Auction Drafting (1 Viewer)

[jaemcy3]

I am commish in a redraft league with 3 keepers that has been intact 5 years. We have had discussions about going to an auction format but none of us have experience with it. We have some questions.

1. Does this format work well for redraft leagues or just dynasty?

2. Doesn't this make for a very long draft? We carry a 20 man roster and play IDP. How long should we expect our draft party to last?

3. How do you control who get's to nominate?

4. Anything else we need to know?

 

[roadkill1292]

Here's a link to one of the more recent auction discussions that covered several of your issues.

Auctions work well for any kind of format. My league is a keep 3, for instance. If you're organized, plan on it taking 5 hours or more, assuming a 12-man league, with your size roster.

Nomination order is irrelevant. Just take it in whatever order people happen to be sitting.

Welcome to auctions. You'll like 'em.

 

[perry147]

Nomination order is irrelevant. Just take it in whatever order people happen to be sitting.

I disagree that nomination is irrelevant in auction leagues.

 

[roadkill1292]

Nomination order is irrelevant. Just take it in whatever order people happen to be sitting.

I disagree that nomination is irrelevant in auction leagues.

OK, make your case.

 

[T Man]

Nomination order is irrelevant. Just take it in whatever order people happen to be sitting.

I disagree that nomination is irrelevant in auction leagues.

There is a strategy to the nomination process; so the order matters.

Who is nominated makes a difference. IMHO, early on you want to nominate a guy that you don't like but others drool over. Have them spend the cash, which leaves less when a player is nominated that you want.

Also, I have had good experience of nominating a player from the same position as the prior nomination. People start worrying that they have to jump on a player because they want a good RB, for example, and if the keep getting nominated there eon't be any left.

 

[perry147]

Nomination order is irrelevant. Just take it in whatever order people happen to be sitting.

I disagree that nomination is irrelevant in auction leagues.

There is a strategy to the nomination process; so the order matters.

Who is nominated makes a difference. IMHO, early on you want to nominate a guy that you don't like but others drool over. Have them spend the cash, which leaves less when a player is nominated that you want.

Also, I have had good experience of nominating a player from the same position as the prior nomination. People start worrying that they have to jump on a player because they want a good RB, for example, and if the keep getting nominated there eon't be any left.

Exactly.Nominate players you do not want to draft but feel others will blow money on.

Example:

Lets say LT, SA, LJ and Portis are all available. I want to target LT. I want him nominated last or second to last and I want others to overspend on other players so they have less money to fight with me over LT.

 

[roadkill1292]

OK, it appears that we're talking about two different things here. Yes, it does matter who gets nominated when and that absolutely factors into your nomination when it's your turn.

My understanding is that jaemcy3 is asking how you determine the batting order for nominating players. Since you can't control whom others will nominate anyway, why is the order relevant?

In 15 years of conducting auctions, this issue has never been broached in my league because it is seen as a non-issue.

 

[Capt Hook]

I agree with roadkill that the actual order does not matter that much. What our league does is give the previous year's Champion the first nomination and then just go around the room clockwise from him.

One thing you should try an do if find a football savvy friend who is not in the league to be your league's Auctioneer.

 

[roadkill1292]

I agree with roadkill that the actual order does not matter that much. What our league does is give the previous year's Champion the first nomination and then just go around the room clockwise from him.

Ditto, except that we start with the worst team from the previous season. This has the added benefit of reminding him of his embarrassing performance.

 

[inca911]

You need owners to nominate players based on owner seating. The nomination order is very important when owners only have minimum bid money left. At the early stages of the auction, it doesn't matter much who goes first. If nobody can bid above the minimum cost, the first to nominate gets the player.

You'll need a way to keep track of auction dollars spent and the minimum amount a player will cost. You must have enough money left to fill your roster.

Once you go auction, you'll likely never go back to draft. Get ready for a lot of fun!

 

[roadkill1292]

You need owners to nominate players based on owner seating. The nomination order is very important when owners only have minimum bid money left. At the early stages of the auction, it doesn't matter much who goes first. If nobody can bid above the minimum cost, the first to nominate gets the player.

