Congrats to the Hornets on a fantastic win, certainly starting to like Washington and the Hornets (still not beating out the Blue Ox), but they got my respect. And I love the Banner!

Thank you for all the nice comments on the Champions Bowl and the new banner. I'll continue to implement it into future seasons!

Speaking of implementing new things into the series... Here’s the first part of this summer’s offseason!


What’s the Coffee Rule? The Bulldogs and the Route to Atlanta

Going into last season, the Bulldogs, more specifically their owner: Jim Crain, had spent the last year and a half mulling over and publicly complaining about their home, Chesapeake Bay Stadium, and the city’s noncompliance to fulfill his requests to build the team a new one. While it may seem like a black and white issue, both sides have valid reasoning. Bay Stadium as it’s nicknamed, while not in the worst condition, is a poorly kept relic of the 40’s that is the smallest stadium in the league, needing renovation or replacement. However, Crain’s demands aren’t really achievable, leaving the city in a tough spot. Crain’s most current demand is a near $30 million dollar multi purpose stadium to be paid for 100% by the city. As time’s gone on he’s only gotten more adamant he gets it the way he wants, despite the city finally opening up for compromise last summer. 
So now we travel to last season when Crain finally found a suitable business partner for his plans. Ford Casey is a millionaire from Atlanta who had a smaller role in the former SFL and who knows his way around football. Casey’s deal was much more compelling than any other options because Casey has offered to completely privately fund the building of the new stadium, only if Crain were to move the team to Atlanta and offer up a percentage of the ownership. Crain, despite actively ruining his relationship with the city, grew up the son of the Bulldogs founder and wants to keep the team in the city he grew up in. He was also greedy enough to try to keep complete ownership of the team. On top of all that, he’s convinced himself that he can have his cake and eat it too, building the state of the art stadium in Baltimore and have to not pay for it, which is what’s made this whole fiasco go on for 2 years. Crain and Casey did however finally see eye to eye last season and Crain briefed the idea of relocating the team to Atlanta to the owners, citing that the deal would be a good investment for the league. Whether or not that was true didn’t matter when Crain finally decided that he was going to accept Casey’s deal and bring the team 685 miles south to Atlanta. This brought upon an owners meeting where the owners just barely passed a vote to activate the Coffee Rule in a 11-9 vote. 
The Coffee Rule was added in 1965 after the original Pittsburgh Ironmen’s owner Joseph Coffee sold the team to a buyer from Milwaukee and he relocated the team there not long after. This relocation wasn’t actually rejected by the league in the end. But many owners said they didn’t think it was the best decision for the league, losing one of it’s key markets for a much more mediocre one.
It was eventually created the next year by the owners to prevent something similar from happening again. Or to just add more chances to prevent the relocation of teams that the league didn’t approve of. If the league decides to activate the Coffee Rule, like they did last season, the decision of whether or not the relocation happens passes onto the relocation council before heading back to the owners, who perform several votes on whether or not to relocate the team. It’s presumed that whatever the relocation council decides becomes a deciding factor in whether or not the team does relocate. The relocation council is a new board of officials, similar to an expansion council that votes on whether or not the team should relocate. 
The owners cited that despite the promising nature of the stadium, which would be one of the nicest in the league, the Bulldogs already have a low attendance rating, the lowest in the league last season, and relocating to a city where a football team already failed was a recipe for disaster. This was the reason they activated the Coffee Rule. 
Commissioner Cherry announced at the end of the season that the relocation council vote was to be held in February whether or not the Bulldogs would relocate. If the relocation eventually passes, Crain and Casey go along with the deal and the Bulldogs most likely are going to start the 1969-70 season in Atlanta. If it doesn’t then Crain and Casey have an opportunity to look back at their offer and make it better. Then the owners would decide whether or not to activate the Coffee Rule. If they do the cycle continues all over again until either side concedes.

Now, a fourth wall break. Since all of that is explained now, I just wanted to reassure you that yes, this is an expansion council type situation. The decision is more or less in your hands. Whether or not this is a bad idea we’ll find out later, but I wanted to try it out.
Originally I wanted to do this with Pittsburgh but I couldn’t make it work out, so I’m trying it now. If you have any questions please let me know.  Do not vote yet, my next post will be the actual relocation council post, where I’ll explain how to vote and everything. Hopefully y’all like this, it’s a bit different but the expansion councils always go over well. 

Also, this won’t be a permanent feature for all relocations. So don’t always expect it to happen if a team talks about relocation.

C&C as always, is appreciated!

Nice!  This is a pretty cool idea!  Cant wait to see how this plays out!

Priest Danries
San Francisco Whales
Yes
Fans aren't happy, the ownership isn't happy, time for a new change in pace.

Name: Miguel Burgos
Favorite Team: Whales
Should the Bulldogs Relocate?: No
Your Reasoning Why: Crain should instead sell the team if he doesn't get anywhere with his stadium push. Moving the team out of Baltimore could do irreparable harm to that market's appetite for the game.