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Ways to choose startup draft order (1 Viewer)

jeter23

Footballguy
In the past, leagues I am in have always just rolled the dice for draft order, sometimes allowing owners to choose their position. Has anyone used any creative or fun ways to determine draft order in a startup?

 
My commish used fftoolbox.com (IIRC). They have a random draft order selector and then they send athe results to the league members to show it was from a 3rd party (non-tampering).

 
Its called an AUCTION.
Exactly this....The resistance of mainstream auctions IMO are that it's not as cut and dry as with rankings or ADP in august where you can predict how things go for the most part. Auctions take more personal planning, strategy, etc. that the less-hardcore FF players will not be committed to on a regular basis.I for one love the slow email-style auctions, but some that get involved in those leagues are antsy and frustrated a couple days in about the process. To each their own.
 
If you really wanted to get fancy, you could do a draft order by $$s...i.e., you put in for your top 3 slots and each slot has an entry fee based on it (i.e. #1 is $250, #2 is $240, # 3 is $220, etc.). I am not sure how to exactly allocate which position is worth which dollars, but it would be a cool way to let the big spenders get what they want and also let the cheap bastards (like me) get what they want.

 
I've never done this, but I've heard of a league where there is blind bidding on the draft spots using your waiver wire dollars. Each person submits the 3 spots they would most like to draft at and how much they are willing to "pay" for that spot.

So say for example you have $100 for the season to spend on waiver bids, you bid $50 for the 1st pick, $30 for 5th, $25 for 6th as your top 3 choices. Somebody outbid you for pick 1, but your $30 is the high bid for the 5th pick, so that is where you draft, but you only have $70 for waivers the first season.

I guess you could tweak the idea and make it so that the waivers cost is permanent (using the previous example, you start with $70 waiver dollars every season for the life of the league).

Or you could make it so that your "bid" comes in the form of later round draft picks (i.e., if I get first pick, I'm willing to have my 7th round pick skipped, if nobody has a higher round as their bid, then I get to pick first).

I think one of these ideas would be fun because if you really, really cared about where you picked, you'd have the opportunity to get that pick. If you don't care at all, then you either have a waiver advantage or keep your full assortment of picks. And if you're somewhere in between the two extremes, you have to make some tough choices about what you'd be willing to give up.

 
Having thought about it a little bit, I think what I would do if I ever commished a dynasty is do a draft pick bidding process for each draft spot (normal snake draft), starting with #1 that gave the pick to whoever was willing to give up the highest draft choice (that pick would be skipped, not given to anyone).

Here's how it would work:

I'd send an email to all owners saying we're all bidding on pick #1, send your bid in now, what round pick are you willing to give up for the right to pick 1st?

Say half the guys would rather pick later and send in round 23 or round 22 or whatever as their pick. But a handful of guys are interested and put in bid like 8th round, 10th rounder, etc. and the highest bid is round 6 by owner X. Owner X wins and he is drafting first, but pick 6.12 is skipped/forfeited.

The remaining 11 owners repeat the process for pick 2. Maybe it goes for an 8th rounder. And you just move on down the list until everyone is slotted.

I think that would be a pretty fair way to go about it. There would probably be a real "cost" if the pick you wanted was one that was in high demand. Like if you're in a 2 QB league and everyone wants Rodgers. Or if you're in a 1 QB and there's only 3 elite RBs and Calvin Johnson, so maybe pick 4 is the highest value.

In general, I'm in favor of any rule that takes "luck of the draw" out of the equation and increases strategy and forcing owners to make tough decisions.

 
Alphabetical order of the first names of each participant.

Alphabetical order of mothers maiden name.

Alphabetical order of the street names each lives on.

 
Its called an AUCTION.
Exactly this....The resistance of mainstream auctions IMO are that it's not as cut and dry as with rankings or ADP in august where you can predict how things go for the most part. Auctions take more personal planning, strategy, etc. that the less-hardcore FF players will not be committed to on a regular basis.I for one love the slow email-style auctions, but some that get involved in those leagues are antsy and frustrated a couple days in about the process. To each their own.
How can you do an auction for a draft? (outside of bengalbuck's waiver $ suggestion)
 
'Bigboy10182000 said:
'Skeletore Eh said:
Get drunk. Pull names from a hat.
This but the order/ number you pick isnt necessarily the number you have to have.For example...the person who pick #1 out of the hat has first choice as to which spot he wants to pick and so on and so forth
We put everyone's name in the hat and the order they are pulled is the draft order.
 
