Are You A Commissioner? (4 Viewers)

[Joe Bryant]

It's always felt to me like we have a lot of Commissioners in our mix of readers. Part of that I think is Commissioners are usually more into the leagues and that fits with our readers.

But wanted to ask here.

Are you a Commissioner in any of your leagues?

 

[JohnnyU]

Yes, I have that thankless job in 4 football leagues and share the duties in my one and only baseball league. Over 20 years+

 

[Joe Bryant]

Yes, I have that thankless job in 4 football leagues and my one and only baseball league. Over 20 years+

Thank you. Y'all hold this thing together.

 

[eighsse2]

I'm only in one league, and I'm sort of in an assistant to the commissioner status. I wasn't sure which poll option I should select, because I haven't been named as commissioner, but since I do have commissioner access, commissioner made the most sense.

 

[efactor]

Commish 2 leagues. Which is 1 too many.

 

[Pickle Rody]

Not anymore

 

[Dez]

Commish of 9 leagues all on MFL

1990 redraft, 1994 redraft, 1997 dynasty, 2010 dynasty, 2016 dynasty. These 5 I created and are still going the other 4 I took over for commish's who quit where I play.

Still have 70% of the original owners for the 1997 dynasty league.

Worst part about being a commish is having to find a replacement owner especially in dynasty.

 

[The Frankman]

I'm a Commissioner of the Yahoo! 2025 NFL Fantasy Football Play or Die! League (Season 12). 16 team redraft league w/ Double Flex spots and standard scoring. However, we use limited bench sizes (4 + IR) and transactions (7 per week max and 70 for the whole year) so it's not exactly friendly to people new to FF. I use a lot of different rules to fight shenanigans and customer scoring to mitigate Kickers dominating a week... our payouts tend to be high for 1st and 2nd which helps retain owners.

 

[kface]

Some how I'm commish in 4 of 5 leagues

Over the years the other commissioners have stepped away and they just ended up with me

 

[candian fantasy guy]

Yes, but I am thinking of asking if someone else wants this thankless job going forward. After 14 years, it gets old chasing people to reply to emails or text.

 

[renesauz]

No right now, but have done so for at least 25 league-years in the past. Should be another option in your poll to cover something like that

 

[Chaka]

Yup. I'd complain about...everything to.do with the job but, like literally every other commissioner, I do it because I understand that everyone else in my league would suck at it*.

So, it's a labor of love.

*Except @fbghomeleagues , he's awesome at it. He is technically the commissioner of our leagues, right?

 

[joey]

I commish 1 of the 7 leagues I’m in.

It’s a 12 team dynasty, Keep 13, 1QB mostly “standard” ppr league. Kinda FFPC-like except not TE-P. This league has existed in some form for about 20 years (started as Keep 3 league spinoff of our 30 year redraft league, and we kept turning it up a notch over time to the current format).

And, yes, I commish it cuz I’m the most OCD, control freak of all those doofuses. But I roped my long time friend (who’s also been there since the beginning) to co-commish now and then, but I still do 90% of the heavy lifting.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

For decades in my home league, yes. Every year proposals are made, we vote on proposals, off we go. Very democratic.

I have a co-commish which I highly recommend to other commishes.

 

[joey]

For decades in my home league, yes. Every year proposals are made, we vote on proposals, off we go. Very democratic.

I have a co-commish which I highly recommend to other commishes.

Very similar to a couple of my decades-long leagues.

Except, every year proposals are made and none of them pass cuz those dudes are old and boring.

 

[32 Counter Pass]

Yes, I have that thankless job in 4 football leagues and share the duties in my one and only baseball league. Over 20 years+

Doing the Lord’s work.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Commissioner for 20 years and uncompensated HOST for 17-of-20 live drafts. Really thought someone in the league might have a lake cabin, decked out man cave, sprawling backyard / patio / party room that they would want to show off by this point of our lives. NOPE. Still cramming onto my tiny property for two decades and running....

 

[kyoun1e]

Yup.

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

League established in 1997. Newspaper clippings and pager voicemails weekly for scoring, man I don't miss that lol. Internet leagues came along I think in 1999 or 2000. Yellow boards were I think just starting up around then too, who can remember. Was that 1998 for the original boards?

