THE HISTORY OF ROSTER WARS

2012: THE ORIGINALS

After many months of construction and several more months of collaboration between Roster Wars President Andrew and owners Shawn (Colorado Screaming Eagles) and Matt (Minnesota Destroyers) the club opened it’s doors on January 1st, 2012. It took about three and half months to find our Original 24 owners.

The league started with an auction draft on April 29th, 2012 after which owners had to assign contracts to their players. The bylaw governing this initial auction were then stowed away since it was no longer pertinent to the league.

When the dust settled in December of 2012, our first champion was the Wyoming Headhunters.

The worst team throughout the regular season was the New Mexico Mad Clowns.

2013

During the January Owners Meeting of 2013, a key change that was made was how proposals themselves were to be approved. Going forward, when proposals required a vote it would now take 75% approval to pass a new rule instead of just a majority vote.  A NFL Confidence side pool game was adopted while a Fantasy Confidence Pool and Skins game were rejected.  The single elimination Survivor side game was voted to have double-elimination going forward.   Roster Wars President Andrew took sole control over whether a prospect was granted ownership in the club.

When the off-season was all said and done, four original league owners would be gone and replaced.  The New Berlin Blitzkrieg replaced the New Mexico Mad Clowns (who should have been PINK).  The Devils Tower Outlaws replaced the St. Louis Duffers.  The Baja Beatniks replaced the Omega City Legends.  The Kane County Goon Squad replaced the San Diego Killers.  Then almost immediately as the 2013 season got underway, the Colorado Screaming Eagles made the decision to leave the club for personal reasons.  We made the decision to have an owner from the other conference manage the team in the interim with any prize money earned being donated to our progressive pot until a proper new owner could be found.  Eventually a new owner, Steve, was given the abandoned team at no cost with the same terms of prize money being donated to the Progressive Pot until the conclusion of the 2013 season, at which time the team would officially be turned over to him.

At the end of 2013, the Chicago Crime Syndicate were crowned champions and the Decatur Demons, having won zero games all season had earned PINK for the next season.

2014

During the January Owners Meeting the owners penalties which had previously been decided based on dice rolls and multipliers was transformed into a fixed tiered system. All franchises also gained the ability to trade players with expired contracts at the conclusion of the season without restriction.

Before the 2014 season would get underway, we saw new owners to four franchises. The Cybertron Screamers replaced the New Berlin Blitzkrieg. The Vegas Beach Tiger Sharks replaced the Wyoming Headhunters. The Luxembourg Miners officially took over for the Colorado Screaming Eagles after having managed the team for most of 2013. The Naperville Divine replaced the Minnesota Destroyers.

When all was said and done, the Chicago Crime Syndicate had repeated as champions fueled by what many said were some terrible trades by owners no longer in the league.  The Las Vegas Degenerates were one of four teams that went 3-9 that season but as the one with the fewest points, had earned PINK for the next season.

2015

A contest run by the now-defunct Commishtalk.com officially voted Roster Wars the "Best Dynasty League in the World" after the owners of this club bombarded the website with entries and comments backing up the entry. This created a small boom of league friends and prospects and helped fuel the creation of Roster Wars Training Camp (RWTC) which was a redraft version of our main league.

The January Owners Meeting got the RFA period pushed back to April 1st from March 1st and thus the tag deadline was moved to March 31st to correspond. A Survey side game was added and a day of blind bidding was added right after our annual draft before the offseason FCFS period begins.

By the time 2015 would get underway, we would have five new owners, one of them a returning original owner (Shawn) and yet another owner would be replaced before the season would conclude. The Littleton Silverballers replaced the Vegas Beach Tiger Sharks. The Muskego Muskies replaced the Luxembourg Miners. The Morrison Minions replaced the Carolina Werewolves.

The California Nightmare replaced the Chicago Crime Syndicate. The question has often been asked why a two-time champion would exit a league so we'll just include the explanation here...as spelled out in our bylaws if the RWP determines that an owner’s presence is detrimental to the club they may be removed. Many attempts were made to solve an issue between two owners and this owner, having been the common denominator in several issues, was unwilling to make any adjustments so finally he was removed. The decision has never been regretted.

History was truly made as Roster Wars saw its first female owner and first group of co-owners all in one swoop as Carla and Brian brought the Kingdom City Growlers to replace the Utah Spazz.

Another first in 2015 was the dispersal draft held as two "new" owners in the Terrible Twelve opted to draft squads from the assets of the two open franchises. The two teams were the California Nightmare and the Morrison Minions.

