Hello once again to all fellow managers who have taken this interesting, yet pretty challenging road!
I wonder if it's a good idea to throw out a thought here in the forum that I haven't yet given a thorough thought and consideration... But since I became homegrown, it became quite obvious to me that there is some additional challenge (which is what most of us are after, so of course it's not a bad thing overall) in terms of reaching the success that most of us would like to achieve in BB sooner or later. And it made me think there's supposed to be some kind of separate league for homegrown teams only. Now that I've thought of it, a scrimmage system that we nowadays have in BB would make it possible to let anyone (who qualifies) to participate in that league without paying for a supporter package. I don't have a supporter so creating/participating in a private league isn't an option - I suppose that's the case with many other homegrown teams as well.
It seems that currently we have 37 homegrown teams (at least that was situation 21.8.2024), which is surprisingly little amount as someone mentioned here in the forums.
As far as how league(s) would be formed, is another discussion/debate, but of course there are multiple options and maybe it could be formed of two quite "typical type" of BB leagues, of 16 or maybe 18 teams per league (or a lot less depending on how many would like to participate in this kind of special homegrown league, if any) and then winners of both 16/18 team leagues would play the ultimate homegrown teams final.
Or it could be more typical type of league structure, say main league and 2 divisions with 12 teams each (for example 8 per league would qualify for playoffs in each league/division), and promotions/demotions between leagues would take place each season.
Or then we could take an approach of international basketball competitions and form groups of, say 4-6 teams, with home and away matches against each opponent and maybe 1-3 best from each of those groups would qualify for playoffs.
As far as playoffs go, personally I would strongly suggest one and done-format (winning keeps you going, losing starts your summer holidays) with a neutral court setting (which is luckily available when organizing a scrimmage matches), as that would create more possible surprise results and add a welcoming drama to the playoffs.
And as it wouldn't be an official league, scrimmage matches would need to be organized by participating teams (potentially problematic if some teams wouldn't remember to do it or withdraw from the league in a midst of a season), and league tables wouldn't update themselves so I guess league tables would need to be updated manually and sent to BB forums after each weeks matches. (Who would take on this job is again another discussion - as you might be able to tell, I'd be interested in this kind of "private homegrown scrimmage league" but as of right now, I'm not sure I'd have time to be the record keeper/organizer, but I'll let you guys know if that changes).
In terms of teams qualifying to play in that league, I personally like LOPO_'s (manager who updates this list of homegrown teams) take on it - teams only qualify, if they have only players in their team that they have drafted at some point in teams' history or if they've been a part of a clubs original roster.
Please feel free to add your thoughts and ideas, maybe we are able to create something great if we plan it out together, and find many enough managers to participate... I've always felt that I want to play in an even field so to speak, as in most league matches you're faced with teams who have an edge over you that has been acquired because of money they've had, not necessarily because they've drafted and trained their players better.
(And if you have any urgent messages directly to me, please send me a private message as I don't typically check this forum out even weekly).
-Wagner