PUB Constitution

Constitution

Constitution

Constitution – As of June 15, 2015

Section A – League Overview

Polaris Union Baseball is a fantasy/virtual baseball league.

Colloquially known as “PUB”, Polaris Union rose from the ashes of ACBA – American Canadian Baseball Alliance.

PUB team GMs hail from the U.S. and Canada and it is this North American bond which inspired the name “Polaris Union” – Polaris also being known as the North Star.

The league is loosely semi-historical with a majority of fictional players but a few familiar names from the era thrown-in.

Original owners drafted their players out of a pool of 1950 Major League Baseball and fictional players.

Owners also drafted scouts. The inaugural draft was 25 rounds, followed by the scout filling in the rest.

Prior to the draft, 15 years of league history were simmed. Players developed through OOTP engine, not real life stats.

The league is simulated as a career league, players will age and eventually retire. New players are added via the Amateur Draft and are selected during the off-season.

Players will enter the amateur draft through a College & High School Feeder League.

PUB is simulated with OOTP 13. Currently it is mandatory for owners to own the game.

The Commissioner needs 75% approval before changing simulators.

PUB is an affiliate of the VBL Family with consists of the VBL, and VBL8 (Polaris Union Baseball).

League and Divisional Alignment – Teams were split up randomly. There are a total of 22 teams split evenly between two leagues: Ursa League (UL) and Canis League (CL).

 

Ursa League Canis League
Barry’s Bay Jacks Hollywood Stars Houston Colt .45s Atlantic City Aces Bronx Bombers Edmonton Trappers
Kinuso Blues Kitscoty Kings Louisville Redbirds Harlem Hellions Hot Springs Bathers Oakland Oaks
Wetaskiwin Whalers Orlando Oracles Seattle Rainiers Ottawa Knights Philadelphia Athletics San Francisco Meatballs
New Orleans Voodoo Yukon Wolfpack Toronto Blue Jays Waterloo Spitfires

 

It is expected PUB will be an ongoing league.

Per Virtual Baseball League affiliation rules, the Commissioner does NOT own a team.

 

Section B – Season Format

  1. Each season consists of 154 games, playoffs, and a PUB All Star Game.
  2. PUB does NOT use the Designated Hitter in the major leagues, but we do in the minor leagues.
  3. The playoffs consist of 1 Division Winner plus 2 wild cards per league.
  4. The wild cards face-off in the Wild-Card Brawl, a win-or-go-home play-in to qualify to the League Championship.
  5. The Wild-Card Brawl winner goes against the Division Winner in a best-of-7 League Championship Series.
  6. The winners of the League Championships play in the Polaris Classic for the honor of being named Champion. The Polaris Classic is also a best-of-7 series.
  7. The Commissioner sims five virtual days on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

 

Section C – League Offices

  1. Commissioner

Holds position for life. Can name his own successor.

In accordance with VBL policy, The Commissioner cannot be an owner in his own VBL to avoid conflict of interest.

Responsibilities Include:

  1. Simulate games and enter lineups
  2. Maintain web page
  3. Enforce league policies
  4. Approve and enter trades

League Policy Creation

  1. League policies can be suggested by all owners.
  2. Policies must be submitted in writing via email.
  3. Policies will/can be voted by either:
  4. All owners (majority to pass).
  5. The Commissioner has the final say on all league policies.

Section D – League Rules

Owners can have the privilege of VBL team ownership taken away for certain violations. Disenfranchisement can be approved by that league’s Commissioner, or a 3/4 majority of owners.

Grounds for Disenfranchisement are as follows:

  1. An owner who fails to export for 3 weeks.
  2. An owner who fails for 9 game days to submit line-up changes after a player is “out” with an injury.
  3. An owner who, as determined by the Commissioner, fails to operate his team in a way which is promotional and productive.
  4. If an owner fails to participate in a mandatory league wide event, the Commissioner may submit a warning to that owner, or immediate removal.

Franchise Location

An Owner can only move his franchise under the following conditions

  1. He is a brand new owner
  2. His team has performed under.500 for the past 3 seasons as of the current season they request
  3. The city they wish to move to is currently not occupied by any other PUB team.
  4. The new city must be located in North America.

If you are a new owner, you will be docked 2 fan loyalty points, and 10 fan interest points if you move the team.

If you are a veteran team and choose to relocate, you will be docked 4 fan loyalty points, and 15 fan interest points.

The team’s city will matter in terms of temperature, rain chance and wind. Owners need to consider this when choosing their ballpark. (Ie if it rains a lot in Florida, maybe a retractable roof is a good option)

An owner may only change his stadium model under the following conditions:

He is a brand new owner or…

His team has performed OVER .500 for the past 3 seasons as of the current season they request.
AND
The team operated in a profit in the previous season.

Stadium Requirements:

Field Dimensions:
LF Line: (Min 315, Max 360)
LF: (Min 315, Max 360)
LF/CF: (Min 350, Max 390)
CF: (Min 395, Max 420)
RF/CF: (Min 330, Max 410)
RF: (Min 310, Max 370)
RF Line: (Min 310, Max 370)

Wall Heights (Average Wall Height is 8 feet)
LF Line: (Min 5, Max 20)
LF: ( Min 5, Max 20)
LF/CF: ( Min 5, Max 20)
CF: (Min 7, Max 18)
RF/CF: (Min 7, Max 23)
RF: (Min 5, Max 20)
RF Line: (Min 5, Max 20)

Type: dome, open, retractable

Surface: Grass or Turf

All minor league teams will match the dimensions of their big league team. Except, minor league parks will all be open, played on grass and will have a lower capacity.

