Another thing to address is that now franchised teams are allowed to have academies but they cannot take part in Ascension.
Idk if teams will actually want to do that since it feels expensive, but looking at how well rookies work it might be more effective than in other games. It's extremely odd because idk what kind of player accept the fact that he won't be playing Ascension no matter what. And idk how this model compares to affiliated teams.
This is also incredibly odd specifically here in Spain. We currently have 3 franchise orgs, since they left the league has basically lost all its audience but when they competed there it was one of the most watched leagues in the world. But it just so happens that the Spain VCL just merged with Italy and Portugal so there isn't really space for them if they wanted academies. The only way they could let them in is by expanding the total amount of teams. And even then, I'd be worried if 3 of our best teams couldn't go to Ascension