FIFA 14...Who wants a mustache ride?!?!?!

Welcome to the launch of the FIFA 14 cycle on the Xbox side here at Tradition Sports.

I am really excited for the launch of this season as it marks the end of another successful release of FIFA and everyone getting rejuvenated for another run of seasons. Below, I will detail the changes and setup we will be running this release.

1) Where is the TFL going?

The number one goal of the TFL is to continue to make FIFA as open to everyone as possible. Over the past few seasons, the league has lost sight of this mission and it is time to get it back on track.

I have been in contact with RedAL925 and discussing with him the success that he has seen on the PS3 side of things. I feel as though a lot of what they have done over there is growing FIFA and we would be well served to adopt some of there core values.

2) Moving back to semi.

I know for many this could be a deal breaker. For some, they won't care. For others, this will be a move that makes FIFA much more open to them. This will always be something that is super polarizing to our community but in order for us to open up FIFA to a larger part of the community. Over the past two seasons, I have received messages from a number of people that have dropped due to the frustration that comes with manual control. I have had numerous members that were high quality members that we were lucky to have quit because the gap between those that have manual down, and those that do not just cannot compete. The move to semi will leave the top tier players at the top, but will remove some of that gap between them and those at the bottom.

3) Promotion and Relegation

Over the past few years we have run a world cup, champions league, europa league, experimental league, transfer leagues and I am sure some other leagues I have left out. These leagues have constantly failed while the TFL has stayed at the top. With FIFA 14, we are putting all of our support behind the TFL. If someone would like to run a separate league, those can exist but they will exist outside of the TFL.

In addition, we will model the TFL after the TF Siere. We will run leagues top to bottom with people moving up and down. We will run a TFL A, TFL B and TFL C with A being the highest league and C being the lowest.

Leagues will have 10 members per. Once we hit 30, we will put all remaining on the wait list.

For season 1 of FIFA 14, I will go back through the archives of the previous seasons of all members who apply. Those members who have been of the highest quality, have not quit during a season, and have played a high number of games will be placed in TFL A. We will work our way down until we hit the TFL C. In the event more than 30 members apply, we will adjust league sizes accordingly. If we hit 40 we will create a TFL D.

If a member leaves the TFL for any reason, they will move to the wait list and the lowest league of the TFL.

We will carry these rosters over release to release moving forward. This will be the final Season 1 the TFL has as the first season in FIFA 15 SHOULD be Season 4 or 5.

Xbox 1

The TFL will not be run on the Xbox 1 at any point this year. The TFL, like the TF Siere will be run exclusively on the 360.


With all of this being said, I need to start getting a list of members together for FIFA 14.

If you are interested, please confirm in the thread below. The tentative start date of league play is October 8, 2014. Cutoff to be GUARANTEED a spot in the TFL will be October 1.

I look forward to another successful release of FIFA here at TSO.

See you on the pitch.

Scott

In. Excited to see the switch back to semi.

Helping with views TSO

no

Semi? Count me out.

you would prefer a manual mustache ride?

Only if you are performing it.

I am in

I'm in

Do you even have to ask? Of course I'm in.

I have not played Fifa since probably 2005, but I have been looking for an excuse to get into it.

Sign me up ( for a low tier league ).

Oh TFL. You hold so many great memories of mine. Unfortunately, the best memories were held on manual. Until that day returns, i will be watching from afar. I love the organic style of play manual offers. And this coming from someone who was always on the bottom half of scoring. Sometimes how you build up is more beautiful than how you put it in the back of the net.

Fair enough. And maybe one day we can go back. But when the number of members leaving the TFL because of manual outweighs those that must have it, I have to look out for the best interest of the league.

I am waiting to see a final team list, rankings and what have you.

Ideally I would like to draft and have teams stay there. RedAL925 how do you handle team changes on the PS3 side?

There needs to be a noob league for guys on the site who aren't very good at the game and don't have to deal with the KnightNoles press and the AJ Hart MN of the world.

That's what pro/rel is for. You'll see a ringer join the lowest tier once in a while, but they'll promptly earn promotion if they're any good. For the most part though, the "noobs" will stay towards the bottom and compete against each other. Get better, move up...that's the beauty of pro/rel.

Re: Team Changes

Yes, we have a 4-star cap in the TFSerie. We feel that this strikes the best balance in terms of rated teams in the game. There aren't any power clubs in that range, but there are still some great teams eligible season-to-season.

We have a team draft at the beginning of each season. Managers are allowed to keep their team if they so choose (provided the team remains eligible), or they can change teams. If a manager is forced to leave a team due to a ratings increase (i.e. a 4-star team becomes a 4.5-star team after an update), that manager must select a new team, but keeps "right of first refusal" for that team if/when the team returns to an acceptable star level.

Because online friendlies are broken, and because we use/download the latest roster updates, team ratings will fluctuate a little bit during the season, so make sure you keep an eye on that when you get to draft day.

Dat A button

The TFL was never the same after Rich resigned.

Could you place me on the 'maybe' list? I have limited experience with FIFA, so if there is a noob league then that is probably where I need to start. Also, what kind of advance schedule does FIFA have? That is my main concern, because I don't want to commit and then not have time to be active.

I don't think it was all Rich. We had a number of core members in the last year or so that have moved on for a number of reasons. The key is to have a core and to have new guys coming in to make up a new core. During the FIFA 14 release we lost a number of people and had a number of new people join. I look at you for one, having a kid. Rich getting married. Others just getting busy. It happens but it seems to be happening all at the same time sometimes.

What is the advance schedule of a normal FIFA league?