Fantasy Site w/ Most Value? (1 Viewer)

[Bob Wiley]

My league was on fanball.com for the past two years and it was $60 each year for the whole league. My only complaints with fanball.com was that the live online draft didn't work properly and the live scoring was a little screwy for the first two weeks. But after that, it was a great value.

Now there is a push in my league to switch to CBS Sportsline. But, as commissioner, I'm having a hard time justifying the $149.95 price tag. If we stayed w/ Fanball.com that's an extra $90 that would go to the winner of the league at the end of the year. Is it worth it?

Are there any other fantasy football sites where you've had a great overall experience and they don't break the bank?

I'd qualify a great overall experience with these factors:

Ease of Use

Glitch Free Live Online Draft Room

Glitch Free and Accurate Live Scoring

Thanks for your help.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

mfl.com down?

 

[Joe Bryant]

My league was on fanball.com for the past two years and it was $60 each year for the whole league. My only complaints with fanball.com was that the live online draft didn't work properly and the live scoring was a little screwy for the first two weeks. But after that, it was a great value.

Now there is a push in my league to switch to CBS Sportsline. But, as commissioner, I'm having a hard time justifying the $149.95 price tag. If we stayed w/ Fanball.com that's an extra $90 that would go to the winner of the league at the end of the year. Is it worth it?

Are there any other fantasy football sites where you've had a great overall experience and they don't break the bank?

I'd qualify a great overall experience with these factors:

Ease of Use

Glitch Free Live Online Draft Room

Glitch Free and Accurate Live Scoring

Thanks for your help.

Hi bob,There are several good ones out there I'm sure but for me, I love the guys at MyFantasyLeauge.com

Mike Hall runs a top notch company there and is outstanding.

J

 

[doughboydeluxe]

My league was on fanball.com for the past two years and it was $60 each year for the whole league. My only complaints with fanball.com was that the live online draft didn't work properly and the live scoring was a little screwy for the first two weeks. But after that, it was a great value.Now there is a push in my league to switch to CBS Sportsline. But, as commissioner, I'm having a hard time justifying the $149.95 price tag. If we stayed w/ Fanball.com that's an extra $90 that would go to the winner of the league at the end of the year. Is it worth it?Are there any other fantasy football sites where you've had a great overall experience and they don't break the bank?I'd qualify a great overall experience with these factors:Ease of UseGlitch Free Live Online Draft RoomGlitch Free and Accurate Live ScoringThanks for your help.

Hi bob,There are several good ones out there I'm sure but for me, I love the guys at www.myfantasyleague.comMike Hall runs a top notch company there and is outstanding. J

I think their cost this year will be $90 to you, but they usually give a price break for returning leagues if you pay early.Very customizable, very easy to use, never had a problem with the online draft feature, great customer service.

 

[isuvike]

fantasysports.aol.com is pretty full featured and customizable and its free.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

RTSports is really easy. We did our draft live online in one of their chatrooms, super easy.

Setting the lineups, everything is ubereasy...my only complaint is its supereasy for league owners to find info there as they have a blog of sorts that keeps updating all day...but people are dumb and still don't always read that their player is gimpy.

Check out RTSports, also has really good customer service.

 

[GiantsRule]

[insert anything here] down?

Comedic value check....Yup. Still unfunny!MFL is the way to go. Finally convinced my local league to get rid of CBS Sh%#sline in favor of MFL!

 

[SKI]

Another vote for MFL.

and if you use blind bidding for free agents (and why wouldn't you?), they are even more atractive from a commish perspective.

 

[lions327]

I can't think of a single reason to NOT use myfantasyleague.com. It is clearly the best site I have ever used.

 

[smithkt]

I can't think of a single reason to NOT use mfl.com. It is clearly the best site I have ever used.

Of course the link is actually myfantasyleague.com. mfl.com is some kind of consulting group.

 

[Chairshot]

I haven't used it yet but everyone that does says that MFL.com is the best.

I *have* used Sportsline plenty of times and I can't think of a single thing that makes the price tag worth it over other leagues.

Stick with Fanball or give MFL a shot.

 

[joey]

Maybe I'm just a more "visual" person than some other folks but

I can't understand all the love for mfl. I checked out their "demo team"

web page to see what the layout/format/info on their league pages look

like and I think it is darn near unreadable. Really poor layout and design

and info just stacked one on top of another with no sense of priority

or importance.

