Commish gets a discount? (1 Viewer)

Need some opinions here. Wondering if anyone plays in a league where the commissioner takes a discount on league fees for running the league?

Really would like some feedback.

never had a commish get a discount but if i win the league, i usually give the commish a tip.

Pre internet yes.

Once online no

The day the Commish demands a discount is the day you offer to take over his job for free.

belljr said:

Pre internet yes.

Once online no

Click to expand...

This.

I am the Commissioner in one of the leagues I play in, and pre-Internet I used to write and print hard-copy round-ups; featuring game recaps, smart-### comments about people's teams, a power poll, standings, positional leader boards, etc. I would either mail them or drop them in mailboxes for those that lived nearby. Once we moved to the inner webs, I could no longer justify the discount, so I now pay like everyone else.

I've spent about 1 hour total managing the site this year. Generally just to update rosters after the draft and to send out polls and league messages, etc.

in my league he does. leagues been around long time. made sense pre-internet and now it's just grandfathered. Kind of annoying but I guess no one cares enough to make a big deal of it.

Have 1 lg. where our commish plays for free. He runs 4 lgs i'm in so I don't mind it. The other 13 of us put in an extra $8 to cover his entry. That one does have a few quirks so he prob spends a lot more time on it that any of the others.

Kit Fisto said:

belljr said:

Pre internet yes.

Once online no

Click to expand...

This.I am the Commissioner in one of the leagues I play in, and pre-Internet I used to write and print hard-copy round-ups; featuring game recaps, smart-### comments about people's teams, a power poll, standings, positional leader boards, etc. I would either mail them or drop them in mailboxes for those that lived nearby. Once we moved to the inner webs, I could no longer justify the discount, so I now pay like everyone else.

I've spent about 1 hour total managing the site this year. Generally just to update rosters after the draft and to send out polls and league messages, etc.

Click to expand...

Exactly. I have one dynasty league that is very labor intensive. That commissioner plays for free and we're happy to "pay" him that way. All other leagues are easy to run now.

I'm commish and would never think that it's a reason to get a discount. $200 buy in. I do it cause I can't imagine some of the other guys doing it. 12 year old league.

belljr said:

Pre internet yes.

Once online no

Click to expand...

This. I ran a few leagues by pen and ink before the advent of online management. I kept pretty detailed stats and a book for everyone that made it easier to research and find free agents, and even made up weekly newsletters. In one of those leagues, the owners actually had a secret vote to refund me my team fees. Back then, it made sense.

There's still some work for commissioners nowadays, but nowhere near as much. I voted no since I would never suggest it, nor would I expect it if/when I commish again. That said, if spare change is laying around after paying for site hosting fees, I'd approve a small discount (10% or so...nothing big).

I think that a commish is entitled to get "a little something", if he is responsible for the money. I am referring to mainly larger leagues.

Please realize I am referring to local leagues with people you know, where everyone deals in cash.

($100 per team or bigger generally)

Not only does he have to "round up the players", he has to make any rules decisions or take care of any weird issues, plus "hold" the money until the league is over each year.

Try winning a $$$ league, then having to chase down the others to acquire your winnings, and see how you like that. We don't have those issues.

Generally speaking, in our leagues if you don't have the money posted, then you don't play.......barring a rare exception.

Now, by the same token, I think it should be a "fair" discount or very small percentage.

NOTE- Someone getting 30% of the entire prize pool for just collecting money, isn't exactly what I think is fair.

Example- A local 12 man league that is $200 per team, everyone agrees up front that the commish gets $100 out of the prize pool to ensure all money is collected before the season starts and the league is ran fairly and generally "problem free".

LATE EDIT- Also realize once the league is finished, all you gotta do is call said person, and go and pick up your cash, within 2-3 days.

In several years I have heard of exactly NO ONE that has had an issue with this.

If they do, I think maybe they should try going to some of the sites online where the juice is much stronger and see how they like that instead.

We all like cash-in-hand once the league is over for the year too, so this is a plus as well.

I personally don't see any issue whatsoever with someone who is actually responsible taking care of the league and money getting a small tip or discount. Call it what you will.

Nothing in life is free boys, and I don't mind paying that small bit out of the prize pool to ensure I get the cash when I win and its run problem free.

Realize, that is a headache that many don't want to be responsible for.

Also note, I think those small leagues where a "bunch of buddies just chuck in $10" and play for it, well then the prize pools are small enough where I don't really like the idea of giving any or much of that up.

I'm not passing any judgement on "smaller cash leagues", but when any commish discount/tip/rake starts affecting too big a percentage of the prize pool, then I don't much agree with it.

