IHOF Owners Committee

[cuervo72]

Ok....this has been brought up in another thread, but I figured I'd devote a separate thread for discussion. The issue: the establishment of an Owners Committee (OC) to streamline league decisions without putting the honus entirely on the commish (who doesn't have a dog in the fight not being an owner).

Vince listed a couple of viable options, and I'll add another to the list for consideration. In all circumstances the OC will include the commish.

1. An OC consisting of 2 league presidents
2. An OC consisting of 8 owners, one representing each division
3. A group consisting of 4, 6 or 8 owners of high standing with no regards to divisional/conference affiliations

Other plans to be brought up for discussion are encouraged.

[QuikSand]

Please don't receive my lack of interest in all the escalating bureaucracy-building here as a sign of lack of interest in the league itself. I'm plenty interested in playing... but I deal with bureaucracy and paperwork and technicalities and committees and amendments all day for a living. I'd rather not do it here, as well.

Any sort of governance structure suits me just fine, and I'll live with any consequences that come from it.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Please don't receive my lack of interest in all the escalating bureaucracy-building here as a sign of lack of interest in the league itself. I'm plenty interested in playing... but I deal with bureaucracy and paperwork and technicalities and committees and amendments all day for a living. I'd rather not do it here, as well.

Any sort of governance structure suits me just fine, and I'll live with any consequences that come from it.

No, I know it's not because of a lack of interest. I'd just like to hash out what we can. I would see an OC as being a mechanism for dealing with the technicalities of the league without having to involve those (like yourself) who don't really wish to be bogged down by them.

And that post wasn't specificaly directed your way - I saw Celeval, albion and Bee bumping around in the thread too.


edit: If it's deemed by the owners that such a committee isn't needed at all, that's a valid course too.

[Bee]

I don't bump.

[Kodos]

I think having fewer people involved is better than having more. Maybe something with 3 people to avoid tied votes, but that can still function if one guy isn't available at a given time.

[cuervo72]

Valid point. I don't know if 5 would be that much more unruly than 3 though.

Actually I've been thinking about this, and I'm not even certain now if the commish should really be on the committee or not, considering it is an owners committee. I haven't asked VV, but he might not be comfortable voting on some of these issues. So maybe one from each conference and a wildcard?

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Valid point. I don't know if 5 would be that much more unruly than 3 though.

Actually I've been thinking about this, and I'm not even certain now if the commish should really be on the committee or not, considering it is an owners committee. I haven't asked VV, but he might not be comfortable voting on some of these issues. So maybe one from each conference and a wildcard?

It can be an "executive committe" or something. Regardless, I think Vegas Vic should have a role in shaping the league/voting on issues. That's the role of the commish.

I nominate SkyDog as 1 of these people under any circumstance.

We need to get this done so that the committee can get things moving. I believe established some sort of committee ASAP will save the league lots of time in the long run.

[cuervo72]

Either way is good to me. And I will second SkyDog, if he is interested.

Really there are a number of good candidates, its a matter of finding those who would want to be part of the committee. Quik has taken himself out of consideration. You've been pretty good nudging things along, and there are a number of members of the league who have multiplayer backgrounds whose experiences could be particularly valuable.

[Ben E Lou]

I'd rather see Vic ask for input, then just make a decision. To me, that's what a commish is for. Having one person making the decision after asking for input is the best way to streamline things, imho.

[cuervo72]

Then we'll have to work that out with the commish, and officially bestow such power upon him:

Originally posted by Vegas Vic
I'm going to stay out of this, as I do not believe it's in my purview to select someone else. As I stated earlier, it will be up to the other 31 members to select a replacement.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Then we'll have to work that out with the commish, and officially bestow such power upon him:

Yeah. I saw that, and to be honest it troubled me a bit. When I voted to make him commish, in my mind I was subjecting myself to him being the final authority in league decisions, in the interest of making things happen more expeditiously. My suggestion is that he gets input for items he deems small-to-medium importantce, takes polls for items he deems high importance, and just make a call for the least important stuff.

[Vince]

I agree with Kodos on this one...having a rep from each division and then a wildcard would probably be a bit unwieldy. I think 5 would be the perfect number, and it would be really nice if Vegas Vic could be a part of this. I'm thinking that he didn't want to be the decision making factor on who is in or out because he doesn't have to play with them, and he wants to make sure that it's someone we would like to have in the league.

[cuervo72]

That's true Vince, this is probably the biggest kind of issue that would come up, that of ownership.

[Celeval]

I'm willing to rely on the commissioner alone, or a group... I'm with QS, whatever is decided I'm cool with.

[Anthony]

there is absolutely no need for an "OC". this is what happens when there's a big wait for something to get started - people take it upon themselves to create "issues" that need to be resolved.

i'm sorry, but the very reason why we have Vic as our commish is to have an unbiased authority not directly tied to the league by way of a team, and to have someone who could give full concentration to the role, handling the daily chores and not also have to operate a team at the same time. that was the entire reason. now you're making up this "phantom" issue where he won't have much clout because he doesn't have a team? ugh!

just stop. i've seen a 2-commish approach work (usually when both commish's are also owners in the league, which prevents dirty work from getting done), but i've never seen a commish PLUS several other people.

this is an important league (whenever it gets started) due to the nature of the owners involved, but no need to turn this into Ken Star's Team in the Clinton/Lewinksy scandal. this is just plain silly.

to be honest, i'm growing tired of these "semi-official threads" started by anyone with a team. i'd much prefer to see people go through Vic, have him decide if it's a worthy topic for the league, and have him introduce it. i know we're all excited and all, but i don't feel the need to give my two cents for every poll or whatehaveyou just cuz some people are overanxious or over-excited and want to give the appearance that there's something to do.

i vote for just one commish with no team, he shapes the league in his image, and he sets all procedure as he see's fit.

