03-30-2023, 11:48 AM
Howdy, everyone.
It came to J HO's attention this week that there were a few clerical errors from the St. Louis Scarecrows. As we investigated, these errors quickly grew in size and impact. So, this might be a long one as I try to explain everything we investigated and discussed, as well as some changes and codifications that are happening. And yes, there will be a TL;DR.
It came to our attention that STL signed player Marc Gorman to a 166-200 TPE IFA contract despite Gorman being 228 TPE and requiring a 201-425 TPE IFA contract. This issue was further complicated by Gorman's presence in the Free Agents subforum despite playing 2 games for STL in the regular season. We found no record of STL dropping them through the appropriate methods. At this time we also found that STL's signing post for Gorman (and other IFAs) was done after the IFA re-signing deadline, which meant STL failed to both re-sign their IFAs in the appropriate time frame and potentially move any they weren't re-signing to the forums to be claimed by other GMs. After some direct investigation it was confirmed that of the 5 IFAs from the previous season that STL did not re-sign, four were 155 TPE IFAs. At the time of the issue there were multiple alternative 155 TPE IFAs in the subforum so we're willing to overlook that infraction, and the only player of 156 or higher TPE was already in the appropriate subforum so no harm there thankfully.
Despite those player's amicable resolutions, there still remained the following three issues: 1. STL signed Gorman to an illegal contract, 2. by having Gorman on the roster alongside Heath Nicol & Timothy Jimothy STL had an illegal roster with more than 2 IFAs of 201-425 TPE, and 3. The re-signing of their IFAs was done past the deadline. J HO voted and found STL in violation of the regulations of the SMJHL in all three instances, and discussed appropriate sanctions.
In the first instance, the illegal signing of Gorman, J HO voted to uphold the Budget Error section of the rulebook's regulations for a $2M GM pay fine.
In the second instance, things got more complicated. Again. The SMJHL rulebook does not explicitly cover penalties regarding illegal rosters as of this moment. However, the last time this issue arose, SMJHL HO intended to codify that a team over the allowed number of inactives would be penalized with a $2M cap fine the following season per player over the limit and a $3M GM pay fine. SMJHL HO recently did an overpass of our rulebook to remove cap penalties, as we feel they unfairly punish teams and hamper their ability to include players in their LRs. This left us with a need to create a new appropriate penalty for violating roster regulations on IFA limits. SMJHL HO voted that the punishment for exceeding the Roster Eligibility section will result in a suspension of all of a team's IFAs in that respective TPE bracket (166-200 or 201-425) for an amount of games equal to double that of which the team played with an illegal roster, alongside a $3M GM pay fine. We understand this is a rather serious penalty. We intend to begin a discussion immediately following this posting with our J GMs about how to fine tune this sanction to better to respect both not overly punishing teams while still focusing on reprimanding the unfair advantage gained by submitting illegal rosters. This will be codified in the rulebook once this post is live, and the discussion started right after. Thus, for submitting an illegal roster STL is sanctioned with a $3M GM pay fine and a suspension of both of their remaining 2 IFAs of 201-425 TPE for 4 games.
For the third instance, re-signing their IFAs late and past the deadline, J HO has voted to uphold the punishments laid out in the Late GM Tasks/Other Timed Duties section of the rulebook for a $4M GM pay fine.
During our discussions SMJHL HO came to a consensus that probation was necessary. However, probation is a nebulous term that's used in multiple varying instances of the rulebook. We felt that probation was fair here and that in addition there was a need to create a more all-encompassing regulation regarding probation in the rulebook and what it should fully entail. We voted on adding the following regulations to the rulebook:
Probation will be applied when any of the following occur:
1. A GM/Co-GM loses their entire GM pay for a season for any reason(s).
2. A team is penalized under the same section of the rulebook twice in a single season. (Early contact twice, illegal roster twice, late tasks twice, etc.)
If a GM/Co-GM is on probation and violates the rulebook for any of the reasons that they are on probation for, or have been on probation for in the past, they will be removed from their position. Probation when applied here will last for the rest of the current season and then 3 full seasons (A GM being put on probation in the middle of S70 would be on probation for the rest of S70, as well as S71, S72, & S73 for example). GMs will not be eligible for their GM CW pass while on probation.
This addition will result in the reworking and eventual removal of other instances regarding probation in the SMJHL rulebook due to their obsolescence with these new regulations. Given that STL has lost their GM pay for S70, SMJHL HO voted on placing Sparky on probation.
So, TL;DR, for signing a player to an illegal contract, for playing with an illegal roster, and for re-signing their IFAs late, STL GM @TheSparkyDee is being sanctioned with full loss of STL GM pay for S70, a -$1M fine to their bank, a 4 game suspension of all STL IFAs of 201-425 TPE, and Sparky will be on probation until the end of S73. Co-GM @Gumbaman was only present for the second infraction so will only lose $3M of their GM pay for this season.
STL will be required to pay Gorman the difference owed (+$1M) and add Gorman to their budget should they not have done so already, after doing so then they may begin exploring the necessary options to drop Gorman or one of their other 201-425 TPE IFAs. For the suspension, STL will need to sign whatever players they can to fill these roster holes, so long as the players signed do not infringe on the other Roster Eligibility regulation of a maximum of 3 IFAs between 166-200 TPE. STL may sign the replacements to $500K temporary emergency contracts per 1.c.i.5.
STL may appeal this to the Appeals Team should they wish.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Thank you everybody for your patience with this matter.