'Kenny Powers said:
'fdctrumpet said:
'the turnip said:
Its called an AUCTION.
Exactly this....The resistance of mainstream auctions IMO are that it's not as cut and dry as with rankings or ADP in august where you can predict how things go for the most part. Auctions take more personal planning, strategy, etc. that the less-hardcore FF players will not be committed to on a regular basis.I for one love the slow email-style auctions, but some that get involved in those leagues are antsy and frustrated a couple days in about the process. To each their own.
How can you do an auction for a draft? (outside of bengalbuck's waiver $ suggestion)
:confused: No shtick - I have zero clue how it could be confusing. Throw names (of the owners) in a hat. First name drawn gets to nominate a player. Move down the line until all names are drawn. Repeat the order until the draft is complete. You can get any player you want. Want to go Calvin/Richardson/scrubs? Go ahead. Want a team full of flyers? Knock yourself out. Auctions are worlds better than typical drafts. They're infinitely more fair AND infinitely more fun.
 
we've done a hold em tourny....and a golf tourny with handicaps.....get to pick your draft spot based on order of finish...

 
'Bronx Bomber said:
My commish used fftoolbox.com (IIRC). They have a random draft order selector and then they send athe results to the league members to show it was from a 3rd party (non-tampering).
This is what I use as well. Works fine.
 
I love the idea of a combine. Wiffle ball/ beer pong / Madden / touch football / cranium/ pie eating contest. The ideas are endless.

 
This system worked very well a few years back.

The initial plan is to catch 12 turtles at the cottage, list all 12 participants in the league on a piece of paper in no particular order, tape a number from 1-12 on each turtles back, place them in a rocked off section of the beach in a perfect line and then let them go for 1/2 an hour. After 30 minutes, we will stand behind the rocked off area and read the numbers off their backs from left to right as seen looking out at the water. The farthest left will be the number assigned to the guy whose name is at the top of the list and so on reading numbers from left to right and writing names from top to bottom.

Once numbers have been assigned, we will place the turtles back in the rocked off area and turn them loose a second time for 30 minutes. The same rules apply. The turtle on the farthest left will represent the #1 pick in the draft. 2nd from the left is the 2nd overall pick and so on. Ties will be determined by shell position (whichever turtle has the slightest piece of shell that is farther left at the buzzer with a majority rules decision). We will fold the pieces of paper on the turtles' backs so that it is not readily understandable who the winning turtle actually is and that will allow us to count back from 12 to 1 to keep "The Decision of the turtles" a secret until the very last two #'s are opened.

 
It's only for the first year so why not have some fun with it AND increase the coffers - Have an auction for the first pick in the draft - winner pays that amount real $$ into the prize pool. Then auction off the 2nd pick. etc.

 
I was in a league once that randomized all rounds individually. I was kinda fun because you were not sure where you might end up. Some guys did well others got later picks but still made use of them very well.

(used toolbox or netcommish for the randomizer)

 
Put names in a hat, and let that person chose which pick they want. We do a third round reversal so first two picks are usually the 1st and 12th. We also let a third, non-partisan girl draw the names. This has worked out well for years.

 
I make a Youtube video of my kids pulling poker chips out of a Crown Royal bag. Each one has a team name on it. They read them off and guys choose their draft spot based on this lottery.

 
Too many leagues used the previous year's worst-to-first results to determine draft order. But this is rewarding 'bad behavior' and in some cases providing an incentive to throw late season contests to get a high draft pick next year and that is a nightmare scenario if it affects playoff races. I think some sort of contest is the best way to go, particularly if you can make it tangential to football. Here's some ideas I've encountered over the years:

- Use Week 17 rosters (assuming your FF season was over in week 16) for a contest other than who can score the most. Such as setting the lowest-scoring lineup or coming closest to a particular score or the highest scoring defense, etc.

- Set up a post-season league (free through several venues) and award draft order based on total points scored in that contest

- Run an NFL pick 'em contest throughout the season and award draft order commensurate with the final standings

- Run a 'survivor' contest over the course of your fantasy season to determine next year's order. Lowest score each week is "off the island" (i.e. first to go gets the last pick in next year's first round of the draft)

- Spice up a position that is otherwise overlooked/yawn inducing: Base next year's draft order on the total points scored by the #1 kicker each team drafted from the previous season

 
Each year we have both a Championship and a Chumpionship bracket. The Chumpionship is the loser's bracket and they play for the best draft slots the next year. This encourages teams to put their best foot forward the entire year, even if they are out of playoff contention. The winner of the loser bracket (i.e. The Chumpion) gets first selection of draft order, and it goes down the line from there.

I've had this system in place for 3+ years and it is by far the best system I've found.

 
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If you use a waiver wire or freee agent system, each team gets a certain amount of blind bidding dollars for the season. Teams have to bid for draft slots using their free agent dollars dollars. Whoever spends the most gets first choice of draft slot down to the least amount spent. The amount spent on bidding for a draft slot then would be deducted from their season blind bidding dollars. The more you spend for a draft slot, the less you have left for in season acquisitions.

 
nothing too crazy, we just pick names out of a bowl with a little twist. The order that names are drawn become the following draft order: 7, 6, 8, 5, 9, 4, 10, 3, 11, 2, 12, 1 So the first name drawn gets the 7th pick, so on and so forth. The last two remaining names will either be the first or last pick.

 

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