Why do you need to ask teams to volunteer to move to A? Just follow the rule that you guys have established. Top 4 B teams from last season should move up. Why have rules if you guys don`t implemented.

Make it Open. Teams are sandbagging anyway. Looks even to me.

I do agree, leaving it open wil make it more competitive HOWEVER I highly doubt anyone is sandbagging especially if you know you signed up for B or C

Top 4 B teams from last season should move up. Why have rules if you guys don`t implemented

That`s a great question. We don`t have a rule establishing what level a team has to play. If we did, I`d think we`d have less teams willing to play, and that`s not something I want to sacrifice.

To be honest, I think every team that`s said they want to play B, is a B level team. However, if a team has the desire to eventually become an A team, and they`ve had a couple seasons in B, I think they are better served to go ahead and make the jump and learn to play at the next level.

I won`t force anyone into a level of competition, but we may have to go back to an Open format this Fall, which I believe, if done long term is detrimental to the league.

Outlaws and Lazy moved down and Imposters won B. There`s your eight.

Move the most competitive teams up and lets play ball. This is what was said was going to happen. Just do it. Lazy, swarm, outlaws and whomever won last season, cant remember if it was infamous or imposters. If you make it open its a worse situation then if you just move a few teams up

Yes. That makes sense. All agree?

I agree. Make it Open. Let the playoffs determine who belongs where. At least for this season only. Besides, there are some matchups that I want to see.

Open is a bad look. Some teams will get slaughtered every week. No one wants to come out for that. It`s bad enough that B is uneven with some good teams and some well below average teams, don`t make it worse by adding the A teams to the mix.

agree with smh

Their seems to be a catch 22 to all of this but I do believe that everyone has a good point in regards to the OPEN-NO OPEN debate

The only problem which seems to be the elephant in the room, is that if no teams DO decide to jump up to "A" you`ll technically be forced into an OPEN season in some way, shape or form, so honestly it`s no longer in Josh`s control after that b/c as he said, you can`t force teams to move up

You can absolutely move teams to make them more aligned and competitive.

Then why even have this..."“A” league will be filled with any team that made the “A” playoffs in the IFFL and or FCFFL league last spring and or fall, and the top 4 B teams as well."

It`s seems that if a team doesn`t want to move it shouldn`t matter. Where a team signs up and plays why is that a concern to anyone on this site? I`ve been playing in this league for years and football is football. We all continue to play for the fun of it, and NO ONE in THIS league is going PRO at all, or you wouldn`t be playing here! It`s always a bunch of guys who teams either doesn`t win games or some guys in the league want to pick on a few teams here and there just because they don`t like them. The League was fun years ago without all this non sense about who is playing where? If you have a problem where a team is playing and you get your chance to play that particular team just go out and beat them. Stop all this crying about this team won B or C and why they still playing in that division. Everyone has jobs outside of this league and I`m definately not putting my day job before this little league flag football game. I play it for fun and the guys on my team are cool to be around on Sundays. Guys if it`s open let it be open. If teams are playing B or C let them be. Remember none of us are being paid at all out there. Fun and hanging with the guys is what is all about for me. Peace Out, and see ya on Sunday! Mitch

Makes no sense to me, there are two options:
1) balance the divisions to make them competitive
2) just make one whole division where there will be clear mismatches where some games will be an A level team against a C level team

1 is the best clear option to me and I haven`t seen a valid argument to not balance the divisions.

Maybe the answer is most likely we start looking at 2 leagues. One competitive with an A and B league and a non-competitive league.

The non-competitive league would be just that, no divisions, no trophies, no t-shirts, no stats, probably only 2 refs etc. Just guys who want to show up on Sunday morning and toss the ball around. Maybe the league winner gets something, but nothing major.

The competitive league would be setup to run in different divisions and teams would be seeded based on past performance. New teams start in B and earn their way into A. No one gets a guaranteed playoff game, you have to win to get to the playoffs. We play strictly by the rules that are played at States. Stats, pictures, trophies etc come as part of the league fee as do bragging rights.

Thoughts?

Not a bad thought but I`d only be concerned about the breakdown of teams, splitting it up may dilute the divisions even more. I personally feel that a A and B format this season would work. Pull up Outlwas, Outcast, Lazy, Swarm, Imposters. You then have 9 in A and 10 in B.

Sometimes teams need to move up to make it work for the whole league. We`ve done it before, no worries. I`ve played all these teams before (except Imposters) and know they can compete with us in A.

Its not each teams call just as much as each team doesn`t get the call of saying we don`t want to play in an open division.
We have a situation where the divisions need to be switched, either by moving teams into one division or splitting them into two. Two divisions seems logical IMO. Just my two cents.

It is hard to respect a team that wants to dominate in "B" as opposed to stepping up and competing in "A". No disrespect to Legit B teams. They know who they are and own it willingly. I hear people dissing the other leagues saying that the competition is weak. What does it say about our league that teams would rather win on the lower levels than actually compete on the level that is indicative of their talent? Step up for the good of the league. There is no joy in beating up on a team that is ill equipped to compete. I don`t play in another league anymore, because they were forced to go to an open format. Teams drop off week by week after getting drubbed by 30. Bad idea, fellas.

I agree on that point! We are no different from any other league if we`re loading up to play on lower tier divisions or if we sandbagging, that`s actually putting us in the same realm as the other leagues! No use arguing now b/c we now have OPEN east & west this fall, starting Sunday

Completely disagree with this setup. I guess the C teams will have fun getting waxed on a weekly basis. I`m still not clear why it wasn`t at least split into A and B.