Dirk Digler
Footballguy
MFL and it's not close.
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best host site for Fantasy? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter carsonsig
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www.synsport.com
Why does everyone pimp MFL so much? IMO, they do not offer that much in terms of customization, and more importantly, their user support. I remember their support being some of the worst out there (Sorry, but thats my belief). As a commissioner for about 8 years now, I remember using their old Fantasy League Manager, and the weekly downloading of stats, and such. Then they moved to providing MFL as the trend moved to online sites, etc.
I'm like to hear what some of the other long time commissioners have been using. Years ago, as an add on service to FLM, there was a product called Renegade that added/enhanced to the FLM product tremedously.
Now, in the progression, the old Renegade project has developed into its own full service fantasy league manager, www.synsport.com. And I've found it to be one of (if not the best) superior products offered.
Remember the week 1 and week 2 fantasy hassels of the stats providers the last 2 years, including ESPN, Yahoo, and the likes? That doesn't happen with www.synsport.com
and if your interested, here's my site done with them. http://football.fantasy-sports.org
note, see the custom url? where else can you do that btw?
Why does everyone pimp MFL so much? IMO, they do not offer that much in terms of customization, and more importantly, their user support. I remember their support being some of the worst out there (Sorry, but thats my belief). As a commissioner for about 8 years now, I remember using their old Fantasy League Manager, and the weekly downloading of stats, and such. Then they moved to providing MFL as the trend moved to online sites, etc.
I'm like to hear what some of the other long time commissioners have been using. Years ago, as an add on service to FLM, there was a product called Renegade that added/enhanced to the FLM product tremedously.
Now, in the progression, the old Renegade project has developed into its own full service fantasy league manager, www.synsport.com. And I've found it to be one of (if not the best) superior products offered.
Remember the week 1 and week 2 fantasy hassels of the stats providers the last 2 years, including ESPN, Yahoo, and the likes? That doesn't happen with www.synsport.com
and if your interested, here's my site done with them. http://football.fantasy-sports.org
note, see the custom url? where else can you do that btw?
FFFIEND
Footballguy
Ditto. Except this is my 6th season.
bonscott
Footballguy
The thing about MFL customization is that *YOU* choose what information you want displayed. If you want it busy and too much, go for it. You want it simple and trim, no problem. Takes about 3 clicks of the mouse to choose a "skin" or "template" which changes how everything looks. Then you simply choose what information (modules) you want to display. If you can't figure that out then maybe you do need your 12 year old to help you. 
Beyond that you can go hog wild with HTML, CSS, Javascript and what not. But you certainly don't need to, to have a good looking site.
Beyond that you can go hog wild with HTML, CSS, Javascript and what not. But you certainly don't need to, to have a good looking site.
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Knights Football
Footballguy
$60 for the league...unless you want live scoring and then the price doubles to $120.
And if you want more than 16 teams it costs an additional $3.50 a team.I can pay for my MFL site and some nice add-ons (if I felt the need to) for that price.
Dreamer
Footballguy
MFL support is THE best in the business. If you raise a concern, any concern, it gets addressed. Usually immediately. Their price is right and the site functions perfectly 99.99% of the time. I've had multiple leagues on there for over 10 years and I can count the # of issues I've had on one hand. That gets my business.
bonscott
Footballguy
Here is my site by the way on MFL: http://football24.myfantasyleague.com/2007/home/34484
It's a custom tabbed interface. However MFL now had tabs built right in and you can add new tabs with just a click of the button. So you can have tabs with very little effort.
It's a custom tabbed interface. However MFL now had tabs built right in and you can add new tabs with just a click of the button. So you can have tabs with very little effort.
murph420
Footballguy
MFL with no discounts is $90. Yahoo and CBS are $129. I think that shows Synsport's $120 pricing including Live Scoring is pretty comparable and reasonable.Synsport "Regular" stats update about an hour after the game ends. So for a league looking to save $$ or not interested in live scoring, it's nice to have a choice.Knights Football said:$60 for the league...unless you want live scoring and then the price doubles to $120.
And if you want more than 16 teams it costs an additional $3.50 a team.
I can pay for my MFL site and some nice add-ons (if I felt the need to) for that price.
