In the USBA we decided against an expansion draft and went with "expansion teams."
A rival league folded and the USBA absorbed the (financially) strongest four teams from that league, players and all. The new expansion teams were not strong enough to compete with the USBA's top teams initially but the prospects on those new clubs were strong and allowed those new teams to take one of two strategies (or a mix of the two): They could trade their prospects for vets and attempt to compete immediately or take the route of building a powerful club from the ground up.
This proved popular in two ways…
- existing teams in the USBA did not worry about the expansion process wrecking their long term plans with their clubs that they had worked hard on over the previous seasons.
- the USBA was able to add some owners who relished the challenge of building a team with bright futures (i.e. prospects) when often the case is the expansion teams are very weak initially since expansion drafts often prohibit new clubs from drafting potential stars.
It's a little different but then the USBA is a little different than most leagues anyway
