SPORTS: New Rules for Baseball

All major sports in the United States are seeing their audience shares decline. Even the mighty NFL. Major League Baseball has had its share of problems for some time. So here are some new rules that could be adopted to create a new league based on the "time-tested" Flotarian major leagues...

Here's how we roll in Flotaria. I'm calling it the USBL. Let me know if you wish to be an investor...

The United States Baseball League will be a fast and furious fan-friendly form of baseball using a point system and lasting only 7 innings.

USBL rules are the same as MLB rules except for the following:

Hits: Any batter who reaches base scores 1 point for their team.
This includes walks and being hit by a pitch.
Batter must give pitcher room. Umpire can award a strike if batter is ruled intentionally trying to be hit by a pitch.

Runs: Any player reaching home is awarded 3 additional points.

This means a Home Run is worth 4 total points.

Game Length: Regulation game length is 7 Innings long with a “5th Inning Stretch”.

Pitching Clock: Pitcher will have 20 seconds to throw each pitch from the time the batter enters the batter’s box.
Clock resets each time the batter steps out of the batter’s box.
Violations of this rule result in a Ball.

League Ownership will be community and fan-based. Ownership will be sold to individuals on a per share basis however individuals will be limited to the number of shares they can own.
Initial share offerings will be to individuals who reside within major media markets of each home team. Only after a specified period of time will shares be offered to individuals outside these media markets.
Ownership will confer voting rights on all owners. Owners will be able to vote on General Manager candidates as well as Team President.
Owners shall be able to run for the Board of Directors which shall nominate the GM and President candidates to the owners for election. At least three candidates must be chosen for each position anytime a vacancy occurs.
Share ownership shall not pay dividends to owners.
Share ownership shall not confer season tickets, however season tickets will come at a 10% discounted rate to all owners.

Player Salaries and Roster Requirements: All players will be represented by their own Players Union.

A salary cap will be set for all teams by negotiation between Player Union and Team representatives.

The cap will have an automatic increase for each year by a percentage agreed upon by the Salary Cap negotiating teams, to be reviewed every five years.

All changes to this Constitution require unanimous vote of the Board of Directors and 2/3 majority of all voting Owners.



I welcome your comments.