It's a 14 team league and 10 have been in it from the start, it's made up of a mixture of my high school buddies and my fellow UCLA alums. I contemplate quitting every year for the past decade, but then the season gets going and I wouldn't trade it for anything else. I made draft a mandatory in-person event since the beginning of time and that's the best thing I could have done. I can honestly say it keeps many of these friendships alive amongst the owners, having that one day a year we all see each other. Lucky to have such a group.

 

[-OZ-]

Deputy to the commissioner, and treasurer. Tracking the money but letting the commish be the heavy If needed. It hasn’t been needed. I’ve been in this role now for a decade, we’ve had five different commissioners in this league’s history and the 3rd just took back over.
32 team league going into year 24.

 

[BoltNlava]

Commish of 9 leagues all on MFL

1990 redraft, 1994 redraft, 1997 dynasty, 2010 dynasty, 2016 dynasty. These 5 I created and are still going the other 4 I took over for commish's who quit where I play.

Still have 70% of the original owners for the 1997 dynasty league.

Worst part about being a commish is having to find a replacement owner especially in dynasty.

Thankless job you are doing. So uh...Thank you!

 

[Ray Barboni]

We’ve had the same commissioner amongst a few leagues, forever.

He’s an ok guy. But he does, and has done some shady stuff throughout the years. Collectively, we have all decided his shenanigans are still worth dealing with - because none of us want to take on the commish role.

 

[JohnnyU]

We’ve had the same commissioner amongst a few leagues, forever.

He’s an ok guy. But he does, and has done some shady stuff throughout the years. Collectively, we have all decided his shenanigans are still worth dealing with - because none of us want to take on the commish role.

What were his transgressions?

after thinking about this post I don’t want to know. It’s none of my business

 

[Lehigh98]

I run a few for different audiences:
Here's my main dynasty league (for those crapping on MFL, it's the only one that lets us play these settings)
I also run a Guillotine league that's a ton of fun
Also an ESPN league for an extended family league where most aunts and uncles don't know what they're doing.

 

[Raging weasel]

I've been commish of a league since 1997. Of the original 7 other owners only 3 remain but we do have 3 sons of original owners currently in the league. Found this site shortly after and am one of the first 400 members(380 something)

 

[mphtrilogy]

35th year this year as Commish

 

[JohnnyU]

35th year this year as Commish

Hell, I'm not even that old.....oh wait...

 

[Judge Smails]

We rotate between 3 guys. I’m back on. League always runs smoother when I run it.

 

[darksideofoz]

I commish 4 leagues. I co-commish 2 leagues. This year I finally joined a league that I am just a player! hehe

For those, I started one in 2004. Started my next in 2008. Started a guillotine league the year after Charch announced that format to the world. I took over commish of a keeper league when it reset in 2019 after someone won the empire (b2b championships).

I've commished a couple other leagues over the years, but I folded those due to time constraints and general lack of enjoyment by me and the other owners.

All leagues are currently on MFL. A couple started on fleaflicker for the 1st season and then moved to MFL.

 

[Cjw_55106]

Yep. Can’t even get 12 guys to agree on draft dates.

 

[habman]

Commissioner in 2 redrafts (1990, 1998) and co-commish 4 dynasty (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).

All MFL leagues. All live auction and all with local guys for the most part. Guys that are not local (1 or 2 for each league) are on zoom calls which is a pain in the *** for live auction.

Finding draft dates is usually the biggest headache except for the 2 redraft which have been on the same Sunday (day before Labour Day) since the leagues began. If you can't make the draft you are replaced and get put on waiting list for future seasons.

Our 2 redrafts are 16 team leagues but some years we have had to reduce it to 14 and one year we used league average since there were an odd number of teams.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed but I wouldn't be doing it for the past 30+ years if I didn't love it.

 

[Keith R]

4 for 4. Oldest league started in 1992 and I took over in 1993.

1 dynasty, 1 keeper, 2 redrafts.

3 on Fleaflicker, 1 on Yahoo

 

[Gatorade]

Not anymore. I used to commish several leagues at work years ago. Once I moved away, someone else took over those leagues.

 

[Joe Bryant]

4 for 4. Oldest league started in 1992 and I took over in 1993.

1 dynasty, 1 keeper, 2 redrafts.

3 on Fleaflicker, 1 on Yahoo

That's awesome.

