PART 0: A Strange Wind Blows

Preface

I would like to stand before you, alone and apologetic. Just me, /u/_depression and you, the faceless reddit mob hiding conspicuously pitchfork-shaped objects amongst your ranks. And I would like to say, I'm sorry. The Create a Franchise is starting nearly a full week late because...

umm...

^{Can we blame it on the Yankees? Yeah, let's do that.}

Really though, it was an issue of timing. It's incredible how content-packed this offseason schedule is, with almost every day of the week already being delegated to something or other (and really, I didn't want to steal any more thunder from the Rangers than they already had taken away from them with injury this year). So after much adjustment, I just decided I would run this thing every Saturday night going into Sunday. Any future deadlines - like voting and submitting - will be at 12:00 EST.

SO ANYWAY

Welcome to the first round of the 2014 /r/baseball Let's Create a Franchise bidding! This week we will be BIDDING FOR UNIVERSE/LOCATION. For those of you in the know, get to it! For those of you new, I'll be including a more detailed rundown of what's going on, what to do, and what's still to come in a section below using

UNNECESSARY LINE BREAKS

You get the gist, line breaks denote the different segments of information you're going to get in a post like this, except where they don't. This is all kinda informal anyway, just meant to be something that's terrifically tons of fun and lasts like 2 months of the offseason.

Back to business (and the narrative)!

BIDDING FOR LOCATION

Last week, you were each given a form to fill out in order to enter your particular location into this contest, and now it's time to collect! If you happened to misplace/burn/eat your form, additional ones will be available below. Remember that while your entry does not have to follow the form's ... err ... form, it still has to include all the required information.

So once you've filled out your form, you may submit them in the comments below! Then, a terribly underpaid and overworked intern will save each entry form as a Word document, format them to the very specific requirements of His Lord and Majesty, Queen of Baseball, Sir Bud "Don't Call Me Maybe" Selig, print them out, scan them in as a pdf file, attach them individually to emails to the Queen's office, and then print them out (from the office) to be read and reviewed by His Majesty. After which, the intern will collect each reviewed form separately, fax them to their own personal office, scan them in as pdf files, and email them to me. I will then collect and prepare each one for redistribution on reddit as png files for you all to vote on next week, as well as transcribe each one (and the reviewed notes) for all you who don't have access to computers with image viewing capabilities.

If you do so choose, I can also mail copies of each reviewed form to individual users when voting commences, each sent in separate envelopes with His Majesty's seal.

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE POSTED TO REDDIT BY 12:00 EST ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND, EARTH YEAR 2014

HOW VOTING WORKS

Next Saturday evening, I will post Part 2 of the series which will include a link to a Google Forms page in which you can vote on your top 3 favorite entries. Of the entries, the 2 that receive the most votes will be chosen to move on to the next round, Naming the Team.

Naming the Team will work in the same way as Location does, though voting for that will allow you to choose your top 2 choices per team, and only the top choice for each will be accepted and move on to Stadium, then Logos. I haven't decided where we'll go from there, but we'll figure that out when we get closer!

ENTRY FORMS

Item 1: Location

• "Location", as stated in the Form, shall unless otherwise explicitly explained be considered to be of the current prevailing universe, in which Earth is the third planet from the Sun and no alien contact or supernatural/superhuman powers exist except those allegedly possessed by Giancarlo Stanton.
  • TL;DR - If your location isn't from this world and reality, explain where it is located (like what book/tv/movie it's from)
• "Location" shall include a succinct synopsis of the peoples expected to both participate in the sport and participate in the fandom of the sport.
  • TL;DR - Describe the type of people that live there, and if they're not of this world, explain what type of being would play baseball and how they'd do it.

Item 2: Unique Features and Benefits

• This is a more interpretive section, where the bidder is asked to list or explain what their particular location offers that would be unique from any location currently hosting a Major League Baseball team, as well as what benefits the teams (both home and away) and MLB themselves would gain from the location being chosen.

Item 3: Bribes and/or Gifts

• In this section, bidders offer a token of appreciation to The Stupendous and Frabjous Mr. Bud "Just Call Me "Bond"" Selig, a necessary part of the application process. While all gifts are accepted, for those offering monetary considerations, please PM /u/_depression for where to send your most gracious gift.

Item 4: Anything Else Not Covered in the Application

• Or "AENCitA" for short. It really rolls off the tongue!

(Tentative) REMAINING SCHEDULE

GOOD LUCK, AND HAPPY BIDDING!