[IBL] Commissioner's ruling on playoff roster changes (3.3.2)

[Sean Sweda]

Brent (GTY) recently pointed out a strange circumstance that arises from the combination of rule 3.3.1 which requires teams to submit a playoff roster at the conclusion of week 23, and rule 3.3.2 which allows teams to make roster changes between series.  Given the wording of 3.3.2, it could be interpreted that only the wild card winner would be allowed to make a playoff roster change, because the division winners were not technically "between series" by virtue of being idle.  Since Rusty has a team that is virtually guaranteed to win his division (jinx initiated) he has decided to recuse himself, and thus the responsibility for ruling falls to me as Vice-Commissioner.

The ruling is as follows:

I believe the intent of 3.3.2 is to give all playoff teams equal opportunity to adjust their roster.  In 3.3.2 the words "between series" do not necessarily require that both teams have played, and therefore it is a perfectly reasonable interpretation is that "between series" merely refers to the period of time between any two playoff series.  As a result, division winners will be allowed to make roster changes after the conclusion of the Wild Card series.

Furthermore, in response to this situation I am recommending that we pass a rule change for 2015 which eliminates the requirement for playoff rosters to be submitted at the conclusion of week 23.  Instead we should simply require teams to announce their post-season roster prior to their first playoff game.  Since we do not allow players to be added to IBL rosters from week 24 onward (except for emergency free agent signings), it's not clear to me whether we need to make any other adjustments.  Feel free to email me directly if you have any thoughts on the matter.

Sean