[quote author=Fastidious link=topic=147.msg1220#msg1220 date=1260383528]<br />I appreciate the statistics Ralph but my main point is the fact the very top players are favored much more so in the franchise system.&nbsp; Almost by default the league is going to end up with the distribution you posted but I&#039;m impressed how good it actually was.&nbsp; I figured it wouldn&#039;t be quite so clean.<br />[/quote]<br /><br />This is all subjective however when it comes to the &quot;top players&quot;. If you look at the past two seasons, you can see multiple teams that overcame general consensus OR ones which fell short of their hype driven by their peers:<br /><br />Fell Short: Doom Raiders W2009 - Had four top level players in Chain, Fast, Whiteboy, Shakal. Odds on favorite by most to win the entire league.<br /><br />Fell Short: Berserker Packers W2009 - Dominated the WDC all season, fell short in the playoffs on homefield to statistical underdog FLS, a team which they had already beaten in the regular season.<br /><br />Surprise!: Electric Bills S2009 - Rag tag unit of Xenaero, Sabertooth, and Collision. Most people predicted them to not do well, including myself incorrectly placing them at #8 overall by the end of the season. They placed #3 overall in the league by week 9.<br /><br />Surprise!: Brokeback Cowboys S2009 - A solid unit, but certainly not one many would&#039;ve tagged as being the team that would progress to the title game (to ultimately lose to the Super Chargers by only one flag in one of the greatest IDL games of all time).<br /><br />[hr]<br /><br />What does this mean? Nothing at all really. Quite frankly Fastidious, you could be correct that the franchise system is bad for the IDL. [i]However[/i], the franchise system was designed to be a long term way of doing things rather than the short term. Only this season are we seeing some rules designed to support the long term life of the league take effect.<br /><br />Ultimately, to truly know if the franchise system is a success or not, I feel that it&#039;s worth running at least two more full seasons. If, at that point, it appears that the franchise system has done nothing to help the competitive nature of the league and to assert balance, then it may be time to go in a new direction.