I'm sure I'm in the minority about this one since everyone here swears

by mfl but, MAN, they need to hire a graphic designer or something.

But I'm just a simple man who thinks that silly little yahoo has everything

I need to run a pretty standard 12 team performance league. And their

interface, live draft applet, free agent player sorting/viewing and their

general layout are excellent and easy to read and navigate.

I also dislike CBS. I was in one of their leagues a few years back and just

joined another league this year that uses CBS and I hate the way their pages

are laid out.

signed,

Graphic Design Snob

 

[doughboydeluxe]

Maybe I'm just a more "visual" person than some other folks butI can't understand all the love for mfl. I checked out their "demo team"web page to see what the layout/format/info on their league pages looklike and I think it is darn near unreadable. Really poor layout and designand info just stacked one on top of another with no sense of priorityor importance.I'm sure I'm in the minority about this one since everyone here swearsby mfl but, MAN, they need to hire a graphic designer or something.But I'm just a simple man who thinks that silly little yahoo has everythingI need to run a pretty standard 12 team performance league. And theirinterface, live draft applet, free agent player sorting/viewing and theirgeneral layout are excellent and easy to read and navigate.I also dislike CBS. I was in one of their leagues a few years back and justjoined another league this year that uses CBS this year and I hate theway their pages are laid out.signed,Graphic Design Snob

That's the great thing about MFL... you can completely customize your home page with as much or as little as you want, in whatever order you want. Only want standings on your home page? Fine. Want standing, schedules, power rankings, free agent info, message board posts on your home page? That's fine, too. They also have preset color templates you can use, or you can do your own colors if you choose.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Maybe I'm just a more "visual" person than some other folks butI can't understand all the love for mfl. I checked out their "demo team"web page to see what the layout/format/info on their league pages looklike and I think it is darn near unreadable. Really poor layout and designand info just stacked one on top of another with no sense of priorityor importance.I'm sure I'm in the minority about this one since everyone here swearsby mfl but, MAN, they need to hire a graphic designer or something.But I'm just a simple man who thinks that silly little yahoo has everythingI need to run a pretty standard 12 team performance league. And theirinterface, live draft applet, free agent player sorting/viewing and theirgeneral layout are excellent and easy to read and navigate.I also dislike CBS. I was in one of their leagues a few years back and justjoined another league this year that uses CBS and I hate the way their pagesare laid out.signed,Graphic Design Snob

Hi joey,Everyone has different things that appeal to them. From a graphic design standpoint, different people will like different things. There are certainly tons of FF information sites better looking than Footballguys. I think what creates all the love for myfantasyleague is the outstanding functionality, the rich features and the service that backs the whole thing up which is second to none in my opinion.J

 

[AcerFC]

I am using CBS right now and like it. I have used ESPN which was awful and EA sports which I thought was very good but some in my league couldnt access all the time.

Because evryone on this forum loves mfl, I tried to set up a leaague for free to try it. I didnt get very far as I thought it was a little confusing so I scrapped the league and we will stick with sportsline.

I would love to see mfl in action for a week or two but i couldnt hack it

 

[the widowmaker]

RTSPORTS is easy and the service is second to none. I've used CBS (terrible) and did a free trial with MFL when looking for a new site and found RTSPORTS was much easier to use. Trust me. Early bird discounts for returning leagues, archives for years also. Very easy.

 

[Big Score]

Of the pay sites, I've used MFL, CBS & RTS.

Another vote for RTS.

 

[Tonka Truck]

I use Sportsifi.com it's a NFL survival pool. It's free and has big prize money. It's not full featured like the ones mentioned above but it's easy to use, free and only requires one pick a week.

 

[ninerindallas]

Check out footballswami.com

* Live Scoring

* Live draft

* Great site for smack talk and (ahem) wagering among friends

* Put out press releases slamming your league mates

* Easy trades

* Customizable

 

[Big Score]

I use Sportsifi.com it's a NFL survival pool. It's free and has big prize money. It's not full featured like the ones mentioned above but it's easy to use, free and only requires one pick a week.

The guy asked what are the best places to run his league. How do you run a league on Sportsifi.com?

 

[doughboydeluxe]

I use Sportsifi.com it's a NFL survival pool. It's free and has big prize money. It's not full featured like the ones mentioned above but it's easy to use, free and only requires one pick a week.

