[EricH]

I know that I do my best to have the same number of people in each tier when running a draft. Having the same number of people in each tier in every draft is well-nigh impossible.

We did used to run where players X, Y, and Z could expect to be all in the same tier, given the same number of tiers. It was determined that more people seemed to like completely random, so that was switched to. (Something about always getting stuck with Barry or Kevin in your tier being, well, annoying, to say the least.) The main reason the tiers changed size was that people dropped out. Some tiers were decimated due to the first 5 drops randomly winding up there.

We've had the promotion/demotion idea proposed before. Ed declined it, saying that if someone wanted to run it that way, then they could start their own league.

The idea with the waivers is that, whenever somebody drops or a new team is detected in the list, any teams affected would go on waivers, with waiver priority given to lower-ranked players (higher on the priority list) and the addition announced.

To address your issues with the waiver idea:

1) If you want to make multiple claims before a waiver period expires, go right ahead and specify which one is to get priority. Let's say that 1114 enters Los Angeles and 67 enters Arizona later the same day. You claim both, and I claim both, but you specify that 67 is to take priority and I specify 1114 as top priority. As long as the waiver period has not expired for team X when team Y is claimed, if Y is specified as a priority, then Y would go to you instead of X.

2) Pretty much. That's a problem? If they're any good, somebody farther up the list will claim them. (Look, if 1114 passes through an entire waiver period without being claimed except by the person on the bottom of the priority chain, then that person deserves to get them, because nobody else is awake!)

Two people in different tiers grabbing the same incoming team: maintain current list order would work pretty well.

I was thinking that any teams dropped as a result of waiver trades should also go on waivers, but free-agent (pool) trades would be pretty much unregulated, the same as previously. Specify the waiver trade team (i.e., 67, 111, 16 are your alliance in Midwest, and 1114 becomes available, you specify that you'd ditch 111 to pick up 1114).

As for who would run the waivers, Kevin has volunteered, and I can assist as well (hey, I'm the guy who's always looking for missing teams, why not add new teams?).

Two things to remember: 1) any teams not claimed off waiver go into the pool.

2) Unless and until Ed says to go for it, all the talk we're having is merely speculation.