Rosters & Salary

  1. Teams must maintain a 30 out of 40 man roster at all times.
  2. Currently, ghost minor leaguers are used until the league’s minors are filled to capacity. However, after season 1955 they will not be used.
  3. PUB uses option years for players, and a full financial system
  4. The inaugural draft began with a $550,000 budget. Contracts were automatically assigned by the game after the draft.

To protect owners, non-arbitration players were given one-year contracts.

Lineups & Trades

PUB teams do NOT use the DH.

Owners can submit both lineups versus left handed pitchers and versus right handed pitchers, or have one lineup for both.

All trades must be submitted before August 1st’s games

Trades will be processed at the END of the sim. Leaving the owner responsible prior to the next day to assign his newly acquired players.

Section E – Free Agency System & Contracts

PUB uses a full financial system. Teams can sign their players to an extension prior to free agency. All free agents will be available for open bidding in the off-season.

A team may NOT offer a contract extension to any player until they hit 3 years of major league service. If this happens, then the final 2 years of the offered contract will become player options.

A team, vesting or player option year can NOT be more than 10% of the highest guaranteed yearly value on the contract.

The buyout total for a TEAM option MUST be at least 15% of the salary during that option year. (IE $1mil option, buyout must be at least $150k)

1st offense – Buyout is set to 50% of the option year
2nd offense – Buyout is set to 50% of the option year, commish gets angry
3rd offense – Option year becomes guaranteed
4th offense – Don’t let there be one

Player/Vesting options do not fall under the buyout rules but do fall under the 10% max rule. As of right now there are no guidelines to vesting options however if owners are seen to be taking advantage of the vesting option – the commissioner has the power to edit.

Section F – Amateur Draft

  1. The Draft Order is based on the previous year’s standings
  2. There are no signing bonuses.

Section G – Other Info

PUB uses Player Options. An option can only be used once per season. (IE if you send a player to the minors, then call him up, then send down… you only used 1 option).

All players on the 40 man Roster use up 1 option because they are automatically invited to spring training.

RULE 5 DRAFT

PUB does utilize the Rule 5 draft

The Waiver period is 9 days, and the designate for assignment time period is 13 days.

The VBL uses Free Agent Compensation under the following guidelines:

-Type A/B are eliminated
-Only player who spent the entire season with 1 team are eligible for comp
-A team that signs a comp player forfeits its 1st round pick unless it selects in the Top 3rd in which case it forfeits its 2nd highest pick
-Player’s former team receives a selection in the supplemental draft round
-Drafted players may only sign minor league contracts
-The top 22% of players with two years of service will be eligible for salary arbitration. (Super 2)

Teams can choose ticket prices between $1.50 and $2.00.

The visiting team receives 20% of the gate.

Players are auto-renewed at league minimum for their first 4 years of big league service, then they hit arbitration.

A minor leaguer can become a free agent after 5 years of minor league time.

All teams will receive $13,500 via national media, and $8,300 via local. The local media deals will be re-negotiated after 3 seasons. The game will decide how the media deals are balanced out.

There is a $35,000 cash maximum.

All teams will begin with the same budget.

GM Rewards – Japanese Free Agency

PUB utilizes a Cash Reward system in order to allow owners the opportunity to bid on players from Nippon League. THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE CASH AVAILABLE IN GAME. THIS IS A SEPARATE BUCKET TRACKED BY THE COMMISSIONER.

Owners can earn a maximum of $11,000 per season. Bidding Cash can be accumulated from season to season and be used during any Nippon Bidding Period which is January 1st to February 1st each year.

How to Earn Bidding Cash:

Pre-Season Preview On Time – $2,000 (1 day late, $1,000).
Monthly PR On Time – $1,000  (1 day late, $500). Note: A Playoff teams pre-playoff PR counts for September/Oct PR
All-Star Ballot – $1,000
Season Wrap Up On Time – $2,000. (1 day late, $1,000).
New Owner Bonus – $5,500. (Half a year’s worth of PRs).

In order to bid on a Nippon Player:

  • Player must be present in Commissioner’s Approved List of Nippon Players For Transfer.
  • Bidding team cannot have more than 3 Nippon Players on its roster.

The bidding process:

  • Teams must submit blind bid for a player between January 1st and February 1st (in-game).
  • The bid for the rights to negotiate with the player will consist of Bidding Cash. The team(s) which submit the bid with the highest cash value will secure the rights to start contract negotiations with player.
  • The minimum bid is $11,000.
  • The team(s) submitting bid must have $ available for Free Agents.
  • The player selected will enter PUB Free Agency and be available for contract talks ONLY with winning team(s).
  • Contract must be signed BEFORE start of regular season.
  • Once an agreement has been secured, team which signed player must pay $10,000 posting fee in cash to Nippon team which owned the rights to the player UNLESS the player was a Nippon FA. (This cash WILL come from Cash Available in game.)
  • Contract length must be AT LEAST for 3 guaranteed contract years and follow other PUB contract rules.
  • Arrival of Japanese player will result in a 5 point bump of Fan Interest as well as a one-time $5,000 bump in Merchandising Revenue and $5,000 bump in Media Revenue.

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