TAB Mailbag: Creating and maintaining an APBA league

Jason sent me a question which really deserves an article:

He asks:

Do you have any guides, tips, hints, plug and play templates, magic wands, etc for helping me create and maintain a league?

I admit, that’s quite a question with a lot of answers. I did check back with Jason to make sure he was referring to a league defined as an organized group of people playing in a competitive fashion.  Some APBA players used the term “league” to describe a solo draft project.  Jason confirmed he was referring to the first definition. 

Most of the older leagues started out on the fly and had the staying power to stick around.  During the ensuing years, they established parameters, rules and the traditions that come with long-lasting organizations. 

Membership

Jason mentioned in his email to me that he already had a few people interested in a league.  What if the idea of expansion comes up and his league wants more managers?  There are a few options to increase membership. 

The two best places in my book are the APBA Between the Lines forum and Facebook.  The BTL forum has a special section dedicated for “classifieds” and it can help match managers with leagues.  Facebook has plenty of groups such as APBA Baseball, APBA Games, the APBA Football Club just to name a few.  These groups are great for just touching base with APBA fans around the world and feeling a part of the community. 

Rules and Constitutions

While I’m a big believer of a constitution for a league, I think that for a brand new league, it should be kept to a minimum.  The need for a constitution is to minimize conflict if a dispute should arise.  Sometimes, a commissioner just won’t be able to predict what those are until they happen.  A constitution for a new league should be kept to a bare minimum.  An overly legislative constitution may restrict the creativity of the league’s members. 

Outline the purpose of the league, what game(s) and players would be used how conflicts would be addressed.  Of course, keep it open to be amended in the future. 

Don’t hurry

Most importantly, take it slow.  A league doesn’t have to be perfect, especially at first.  It doesn’t have play 162 games and if the stats are just right, that’s ok.  It’s a learning process.  The league that I’m in, the Illowa APBA League, has been around since 1975 and I’m pretty proud of it.  But here’s a secret… they didn’t even finish their first season of existence.  I don’t know all the details since I didn’t join till 1980 (and it got infinitely better :)) but the process just got mangled.  But the good news is that some 40 years later, and we’re still hanging around and at least four of us have been in since 1980. 

This opens up a new question.  Some players who are new to the idea of competitive leagues and may want to try forming one might want to try playing an extended tournament.  Why do I say that?  It will give future managers a chance to get used to each others’ style of play and goals of playing.  Some APBA players may have a fixation on stats and realism.  Others may just want to roll and have some fun.  A quick tournament would give everyone an idea “where everyone is at”. 

Shawn Baier is going through a lot these issues right now with his new Boys of Summer APBA Online league.  Aside from the usual challenges of a new league, he is dealing with the unknown of a new game functionality and the issues which APBA Online presents.  When the fog clears from this weekend’s draft, I may ask him a few questions on his experience and print them here. 

I hope this begins to answer Jason’s question.  I haven’t even addressed issues like Face-to-Face vs. BBW leagues, running a draft, what stats to keep and how to compile them but I hope this is a good start.