Current WBC Constitution behind this spoiler:
WBC Constitution, March 2023
(previously amended May 2021, December 2016, April 2014, December 2013, and April 2012)
(previously amended May 2021, December 2016, April 2014, December 2013, and April 2012)
Article I: Council Eligibility
Section 1: To be an eligible member of the Council, a nation must have participated (meaning post a roster and at least ONE RP) in the previous 2 Classics and be approved by a simple majority vote of the current Council. (ie: if there are currently 10 or 11 voting members are on the council, then 6 members would have to approve, etc.) This is to limit the number of members of the Council to the truly active participants.
Section 2: To maintain membership, a nation must fulfill at least one of the following criteria:
Clause a. Hosting (or Co-hosting) a Classic, (if possible), within the next 3 Classics.
Clause b. Participate (meaning post a roster and at least ONE RP) in the subsequent Classic.
Section 3: If a Member of the Council fails to maintain its membership (by failure to fulfill any of the above criteria), it shall have 1 Classic to retain membership (by fulfilling any of the above criteria). If the Member does not do so, then it shall not be eligible for membership on the Council for a minimum of one Classic.
Section 4: Any previous hosts of the Classic within the last three WBCs are also eligible, pending a simple majority vote of the current Council.
Article II: Rights and Responsibilities of the Council
Section 1: The Council shall be the voters for the next Host of the Classic and shall choose from the available bids.
Section 2: The Council shall be the determining body for changes, (ie: repealing, amending or introduction of new rules), to the WBC Constitution. A two-thirds majority shall be needed to amend or repeal any part of the WBC Constitution, but a simple majority vote shall be sufficient for introduction of new rules to the Constitution.
Section 3: Any member of the Council can withdraw from the Council without prejudice, but shall be subject to the above eligibility guidelines if they seek re-instatement.
Section 4: Council members may "go on vacation" (ie: take a NS break) for a maximum of two Classics; but shall be subject to the above eligibility guidelines if they seek re-instatement if they are gone for more than two consecutive Classics.
Section 5: The Council is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Classic and for advertising of the same.
Section 6: The Council shall be held to any subsequent rights and/or responsibilities that are created henceforth into the WBC Constitution.
Article III: President of the Council
Section 1: The Council will be headed by a president who will be elected by the members of the council, using the same election procedures as outlined in Article VI.
Section 2: The president will be elected after every third World Baseball Classic, and will serve terms of three Classics. No one may serve as president for two consecutive terms.
Section 3: The president's duties are the following: opening the sign-up thread; opening and collecting host voting; opening and collecting constitutional proposal voting; keeping the council list updated; opening and collecting council member election voting; and making any other arbitrary decisions which are not fit to be decided by the council as a whole.
Section 4: The president must appoint a vice-president to serve in his/her absence. If the president goes missing for an extended period of time, or ceases to exist, the vice-president has the right to step up and serve as the president pro tempore.
Section 5: The president may be impeached under the procedures of Article IV. If the president is impeached and removed from the council, the vice-president becomes the new president.
Article IV: Impeachment Procedures
Section 1: In order to initiate impeachment and/or removal from office proceedings against a current member of the World Baseball Classic Council, another member in good standing must motion for impeachment. If a different member seconds the motion, the member is considered impeached.
Section 2: In the event that a Council member is impeached, the full Council shall have one RL week to discuss whether or not to remove the impeached member. During that period, the impeached member is still considered a full voting member of the Council on any items other than those involving the impeachment proceedings.
Section 3: The council president shall initiate the removal vote, which shall only take place in the event two thirds of votes cast are in favour of removal from office. If the president is the one being impeached, the vice-president shall serve the same role as the president for the purposes of this section.
Section 4: In the event that two third of votes cast are in favour of removal from office, the Council member shall be removed from the Council with immediate effect for a period of two World Baseball Classics. At the end of the two World Baseball Classic period, the member may petition to rejoin the Council and initiate a plan to address any concerns outlined in the impeachment proceedings.
Section 5: Any Council member removed due to impeachment proceedings must be nominated to rejoin the Council and must be formally seconded. If that occurs, the Council may vote on readmission when votes for new Council members are being taken. If a simple majority of votes cast are in favour of readmission, the impeached member shall rejoin the Council with immediate effect.
Article V: Formula for World Rankings
Section 1: For each Classic, divide the number of games a team won by the number of games played by the team playing the most games.
Section 2: A team's ranking is the sum of:
Clause a. Four times their Section 1 quotient for the most recently completed Classic;
Clause b. Twice their Section 1 quotient for the next-most-recent completed Classic; and
Clause c. The unmodified Section 1 quotient for the third-most-recent completed Classic.
Section 3: When calculating the rankings, any games won due to forfeit are still treated as bona fide wins.
Article VI: Tournament Sportsmanship
Section 1: No team may voluntarily forfeit games or entire series after a World Baseball Classic has started.
Section 2: Only nations that have ceased to exist during the World Baseball Classic before being eliminated are deemed as forfeiting.
Section 3: Forfeited games due to CTE by a nation are automatic victories for the opposing team and should be scorinated as such.
Article VII: Voting Procedures
Section 1: Any option on a motion or election that receives the most votes after a set period of voting shall be approved.
Section 2: Votes may be held over any duration of time as specified by the person opening the vote, except where provided for by the Constitution. However, if a measure receives the votes of one more than half the active Council membership, voting on that item may end early at the collector's discretion.
Section 3: If two or more options on a motion or election are tied following the set period of voting, the tied options shall be voted on again by the Council for a time period half that of the original.
Article VIII: Miscellaneous Procedures
Section 1: When creating the signup thread, the thread creator is to provide (at minimum) a link to the winning bid of the last World Baseball Classic and set a definitive deadline for when host bids must be received by.
Article IX: Hall of Fame
Section 1: In order to recognize excellent achievements through the storied history of the longest running tournament of the four North American sports, and to recognize the nations who helped make it that way, this council has established a Hall of Fame.
Section 2: There is one way for nations that have not been entered into the Hall of Fame before the end of WBC56 to enter the Hall of Fame. The following scale gives the number of points scored per result in previous World Baseball Classics:
6 points per championship
4 points for a runner-up
2 points for third place
1 point for fourth place
3 points for hosting
4 points for WBC President (Full cycle; 3 WBCs)
2 points for partial presidency (Less than a full cycle)
Section 3: Nations become eligible for vote when they reach 10 or more points. If the nations meeting these qualifications receive a majority plus one of the votes from the WBC Council, then they shall be admitted to the Hall of Fame.
Section 4: Should a nation receive less than the required amount of votes, or should they choose to decline their nomination, they become eligible to be voted upon again as soon as they gain additional Hall of Fame points.
Section 5: In the case that a nation that is up for a vote for its entry into the Hall of Fame is also an incumbent member of the World Baseball Classic council, that nation shall not be allowed to vote for itself in the election and shall be required to abstain from voting.
Section 6: Inductions into the Hall of Fame will take place after each WBC, if any nation not already in the Hall of Fame has met one of the above listed criteria. Multiple, different nations can be inducted at one time.
Section 7: A nation that has Ceased to Exist (hereby referred to as CTE) may still be admitted into the Hall of Fame if they had enough points to qualify for the Hall of Fame before they CTE.
Section 8: Nations that are recognized as being a politically constituent part of a main nation will have their points added to the main nation’s total. Two nations shall be considered constituent if one inherited the rank of the other while participating in a WBC. Puppets that are not connected in character to the main nation of any user may not contribute to the main nation’s point total.