Obviously any money taken affects the integrity of a prize pool, but common sense should be used.

TZM

Thanks for all the feedback all...I play in a 200 dollar league and the commish takes a 50% discount.

Keep them coming, the voting results are interesting.

thatguythere said:

Thanks for all the feedback all...I play in a 200 dollar league and the commish takes a 50% discount.

Keep them coming, the voting results are interesting.

Click to expand...

FTS

I'm a new Commish (couple years) and the amount of administrative work is pretty minimal with virtually any software. If it's an older league I guess I can see how that started. Ours is a 22 year old league and the co-commissioners asked me to take over because their music careers have taken off. I'm one of the founding members and they always paid the same as anyone else.

I don't think the Commish is "entitled" to anything. I don't get paid to sit on the school board or to chair a local charity event, and I put scores of hours into each every year. Being a Commish is simply a service someone performs. There's no thank you required or expected. It is not onerous duty. Someone has to step and do it, but it's no big deal IMO.

Is the commish getting a discount or is he taking the portion he paid for the league site out of his fee? I renew the league site each year with my money and then take it out of what I owe at the draft.

I've been running a local league for 20 plus years now. Maybe because we are all friends I don't have issues but everyone just pays me after the season pending on what they owe.

I think the term "prize" is what is throwing me off. We do pay our Commish $20 for league fees. He handles the trophy engraving, gets the league setup etc. I am confident he loses more money each year preparing for live draft etc.

No discount was big enough for me to hear the whining and complaining of 11 owners who have problems reading and using the internet on their phone on a weekly basis.

BobbyLayne said:

I'm a new Commish (couple years) and the amount of administrative work is pretty minimal with virtually any software. If it's an older league I guess I can see how that started. Ours is a 22 year old league and the co-commissioners asked me to take over because their music careers have taken off. I'm one of the founding members and they always paid the same as anyone else.

I don't think the Commish is "entitled" to anything. I don't get paid to sit on the school board or to chair a local charity event, and I put scores of hours into each every year. Being a Commish is simply a service someone performs. There's no thank you required or expected. It is not onerous duty. Someone has to step and do it, but it's no big deal IMO.

Click to expand...

I see both sides Bobby, and I know how you feel.

The same goes for anyone else who thinks along these lines.

But I do want to say this......

Our circle of "fantasy players" here locally, may not be quite the size of the one that you have.

Here, many are "gamblers" and the majority of our fantasy players come from in and around poker games, or friends of people that play.

Often we know the majority of the players, but most years we are left scrambling for 1 or 2 guys to join at the last minute and fill out the last spot or two.

Normally its a case of "a guy I know, knows another guy" etc.

Not to mention, I'd say that several players in each league, aren't exactly the type that I would want to "trust" holding the money, especially in many of the larger $$$ leagues we are in.

One alternative is to use sites online, to handle the cash...."pay then you are in" etc.

Many of these sites do keep some type of percentage, even if its only 2%-3%.

These guys I play with, they don't want to mess with E-checks, PayPal, bank transfers, none of that. They are interested in cash.

Personally I'd just as soon see someone I know (and have known) for years that is reputable and trustworthy get that small percentage.

Especially so if they are the ones that have to hustle up the money from the guys and find players.

I know everyone's situation is different, but its hard to find a regular guy off the street looking to play fantasy football for hundreds of dollars per team.

At least not the circles I run with.

The "$50-$100 per team" leagues are a dime a dozen around here, but when you step it up into the $300-$500 per team or more, it severely limits the players looking to get involved in my opinion.

Realize that this board tends to attract the more hardcore and dedicated players, guys looking to play for more and in general are more knowledgeable.

Lets say there is a "$200 per team" 12 man league I can get into here locally, whereas I know the guy running the league, and he gets $100 out of the total $2400 prize pool at the end, when the season is over.

I don't mind that 4% (roughly) coming out of the prize pool, when as soon as the season is over, all I have to go do is pick the cash up.

As a professional poker player, I just view it as a sort of a rake, one thats reasonable in the leagues I tend to stay in.

Just a part of "business costs" in that sense.

Another thing to consider- I would MUCH RATHER play with some of these guys locally, (and there's always 1 or 2 in each league) that I feel may not have much chance to win any given year, instead of your average "pro league" player on a major site. Its the equivalent of dead money.

When you get into some of the online leagues, I know that sometimes the competition gets much tougher, and in many places the "rake" can be much more than that.

A certain site that I won't name has "Pro Leagues", where I believe something like 10% comes off the top.

I know many won't agree with me and my views, but it works very well in circles where I am, and the competition is sometimes not as tough as many places online.

