League provides update on Week 10 in-game decisions
The SFL has concluded its investigation of the Carolina-Florida finish that resulted in the final 30 seconds of the game being completed in situation mode and can provide further clarification to what would constitute a decision like this to be made.
Upon review, the glitch is a result of a play being called
- by the road team trailing by one or two points
- with 40 or more seconds to go, that completes with under 40 seconds to go
- in field goal range
- concluding in the field of play
In this situation only, the game fails to complete the process of the simulation, a rarity that has appeared in a handful of games in the past 10 years, but could not be specifically identified previously without situation mode and previously resulted in a victory for the team winning when the clock hit zeros.
The closest example this season that could have resulted in the same glitch was in Week 5. D.C. was on the road and trailed Baltimore by one point and converted a fourth down in bounds, resulting in a first down. But that play finished nine seconds ahead of the play clock, resulting in another play. The next play was ran with under 40 seconds left, allowing the game to be completed - the clear difference in the simulation completing, compared to not completing.
The league nor any administrator of a sport, esport or sim sport would constitute the trailing team choosing to not run a play in the final 40 seconds of a game completing the process of the sim.
In the Portland/Arizona game, a playbook glitch removed all field goal, extra point, kickoff and clock plays from the playbook. Portland kicked off to start the game, otherwise the error would have been identified prior to the game beginning. Special teams plays are not available to view in team playbooks by the league, but clock plays are, which is how the glitch was identified. This glitch can effect people playing SFL 4K23 with a controller and an altered playbook as well.
The league is still investigating the cause of this glitch and will provide an update when that investigation has concluded.
Moving forward, the following will be instituted as the line constituting a game being completed in situation mode:
'If the game for any external reason (power, freeze) or internal reason cannot complete the process of the sim, then the league will complete the matchup in situation mode from the time the game was able to successfully run the sim.'
'If the game is able to complete the process of the sim, then there is no recourse for objecting a finalized sim result'
The SFL will always strive to improve its simulation product. Any past ruling on a past era or ruleset of the league should not be considered precedent for rulings in the 4K23 era of competition.