You'll need a way to keep track of auction dollars spent and the minimum amount a player will cost. You must have enough money left to fill your roster.

Once you go auction, you'll likely never go back to draft. Get ready for a lot of fun!

Good points. At the back end of the auction there's always a point in time where everyone is out of money and it turns into essentially a draft. But you can't predict exactly when this will happen and there's always that one guy who has $2 to spend while everybody else has $1 so, again, having a specific criteria for setting batting order is an unnecessary task.When it comes to keeping track of money (and this is vital), excel is your friend.

 

[Titans_fan]

The only year I ran an auction league our nomitaing order was not really an order at all.

The worst team from last year would nominate the first player (since that team would have gotten the first overall pick) and placed a bid on that player.

The team that placed the winning bid nominated the next player, and so forth.

Our league also put a rule in place that when nominating a player, you had to bid at least the minimum, this prevented somebody from nominating a recently retired player or something similarly idiotic then no bids being placed.

The auction moved along at a pretty brisk pace, but make sure your owners do some mock auctions before the actual event. There's nothing worse than having several teams bid crazy early, then have to sit and watch while others fill out their rosters because they have no money left.

Just my $.02

 

[Snot Bubbler]

I think it works best (and faster) when the coach nominating a player is obligated to bid on that player. In other words, the nomination shouldn't be, "Aaron Brooks," it should be "Aaron Brooks - $1."

 

[perry147]

I think it works best (and faster) when the coach nominating a player is obligated to bid on that player. In other words, the nomination shouldn't be, "Aaron Brooks," it should be "Aaron Brooks - $1."

That is the way our works.Nomination must be minimum bid.

QB = $5

RB = $4

WR = $4

TE = $3

K = $1

D = $2

 

[inca911]

A minimum bid is always required to nominate a player.

perry147:

Why the different minimum bid per player type? Historical?

 

[Z-Dog]

I am commish in a redraft league with 3 keepers that has been intact 5 years. We have had discussions about going to an auction format but none of us have experience with it. We have some questions.

1. Does this format work well for redraft leagues or just dynasty?

2. Doesn't this make for a very long draft? We carry a 20 man roster and play IDP. How long should we expect our draft party to last?

3. How do you control who get's to nominate?

4. Anything else we need to know?

1. Auction works for redraft and dynasty. If you're doing a keeper league, you probably jsut want to use the salary cap for the draft, and that's it. After the auction, the dollar values don't count for anything anymore.2. Naw, it's not too bad. Get an auctioneer - that really keeps things moving, and is a lot of fun.

3. My league uses reverse order of finish, and nominations must include a minimum bid.

4. Do some mock auctions, that will answer all your questions and give you valuable experience.

 

[perry147]

A minimum bid is always required to nominate a player.

perry147:

Why the different minimum bid per player type? Historical?

Because in our scoring system QB are valued much higher then any other.RB and WR are about even and Kicker and defense are "a dime a dozen".

It seems to work great for us.

 

[jdoggydogg]

1. Does this format work well for redraft leagues or just dynasty?

Works for both. Player salaries will obviously differ because a rookie is worth more in a Dynasty format.

2. Doesn't this make for a very long draft? We carry a 20 man roster and play IDP. How long should we expect our draft party to last?

I don't think it's longer. But let's pretend it's 30 minutes longer. All the owners have been engaged the entire draft, so it's been a fun draft for everyone. You will not be staring at your watch, like you do with a serpentine draft.

3. How do you control who get's to nominate?

We draw numbers from a hat 1-12. So people nominate in a serpentine order (1-12, then 12-1).

 

[glock]

The only year I ran an auction league our nomitaing order was not really an order at all.

The worst team from last year would nominate the first player (since that team would have gotten the first overall pick) and placed a bid on that player.

The team that placed the winning bid nominated the next player, and so forth.