TZM

belljr said:

Pre internet yes.

Once online no

Click to expand...

As others have said...this.

I used to get my team for half price pre Internet and even a few years into the Internet era when it was still a lot of manual work. But over time we changed rules and such so that there is very little manual work now in-season so I pay full price. Once in recent years had the owners offer to give me a discount but I turned it down. Made me feel good though that they appreciate the hard work I still do. Even with online management there is still a lot of work that goes into running a good league.

Insein said:

Is the commish getting a discount or is he taking the portion he paid for the league site out of his fee? I renew the league site each year with my money and then take it out of what I owe at the draft.

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50% discount off league fees. Everyone pays $15 for the ####tiest site in fantasy.

He then uses the discount to make transactions...$5 per....so he basically gets free transactions.

I know other people in the league don't like it, but I'm the only one who will say anything. So I'm the ####....again

bonscott said:

belljr said:

Pre internet yes.

Once online no

Click to expand...

As others have said...this.

I used to get my team for half price pre Internet and even a few years into the Internet era when it was still a lot of manual work. But over time we changed rules and such so that there is very little manual work now in-season so I pay full price. Once in recent years had the owners offer to give me a discount but I turned it down. Made me feel good though that they appreciate the hard work I still do. Even with online management there is still a lot of work that goes into running a good league.

Click to expand...

Agreed

Where I'm the assistant commish, I keep and track the money, so I guess I get an interest free loan. But would never ask for anything else.

Pre or post internet I never took a discount or a tip. Just tell me thanks for doing a great job.

Our league is 20 years old and used to rely on USA Today for the commish to tabulate stats. For that alone, he'd play for free. The rest of us would plan the in-person draft, drinks and food. Now that we have the Internet, everything has been consolidated and commissioner pays half of the entry fee.

BobbyLayne said:

thatguythere said:

Thanks for all the feedback all...I play in a 200 dollar league and the commish takes a 50% discount.

Keep them coming, the voting results are interesting.

Click to expand...

FTS

I'm a new Commish (couple years) and the amount of administrative work is pretty minimal with virtually any software. If it's an older league I guess I can see how that started. Ours is a 22 year old league and the co-commissioners asked me to take over because their music careers have taken off. I'm one of the founding members and they always paid the same as anyone else.

I don't think the Commish is "entitled" to anything. I don't get paid to sit on the school board or to chair a local charity event, and I put scores of hours into each every year. Being a Commish is simply a service someone performs. There's no thank you required or expected. It is not onerous duty. Someone has to step and do it, but it's no big deal IMO.

Click to expand...

FTS I couldn't figure out what that meant earlier, poured a few Molsons back and as soon as read it again I knew.

Strange how that works.

I'm surprised at the results actually. Thought it would be more 98% no.

The discount our commish gets is not related to entry fee. Instead, he's exempted his portion of the yearly league renewal fee at MFL. So, the $69.95 is split 11 ways instead of 12. Not a big deal, but it's a little something.

Our league has been together 23 years - same Commish all those years. Back in the day we voted to give him free entry into the league for all the manual calculations from the USA Today every Tuesday morning. So he played for free but if he won he got the prize money so he had nothing to lose. Once it went to the internet, we never got around to having a revote and so he still plays for free. I guess it is justified in that he handles the money and enters original rosters after the draft - so if someone is a dead beat he still has to go collect money to pay out the winners.

But....we don't have any deadbeats, software handles roster entry if he would go to an online draft instead of still clinging to the whole cardboard draftboard; so there is no real legit reason to allow him to play for free. Oh well, not a big money league and not worth ruffling any feathers.

On a side note, his kids now place player name stickers on the draftboard as each player is drafted. They have a tip jar and it is looked down on if you don't tip them. So not only is he playing for free, but we are paying his kids to do one of the jobs he was supposed to do as part of playing for free. He is a good dude, though, so not sweating it.

15 year league, commish has never had a discount. We now co-commish it and there is virtually nothing to be done.

The hardest thing is setting a date for the draft anymore with everyone married with children.

One said:

Our league is 20 years old and used to rely on USA Today for the commish to tabulate stats. For that alone, he'd play for free. The rest of us would plan the in-person draft, drinks and food. Now that we have the Internet, everything has been consolidated and commissioner pays half of the entry fee.

Click to expand...

I don't miss the USA Today days at all.

BobbyLayne said:

thatguythere said:

Thanks for all the feedback all...I play in a 200 dollar league and the commish takes a 50% discount.

Keep them coming, the voting results are interesting.

Click to expand...