When the 2015 season was completed, the England Dragons who had been dominant for years were finally crowned a champion.   After going just 2-10, the former Demons franchise (now named the Freakshow) had earned PINK for the second time.

2016

At the January Owners Meeting, an emphasis was put onto everyone contributing to the extent that it is now a requirement.  A detailed list of the offenses that will result in an owner penalty was formed and added to our bylaws.  Penalties went from a 2 year rolling calendar to a 1 year rolling calendar.  The Transition Tag was expanded from only including a second round pick option to having options for 3rd, 4th and 5th round pick versions.   A new tag was added to the options for restricted free agents, the Compensatory Tag (CT).  The ProBowl in Week 17 was also added to our league events.

By the time the 2016 season begins, we have 5 changes in ownership.  The Singapore Slings resigned and were replaced by the Bergen Brawlers.  The previously co-owned franchise, the Kingdom City Growlers were disbanded and the league decides it will no longer allow teams to be co-owned because there are too many sticky situations that can arise from it.  The Growlers team is turned over to Carla, who was hands down the most active of the two owners, and she renamed her team the Indiana Mayhem.  The Titletown Tyrants replaced the Cybertron Screamers.  The Oaktown Malosos replaced the Baja Beatniks who resigned abruptly.  The New England Nineties also resigned and the North Wales Knights took their spot.

When the dust settled on the 2016 season, the Whiskey Creek Gadabouts were our champions and the Las Vegas Degenerates had once again earned their way into the PINK shame for a year. They were named Dos Faces Degenitals.

2017

The January Owners Meeting was busy once again. The aim was to improve, yet simplify. Club Credits and the Warbucks for posts program were discontinued. The yearly Warbuck stipend was increased a bit to compensate for that change. Practice Squads were added to allow for more value to late round draft picks and give owners the ability to stash fringe players they liked. Progressive payout triggers for being a repeat or three-peat champion were removed. A progressive pot payout was added for Biggest Score in a loss all-time. Missed extra points were changed from a -2 to a -1 score. The deadline for paying a penalty was changed from "Fridays" to "5 days from the date issued". In Stage one of RFA, owners may not bid at all unless they are initiating auctions. Owners are no longer allowed to start an auction on their own player. A new Activity Tracker was put into place to rank owners on how they handle league business and we started the Roster Wars Minor League, which is a simplified version of the Big League to allow for new folks to get involved faster and to show what they have which will allow for the Big League to fill vacancies with the truly best candidates.

Since the conclusion of the 2016 season, three owners (Outlaws, Marauders and Minions) have resigned. The Freakshow have stepped away for health concerns as well and they hope to return in the future. The Nevada Nighthawks replaced the Outlaws. The Maple Grove Mean Machine replaced the Freakshow, the Rocky Mountain Oysters replaced the Morrison Minions, the Charm City Justice replaced the Mohawk Ridge Marauders and these three teams participated in a dispersal draft for the assets of those franchises.

In the end, Carla and her Indiana Mayhem bested us all ending with the Hamilton SteelCats to capture her first title. The California Nightmare, having gone 1-11 earned a tour in PINK and were renamed the GoldenShower State Wet Dreams.
 

2018

The year 2018 kicked off with a first for Roster Wars as all 24 Main League owners returned to start the season.  The newly implemented practice squad was a hot topic during the January Owner's Meeting as rules were tweaked to allow free promotion during the contract assignment period and a cost of 5WB was assigned to a Poaching Team giving a 1-year deal.  Proposals to expand the practice squad, remove the trading deadline and to allow suspended players to be placed on injured reserve were defeated.

The Minor League saw seven new owners and two dispersal drafts.  The Cyclone City Falcons, Coachella Tremors, CryptoTown Deliverers and Detroit Disco Lemonade joined the Promising Prospects Conference replacing the Faber College Mongols, MobTown Ravens, Valhalla Viktors and Andromeda Afterglow.  Meanwhile, the ToonTown Warlocks, Windy City Blitz and Las Vegas Juggalos joined the Rising Rookies Conference to replace the Kalamazoo Nukes, Carolina Werewolves and North Carolina Cobras.  A sudden departure of the Manhattan Beach Patriots after the dispersal drafts were concluded led to the Rising Rookies Conference also gaining the Florida Chaetomorpha as Main League owner Stylianos stepped up to take on the vacant franchise.

