Hard Cap Rule Change 2005-2006
Posted: February 10th, 2024, 3:11 pm
We are making the following change, as it pertains to the Hard Cap, starting this off-season:
Hard Cap Penalties only become enforceable during the start of each season. What this means: If you are over the Hard Cap during the off-season, you have until 24-hours after Training Camp is posted to officially get under. Because of this additional leeway, transactions that are intended to cause a team to duck under the Hard Cap must be FULLY EXECUTED by this deadline, with no exceptions (for example: a team trading an MLE on day-30 to get under the HC doesn’t suffice.... a transaction waiting on other trades that haven’t been executed would not suffice). Additionally, contract buyouts for the new league year may not start until after regular season sim 1, which prevents a team from circumventing the rules and buying out 4 players - two before tc, two right after - to duck the cap. During season, the Hard Cap rules remain the same: a team has the same 48-hours to duck the cap before the penalties are enforced.
Rationale: In real life, hard capped teams are allowed to be over the cap during the off-season and just need to be under the cap by the start of a new league year. We think this will reduce controversy and stress during the off season, since there will be less focus on continually monitoring the cap situations of teams. Also, selfishly, it will stop GMs from claiming preferential treatment when hard cap posts aren't made immediately after a team goes over
Hard Cap Penalties only become enforceable during the start of each season. What this means: If you are over the Hard Cap during the off-season, you have until 24-hours after Training Camp is posted to officially get under. Because of this additional leeway, transactions that are intended to cause a team to duck under the Hard Cap must be FULLY EXECUTED by this deadline, with no exceptions (for example: a team trading an MLE on day-30 to get under the HC doesn’t suffice.... a transaction waiting on other trades that haven’t been executed would not suffice). Additionally, contract buyouts for the new league year may not start until after regular season sim 1, which prevents a team from circumventing the rules and buying out 4 players - two before tc, two right after - to duck the cap. During season, the Hard Cap rules remain the same: a team has the same 48-hours to duck the cap before the penalties are enforced.
Rationale: In real life, hard capped teams are allowed to be over the cap during the off-season and just need to be under the cap by the start of a new league year. We think this will reduce controversy and stress during the off season, since there will be less focus on continually monitoring the cap situations of teams. Also, selfishly, it will stop GMs from claiming preferential treatment when hard cap posts aren't made immediately after a team goes over