FTS

I'm a new Commish (couple years) and the amount of administrative work is pretty minimal with virtually any software. If it's an older league I guess I can see how that started. Ours is a 22 year old league and the co-commissioners asked me to take over because their music careers have taken off. I'm one of the founding members and they always paid the same as anyone else.

I don't think the Commish is "entitled" to anything. I don't get paid to sit on the school board or to chair a local charity event, and I put scores of hours into each every year. Being a Commish is simply a service someone performs. There's no thank you required or expected. It is not onerous duty. Someone has to step and do it, but it's no big deal IMO.

Click to expand...

Agree with everything except the bolded. The commish is performing a service to the league members, and a non-monetary thank you is certainly not too much to expect. Withholding a simple attaboy for a job well done is just bad form, imo.

I get no break on entry fees nor do I expect to. I also buy the trophy out of my own pocket each year. I am probably repaid in Scotch at the award ceremony.

habsfan said:

I get no break on entry fees nor do I expect to. I also buy the trophy out of my own pocket each year. I am probably repaid in Scotch at the award ceremony.

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You're avatar is from a 70s Atari cartridge game, right? What's it called?

Quasimoto said:

habsfan said:

I get no break on entry fees nor do I expect to. I also buy the trophy out of my own pocket each year. I am probably repaid in Scotch at the award ceremony.

Click to expand...

You're avatar is from a 70s Atari cartridge game, right? What's it called?

Click to expand...

Adventure.

Quasimoto said:

BobbyLayne said:

thatguythere said:

Thanks for all the feedback all...I play in a 200 dollar league and the commish takes a 50% discount.

Keep them coming, the voting results are interesting.

Click to expand...

FTS

I'm a new Commish (couple years) and the amount of administrative work is pretty minimal with virtually any software. If it's an older league I guess I can see how that started. Ours is a 22 year old league and the co-commissioners asked me to take over because their music careers have taken off. I'm one of the founding members and they always paid the same as anyone else.

I don't think the Commish is "entitled" to anything. I don't get paid to sit on the school board or to chair a local charity event, and I put scores of hours into each every year. Being a Commish is simply a service someone performs. There's no thank you required or expected. It is not onerous duty. Someone has to step and do it, but it's no big deal IMO.

Click to expand...

Agree with everything except the bolded. The commish is performing a service to the league members, and a non-monetary thank you is certainly not too much to expect. Withholding a simple attaboy for a job well done is just bad form, imo.

Click to expand...

I get plenty of kudos through the league message board, texts, FB, emails, PMs on the site most of us frequent, et al. I always acknowledge people who take the time to do so, it's nice to feel appreciated. All good things.I'm just saying I'm not keeping score if I don't hear from all eleven. I would do my duty regardless. I take pride in keeping things organized & running smoothly, so the job itself has rewards & a measure of satisfaction. There's also the history & unstated peer pressure aspect. We had a couple tiffs over the decades but on the whole it's been an issue free league with a lot of mutual respect. So I kind of feel compelled to do a great job because the guys who did it before me set a high bar.

There are lot of things motivating me that has nothing to do with whether anyone says "thank you."

habsfan said:

Quasimoto said:

habsfan said:

I get no break on entry fees nor do I expect to. I also buy the trophy out of my own pocket each year. I am probably repaid in Scotch at the award ceremony.

Click to expand...

You're avatar is from a 70s Atari cartridge game, right? What's it called?

Click to expand...

Adventure.

Click to expand...

Yeah, Adventure. Some sort of medieval theme, as I recall. I think that green thing is supposed to be a dragon, right? Those graphics were cutting edge back then. Good ol' days.

BobbyLayne said:

Quasimoto said:

BobbyLayne said:

thatguythere said:

Thanks for all the feedback all...I play in a 200 dollar league and the commish takes a 50% discount.

Keep them coming, the voting results are interesting.

Click to expand...

FTS

I'm a new Commish (couple years) and the amount of administrative work is pretty minimal with virtually any software. If it's an older league I guess I can see how that started. Ours is a 22 year old league and the co-commissioners asked me to take over because their music careers have taken off. I'm one of the founding members and they always paid the same as anyone else.

I don't think the Commish is "entitled" to anything. I don't get paid to sit on the school board or to chair a local charity event, and I put scores of hours into each every year. Being a Commish is simply a service someone performs. There's no thank you required or expected. It is not onerous duty. Someone has to step and do it, but it's no big deal IMO.

Click to expand...

Agree with everything except the bolded. The commish is performing a service to the league members, and a non-monetary thank you is certainly not too much to expect. Withholding a simple attaboy for a job well done is just bad form, imo.