Dave of the Norfolk Bombers needed to step away from Roster Wars and Ben from the Minor Leagues stepped up to take on the newly vacant franchise which was renamed the Maplewood Dopplegangers.

When everything was all said and done, Ian and the Atlanta Africans were crowned champions.  In what is becoming an unsettling pattern, the Las Vegas Degenerates returned to PINK for the third time after going 2-10 and were renamed the Land o’ Ass Dongholsters.

2019

At the beginning of 2019, all main league owners who finished out the 2018 season returned.  

The Minor League saw the addition of three new owners as the Edinburgh Galacticos and Kansas City Kings resigned and made way for the Okinawa Bonsai and the Steel City Devils who participated in a dispersal draft.  

Ben, owner of both the Minor League and Major League Maplewood Dopplegangers agreed to relinquish control of his Minor League Dopplegangers to allow for the addition of the Thief River Unforgiven.  

The January owners meaning again involved some rousing discussion about potential rule changes and tweaks.  In the end, lineup requirements were changed to be more flexible and allow for up to five starters from all non-quarterback/kicker positions, a small change was made to off-season blind bidding to take into account MFL settings, a requirement for legal lineups being set by the kickoff of the Thursday games was added, the new side game of Roster Wars Eliminator was created, and after much spirited debate, a new compensation structure was created for tagged players which were lost.  The Minor League owners agreed to up their dues by $1 to allow for the addition of a Minor League History site as well.  Proposals to modify the picks required for bidding on a tagged player and to reduce the contract of NFL free agents were defeated.

Ian and the Atlanta Africans ended a dominant and record setting season with another championship. The Littleton Silverballers were the surprise PINK team after a disappointing 2-10 season in the Main League. The Minor League was won by the Windy City Blitz with the Polk High Panthers being the Minor League PINK with a 2-10 record. The end of the season also saw the resignation of Joe from the North Wales Knights. Matt and the Minor League Carolina Silverbacks were promoted to the main league. When Justin and the Minor League Mohawk Ridge Marauders needed to step away from RW again, his franchise became open, and in need of a new owner.

2020

2020 saw the addition of the Mike and the Gainesville Gators to the Minor League, taking the vacant Marauders franchise. During the owner’s meeting, RFA was restricted to an April only event by executive fiat (but without argument anyway), the longest win streak bonus was increased to 10% of the pot from 5%, the time needed to be a participant in RW in order to recoup your insurance money was decreased from five years to three years, RW President Andy agreed to email teams who need to make a call out during playoff times instead of just posting it on the board, bylaws were updated to ensure any minor league owner promoted would give up their minor league team when a new owner could be located, tiebreaker laws were updated, and Warbucks were added as a prize for Minor League side games. Proposals that did not pass for a variety of reasons included assessing a monetary fine for illegally signing an NFL free agent, removal of rule J.6 from the bylaws, and increasing compensation for a player poached from a taxi squad. Conference Captains were added to each of the four conferences to assist Andy as his life became busier outside of Roster Wars. Duncan and the California Paydirt briefly took over for the Florida Chaetmorphia but then Duncan disappeared and the Chaetmorphia reappeared, Mike of the Cryptotown Deliverers resigned and the franchise was replaced by Brian and the Tallahassee Storm. As everyone is aware, 2020 was a unique year as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world and on the NFL and fantasy football. Andy created some contingency plans just in case the season could not be completed.

Ian and the Atlanta Africans completed an undefeated season with a third straight title, this time beating the Kane County Goon Squad. It was not easy though as the championship game ended up seeing multiple records broken including the highest score ever by a team, highest score by a losing team, and most combined points ever scored in a single game. The Maple Grove Mean Machine finished the season at 1-11 and became the Main League PINK for 2021. The Minor League was won by the Steel City Devils with the Toontown Warlocks ending up as Minor League PINK. The end of the season saw the resignation of Jason of the Detroit Disco Lemonade and John of the Southside Spartans. The Main League also saw the departure of Russ and the Bergen Brawlers which was a RWP decision. Collin and the Tenefly Vipers were promoted to the Main League to fill that opening, leaving two openings in the Minor League.

2021

2021 looked like it would begin with all of the Main League Owners returning.  On the Minor League side, Dillon of the Okinawa Bonsai resigned, leaving three total openings in the Minor League as well as a few owners with teams in both leagues.  Additions were made of Nathan (Stellenbosch Saints), Paul (Australia Killer Koalas), Ford (North Austin Animals), Mike (London Legion), and Corbin (Michigan Mungmen).  Nathan, Paul, and Ford took the three openings while Mike took the place of the Minor League Florida Chaetmorphia, leaving Sty with just his Main League team. Corbin took the place of the Minor League Carolina Silverbacks, leaving Matt with just his Main League team.  Great owners just kept appearing and John (Motor City Malachi Crunch) took the place of the Minor League Tenafly Vipers, leaving Collin with just his Main League team. 