ImTheScientist
Footballguy
longshanks7
Footballguy
myfantasyleague is the best, no doubt...
our league link: http://football9.myfantasyleague.com/2007/home/44301
our league link: http://football9.myfantasyleague.com/2007/home/44301
GoBears84
Footballguy
We're in our 5th season with Fanball too. After some minor problems with the draft that first year (for which they reimbursed me) we have not had a single problem in the last four. Free live scoring, totally customizeable, nice graphics without the need for the commish (me) to spend time making it look good. League history stays in place, which makes it fun to track how you've been doing against certain owners over the years. Support is very good, with 24 hour commissioner forums and all emails generally returned within 24 hours.I had a buddy getting ready to do an ESPN league a couple of years back when the draft room wouldn't work. They were up and running with all owners in a Fanball league and live online drafting - all in less than 30 minutes form the time he called me asking for help. They are now going into their third year.Cost is on $60 bucks if you order by 7/31.I looked at xpertsport, MFL, CBS, yahoo and ESPN. My recommendation is to try out multiple sites until you find one with which you are comfortable.Joel
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GregR_2
Footballguy
I love the static menus down the side and at the top. I wish those were standard MFL home page modules.
Knights Football
Footballguy
Yeah but the discounts matter. I paid $69.95 for MFL this season - If you sign up today it's $79.95 - It doesn't hit $90 until August. Also - They gave me an additional discount last year when I switched to them from another service ($20 off I think). Are there leagues that are not interested in live scoring that pay for a web service? I would think all of those leagues use free services - some of which offer live scoring as well. I'm not advising anyone to avoid Synsport - their service may be outstanding. I don't know because I haven't used it. I have used MFL and It's great.MFL with no discounts is $90. Yahoo and CBS are $129. I think that shows Synsport's $120 pricing including Live Scoring is pretty comparable and reasonable.Synsport "Regular" stats update about an hour after the game ends. So for a league looking to save $$ or not interested in live scoring, it's nice to have a choice.Knights Football said:$60 for the league...unless you want live scoring and then the price doubles to $120.
And if you want more than 16 teams it costs an additional $3.50 a team.
I can pay for my MFL site and some nice add-ons (if I felt the need to) for that price.
My goal was just to point out what I thought was a very odd pricing plan.
did you check out the new "for commissioners > setup > appearance setup > select a template" option? they're standard.
Knights Football
Footballguy
If you are referring to the toolbars on that page they are standard now...if you choose to have them. MFL added a template feature a couple of weeks ago. It's similar to choosing one of the skins and it sets up the basic shell layout and has those toolbars.
Buddy Ball 2K3
Footballguy
Its a great new feature that they added this season. Unlike some other sites, MFL continues to add new and better features every single year.did you check out the new "for commissioners > setup > appearance setup > select a template" option? they're standard.
bonscott
Footballguy
MFL is also rolling out (testing right now if you want to test it) "Yahoo" or "CBS" style waivers. This is where you can run waivers "per player" instead of all at once. It's a made up system that Yahoo and CBS came up with since they have always been online only. MFL grew up long before they did and came out of the pen and pencil era where doing something like that would be insane.
Anyway, it's one of the more requested features from former CBS and Yahoo leagues and they now support it.
Anyway, it's one of the more requested features from former CBS and Yahoo leagues and they now support it.
murph420
Footballguy
Oh, I know discounts matter - I was just trying to compare apples to apples. I paid $96 for my Synsport league with Live Scoring.i obviously can't deny that MFL is cheaper than Synsport, CBS, Yahoo and some other sites but my goal was to point out Synsport's pricing is comparable to the competition. also i noticed that the MFL History Add-on is $30/year. those reports are included in Synsport at no additional charge. so if you really want to compare apples to apples, you need to include that, and both services end up costing $120 (no discounts).Yeah but the discounts matter. I paid $69.95 for MFL this season - If you sign up today it's $79.95 - It doesn't hit $90 until August. Also - They gave me an additional discount last year when I switched to them from another service ($20 off I think). Are there leagues that are not interested in live scoring that pay for a web service? I would think all of those leagues use free services - some of which offer live scoring as well. I'm not advising anyone to avoid Synsport - their service may be outstanding. I don't know because I haven't used it. I have used MFL and It's great.
coachcarstens
Footballguy
I personally use http://www.synsport.com, back in the day, I used FFLM which is now moved to MFL. I left them because of the cutting edge stuff synsport was bringing to the table. I have found that many of the MFL sites I see or look at have straight STOLEN stuff from the synsport guys. Even some of the sites posted above have some of these things, such as the past champions plaque on one of them.
