories and it does make people more active no matter what any one saids.

[change]

more active in writing useless stories? yes... but what does that have to do with anything

[malpits]

Its because managers like me who are not good at the game what some this else to keep them activie, and this it the key.

[takaplan]

In response to customer feedback, we are changing the system for 2003 and on. You will now receive 2 pts for each of your press releases, but there is a limit of 3 press releases per year.

Tom

[DaveHorn]

Tom - I was browsing the rules to see if you've determined how the top 20 are going to be chosen and noticed the original rules posting still says a limit a 10 posts per season for the free cash, not the 3 post max. I'd suggest you edit the original rules, some folks may not find the amendmant burried in the replies.

[daves]

How old is this Mogul challenge and can we get it back? Is this why we had ratings on our login screen?

[michaelg123789]

How old is this Mogul challenge and can we get it back? Is this why we had ratings on our login screen?
Whoa. Good to see an old thread like this pop up again :).

Kaplan ran the challenge ages ago. SM gave out shirts and various other prizes. The link is still up somewhere on the site. Good luck finding it :D