Live FA period?

[Ragnar]

I don't know how league's do FA now but i'm almost certain they are not live. I was just wondering if after the big update league members will be able to connect to eachother and bid for FA's like you would in solo play.

You know, make your bids and press finish day and once everyone does it's all calculated. It's probably a pipe dream but that would be a nice feature. If the H2H feature went that far i'd fall off my seat.

[sporr]

In Baseball Maelstrom, we do a live FA session for the top 3-4 FA every season. The rest are done regularly in rounds.

[Henry]

FYI : there has been some talk about this in the past.. maybe not to fancy, but something that would make the process easier. I was hoping to see something in V6 but the engine upgrade was really too big to add too much more. Still hoping

Henry

[William4192]

Great to hear something like this is coming!

[Scarecrow]

From The FOBL's constitution:

E. The following is the process by which teams will be allowed to sign Off-Season free agents:

1. Stage 1: Qualifying Offers

At the end of each season, each team will have the opportunity to make a Qualifying Offer on a contract extension to each player with an expiring contract they would like to retain. All Qualifying Offers may be for a period of 1-5 years, and must be for a minimum annual salary equal to or greater than 3/4 of the player's current salary or $1 million, whichever is greater. Any player who does not receive a Qualifying Offer becomes an unrestricted free agent, and enters the regular free agent auction.

2. Stage 2: Restricted Free Agency

All players who received Qualifying Offers will become Restricted Free Agents, and enter the RFA auction. The auction will be conducted with the FOBL's auction software (or any other method that the FOBL may employ for conducting free agency) and with the same valuation rules used during the Unrestricted Free Agent auction, and will last 5 days. If, during the RFA auction, a player does not receive a bid for 24 hours, the auction for that player closes. Each player's current owner has one opportunity to match the highest bid, which must be submitted within 24 hours of the close of the RFA auction for that player. If the current owner does not indicate a decision whether or not to match a player by the conclusion of this 24 hour period, the current owner will be deemed to have matched the player to a contract equal to the length of his Qualifying Offer. An owner does not need to bid on his player during the RFA auction to retain matching rights. In addition, the following discounts apply with respect to matching:

Loyalty Discounts:

Minimal - 5%
Average - 10%
Loyal - 20%

Hometown Discount:

Any Restricted Free Agent who played his first major league game with his current team and has never been traded or released, and has not otherwise played for another team since his first game receives an addition 5% discount regardless of loyalty ratings. The hometown discount is taken at the same time as the loyalty discount. Thus, the total discount for an applicable player would be 10% for minimal loyalty, 15% for average loyalty, and 25% for a loyal player. Teams are responsible for registering players who are eligible for the hometown discount at the time they make the qualifying offer. The penalty for falsely registering an ineligible player is forfeiture of all discounts.

When matching a bid in RFA, the owner shall be allowed to match the exact offer (with loyalty and hometown discounts), or a contract of any length allowed by the rules so long as that contract under the contract valuation formula is valued the same as or greater than the exact offer (with loyalty discount and hometown discounts).

Legacy Discount:

For every consecutive season beyond 5 that a player has spent on his current team while playing under a paid (non-MLC) contract and without playing for any other team, that team shall receive an additional, optional 2% discount on that player when matching him. If the owner elects to take this legacy discount, the player is then untradable for the length of his new contract. To indicate that the player is untradable, one dollar shall be added to his annual salary.

This bonus shall not affect the amounts of the any other applicable discounts, nor shall it affect the ability to trade such discounts if the legacy discount is not used.

If there are no bids on a player, the player receives a contract extension from his current team with a salary equal to the Qualifying Offer minus any hometown or loyalty discounts as outlined above, and a length equal to the qualifying offer.

Under no circumstances may the final salary of a player who has received a Qualifying Offer fall below the salary of the Qualifying Offer minus the relevant hometown, loyalty, and legacy discounts.

If a player does not receive a matching offer from his current team, and there were no valid bids in the final two hours of the auction or the auction for that player closed prior to the close of the RFA auction, the player is awarded to the high bidder at the bid price. If there are any bids on a player in the last two hours, and that player did not receive a matching offer, the player is placed in the Unrestricted Free Agent auction, with the opening bid equal to the high bid during the RFA auction.

3. Stage 3: Unrestricted Free Agency

No loyalty or hometown discounts will apply during the UFA auction. Unrestricted Free Agency will be conducted outside of the OOTP engine using any applications or procedures reasonably deemed appropriate by the Board of Governors. Specific rules for conducting free agency have been intentionally omitted from this Constitution to allow the Board of Governors flexibility in adjusting the procedures as appropriate. However, the Board of Governors should make its best efforts to consult with and secure a consensus of the league members with respect to changes to UFA rules.

Cliff Notes Version:[list=1][*]No Contract Extensions during the season. All players either become restriced free agents, or unrestricted free agents.[*]At the end of the season, team owners determin which players will be restricted free agents or unrestricted free agents. Minimum annual salary for RFA's is 3/4 of current contract or $1M.[*]FISHWare begins for RFAs. Teams bid on players. After auction for a player ends (24 hours with no bids or 5 days), the owner has the option of matching the high bid (with various discounts), or allowing him to go to high bidder.[*]When RFA ends, FOBLWare begins with all Unrestricted Free Agents. Each team owner can bid on anyone they chose. Highest bid (bid not bumped for 24 hours or end of 5 days) wins that player.[/list=1]