 

[Payne]

Commish of 9 leagues all on MFL

1990 redraft, 1994 redraft, 1997 dynasty, 2010 dynasty, 2016 dynasty. These 5 I created and are still going the other 4 I took over for commish's who quit where I play.

Still have 70% of the original owners for the 1997 dynasty league.

Worst part about being a commish is having to find a replacement owner especially in dynasty.

I got away from dynasty for this one reason. Nobody wants a bad team.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Yep. Can’t even get 12 guys to agree on draft dates.

Best decision I ever made as commish; locking in at noon Sunday on what was the fourth and final week of the old preseason. Made the declaration early that this would be the draft date for every year going forward. Everybody knows when the draft will be in 2026, 2027, and so on.

Weddings and funerals are still a thing and there's still too many years where we're auto-drafting for someone, but nobody has any gripes and we're not scrambling with the impossible task of getting 10 / 12 / 14 adults to agree on a new time that works for everybody.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Commish of 9 leagues all on MFL

1990 redraft, 1994 redraft, 1997 dynasty, 2010 dynasty, 2016 dynasty. These 5 I created and are still going the other 4 I took over for commish's who quit where I play.

Still have 70% of the original owners for the 1997 dynasty league.

Worst part about being a commish is having to find a replacement owner especially in dynasty.

I got away from dynasty for this one reason. Nobody wants a bad team.

I wouldn't play in regular dynasty either for this reason. If you ever give it another chance, you want an empire dynasty league. Half the payout goes to the current year payouts. The other half rolls forward to the grand champion, which would be the first owner to win back-to-back.

Teams still leave and yeah, they're usually pretty uninspiring rosters when it happens. However, it's a pretty easy sell to find someone to take over when they only have to pay in their $100 entry, with potential to win $5K or more if they can get the team turned around and be the first to win back-to-back in a few years.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

We’ve had the same commissioner amongst a few leagues, forever.

He’s an ok guy. But he does, and has done some shady stuff throughout the years. Collectively, we have all decided his shenanigans are still worth dealing with - because none of us want to take on the commish role.

What were his transgressions?

after thinking about this post I don’t want to know. It’s none of my business

The reason I took over as commish for my home league is the prior commish got caught for shenanigans.

The league was run on ESPN (strike 1, really) and had wonky scoring, and wonkier IDP scoring (strike 2)

But the kicker was when a manual scoring change was made to my playoff-bound team, with a whopping -14 point adjustment that turned a week 7 W to an L for me (clearly made by commish, as it said as much in the transactions log) followed by deleting the change from the transactions log (but not before I’d taken a screenshot of the change after I noticed I’d lost a W on my record).

That loss bumped me from the playoffs, and oh hey what do you know, propelled the commish’s team into the wildcard spot I’d previously occupied.

This all went down in week 14, right after games were final, and right before the playoffs started in 15. Commish lost his week 14 game, which is why I was the WC.

It was soooooooo shady. I posted about it and called my friends in the league (10/12 other dudes) and the league blew up before the playoffs even started. League page was like 50 posts, commish lying about having not changed anything (despite the proof)

Everyone asked for their entry back, no one was interested in seeing the playoffs through since it was clearly the result of tampering.

The next year I re-launched the league with better scoring, and with everyone except the commish & co-commish who were best buddies. A sad way to end that league, but a very good lesson for everyone of the value of having an honest commish, having everything above board, & employing a co-commish.

In the last couple of decades since we’ve had maybe 3 spots turn over, none related to league drama. Mostly like “retiring from fantasy sports” or “had 4 kids and now have no time for this many leagues” sorta thing.

But yeah - if you’ve got a good commish, take the time to thank them. They’re doing more behind the scenes than you know to keep the league running smoothly, from collecting $ to helping folks set a lineup when they’re out of town/on a business trip, or helping with an accidental drop (tiny phone, in a hurry, stuff happens).

Every year my league-mates post to thank me & co-commish for running a smooth ship & it always hits me in the feels. I’m happy they trust me to maintain the league we all love, and I take my stewardship seriously.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

I got away from dynasty for this one reason. Nobody wants a bad team

In both the 16 team leagues I’m in, we lost people this year. 3 teams in one league, and 2 in the other needed new managers.

We did disbursal drafts for both, including the draft picks.

It was shockingly easy to find new blood. It helps that our comishes in both of those leagues are in like 20 leagues.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

We’ve had the same commissioner amongst a few leagues, forever.