I have been in leagues on Yahoo, and it's free, but really doesn't offer features to have a "cool" site. My owners who have complained of website problems in the past, have been extremely happy with our league site and management. the live draft is great as well, and even offers, tickers, etc. to make the draft even more "real." You are welcome to visit my site http://www.fanxfl.com if you would like to poke around. Pretty much everything is customizable, including what appears on the front page, and where it is located, etc. They also offer such flexibility in scoring, that I have never seen a site they could not handle.
Chris
I have been in leagues on Yahoo, and it's free, but really doesn't offer features to have a "cool" site. My owners who have complained of website problems in the past, have been extremely happy with our league site and management. the live draft is great as well, and even offers, tickers, etc. to make the draft even more "real." You are welcome to visit my site http://www.fanxfl.com if you would like to poke around. Pretty much everything is customizable, including what appears on the front page, and where it is located, etc. They also offer such flexibility in scoring, that I have never seen a site they could not handle.
Chris
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Knights Football
Footballguy
Apples to Apples - I paid $70 for MFL and $15 to renew the MFL History add on ($25 if you are first time) for an $85 total. The $ difference is not a huge deal but I wanted to give what it cost me (instead of assuming the worst case pricing scenario for MFL). I think it's worth a few extra bucks for a league that you like - but I don't need to pay it because MFL is a great site that I'm very happy with.Oh, I know discounts matter - I was just trying to compare apples to apples. I paid $96 for my Synsport league with Live Scoring.i obviously can't deny that MFL is cheaper than Synsport, CBS, Yahoo and some other sites but my goal was to point out Synsport's pricing is comparable to the competition. also i noticed that the MFL History Add-on is $30/year. those reports are included in Synsport at no additional charge. so if you really want to compare apples to apples, you need to include that, and both services end up costing $120 (no discounts).Yeah but the discounts matter. I paid $69.95 for MFL this season - If you sign up today it's $79.95 - It doesn't hit $90 until August. Also - They gave me an additional discount last year when I switched to them from another service ($20 off I think). Are there leagues that are not interested in live scoring that pay for a web service? I would think all of those leagues use free services - some of which offer live scoring as well. I'm not advising anyone to avoid Synsport - their service may be outstanding. I don't know because I haven't used it. I have used MFL and It's great.My goal was just to point out what I thought was a very odd pricing plan.
Varmint
Footballguy
There must be two Statsworlds....The one I use is practically perfect.Live scoring....Great customer support...Haven't had a single problem in the past 10 years....not oneAwful site, I am still trying to find out how my commish even found it. Customer support is not good and live scoring is not really live, I had to count scores at the end of week to see if I won or wait until Tues. My commish finally moved it this year... to C.....B.......S
PsychoMan
Footballguy
yes it does ... i have not used fleaflicker yet, but i'm thinking of transitioning a couple leagues there this year. the site seems to be very easy to use (you can setup a league now and play with the options and delete it when done), and it's actually quite flexible.i'm trying to get more testimonials about the site from people that have used it though ...ETA - fleaflicker is also free for those of you looking for a good free site
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pinequick
Footballguy
*sigh*AOL. It's run by Fanball. For FREE. Free. It doesn't cost anything. Nothing. Same product, no cost.
donovanfan
Footballguy
fantasyquants.com has some cool stuff - they do some interesting statistical analysis of players when prepping for a draft -- moneyball approach - limited info, though
Interesting to hear about renegade developping. MFL offers tons of customization. If you're truly interested hit their boards as they've got some creative folks over there and I just couldn't do it justice with this post.
Support wise, I get replies quick and to the point and with a nice professional flavor so I don't really understand why you were unhappy with them.
Re-week 1 and 2 years back, Stats Inc has an enormous web presence and well that's just how it goes. They have humans working for them not robots so on occasion mistakes will happen but their track record over the last decade is super impressive. A few error over a little more than a decade...synsports would be lucky to have such results.
I really like NFL.com's fantasy. I have yet to look but they were supposed to have a nicer interface for people to roll with their own scoring and not follow their setup+all this year. I seem to be part of a clique or something by liking them around here when few others do. Video highlights of scoring plays is so sweet. I didn't know it but that's what I always wanted when I check out how my FF team did for the week. I think once more people see those, they'll think that's pretty sweet too. The fun thing is when your buddy hits ya with "did ya see soandso's TD?" and you see the highlight and can't believe it and feel as if that's what cost you the FF matchup that week. I watch ALOT of football and yet still miss plenty so ....well I love the video highlights. Their layout and all is nice like all the other sites, that sets them apart IMO.