Click to expand...

I get plenty of kudos through the league message board, texts, FB, emails, PMs on the site most of us frequent, et al. I always acknowledge people who take the time to do so, it's nice to feel appreciated. All good things.I'm just saying I'm not keeping score if I don't hear from all eleven. I would do my duty regardless. I take pride in keeping things organized & running smoothly, so the job itself has rewards & a measure of satisfaction. There's also the history & unstated peer pressure aspect. We had a couple tiffs over the decades but on the whole it's been an issue free league with a lot of mutual respect. So I kind of feel compelled to do a great job because the guys who did it before me set a high bar.

There are lot of things motivating me that has nothing to do with whether anyone says "thank you."

Click to expand...

I hear ya. Sounds like a great league.

Mr. Know-It-All said:

Our league has been together 23 years - same Commish all those years. Back in the day we voted to give him free entry into the league for all the manual calculations from the USA Today every Tuesday morning. So he played for free but if he won he got the prize money so he had nothing to lose. Once it went to the internet, we never got around to having a revote and so he still plays for free. I guess it is justified in that he handles the money and enters original rosters after the draft - so if someone is a dead beat he still has to go collect money to pay out the winners.

But....we don't have any deadbeats, software handles roster entry if he would go to an online draft instead of still clinging to the whole cardboard draftboard; so there is no real legit reason to allow him to play for free. Oh well, not a big money league and not worth ruffling any feathers.

On a side note, his kids now place player name stickers on the draftboard as each player is drafted. They have a tip jar and it is looked down on if you don't tip them. So not only is he playing for free, but we are paying his kids to do one of the jobs he was supposed to do as part of playing for free. He is a good dude, though, so not sweating it.

Click to expand...

Awesome.

I can see its evolved into what it is but it's pretty funny when you think about it.

thatguythere said:

Thanks for all the feedback all...I play in a 200 dollar league and the commish takes a 50% discount.

Keep them coming, the voting results are interesting.

Click to expand...

Does the commish pay for the league site? That's the only way he should get a $100 discount.

I run a $100 league and the software does most of the work. It takes a bit of time organizing a draft date and initially entering the rosters but for the most part the site does most of the work. If you use the same site from year to year it holds your settings. If you have a good tight set of rules there's very few decisions that need to be made. Occasionally you'll have an unexpected issue come up but that's very rare.

Local league with in person draft = I'd have no issue with commish taking discount or even playing for free to get things together, draft board, etc..

Online league with online draft = No.

I have a team in the league that this question is about. Each team pays $15 for the site with the $200 entry. The site costs $159.99 crazy I know but 11 of us pay the $15 each for a total of $165 so the commish does not pay for the site and makes $5. It is also an online league with an online draft. And gets 50% of his entry discounted.

Our league is more intensive with IDP, salary cap and contact years. A small portion of our pot goes to pay commish.

renesauz said:

belljr said:

Pre internet yes.

Once online no

Click to expand...

This. I ran a few leagues by pen and ink before the advent of online management. I kept pretty detailed stats and a book for everyone that made it easier to research and find free agents, and even made up weekly newsletters. In one of those leagues, the owners actually had a secret vote to refund me my team fees. Back then, it made sense.

There's still some work for commissioners nowadays, but nowhere near as much. I voted no since I would never suggest it, nor would I expect it if/when I commish again. That said, if spare change is laying around after paying for site hosting fees, I'd approve a small discount (10% or so...nothing big).

Click to expand...

Agree with this.

In one 12 team league that I've run for about 15 years, we have a $70 entry fee, and the league approved me $20 a year to cover the cost of making draft sheets for everyone, supplying paper copies of the latest injury reports at the draft, supplying pens, getting the trophy engraved with the winners name each year, and taking care of cleanup after the draft. I didn't ask for it, they just agreed that it was fair.

On the flip side of that, I got into a league about 7 years ago that had been around for 20 years. The entry fee was $100. About halfway through the season, the commissioner sends out a message describing the breakdown of the payouts. I said, "That looks about $100 short", he "reminds" everyone that he plays for free every year. I was PO'ed, because he didn't say that up front, otherwise I would have never agreed to get in. Got out after that one year. Lesson learned: Know the payouts before you join.

skoalbandit said:

I have a team in the league that this question is about. Each team pays $15 for the site with the $200 entry. The site costs $159.99 crazy I know but 11 of us pay the $15 each for a total of $165 so the commish does not pay for the site and makes $5. It is also an online league with an online draft. And gets 50% of his entry discounted.

Click to expand...

What site costs $159.99?? And he shouldn't get his team discounted also.