Pro/Rel League with no draft

[Marinersfan51]

I'm been toying with an idea for a league that incorporates some aspects of the European soccer leagues and NCAA football, but I'm not sure if it is even doable. Basically I am thinking of a 4-5 tiered Pro/Rel system with very large budget discrepancies and complete uncapped amateur free agency. The richest tier 1 teams could buy up all the top prospects and free agents while the lower teams look for under the radar gems to develop and eventually sell to the rich teams. I'm think having long periods of team control and a posting system would be the best way to go about this. I think having an association of the leagues would allow for a kind of Champions League/CFP postseason that would allow even the lowest tier teams to theoretically have a shot at the championship.

What are the major stumbling blocks that are going to come up with this system? I have never tried a league without a draft before, is there a way to have it generate amateurs similar to the draft pool to keep the league populated or would using feeder leagues be necessary?

Basically I want a system where cash is king and the rich always get richer, but it is still possible for a small team to rise up through sustained success which in turn leads to more money and the ability to play at a little higher league.

[BBGiovanni]

I haven't tried these things, I'm sure someone will have better answers. In general, the game will make free agents for each league, and if you tier your PCMs the top league will create better players than the bottom league, and they'll scatter around randomly.

I've seen discussions about setting player purchases and recall a quote from someone who knows (Matt I think) to the effect that "$250k is the sweet spot of purchase price", which I think means that higher prices mean fewer purchases and lower prices mean teams go crazy buying up guys. So you might test-sim a league with tiered player purchase prices and see how it goes.

In my P/R I didn't allow player purchases because I wanted the lower teams to be able to develop their own talent (and minor league teams). The way baseball's cartel economic engine works, your homegrown options are critical for budget control. If the lower teams get picked over all the time, it seems like they'll be less equipped to compete when promoted. Maybe it works, but I didn't want to risk it.

Also, I play out all my games so I haven't been through a ton of seasons yet, but the second tier teams were VERY aggressive in grabbing big $ stars after one season, Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, and several other guys were with B league teams. I may have left too much available budget for those teams (or rather the auto-adjustment tool did when I assigned fictional financials/contracts after my inaugural draft).

Also, I'm generally on your side as to flexibility, it would be fun to play a game more purely in this style and also to have player loans a possibility.