[cuervo72]

Ok then HA, I'll cease and desist. I'll let Vic run the show.

That said, I wouldn't mind nailing down who is going to run the 32nd team sometime before we actually begin simming.

[Anthony]

i thought it was between Alf, 3ric and Chubby (who has yet to pop his head in the forum).

and i didn't mean to chew your head off cuervo - you've been a huge asset to the league thus far.

[Daimyo]

The FOBL started off with a 9 member Board of Governers consisting of the commish, two league presidents, and six division representives. It might have been okay in the beginning, but eventually it just got in the way of getting stuff done i think. Now we still have a Board of Governers, but it is only 3 people: the commish and two league presidents. I think this works perfectly.

In the end most decisions lie with the commish, but I believe the presidents can overrule if they both vote to do so (I can't imagine that ever happened in the FOBL though).

Commishing a league of this size is a huge job and having the two presidents (ie, backup commisioners) really helps take a load off the commish and keep things going smoothly. Instead of just a single point of failure you have built in redundancy.

If this league is going to be as successful as I hope it will be I don't think we should put ourselves in a position to be so dependent on one person, no matter how trustworthy and reliable they are.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Hell Atlantic
there is absolutely no need for an "OC". this is what happens when there's a big wait for something to get started - people take it upon themselves to create "issues" that need to be resolved.

i'm sorry, but the very reason why we have Vic as our commish is to have an unbiased authority not directly tied to the league by way of a team, and to have someone who could give full concentration to the role, handling the daily chores and not also have to operate a team at the same time. that was the entire reason. now you're making up this "phantom" issue where he won't have much clout because he doesn't have a team? ugh!

just stop. i've seen a 2-commish approach work (usually when both commish's are also owners in the league, which prevents dirty work from getting done), but i've never seen a commish PLUS several other people.

this is an important league (whenever it gets started) due to the nature of the owners involved, but no need to turn this into Ken Star's Team in the Clinton/Lewinksy scandal. this is just plain silly.

to be honest, i'm growing tired of these "semi-official threads" started by anyone with a team. i'd much prefer to see people go through Vic, have him decide if it's a worthy topic for the league, and have him introduce it. i know we're all excited and all, but i don't feel the need to give my two cents for every poll or whatehaveyou just cuz some people are overanxious or over-excited and want to give the appearance that there's something to do.

i vote for just one commish with no team, he shapes the league in his image, and he sets all procedure as he see's fit.

This Week's Sign That The Apocalypse Is Upon Us:

Hell Atlantic and SkyDog have agreed on several different issues lately. Scary.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by Hell Atlantic
i thought it was between Alf, 3ric and Chubby (who has yet to pop his head in the forum).

and i didn't mean to chew your head off cuervo - you've been a huge asset to the league thus far.

Good - I wouldn't want to have to put Mighty Mouse on your helmet. Or Bananaman. Or one of the Mighty Heroes.

As for the owner, it does look like it will be Alf, as he has expressed interest that Chubby hasn't (to my knowledge), and 3ric has already deferred to Alf as he is in another league.

I suppose I am a little impatient, but part of the fun in this for me is actually building the league rather than it just turning into another simulation. And I'd prefer it if we came up with and settled any issues before we kick off. Now it may turn out that there aren't any major issues, but it can't hurt to have some rules or contingency plans in place. Or even some of the basics - how often we sim, what happens when owners can't submit game plans, what happens when owners drop out or fail to participate and need to be removed, etc. Some of the issues aren't pleasant, but we should think about them nonetheless.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by cuervo72
I suppose I am a little impatient, but part of the fun in this for me is actually building the league rather than it just turning into another simulation. And I'd prefer it if we came up with and settled any issues before we kick off. Now it may turn out that there aren't any major issues, but it can't hurt to have some rules or contingency plans in place. Or even some of the basics - how often we sim, what happens when owners can't submit game plans, what happens when owners drop out or fail to participate and need to be removed, etc. Some of the issues aren't pleasant, but we should think about them nonetheless.

You echo my sentiments 100%.

[Buccaneer]

One word: Constitution

Get one in place (or at least started), have 2/3 of the members ratify it and have in place any official rules and amendments to be discussed and voted on.

I am very comfortable with a single commissioner, not as a dictator but as a final authority, ombudsman and arbitrator.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
One word: Constitution

Yes.

[Alf]

From the Ryan S is out thread :

Originally posted by Vegas Vic
Alf will be the 32nd member of the league.

Welcome aboard.

Thanks ! Time to move to the Frequent Flyers Division !

[Subby]

In another thread I mentioned the first thing we have to do is vote on and ratify a constitution. We can't make any other league-based decisions until them. From the constitution comes governance structure. An established governance structure is one of the foundations of a strong league.

For that reason I would strongly encourage us to have an executive board comprised of the Commish and two league presidents.