Our league also put a rule in place that when nominating a player, you had to bid at least the minimum, this prevented somebody from nominating a recently retired player or something similarly idiotic then no bids being placed.

The auction moved along at a pretty brisk pace, but make sure your owners do some mock auctions before the actual event. There's nothing worse than having several teams bid crazy early, then have to sit and watch while others fill out their rosters because they have no money left.

Just my $.02

It's concievable then that one owner might not get a chance to nominate a player for some time. After a player is nomnated and "won", we pick up the nominating process where we left off, with the next owner clockwise from the last to nominate.

 

[Sugar Huddle]

I am commish in a redraft league with 3 keepers that has been intact 5 years. We have had discussions about going to an auction format but none of us have experience with it. We have some questions.

I've been in an auction league for the past 12 years and wouldn't have it any other way. It's great knowing that almost any player can be had if you're willing to bid and spend your cap money. (25 man roster - $250 cap).

1. Does this format work well for redraft leagues or just dynasty?

Works great for redraft because players' values change most every year.

2. Doesn't this make for a very long draft? We carry a 20 man roster and play IDP. How long should we expect our draft party to last?

It significantly lengthened our draft. We went from a two-hour draft in year one to a seven-hour auction ever since. I think this year we went about eight hours. But it is well worth it. We have a good time. Have a big spread of food, drinking, etc. Plus half of the 12 owners live out of town so it's the only time we all are together. It's become an event. One warning...you need to develop a system to keep the auction rolling. People get tired, they are thinking ahead during an auction, etc. We designate the person to the right of the owner who put the player out to auction as the auctioneer. This way we always have someone responsible for the "going once, going twice, etc.

3. How do you control who get's to nominate?

We go around the table worst to first.

4. Anything else we need to know?

Don't be scared off by the extra time and work it takes. It's a lot of fun. We've even developed some rules for keepers. For example, all rookies can be kept for their second season if you are willing to bump their salary up by 150% (i.e., a $10 cap number becomes $15). No one can bid on that player. Any veteran who was not in a starting line-up during the season can be kept under the same rule. College players can be auctioned and kept under the same rules. It's made it a lot more interesting.

 

[Bri]

wow alot of people saying the same thing in different words here.

jaemcy, I think the thought is like this: suppose you have a 15 man roster and you draw up a rough draft of 15 players you want. You win a bid, then name the next guy on your list, you win that, then the next one and eventually you have all 15.

The only way that actually happens is if 14 of them are undrafted free agents nobody's heard of

So you get one or two and lose a bid. That guy that won now puts up another player for bidding.

At this point there's a couple theories-I think Dodds and others here likes to sit back quietly and prey on the cheaper players watching bids and salary cap space go by. Some other folks like to be a bit aggressive and get the big name players out there because their opponents will spend money on them. Above, someone suggested bidding on someone you don't want to throw people off.

We can keep carrying on here over and over.

In theory, the best players cost the most $ and the worst players cost the least. During the draft, however, 90 of the top 100 players are drafted and 90% of the teams in the league used up most of their cap. The other 10% pounce on those remaining players at a super cheap rate.

And of course, with any auction if the bid is not high enough(in your opinion) and you know someone covets a player, you bid to raise his price knowing full well he'll keep bidding til he wins, almsot obsessed with that player.

Again, we can carry on and on with theories and tricks and such.

In my experience, a good mixture of the above works best. Throw a dope out there, raise a bid, put guys up for bid that you want....everything just mix it up. IMO It's most important that your opponents don't know what you're doing or recognize some plan you have. They'll outbid you or raise the bids on you and ...they'll get ya

 

[BigRed]

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index...3156&hl=auction

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index...3567&hl=auction

Some good discussion here, although maybe more in-depth than you're looking for right now.

And nomination order techncally matters....a little. Hardly enough to worry about though. Even though we're redraft, we go worst-goes-first in our league and then reverse order every other round. Works fine.

PS I highly advise against diff. minimum bids according to position. It's way too busy and just doesn't make sense, esp when you get to the lesser players. GDB paying $5 for Alex Smith.