While all the owner changes were going on, the annual owner’s meeting was taking place.  The RWP clarified years assigned to a player poached/promoted in the off season, Bylaw T.6 was removed because no one could remember why it was there, the compensation required for a poached player if a future draft pick is used was increased by a round, the RWP disallowed poaching between the end of the season and January 1 to allow owners to make promotions for a few days without fear of a poach, and proposals to change who sets the pro bowl roster and requiring a trade offer for a poached player were rejected.  The RWP then wrote a novel somewhere around the length of War & Peace in which, among telling everyone to behave, he also changed the date of the contract roll back to “when the season ends -or- January 1st” from “when we have our new MFL site”, created RW committees to help make his life easier, removed the activity tracker, removed the “visit the forum at least once every three days rule”, instituted a rule that IR players must be activated within 72 hours of losing their designation on the MFL site, instituted a monetary fine for anyone who is fined WBs but does not have enough to pay, instituted a monetary fine for owners not reporting trade violations, instituted a new policy for promotions from the Minor League to the Main League that involved all Main League owners, created an interrogation group to welcome new potential owners, replacing himself in that role, instituted a voting process for adding new owners to the Minor League, reminded everyone that the goal is for owners to only have a Main League or a Minor League team, not both, and introduced Andy’s Workshop to allow owners to pay for new graphics/colors.

Before the season started, the RWP assigned new administrative roles to some owners and new committee roles to others, to help him manage the very time consuming job that is Roster Wars.  New great owners continued to come out of the wood work and Connie (East Tennessee Badgers) was welcomed into the Roster Wars family.  While initially there was no team for her to manage, Ford (North Austin Animals) did not make it to the season so Connie stepped right in.  Lastly, Sam and the Polk High Panthers were promoted to the Main League to replace Matt and the departing Carolina Silverbacks, who left abruptly right before Week 1 of the NFL season.

When the actual play began, COVID-19 continued to mess with both the NFL and RW.  A full season ended up occurring though, and when the dust settled, the Minnesota Eternals were the champions, defeating a very disappointed California Nightmares team in the Main League.  The Tarpon Springs Red Knights ended up as the sole 1-11 franchise, so they will be PINK for 2022.  On the Minor League side, the Windy City Blitz took home their second championship in three years, this time defeating the Coachella Tremors.  The St. Louis Duffers ended up with Minor League PINK. 

2022

2022 began with a very involved owners meeting.  A number of things were changed without the need for input from the peanut gallery including Andy clarifying that all rule change proposals must be submitted to him prior to January, Andy clarifying which methods he would accept for funding, changing the date the yearly allotment of Warbucks would be provided and contracts would be rolled back to January 1, changing the start of the free promotion for PS players from the end of the draft to the end of RFA, adding a rule to prevent owners from dropping 0 year players from January 1 through the end of RFA (even if they are an NFL FA), allowing PS players traded as a piece of a trade to remain on the PS, reducing the last call for RFA from seven days to three days, allowing players on the COVID IR to be placed on IR, assigning a one year contract to any PS player not actually placed on the PS by the owner prior to the contract deadline, adding a fine for contract lists that are not alphabetical by last name, and ending the Pick’em side game after week 16.  Then the conversations began.  First was a discussion about allowing people to offer better picks than required for tagged players.  The change was declined.  Next was a discussion about instituting a deadline for new Minor League owners, this also was declined.  Andy then wrote a novel about the direction of the club and required acknowledgement from everyone that it was read.  Unfortunately, not everyone met the minimum expectations and the club said goodbye to Chase and the Dark Carnival Juggalos, Leony and the Steel City Devils, and Frankie and the St. Louis Duffers.  Brian of the Tallahassee Storm also resigned during the Owner’s Meeting, leaving four openings in the Minor League.  One final change was made, adding a 5 WB weekly prize for winning a Minor League side game and 5 WB penalty for failing to participate in a Minor League side game.  The owner ranking ladder was released to the public to allow owners to know where they stand in the club.

