INTRODUCTION

The Monopoly Progressive is the brainchild of long-time SIM baseball owner ctorriente.  After putting the idea and the basic rules up on the Progressive Theme League Forum, he had little trouble finding quality owners willing to step up to what promised to be a challenging and creative league.  Realizing he may not have the time to focus on the league, he turned the reins over to gumbercules, who gladly accepted the offer.   

The mission statement of the Monopoly progressive is to be a competitive yet fun league for all involved and to be the best progressive league in all of WIS for the 12 seasons (2000-2011) of the league's existence.

After the initial draft has concluded (all bidding has stopped on all units and all owners have filled their units either via the auction draft or the bankruptcy draft), a 2-round supplemental draft will occur.  This draft will begin no less than 24 hours and no more than 72 hours after the conclusion of the initial draft.  The commisioner will provide an official list of the available players in a forum for all owners to see.  All players who have yet to be claimed in either the auction draft or the bankruptcy draft are available for the supplemental draft.  In this draft, owners will draft individual players (not units).  The order will be determined by the amount of money each owner has left, with the owner with the highest remaining balance picking first.  Owners who have declared bankruptcy will pick in the same order as in the bankruptcy draft.   Exceptions to these rules:

1.  Regardless of the balance remaining, no owner who has declared bankruptcy will pick before any owner who has not declared bankruptcy. 
2.  In case two owners who are not bankrupt have the same balance, the owner who filled his/her 5 units first will win the tiebreaker.

After the supplemental draft, there will still be players who have not been drafted.  Any player who has still not been claimed at this point is available for auction (post-supplemental draft auctions).  There is no obligation for an owner to bid on a player at this point.  If an owner wishes to bid on an available player, he/she must do so within 24 hours of the close of the supplemental draft.  The minimum bid on a player for the post-supplemental draft auctions is 1 million and raises must be in increments of 1 million.  If there is no raise of a bid on a player within 24 hours, the auction on that player is closed and will be awarded to the highest bidder if the bid is legal.  If there are no bids on any of these players within 24 hours of the supplemental draft, these players go unclaimed.  As soon as ALL open  auctions are closed, the post-supplemental draft portion is considered to be over. 

An owner may not bid more money than he/she has.  Bankrupt owners with a balance remaining may bid up to the amount they have left.

Each owner holds the rights to every player he/she has been awarded through the initial draft, bankruptcy draft (if applicable), supplemental draft, and post -supplemental auctions at the inception of the league.

Of the players to whom an owner owns the rights, he/she must select a 25-man legal WIS roster (i.e. no more than 13 pitchers) to be placed on his/her ML team.  If an owner has fewer than 25 players, he/she must select players from the pool of players still available in order to form a legal 25-man roster.  Selections must be submitted to the commisioner and will be granted on a first-come, first-serve basis.  

If an owner has more than 25 players, he/she may place up to 6 hitters and 2 pitchers in AAA.  The league will NOT assign any AAA players to a team; all AAA players in this league will have their rights held by an owner (see above) prior to the start of a season.  Players may move without limit between the ML roster and the AAA roster (save for the WIS rule of a player sent down to AAA needing to stay there for three games) prior to the transaction deadline (160-game mark). 

If an owner has more than 33 players, any player not designated on the ML roster or the AAA roster will be placed on the Injured Reserve (IR) list.  An owner holds the rights to any player on his/her IR list, although the player cannot play for that owner during the season.  A player may be traded while on IR.  If a player is traded while on IR, that player may become active if the new owner has enough room on his/her roster.  The player for whom he was traded MUST go on IR for his new team. 

All rosters will be checked by the commisioner prior to the start of league play.

There will be no access to the WIS waiver wire.

There is no salary cap on WIS salaries for individual players. 

The term "Trade" includes buying and selling of players as well as swapping of players.  There is a forum thread set up for trades and trade talk. 

During the season, only player swaps may take place- players cannot be bought /sold and money may not be included in a player swap.  An in-season trade should be conducted using the WIS trade screen from the GM menu, not the forums.  All trades in-season will be subject to the normal WIS veto process.  See the rules labeled "Rosters" for the rules regarding trades made with a player on IR involved. 