The guy asked what are the best places to run his league. How do you run a league on Sportsifi.com?

It's called SPAM.

 

[Big Score]

I use Sportsifi.com it's a NFL survival pool. It's free and has big prize money. It's not full featured like the ones mentioned above but it's easy to use, free and only requires one pick a week.

The guy asked what are the best places to run his league. How do you run a league on Sportsifi.com?

It's called SPAM.

Oh!Should I ask for a slice of pineapple on the side?

 

[Z-Dog]

I like XpertSports and I am trying out fleaflicker.com this year, which is free. Looks good so far, but that means nothing until the live scoring kicks in.

 

[Munch]

I have to agree with Joey.

If you don't absolutely require a different waiver system, or absolutely need to input keepers scattered throughout a draft, then there is nothing wrong with Yahoo and their FREE service. And if you would just like to have the above amenities, then any commish worth his salt would be able to simulate/coordinate them.

Having a choice of templates simply isn't worth $70-90.

 

[mario8723]

Good Lord. How many more times do we have to have the same thread?

 

[cpstorm]

I have leagues on MFL, fanball and ESPN this year. My favourite is the fanball one. Best, most intuitive menu/navigation bars. Not customizable like MFL is, but cheaper. Looks are cool for about 5 mins. but when you cannot remember how to navigate to find a certain report or waiver wire, its frustrating (MFL but even worse is ESPN)

 

[quadcity]

MFL for sure. I run two leagues there and brought one over from CBS.

 

[by_the_sea_wannabe]

I like XpertSports

 

[dkeato]

I have been using Statsworld.com for years. They do a good job with live scoring, reports, sorting stats, and the draft was easy.

In the other league in which I am only an owner, they use MFL and I think they are just as good.

Statsworld does a sportspage feature with tuesday's results which is sometimes pretty funny.

 

[posty]

So how long until the next thread is started asking what online service is the best??

 

[Liopleurodon]

Maybe I'm just a more "visual" person than some other folks butI can't understand all the love for mfl. I checked out their "demo team"web page to see what the layout/format/info on their league pages looklike and I think it is darn near unreadable. Really poor layout and designand info just stacked one on top of another with no sense of priorityor importance.I'm sure I'm in the minority about this one since everyone here swearsby mfl but, MAN, they need to hire a graphic designer or something.But I'm just a simple man who thinks that silly little yahoo has everythingI need to run a pretty standard 12 team performance league. And theirinterface, live draft applet, free agent player sorting/viewing and theirgeneral layout are excellent and easy to read and navigate.I also dislike CBS. I was in one of their leagues a few years back and justjoined another league this year that uses CBS and I hate the way their pagesare laid out.signed,Graphic Design Snob

I don't especially care for MFL either. I'm not a graphic design snob either, but I haven't been overly impressed with that league from a player's standpoint. It could be that our commish just didn't know what he was doing, but I just had the worst draft of my life on MFL. We had major technical problems. A lot of guys somehow ended up drafting guys they didn't want. For awhile, every time I tried to post a comment, it was throwing an error. Last year, part of the drop-add functionality didn't work for the whole frigging year.My experience with MFL is that it has totally sucked.

 

[ninerindallas]

what online service is the best?? (Just Kidding)

Seriously though, try footballswami.com. If you want to see it, I think you can just go sign-up for a guest account to see how it works.

 

[Symbius]

Maybe I'm just a more "visual" person than some other folks butI can't understand all the love for mfl. I checked out their "demo team"web page to see what the layout/format/info on their league pages looklike and I think it is darn near unreadable. Really poor layout and designand info just stacked one on top of another with no sense of priorityor importance.I'm sure I'm in the minority about this one since everyone here swearsby mfl but, MAN, they need to hire a graphic designer or something.But I'm just a simple man who thinks that silly little yahoo has everythingI need to run a pretty standard 12 team performance league. And theirinterface, live draft applet, free agent player sorting/viewing and theirgeneral layout are excellent and easy to read and navigate.I also dislike CBS. I was in one of their leagues a few years back and justjoined another league this year that uses CBS and I hate the way their pagesare laid out.signed,Graphic Design Snob

Agree with you on all points.Their default webpages need to be a whole lot better before I'd ever go there. Custimaztion for the coding wiz's out there is all fine and dandy, but that's really a small percentage overall.To top that off, no league history stats saved on the site unless you pay a 3rd party source extra money.Really, big for me on MFL.

