A Breath of Air

[Grape 528]

While it is likely too early to say this, I would like to say that, so far, the recruitment drive has been a success. Not only did we get sheer quantity in a ton of new members (my email inbox has yet to forgive me), but also a lot of high quality members who have already shown more activity than some of the longer standing members. The big takeaway in this drive is that there are still a fair amount of people out there interested in this sort of thing, and all that was needed was to simply put it out there that we exist. That being said, if we could follow this up with more successful drives, bring in some more top notch members, we could enter a new golden age in the VHL, maybe not at the same level as the reddit recruitment or covid times, but still a legitimate increase in both quantity of members and activity, and see expansion in the leagues. The M is already nearing capacity and could be due for some growth, which would be nice to see, considering as of now only two teams miss the playoffs. The E might remain relevant for a few more seasons and could go back up to six, or if success is really booming, could sniff eight. The VHL may not see expansion in some time. Inactives would likely be axed first before expansion occurs. While this all depends on the future, I can at least say I have hope. Before the drive, the league was stagnating at best, slowly bleeding itself dry. Now, air has filled the lungs once again, and the league finally has some activity again.

[Gustav 6,103]

I think there are two sides to being able to recruit well. The first is that you can grow the league, for sure, but the second is that you get to decide what you want the league to look like--and that's something that doesn't necessarily include growing it. I will say that the league's general administrative policy is fairly against expansion for sustainability reasons, and I agree with that. I don't think we should keep expanding until we've hit the limit of what's physically possible to recruit, for example. That's just asking for contraction later.

 

It's true, though, that the league needed this drive. We've seen a huge drop-off in the M over the past few seasons and it's best not left unchecked. Plus, it's awesome to know that good drives aren't just a remnant of Reddit working and the world being online.