Back to MFL
Have you tried to email Mike Hall or Chris(gem of a guy at support)? I don't know their feelings about a simple redirect to your URL but it is so simple I imagine it's possible. The thing many many people have trouble comprehending is that they have to deal with very large # of leagues, multiply that by 12 per league and we're talking thousands of people. Every feature has to satisfy the masses too not just one league so they're in a tight spot sometimes.
BTW Rss feeds there have been a fabulous addition IMO and I'm very comfy running my team behind receiving site generated emails how I set it to send it to me. Anyone could do that but for some reason they don't or I just can't get as comfy with it. If I can spend two more minutes with my family and don't "have to" check out the league site, I'm happy. There's a big sorta hidden value there for me.
My big issue with MFL is the interface that shows player stats next to the fantasy point/avg totals based on your league's scoring...or rather the lack thereof. Yahoo, Sandbox, and ESPN have always been great on this. Ex: If you're desperate for a TE, you can click over to free agents and sort by last week's totals for various stats or the last 3 weeks or the season as a whole. You can sort by total fantasy points to see who the top guys are that you might be looking at and then look to the left of the screen to see just how they got those points. Was it a lucky TD? Did they get a huge gain? I will generally look to guys who are getting the most receptions as a key factor at the TE position. That interface shows the important relationship between the player's performance and the points that they get as a result. Maybe MFL does offer this and I just don't know how to access it.
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bonscott
Footballguy
Ummm, yea...they've had this for years. Simply click Reports | Top Performers/Player StatsInstead of Overall choose Free Agent from that drop down and choose the position you want to narrow it by.Now you'll get a Top 30 (or whatever) Free agent TE's with their weekly fantasy totals.If you want details on a particular week then simply click the score for that week.Want stats? Click the player's name and you'll get a week by week blow of fantasy points plus the real stats behind them. And actually you can get here by clicking the players name anywhere on the web site.Pretty simple.
If you want tons of stats then on that Top Performers page click Advanced and you can get as stat geeky as you want and every column is sortable (being sortable is new this year).
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John Mamula
Moderator
AND DONT LOOK BACK..THERE IS NO BETTER.
Kruppe
Footballguy
All you need to know right hereAOL - it does all the stuff your pay site does, thats right I said all of it, and ITS FREE.
Phantom Knight
Footballguy
There are threads on this topic every year here and in other FF Forums.Always - at least where I travel, there are strong proponents for CBSportsline, RTS, and MFL. With RTS and MFL being the clear favorites and MFL edging out RTS as the ultimate favorite. And price has *nothing* to do with that.Me and some buddies run a semi friendly leagueand are looking for a new site.
good draft, customization, live scoring etc.... and just one that WORKS, no crashing, no BS, and cant be too much $$$..
any suggestions???
thanks!
I have used, MFL, CBSportline, RTS and the free Yahoo. My personal favs are MFL and the free Yahoo (even though I know you have cast it aside).
Out of the box MFL is pretty ugly. But it is very customizable. And you can find templates (quite a few choices on MFL's site that are "built in") to give it a different look. Also . . . there are some kind souls who design templates and/or logos for leagues out of the kindness of their hearts. I won't do all the work for you, but check out these links below.
http://logoneeds.proboards32.com/index.cgi...read=1168870416
http://sidelineleagues.com/forums/index.ph...18089&st=15
http://sidelineleagues.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1449
I am curious why you don't like Yahoo. It will handle most normal scoring options. It looks nice and is easy to navigate. The live draft module is awesome with the one exception that you get 90 seconds to draft - period. The commish cannot pause it or change the alloted time. It is 90 seconds period and then Yahoo picks for you. With the use of their exclusion list, we use the free Yahoo for our keeper league. Works like a charm as long as you take the time to make sure every team has their exclusion lists set up properly. And in my opinion, Yahoo has the best reports of any of the site - free or paid.
bentley
Footballguy
:X AOL is wicked customizable and absolutely free. I have no idea why most leagues would use anything else.All you need to know right here
AOL - it does all the stuff your pay site does, thats right I said all of it, and ITS FREE.
fishhard03
Footballguy
We have used TQStats.com for 6 years. We have 3 divisions of 8 teams and have never had a problem. It does have a live toll free number also if you need any questions answered. Live scoring and a very professional cool looking site. We will never change. It is awesome!!
Has anyone tried hosting their league with fantasyauctioneer.com ?
I'm using them for our auction but I'm sticking with yahoo plus to host the season.
As far as yahoo plus, i've used it for several years and the only problem i've had with them was colston being eligible at TE last year. It's super simple for the non-tech types and I don't really care about the cost.