During the offseason, players may be bought/sold and cash may be included in a player trade.  Offseason trades must be posted in the trade forum and confirmed by both parties in order to be valid.  After both parties confirm, the trade will be completed after 24 hours (to allow the league time to review the trade) unless the league can show reason as to why the trade should not be completed.  All arguments as to why a trade should not be allowed to go through should be directed to the commissioner.  It is within the commissioner's discretion to decide whether a stated reason is indeed valid and how many votes to veto a trade is enough to stop a deal from proceeding. 

The alignment for the first season will be set at random.  There will be no DH in either league for the 2000 season. 

Alignment for each season after 2000 will be set according to the money in each owner's bank account.  The 12 teams with the most money at the end of the preceding season (before off-season transactions) will be placed in the AL, and the 12 teams with the least amount of money will be placed in the NL.  The divisions will be set serpentine-style according to each owner's rank.  For example, the AL East will consist of the teams that are 1st, 6th, 7th, and 12th on the money list.  The AL Central would consist of the teams that are 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 11th on the money list.  The AL West will consist of the teams that are 3rd, 4th, 9th, and 10th on the money list.  The NL will be seeded similarly. 

For all seasons past the 2000 season, the DH will be used in the AL and will not be used in the NL. 

After each season, income will be distributed to owners (see Income above) and alignment will be determined (see Alignment above).  

Rosters for the next season must be set prior to the rookie auctions (see below).  There is no limit to the amount of players an owner can keep.  The first 20 players kept on a roster from one season to the next will cost an owner 1 million dollars each.  Any additional player kept after the first 20 will cost an owner 3 million dollars each.  Players to whom an owner has the rights but does not have a WIS season listed for the upcoming season must be placed on IR.  Any player placed on IR for this reason does not count as a keeper and there is no cost associated with putting the aforementioned player on IR. 

Once rosters are set, the rookie auctions start.  The schedule will be released prior to the start of the rookie auctions.  On each day of the rookie draft, two rookies (one position player and one pitcher) will be made available every two hours, starting at 10 A.M. and ending at 10 P.M. eastern time.  The rookies will be made available for bidding in the order of their WIS listed salary for the upcoming season, with the highest salaried rookies being made available first.  If all members of one group (position players or pitchers) are made available and the other group has players remaining, the auction house may release two members of the same group at the same time.  This will occur until all rookies have been made available for bidding.  The minimum pening bid on all rookies is 1 million dollars and raises must be made in increments of 1 million dollars.   A player becomes property of the highest bidder if there is no raise of the highest bid within 24 hours, provided the highest bid is valid (with one exception- see the next paragraph). 

After the last rookies have been released for bidding for exactly 24 hours, all players that were not kept on a roster from the previous season as well as any player not drafted in previous seasons will become available for bidding.  The minimum opening bid on these players in 1 million dollars and raises must be made in increments of 1 million dollars.  A player becomes property of the highest bidder if there is no raise of the highest bid within 12 hours, provided the highest bid is valid.  At this point, any auction continuing from the rookie auctions ends if there is no raise within 12 hours of the last bid (instead of 24).  

All rosters at this point must be a legal WIS roster, containing at least 25 players.  If an owner spends more money than is in his/her bank account, he/she loses the player gained in the auction that caused him/her to go over the limit.  In addition, this owner will be fined 5 million, to be taken out of the next season's income.  The aforementioned auction is then won by the next highest bidder, provided this person accepts the win (he/she may decline) and the owner has enough left in the bank to cover the amount of the bid.  If this owner declines, the process will continue until the player is claimed by someone.  If this process does not provide a team for the player, the player is a free-agent, available to be bid upon next season. 

All funds remaining for an owner after this process carry over to future seasons.

The owner with the most money in his/her bank account after the 2011 season will be determined to be the winner of the league. 

Each owner will contribute a $10 GC to a league pot.  The winner of the league will receive the entire league pot (with one exception). 

Should the commisioner win the league, he will receive all GCs contributed from the 24 owners.  However, he is ineligible to receive GCs contributed from WIS (which could very well happen).  In this case, all the GCs contributed from WIS will go to the second place owner (the owner with the second highest cash total after 2011).