 

[musicdvm]

Good Lord. How many more times do we have to have the same thread?

Chill, not everybody checks this site on a daily basis. You don't have to read the thread afterall.I have experience with 4 sites: CBS, fanball, yahoo, and myfantasyleague (MFL) and I have to agree with Joey. We used MFL last year for our dynasty league. Sure MFL has got every imaginable option and is probably one of the most customizable league sites I have ever been involved with. That said, MFL is difficult to navigate and their look is by far the worst of any site I have ever seen - it reminds me of the old dos-style programs prevalent more than a decade ago. Their player listings (free agents, rosters, etc), reports, etc are difficult to find and far inferior to fanball, CBC, and even Yahoo. The majority of the members in our league hated the site and voted overwhelmingly after the season to move it to another site. Unless your league has some weird rules, there are definitely better options.CBS is like a rich man's fanball. They look good and the features are similar to fanball's. However, the draftroom is worst one of the bunch, in my opinion. When CBS had free leagues and then when they starting charging (before they raised their price), I can never recall a problem-free draft. We were always having probems with the applet freezing up and kicking people out of the draft room. The bottom line is that CBS doesn't offer any appreciable advantage over fanball (my personal favorite) - at least nothing to justify the $125 it is going to cost you. Now I haven't been in a CBS league in a couple of years so I don't know if they have corrected these deficiencies or not.Yahoo is great. Best draftroom there is bar none. The only negative I can think of with yahoo is that you are very limited in what you can do rule-wise and they charge extra for all the bells and whistles which come with other leagues. But for a free league, it is hard to beat.Fanball is my personal favorite. It is easy to use, looks great, and will fit most league rules. I have no experience with some of the other leagues that were meantioned here so I comment on them.

 

[Munch]

To top that off, no league history stats saved on the site unless you pay a 3rd party source extra money.

And another point for Yahoo. It was a major strike against for a long time, but Yahoo now allows you access to archives of all of your fantasy leagues. I started on Yahoo in 2001, and I can access every team, every league that I've ever owned, operated, or even played against. And again, it's free.

 

[Sheriff66]

Maybe I'm just a more "visual" person than some other folks butI can't understand all the love for mfl. I checked out their "demo team"web page to see what the layout/format/info on their league pages looklike and I think it is darn near unreadable. Really poor layout and designand info just stacked one on top of another with no sense of priorityor importance.I'm sure I'm in the minority about this one since everyone here swearsby mfl but, MAN, they need to hire a graphic designer or something.But I'm just a simple man who thinks that silly little yahoo has everythingI need to run a pretty standard 12 team performance league. And theirinterface, live draft applet, free agent player sorting/viewing and theirgeneral layout are excellent and easy to read and navigate.I also dislike CBS. I was in one of their leagues a few years back and justjoined another league this year that uses CBS and I hate the way their pagesare laid out.signed,Graphic Design Snob

I hate the look and feel of MFL, but the functionality is not an issue. I prefer www.rtsports.com, be there a few year and have had nothign but smooth sailing...

 

[agiffey]

I will cast another vote for Fanball.com. While you can't customize the web page's appearance, you can customize the league settings however you want. I commish a dynasty league there and Fanball.com works great. It is very easy to navigate and the layout is very professional looking. Unlike the MFL pages that all look like they were designed by High School kids.

 

[bentley]

To top that off, no league history stats saved on the site unless you pay a 3rd party source extra money.

And another point for Yahoo. It was a major strike against for a long time, but Yahoo now allows you access to archives of all of your fantasy leagues. I started on Yahoo in 2001, and I can access every team, every league that I've ever owned, operated, or even played against. And again, it's free.

AOL's service is much more customizable, maintains history, and is also free. With free live scoring thrown in to boot.

 

[intrinsic]

seems to me there is not a clear winner.

My coworkers are drafting together for the firt time this year. Some are not sure if they are into, others couldnt wait. We have discussed a custom pay site but will probably wait for next season, so this info helps me and i thank you.

With the continuing replies, can everyone please list the their costs for these sites as well to be considered in the decision?

 

[bentley]

fantasysports.aol.com

$0

 

[Depth Charge]

So how long until the next thread is started asking what online service is the best??

You should take a break from the message board, take a deep breath, then proceed home to scold your young children for asking to many questions.

