The League office received official confirmation that Spartans 1612 will be back in action for the 2019 season after the club took a one year hiatus. The Spartans history in the BSL had spanned for 6 seasons from 2012-2017, and was highlighted by the clubs 2014 BSL Cup Championship. Other notable mentions regarding the club are its league records for most draws in a season with 10 in 2012. The Spartans share the league record for most wins to start a season with 9 straight in its 2014 season. Overall the club has a total regular season record of 46-52-26, with 2 playoff appearances in 2013 and 2014. The club's playoff record is 2-1. The Spartans qualified for the Majors Cup Tournament once in 2013 and went 0-2-1.
The Bigtime Soccer League completed its tenth season in 2018. That is quite an accomplishment for a fantasy sports league, add to that its an American soccer fantasy league. However, the participation dropped to six clubs which was the lowest ever for the league. "Six is okay. Heck, the NHL did it for decades". The result of having six clubs was a more condensed schedule and condensed Majors Cup Tournament. Ideally, the league would like to get back to 8 to 10 clubs and increase the schedule again. So this offseason get the word out to friends/co-workers about the BSL. Let them know it free. It's painless. It's fun. They get to create their own team blog. They can email the commish at fneiyer@msn.com if they want to join.
The BSL is pleased to announce that beginning in the 2019 season, rosters will be expanded from 16 to 18 players with BSL benches growing from 5 players to 7 in total. There is no change to the existing format of substitutions, with players 1 through 3 on the bench being allowed to enter a match if card accumulation happens. The remaining players listed on the bench in the 4th slot through the 7th slot have no chance to enter a match and be counted in the boxscore. (The only exception is playoff matches if overtime is needed for a possible tiebreaker.)
With more players in the pool than ever before (24 MLS teams next year), there is more than enough quality to provide BSL clubs with the opportunity for added depth.
roster size increases:
- will also add more options on weekly lineup decisions.
- help with national team call-ups.
- assist with long term injuries.
- increase pregame/postgame excitement.