I'm using them for our auction but I'm sticking with yahoo plus to host the season.
As far as yahoo plus, i've used it for several years and the only problem i've had with them was colston being eligible at TE last year. It's super simple for the non-tech types and I don't really care about the cost.
Exactly, mfl.com is the best by far!!
GoBills02
Footballguy
Agreed, been running 2 keeper leagues on there for 5+ years. Occasional server down issues, but that happens everywhere.
the UFFRM
Footballguy
I have run and partaken in three leagues per year on MFL for the last three or four years. It is cooler than a Fathead!!! j/k Nothing is quit that cool ; ) Anyway, it truly a great value. It is cheap in that sense. As far as it looking like crap they have done a lot over the last two seasons to give less imaginative customers some nicer aesthetic options. The main thing is that it follows the computer age idiom "garbage in, garbage out" in the fact that if you put a little creativity and effort into it you can do some awesome stuff. Photoshop experience is a huge plus and tinkering with images and team icons and background images is something that can go a long way to make your owners more enthusiastic and emotionally invested in your league. Personally, I've never had any problems with scoring or draft snafus. The live draft options are all as clear as others I've seen on Yahoo or Sportsline. Last year they expanded their live scoring so it was near instant. In my experience as an observer of other commissioners dealing with MFL it is more human screw ups than site related problems and nothing that can't be fixed by few mouse clicks. People are people and will blame the faceless website when they don't understand their own mistakes. Whenever I have had any questions there is a large support forum in addition to efficient actual support personnel. They are flat-out solid.
MFL is good in that its very customizable. Messy though.
RTsports has been a host of one of my leagues for 4-5 years now. Draft interface isn't great, but customer services is very good. No major complaints.
Fleaflicker is nice. Owner is very responsive and open to suggestions. Hoping they do well cause Ori (name?) is a nice guy and a football junky too.
/my 2 cents
RTsports has been a host of one of my leagues for 4-5 years now. Draft interface isn't great, but customer services is very good. No major complaints.
Fleaflicker is nice. Owner is very responsive and open to suggestions. Hoping they do well cause Ori (name?) is a nice guy and a football junky too.
/my 2 cents
A website that requires me to scroll right at 1400x900 is not off to a good start, just my opinion.I will throw in another vote for rtsports I have used them for years and not had a complaint.
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bonscott
Footballguy
His page is messed up due to not understanding how to do an HREF tag in his article and thus has that really long URL that pushes widens that middle column when it doesn't need to be.
freshly_shorn
Footballguy
Hear, hear. Realtime rules. Improves every year and extremely responsive to requests; top-notch customer service. Switched to them in 2001 and never looked back.
bentley
Footballguy
But if you guys want to throw away part of your league fees as opposed to using it for payout, go right ahead.
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Don Quixote
Footballguy
My college friends refuse to use a site manager that has fees. I moved the league from Yahoo to Fleaflicker last year because they started asking for features that Yahoo doesn't have.I liked Flea Flicker. I found it easy to use and customize. No live scoring problems. My friends found it too complex to use though (waiver claims particularly). Although I think they are just idiots, will be moving the league back to Yahoo this year.
Last year we switched to XPertSports after being on CBS for 5 years.
Never again. It barely worked half the time, and the real-time scoring was down and the interface was just jacked up in comparison to CBS.
Here's one thing about XPert that you won't notice until Sunday:
- You can only watch YOUR players. you can't monitor the entire game.
CBS has the advantage that you get play by play updates of the whole game, while you watch real-time updates from your players.
I can't tell you how many times on Sunday, with an XPertsports team, with one window on Xpert, and the other on a CBS real-time gamestats window.
Heh.
Never again. It barely worked half the time, and the real-time scoring was down and the interface was just jacked up in comparison to CBS.
Here's one thing about XPert that you won't notice until Sunday:
- You can only watch YOUR players. you can't monitor the entire game.
CBS has the advantage that you get play by play updates of the whole game, while you watch real-time updates from your players.
I can't tell you how many times on Sunday, with an XPertsports team, with one window on Xpert, and the other on a CBS real-time gamestats window.
Heh.
Bonscott is dead on correct about my site. I am fully aware of how it looks in Firefox, but all my owners use IE 7 where it shows fine. (No scrolling needed) The link on the article was just put there and will be gone after the draft (It's a map to draft location). The site will then be fine in Firefox also. I understand if that is a bit too complicated for ya j3r3m3y.