 

[Northern Voice]

CBS = most expensive and nowhere near the best. I've used MFL, RTSports, Yahoo, etc... and all have their positives and negatives but I can't think of a single reason to pay more for CBS over any of them.

 

[MrJamela]

I have been using Statsworld.com for years. They do a good job with live scoring, reports, sorting stats, and the draft was easy.In the other league in which I am only an owner, they use MFL and I think they are just as good.Statsworld does a sportspage feature with tuesday's results which is sometimes pretty funny.

We ditched Statsworld last year (after using them for the last 5 or 6 years) since they didn't bother to upgrade ANYTHING at all with their software between 2004 and 2005. And its not like their software didn't need improvements.We switched to MFL and have never looked back. MFL rocks. We were particularly amused during the live draft when it would announce out loud the name of every player chosen. The name would echo around the room from laptop to laptop depending on the speed of the machine.Jaime

 

[JohnnyU]

when looking for a new site and found RTSPORTS was much easier to use. Trust me. Early bird discounts for returning leagues, archives for years also. Very easy.

Early bird discounts - MFL, checkArchives for years also - MFL checkVery easy - MFL checkAlso, I've commished at both RTS and MFL, and MFL is by far the better engine for commissioners. I love their Calendar setups, and MFL's message board is better than RTS. Plus, with MFL each owner can customize their homepage with the contents they want. That you cannot do in RTS.Next !!

 

[The Mollusk]

Here's another vote for Fanball. $60 this year (last year it was $50). One thing that I like about Fanball as commissioner that nobody mentioned is that it has live support available so you can get an immediate answer to any questions you might have about setting up the league so that it fits your rules. Fanball also stores league history. Xpertsports.com ($80) would be my second choice.

 

[Munch]

AOL's service is much more customizable, maintains history, and is also free. With free live scoring thrown in to boot.

Just checked it out - pretty good. It took forever to find, as simply putting "fantasy football" into AOL's search bar came up with Yahoo, ESPN and fanball.com, but not their own site!

 

[Maelstrom]

I've used Fanball ($60), CBS (back when it was free- wouldn't pay $149), AOL (free, same engine as Fanball but customized a little for AOL, same pluses and minuses as Fanball though), and MFL($90 I think). I also setup a test league at FleaFlicker.com this year.

Fanball is supposed to have a color switcher this year to allow people to customize their league to any of the NFL team colors, but I haven't seen it yet. We keep using Fanball despite reports of draft room trouble (live draft for us) and Live Scoring issues (has not been an issue for our league except the times the entire site was down, and it isn't a deal killer).

This is my first season with an actual league at MFL, and while I like the ability to customize MFL, but after some playing around I am getting frustrated with the user interface and how to do simple things. I figure it's mostly a matter of learning the system, but I thought Fanball was a little easier to use overall.

AOL, like I said above, is basically a rebranded version of Fanball. But it's free. Fanball has added some features to it's leagues, and I don't know if they will carry over to AOL or not, but the basic functionality is the same, I believe.

I've looked into Xpert, but never gone so far as to setup a test league. I am intrigued by FleaFlicker though, and plan to carry the test league through a few weeks to see how it goes. It looks like a really nice site, but can be a touch limited on a few features for some leagues, I think (site's only in it's 2nd year, so it could add new features quickly also).

 

[franks&beans]

I have peaked at these sites, but one of my leagues is rotisserie based. I am not crazy with the site we use, but it is livable. I have looked at CBSsportsline, but they don’t offer combined touchdowns, each is broken out separately. When I asked them if there was a way to combine them they told me that if it is listed on their site they support it if it is not listed they don’t support it. Which never answered the question, but that is typical of their customer service in my experience.

Any suggestions on a site that could support rotisserie based would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[pinequick]

If this is a redraft league, and you're considering Fanball. . .

DO NOT PAY FOR FANBALL. It's a waste of 60 bucks. And why do I say this? Because you can go over to AOL and get the same damn thing for free. Pisses me off. I pay for a league at Fanball, and every upgrade and improvement they do at Fanball, they load up over at AOL for free. Same thing. Free.

Save the 60 dollars and throw that in your prize pool, too. It's a great value for free, BTW.

 

[BigCats]

Xpertsports is the best IMO. You can host your league, or join a trophy or money league. They also host the WCOFF... nuff said.