He’s an ok guy. But he does, and has done some shady stuff throughout the years. Collectively, we have all decided his shenanigans are still worth dealing with - because none of us want to take on the commish role.

What were his transgressions?

after thinking about this post I don’t want to know. It’s none of my business

The reason I took over as commish for my home league is the prior commish got caught for shenanigans.

The league was run on ESPN (strike 1, really) and had wonky scoring, and wonkier IDP scoring (strike 2)

But the kicker was when a manual scoring change was made to my playoff-bound team, with a whopping -14 point adjustment that turned a week 7 W to an L for me (clearly made by commish, as it said as much in the transactions log) followed by deleting the change from the transactions log (but not before I’d taken a screenshot of the change after I noticed I’d lost a W on my record).

That loss bumped me from the playoffs, and oh hey what do you know, propelled the commish’s team into the wildcard spot I’d previously occupied.

This all went down in week 14, right after games were final, and right before the playoffs started in 15. Commish lost his week 14 game, which is why I was the WC.

It was soooooooo shady. I posted about it and called my friends in the league (10/12 other dudes) and the league blew up before the playoffs even started. League page was like 50 posts, commish lying about having not changed anything (despite the proof)

Everyone asked for their entry back, no one was interested in seeing the playoffs through since it was clearly the result of tampering.

The next year I re-launched the league with better scoring, and with everyone except the commish & co-commish who were best buddies. A sad way to end that league, but a very good lesson for everyone of the value of having an honest commish, having everything above board, & employing a co-commish.

In the last couple of decades since we’ve had maybe 3 spots turn over, none related to league drama. Mostly like “retiring from fantasy sports” or “had 4 kids and now have no time for this many leagues” sorta thing.

But yeah - if you’ve got a good commish, take the time to thank them. They’re doing more behind the scenes than you know to keep the league running smoothly, from collecting $ to helping folks set a lineup when they’re out of town/on a business trip, or helping with an accidental drop (tiny phone, in a hurry, stuff happens).

Every year my league-mates post to thank me & co-commish for running a smooth ship & it always hits me in the feels. I’m happy they trust me to maintain the league we all love, and I take my stewardship seriously.

Wow, I would purchase the book if it contained the complete group chat. Usually, it's some obscure rule that has always been there that people only care about when it happens in the playoffs. But, Ope, the guy who I needed to lose won his matchup, so let me just go in and presto!! I'm in the playoffs. Zero explanation for what the adjustment was? Just a flat out denial of the league transaction logs? Unreal. It would be less emotionally taxing to just go out and pickpocket strangers around town.

 

[JohnnyU]

We’ve had the same commissioner amongst a few leagues, forever.

He’s an ok guy. But he does, and has done some shady stuff throughout the years. Collectively, we have all decided his shenanigans are still worth dealing with - because none of us want to take on the commish role.

What were his transgressions?

after thinking about this post I don’t want to know. It’s none of my business

The reason I took over as commish for my home league is the prior commish got caught for shenanigans.

The league was run on ESPN (strike 1, really) and had wonky scoring, and wonkier IDP scoring (strike 2)

But the kicker was when a manual scoring change was made to my playoff-bound team, with a whopping -14 point adjustment that turned a week 7 W to an L for me (clearly made by commish, as it said as much in the transactions log) followed by deleting the change from the transactions log (but not before I’d taken a screenshot of the change after I noticed I’d lost a W on my record).

That loss bumped me from the playoffs, and oh hey what do you know, propelled the commish’s team into the wildcard spot I’d previously occupied.

This all went down in week 14, right after games were final, and right before the playoffs started in 15. Commish lost his week 14 game, which is why I was the WC.

It was soooooooo shady. I posted about it and called my friends in the league (10/12 other dudes) and the league blew up before the playoffs even started. League page was like 50 posts, commish lying about having not changed anything (despite the proof)

Everyone asked for their entry back, no one was interested in seeing the playoffs through since it was clearly the result of tampering.

The next year I re-launched the league with better scoring, and with everyone except the commish & co-commish who were best buddies. A sad way to end that league, but a very good lesson for everyone of the value of having an honest commish, having everything above board, & employing a co-commish.

In the last couple of decades since we’ve had maybe 3 spots turn over, none related to league drama. Mostly like “retiring from fantasy sports” or “had 4 kids and now have no time for this many leagues” sorta thing.

