Teams Juicing Up!
Do Big Rosters Hurt Contact Flag Growth?

The number of players needed to win a tournament is usually based on two things - the size of the tournament and the format used. If the tournament is small (average of about 8 teams) a team could win with 10 players if they can put up the points; format withstanding. The question we have to ask is does the fact that teams “Juice-Up” in big tournaments take away from the essence of competition and deplete overall participation? When I say “Juiced Up” I'm referring to teams loading up their roster, none of that clear stuff.

Take for instance a team competing in a double-elimination tournament with 20+ teams. Does this force a team to “Juice-Up” just to keep from wearing down late in a tournament should they lose early or are they simply taking advantage of expanded roster limits? Every team knows the daunting task of losing early in a double-elimination tournament and having to fight their way back through the losers’ bracket and then having to defeat a team twice should they make it. This is where a stacked team helps.  However, bigger teams result in smaller turnouts.

Other than aiding in the reduction of total team participation, stacked teams also eliminates fatigue from being a factor almost completely. Shouldn’t fatigue be a factor in determining a champion? Isn’t fatigue part of sports? When fatigue kicks in that’s when scheme, heart and determination come into play, not a full, fresh squad. If every team could only have let’s say, 18 players then a team with a better scheme and with more endurance could realistically catch and surpass a team that got off to a fast start in double-elimination play. Comebacks are also part of sports. Having more bodies does not make you a better team, just fresher.

The long-term negative effect of increased rosters is that it is making each tournament a facsimile of another with the same teams competing each time. Players just jump aboard with established teams and play, keeping brackets almost identical for each major tournament. How much joy is there really in repetition?

If you take a look at the top 4-Man organizations such as Fast Action and Zfootball, you will see that they utilize roster limits and have major tournaments with over 100 teams at times. They understand that this rule almost single-handedly assists in the growth of their style of play by generating new teams and creating more parity, which in return is better for both the teams and organization.

Now the contact style may not reach 100 teams over night, but it could easily double its number of participating teams by simply implementing a roster limit. New teams would spawn from players being unable to be part of a team or remaining with their current team to make them more competitive, hence bringing about more competition and better tournament experiences.

I’m not saying that this is the only answer for helping competitive flag (contact) generate new teams and prevent it from continuing on its current repetitive course, but it’s a start. The numbers don’t lie and neither do the names of the teams participating. Because regardless of what you may think, competitive contact flag has not progressed at all in the last several years. It’s consumed with “sameness”.