I think that there may be some questions relating to our fee structure fix on 12/26/12, and I wanted to breakout the reason we made the switch now rather than later.

When we launched, Tim and I brainstormed how we could deliver a quality league that put the emphasis on competition and away from money. A league designed to deliver the # of games promised by reducing forfeits. Obviously it's  tall order, but we thought it was approachable. Initially, we thought that if we had all teams pay everything up front...teams entering the season were past the monetary obligation and could focus solely on fielding a team each week for baseball. What we see now are managers with a 3-13 record late in the season with no playoff hopes, opting to forfeit rather than play to save themselves umpire fees. The backlash is the opponent loses the opportunity to play a game they were promised when they signed up. By paying everything up front, there are no savings potential for those teams... so why not show up and play the game that day, it's paid for already. That was what we launced with, that mindset.

While we went ahead with that approach, it was brought to our attention something we had not considered before. "What if a team forfeits a game, does the opponent get a credit of some sort since they technically paid for umpires in the pre-season league fee?" So this created a dilemma for us to consider. The other issue we were seeing was that the initial up front fee may be too expensive for some teams to pay prior to a season starts.

We decided to scale it back, remove the umpire costs to highlight our true "league fee" for teams doing comparisons... but also incorporating an additional $250 Forfeit Bond that teams must pay prior to the season's start. This bond sits in escrow, and protects against a team forfeiting during the regular season. In the event that a team forfeits, they surrender their bond in full to the league. Their bond would be used to "compensate" the opponent for league fees paid towards that game (s). In addition, any umpire fees would be the responsibility of the forfeiting team... if that makes sense. It may come across as a somewhat strict approach, but let's face it, nobody wants to accept a forfeit. Since the bond is fully refundable at seasons end, we thought it was a minor request in the scheme of things, which also allowed flexibility for teams to raise umpire fees at a later time... reducing the upfront financial commitment.

The bottom line: Spring entry for a team with a home field is $1,600 + Refundable $250 Bond. That fee includes everything BUT umpires for the regular season. If you are a team without a field, then it increases to $1,900 + Refundable $250 Bond.

When you compare us, please consider the benefits we are offering which include stadium all star game, professionally enhanced league website and team sites, enhanced trophies, mobile technology and much more.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Tim or myself.

-Mazz