The Team Cap System...
What is it's purpose, and how it is implemeted?

If you have a question not answered here, please feel free to email esdarts@hotmail.com

In the past, Empire State Darts has used two seperate divisions (A & B) within a league. Teams that exhibited an ability range beyond the B division were urged to join the A group. Many teams that were not quite at the same level of the best of the A group expressed apprehension about being moved up.The B team enjoyed their status in the lower division, and didn't want to move up.

The problem being presented was simple. How do we create a structure to foster growth and community among darters while maintaining an objective measurement for where teams belong?

In an attempt to address these problems, we have spent many months researching what other leagues around the country are doing. From that research, we have come to the following result...

- The Team Cap System.

We are implementing this system first with all Doubles leagues under Empire State Darts. In-House leagues will remain unaffected unless they wish to adopt the system as a part of their league program. At some point in the future, we envision this system being used for our Quads league as well.

A couple of definitions before we start...

PR = Player Rating
CPR = Combined Player Rating
MPR = Marks Per Round (Cricket Games)
PPD = Points Per Dart ('01 Games)

The first step is understanding what a Player Rating Is and how it applies to the Team Cap.

What is a Player Rating?
Your Player Rating is a metric used by combining your PPD average in '01 games, and your MPR average in Cricket games. The formula for your player rating is as follows...

PPD + (MPR x 10) = Player Rating

A person with a 24.30 PPD and a 2.25 MPR would figure out like this...

24.30 + (2.25 x 10) or 24.30 + 22.50 = 46.80 Player Rating.

Since many people new to league might not frequently throw '01 games, you can get a general idea of how you stack up simply multiplying your MPR in Cricket by 10 and doubling it as follows...

MPR of 2.25 x 10 = 22.50, then double it equals a 45.00 Player Rating.

If you haven't played in league before, you can get an idea of what your Player Rating would be by playing a few games and doing the calculation yourself right on your phone!

1...Play 3 games of 501 (Open In / Opeen Out), write down your averages for all 3 games. Add them all up and divide by 3.

2...Play 3 games of Cricket, write down your averages for all 3 games. Add them all up and divide by 3.

3...Use the formula above to get your Player Rating.

Take your Player Rating, and add it to your friend's Player Rating to get your Combined Player Rating (CPR)! Now you can figure out what Team Cap level you can play in!

Example - Mike has a PR of 41.20 and his teammate Joe has a PR of 37.30.
That makes their CPR 78.50. They would be eligible to play in a league with an Team CPR Cap of 80.

The next step is applyng the Combined Player Rating to a league you wish to play in.

What is a Team Cap?
Team Caps are used in some leagues to bracket teams of similar ability, as well as foster growth in the league. It uses a calculation called CPR or Combined Player Rating.

The Combined Player Rating is the sum of the highest 2,3, or 4 player ratings for the players rostered on the team. For example, a Doubles team with a sub player will use the highest two Player Ratings for the calculation.

For Doubles leagues, the levels are...
80 CPR (4 MPR) / 100 CPR (5 MPR) / 120 CPR (6 MPR)

For Triples leagues, the levels are...
120 CPR (6 MPR) / 150 CPR (7.5 MPR) / 180 CPR (9 MPR)

For Quads leagues, the levels are...
180 CPR (9 MPR) / 200 CPR (10 MPR) / 240 CPR (12 MPR)

Team Caps are set in place at the time of registration. To allow teams to gain experience and improve, all teams are allowed to have a CPR up to a percentage above the original cap without penalty. The percentage is displayed in the sidebar of your league page, and is intended to give an ample amount of room for teams to improve during the session without having to adjust rosters to stay under the limit.

If the team CPR is over the buffer of the original cap during the session, one of the team members must be replaced with another player with established averages that will bring the Team CPR to within the buffer of the limit. This may include a sub already on the team that has a lower Player Rating.

If a team finishes with a CPR over the cap, the team has two options upon their return the next session...

1 - Move to the next Team Cap level up.
2 - Add new players and split into two teams that will fit under the same cap level.

Whichever decision you make, you will still be placed in a cap level that will suit your ability based on your previous sessions's stats. The goal is to create these levels, reducing the need for aggressive handicapping. The handicaps given during a match will be relatively small, as the teams are grouped within a certain abllity range through the Team CPR Cap. The result is a better experience for darters of different ability levels to play people in their own range, and have a place to move to when they improve.

Example - Mike and Joe started the session with a CPR of 78.50. During their session they improved to a CPR of 89.30. The next time they play, they can either sign up to play in a league with the next highest Team Cap level, which would be 100. They also have the option of picking up a couple friends and creating two teams that would be appropriate for the 80 CPR Cap league.