It came to J HO's attention this week that there were a few clerical errors from the St. Louis Scarecrows. As we investigated, these errors quickly grew in size and impact. So, this might be a long one as I try to explain everything we investigated and discussed, as well as some changes and codifications that are happening. And yes, there will be a TL;DR.
It came to our attention that STL signed player Marc Gorman to a 166-200 TPE IFA contract despite Gorman being 228 TPE and requiring a 201-425 TPE IFA contract. This issue was further complicated by Gorman's presence in the Free Agents subforum despite playing 2 games for STL in the regular season. We found no record of STL dropping them through the appropriate methods. At this time we also found that STL's signing post for Gorman (and other IFAs) was done after the IFA re-signing deadline, which meant STL failed to both re-sign their IFAs in the appropriate time frame and potentially move any they weren't re-signing to the forums to be claimed by other GMs. After some direct investigation it was confirmed that of the 5 IFAs from the previous season that STL did not re-sign, four were 155 TPE IFAs. At the time of the issue there were multiple alternative 155 TPE IFAs in the subforum so we're willing to overlook that infraction, and the only player of 156 or higher TPE was already in the appropriate subforum so no harm there thankfully.
Despite those player's amicable resolutions, there still remained the following three issues: 1. STL signed Gorman to an illegal contract, 2. by having Gorman on the roster alongside Heath Nicol & Timothy Jimothy STL had an illegal roster with more than 2 IFAs of 201-425 TPE, and 3. The re-signing of their IFAs was done past the deadline. J HO voted and found STL in violation of the regulations of the SMJHL in all three instances, and discussed appropriate sanctions.
In the first instance, the illegal signing of Gorman, J HO voted to uphold the Budget Error section of the rulebook's regulations for a $2M GM pay fine.
In the second instance, things got more complicated. Again. The SMJHL rulebook does not explicitly cover penalties regarding illegal rosters as of this moment. However, the last time this issue arose, SMJHL HO intended to codify that a team over the allowed number of inactives would be penalized with a $2M cap fine the following season per player over the limit and a $3M GM pay fine. SMJHL HO recently did an overpass of our rulebook to remove cap penalties, as we feel they unfairly punish teams and hamper their ability to include players in their LRs. This left us with a need to create a new appropriate penalty for violating roster regulations on IFA limits. SMJHL HO voted that the punishment for exceeding the Roster Eligibility section will result in a suspension of all of a team's IFAs in that respective TPE bracket (166-200 or 201-425) for an amount of games equal to double that of which the team played with an illegal roster, alongside a $3M GM pay fine. We understand this is a rather serious penalty. We intend to begin a discussion immediately following this posting with our J GMs about how to fine tune this sanction to better to respect both not overly punishing teams while still focusing on reprimanding the unfair advantage gained by submitting illegal rosters. This will be codified in the rulebook once this post is live, and the discussion started right after. Thus, for submitting an illegal roster STL is sanctioned with a $3M GM pay fine and a suspension of both of their remaining 2 IFAs of 201-425 TPE for 4 games.
For the third instance, re-signing their IFAs late and past the deadline, J HO has voted to uphold the punishments laid out in the Late GM Tasks/Other Timed Duties section of the rulebook for a $4M GM pay fine.
During our discussions SMJHL HO came to a consensus that probation was necessary. However, probation is a nebulous term that's used in multiple varying instances of the rulebook. We felt that probation was fair here and that in addition there was a need to create a more all-encompassing regulation regarding probation in the rulebook and what it should fully entail. We voted on adding the following regulations to the rulebook:
Probation will be applied when any of the following occur:
1. A GM/Co-GM loses their entire GM pay for a season for any reason(s).
2. A team is penalized under the same section of the rulebook twice in a single season. (Early contact twice, illegal roster twice, late tasks twice, etc.)
If a GM/Co-GM is on probation and violates the rulebook for any of the reasons that they are on probation for, or have been on probation for in the past, they will be removed from their position. Probation when applied here will last for the rest of the current season and then 3 full seasons (A GM being put on probation in the middle of S70 would be on probation for the rest of S70, as well as S71, S72, & S73 for example). GMs will not be eligible for their GM CW pass while on probation.
This addition will result in the reworking and eventual removal of other instances regarding probation in the SMJHL rulebook due to their obsolescence with these new regulations. Given that STL has lost their GM pay for S70, SMJHL HO voted on placing Sparky on probation.
So, TL;DR, for signing a player to an illegal contract, for playing with an illegal roster, and for re-signing their IFAs late, STL GM @TheSparkyDee is being sanctioned with full loss of STL GM pay for S70, a -$1M fine to their bank, a 4 game suspension of all STL IFAs of 201-425 TPE, and Sparky will be on probation until the end of S73. Co-GM @Gumbaman was only present for the second infraction so will only lose $3M of their GM pay for this season.
STL will be required to pay Gorman the difference owed (+$1M) and add Gorman to their budget should they not have done so already, after doing so then they may begin exploring the necessary options to drop Gorman or one of their other 201-425 TPE IFAs. For the suspension, STL will need to sign whatever players they can to fill these roster holes, so long as the players signed do not infringe on the other Roster Eligibility regulation of a maximum of 3 IFAs between 166-200 TPE. STL may sign the replacements to $500K temporary emergency contracts per 1.c.i.5.
STL may appeal this to the Appeals Team should they wish.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Thank you everybody for your patience with this matter.