Recruiting then commenced, attempting to fill the four openings in the Minor League.  Bill and the Buffalo Blizzard were the first to receive the invite.  Then Shawn and the Pacific Puffins (formerly Morrison Minions) came back (again!).  Next, Mike and the Illinois Gunslingers joined the ranks of the Minor League.  Finally, after a little drama, Shack and the Vegas Tiger Beach Sharks returned and filled the fourth and final spot.  A dispersal draft occurred with Shack, Bill, and Mike, while Shawn took over the remaining roster in the Rising Rookies.  A bit of a curveball happened when MFL decided to make some pretty radical position changes to IDP players and after a discussion, RW decided to move to “True Position” to attempt to minimize the drastic value changes that occurred for IDP players, seemingly at the whim of someone at MFL.  The Minor League saw one more change when Blake and the Denver Demons stepped away.  Nick of the Titletown Tyrants took over the team.  In August, Craig of the Naperville Divine resigned, leaving an opening in the Main League.  Ghoji of the Alaska Arsenic was promoted after discussion and voting by the Main League owners.

In terms of the actual fantasy football, Eric and the Kane County Goon Squad ran through the whole season undefeated and took home a well deserved championship for the Main League by defeating Jon and the England Dragons.  The Littleton Silverballers were atrocious and did not sniff a win all year, making them PINK for 2023.  In the Minor League, Old Matt and his Minor League version of the Philadelphia Pigskins took down Chris and the Coachella Tremors for his first Minor League championship.  Tyler and the Toontown Warlocks were the worst of the two 1-11 franchises, so they will be PINK for the Minor League in 2023.

2023

As 2023 began, the annual Roster Wars Owners Meeting took place.  The meeting was slightly less complicated than in previous years, but everyone still had plenty to talk about.  Releasing a 0-year player pre-RFA was added as an finable offense.   As the NFL extended its regular season to 17 games, the possibility of extending the Roster Wars season was discussed. Ultimately the decision was made to not extend the season.  The topic of promotion from the Minor League to the Main League was discussed and it was decided all owners should continue to have a vote, not only those that are in the conference of the departing owner.  MFL updated their pick ‘em code, so while a discussion about how to deal with the fact that people miss games occurred.  Ultimately the wording of the bylaw had to be tweaked a bit to account for MFL’s change.  Minor Leaguers had their career record added to their banners and all owners had their favorite NFL team added as well.  The Minor League also had the prize for their survey game updated to match the Main League.  The Minor Leaguers who are in the Chapter that wins the Pro Bowl will also be awarded 10WB in the future.  There was a proposal to update bylaw J.4 and allow owners to assign longer contract lengths than that proposed during a poach attempt.  This was ultimately rejected.  The RWP initially announced a change that he thought would reduce complaining about the pace of RFA, but after some discussion decided to retract the change.  The RWP reminded people about how to donate if desired for either a bowl game prize or for Roster Wars in general.  The most noticeable change then happened as the Minor League had its name changed to the Futures League after a vote.  After some debate and discussion it was decided that if two franchise owners wished to change conferences and swap franchises this would be allowed.  More on this in a bit!  After all of this, the RWP posted about the Final Topic, taking away the command structure that had been instituted a while ago that created Chapter Captains and other positions.  Andy remains the RWP, Nick the RWVP, and Carla the Commander, but other titles were removed.  He did create some other positions to help him make sure that things continued to run smoothly.  Turns out Andy lied, because after the Final Topic,  he brought up the topic of end of the year payouts. There was some concern that those who ended up finishing in worse positions were actually given a bigger monetary reward.  Specifically, the winner of the Loser’s Bracket won more than some people that made the Main Bracket.  There were some strong feelings on both sides of the argument and a number of people without a strong opinion.  When all was said and done, and after a vote, the payout structure was changed a bit to reduce the prize for the winner of the Loser’s Bracket and increase the number of teams winning money in the Main League.

Mark of the Maple Grove Mean Machine resigned, and after a vote, Bob of the Haddonfield Slashers was promoted from the Future’s League.  Prior to even getting control of his roster, he and Sty of the Tarpon Spring Redknights took advantage of the new roster swap rule and switched places.  Sty was welcomed into the TT and took over the roster of the Maple Grove Mean Machine and Bob was welcomed into the DD and took over the roster of the Tarpon Springs Redknights.  With Bob moving up to the Main League and a number of owners having franchises in both the Main League and the Futures League, recruitment of new potential owners was put back into focus.  Kenny and the Crystal Lake Counselors, Sal and the Riverbank Raiders, and David and the Dallas Spurs were all welcome into the Futures League after passing through interrogation.