But yeah - if you’ve got a good commish, take the time to thank them. They’re doing more behind the scenes than you know to keep the league running smoothly, from collecting $ to helping folks set a lineup when they’re out of town/on a business trip, or helping with an accidental drop (tiny phone, in a hurry, stuff happens).

Every year my league-mates post to thank me & co-commish for running a smooth ship & it always hits me in the feels. I’m happy they trust me to maintain the league we all love, and I take my stewardship seriously.

Thanks for that post. All I have to say is wow and you did the right thing to restart the league without the two commissioners.

 

[joey]

Commish of 9 leagues all on MFL

1990 redraft, 1994 redraft, 1997 dynasty, 2010 dynasty, 2016 dynasty. These 5 I created and are still going the other 4 I took over for commish's who quit where I play.

Still have 70% of the original owners for the 1997 dynasty league.

Worst part about being a commish is having to find a replacement owner especially in dynasty.

I got away from dynasty for this one reason. Nobody wants a bad team.

I think this factors into why many folks look to sites like FFPC to manage leagues for them (for a price). It’s on them to find new managers to fill up any empty slots.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

Zero explanation for what the adjustment was? Just a flat out denial of the league transaction logs? Unreal. It would be less emotionally taxing to just go out and pickpocket strangers around town.

It was so bold. Like, how am I not gonna notice I lost a win from my record after winning the game I needed to get into the playoffs? Of course imma look back and Nancy Drew the hell outta that ish!

It was my 2nd year in that league so maybe he figured new guy wouldn’t notice.

 

[JohnnyU]

Zero explanation for what the adjustment was? Just a flat out denial of the league transaction logs? Unreal. It would be less emotionally taxing to just go out and pickpocket strangers around town.

It was so bold. Like, how am I not gonna notice I lost a win from my record after winning the game I needed to get into the playoffs? Of course imma look back and Nancy Drew the hell outta that ish!

It was my 2nd year in that league so maybe he figured new guy wouldn’t notice.

I hope that guy isn't a commish now. I wouldn't want to see him recruiting new owners from FBGs.

 

[B Maverick]

I am the 4th commissioner of our league that has been running since 1996 (ouch, I am old!). I took over in 2022. 7 player keeper/contracts/salary cap league.

1996-2003
2004-2013
2014-2021
2022-present.

Have had some league turnover over the years. Even some former owners return. Keeps going strong though.

 

[nirad3]

Co-commish a few leagues, gave up full commish rights to another this season.

 

[JohnnyU]

Co-commish a few leagues, gave up full commish rights to another this season.

I'd be willing to bet a lot of commissioners take the job to keep the league from folding. I know that was the case in two of the leagues I took over. That's not the case in two others.

 

[Gally]

I am co-commish in my dynasty league. A buddy and I created the league from scratch in 2005. Full IDP, salary cap, contracts etc. Created the scoring on our own to try and balance all positions across tiers.

I am commish of a league I started because my son wanted his own team at 9 yrs old. It's a father son league and been going on for 10 years now

I co-commish a baseball league that that same buddy and I created back around 2000. It's u like any league I have ever seen. H2H but we have 5 separate seasons so things don't get stale (as is usually the case for baseball leagues).

 

[wlwiles]

In 5 leagues this year but only commish in one - my oldest redraft league where I've been the commish since the inception. If you've got a good group of owners then commish is almost autopilot. Hardest part of the job is finding a draft date that can accomodate everyone.

 

[JohnnyU]

In 5 leagues this year but only commish in one - my oldest redraft league where I've been the commish since the inception. If you've got a good group of owners then commish is almost autopilot. Hardest part of the job is finding a draft date that can accomodate everyone.

A lot of dynasty leagues require configuration changes between off season and in season. Different settings for blind bid waivers vs first-come-first-serve between off season and in season. Calendar events such as waiver runs might have to be adjusted because of games played on Christmas and New Year’s Day. Other changes are roster maximum changes between off season and in season. Setting up seeding for the playoffs. Other duties include finding new owners and setting up dispersal drafts, running the regular draft, possible pick adjustments, collecting fees, answering questions, even those already spelled out in the rules, creating rule change discussion threads and polls, adjusting the rules constitution after a rule change is made. Creating custom players in DEVY, removing or hiding custom players in DEVY. This is just a few of many. So it’s hardly on auto pilot.