How does your (keeper) league combat fire sales? (1 Viewer)

[baronson]

in my 12 team keeper league, there are 3 teams in particular that are all 1-3 or 0-4. they're all selling off their best non-keepable (not a word, but i digress) players to the highest bidder. guys like TO are going for 2nd round picks and Hasselbeck for 3rd rounders. this is obviously destroying the competitive balance in the league this year, to the point where really only 9 (and soon probably less than that) teams are vieing for 6 playoff spots.

how does your league handle dissuading teams from giving up on the current season? we've talked about making people pay for losses, but is there another way? i mean, they're working to improve for next season, so it's somewhat reasonble, but it obviously cheapens the mid-season schedule.

 

[Sniper]

in my 12 team keeper league, there are 3 teams in particular that are all 1-3 or 0-4. they're all selling off their best non-keepable (not a word, but i digress) players to the highest bidder. guys like TO are going for 2nd round picks and Hasselbeck for 3rd rounders. this is obviously destroying the competitive balance in the league this year, to the point where really only 9 (and soon probably less than that) teams are vieing for 6 playoff spots.how does your league handle dissuading teams from giving up on the current season? we've talked about making people pay for losses, but is there another way? i mean, they're working to improve for next season, so it's somewhat reasonble, but it obviously cheapens the mid-season schedule.

That's always a sucky position to be in.I've seen that once happen recently in a league of mine that has been around for ten years, and most of the owners are loyal and have been in the league for a long time. (The entry fee is several hundred bucks, so that weeds out people who aren't into it, normally)Well, this one owner started 0-6 for the season, and sent out a league-wide email saying he would accept "any offer for any of his players". Immediately, his fellow owners started offering kickers for his stud RBs, backup TEs for the #1 QB in the league -- which the guy accepted.As commish, I had a tough choice. I don't like taking draconian measures, but that kind of thing cannot stand. I had a talk with the guy and asked him to undo the damage, but he refused and said, "It's my team and I can do what I like with it. You can't stop me, I paid my money!"He was kicked out of the league right then and there, all the players were returned to the original roster, and we found a replacement owner to come in and take over that franchise for the rest of the season (at a discounted rate, but he still did buy his way in -- which is amazing, considering what a disadvantage he had by inheriting an 0-6 team).The other alternative would be to kick the guy out, and leave it as a 'ghost franchise' for the rest of the year. Have the commish (or a trusted committee) select the best lineup every week for that team, and leave the schedule as-is.Hope that helps - and sorry you're in this situation.--Sniper

 

[fridayfrenzy]

If its a keeper league, then there isn't much wrong with it. They are looking to improve their team for next year. Building for the future.

If its a redraft, I wouldn't allow it as the commish and would look into kicking the owner out. In a redraft league, you never want an owner inthe league which will give up.

 

[pacman_fl]

in my 12 team keeper league, there are 3 teams in particular that are all 1-3 or 0-4. they're all selling off their best non-keepable (not a word, but i digress) players to the highest bidder. guys like TO are going for 2nd round picks and Hasselbeck for 3rd rounders. this is obviously destroying the competitive balance in the league this year, to the point where really only 9 (and soon probably less than that) teams are vieing for 6 playoff spots.how does your league handle dissuading teams from giving up on the current season? we've talked about making people pay for losses, but is there another way? i mean, they're working to improve for next season, so it's somewhat reasonble, but it obviously cheapens the mid-season schedule.

Ours is a Dynasty, but it would work. We voted (though we had some owners upset/still upset) that trades could only be an EVEN NUMBER of player/player and pick/pick. If you wanted to trade Hasselbeck for a pick, then you would have to get a player and pick in return. It would not be as significant in a keeper since you will draft more rounds, but it eliminates this to a point. Another suggestion - if an owner trades a player they can't get a higher pick than they spent on him. Just a thought

 

[Monty Burns]

One way to avoid this is to adjust your playoffs so EVERY team plays, albeit in different brackets, with the BETTER finishing spot getting the better pick for the following year. For example 1-4 play for the marbles, 5-8 play for the 5-8 picks and 9-12 play for the 1-4 picks with the better finish resulting in the better pick for the 2 non championship brackets.

EDIT: another result of a system like this is that everyone plays meaningfull games up to the last week of your league.

 

[baronson]

If its a keeper league, then there isn't much wrong with it. They are looking to improve their team for next year. Building for the future.If its a redraft, I wouldn't allow it as the commish and would look into kicking the owner out. In a redraft league, you never want an owner inthe league which will give up.

that's the problem (that it's a keeper league). problem is, earlier and earlier every year, people are going to start tanking their games, and starting guys like jake plummer at QB even though they drafted Tom Brady in the 2nd round, but because they can monetize it for something in the current year, they don't mind losing.my problem is, i'm too competitive to ever do that. i can't bear the thought of going 1-12 or 0-13 for a season. other owners are shameless and are willing to tank each and every game so that they can butcher their draft (with extra picks) again next year. at what point does this become too much? i feel like inasmuch as we're all friends in this league, this isn't a very "friendly" or respectful way in which to manage your team. and at $350/team/yr, it carries some weight. i'd hate to be the one guy that lost to the team who goes 1-12 just because i had him earlier in the schedule before he started tanking each week....what's the answer, or is there one?

 

[offdee]

In Redraft league we set ours up like this...

- Last place team of each division pays a certain amount of money for each loss they had after the regular season.

- Our Draft is in reverse order for the Non-Playoff teams....so the team just missing out on making the playoffs gets the #1 pick and the last place team gets the #6 pick (#7 thru #10 picks are the Playoff teams)

So, there is absolutely no incentive whatsoever to tank the season or lose game up until the final game of the regular season. The more you win the better your chances of making the playoffs or getting a higher pick is.....the more you lose the better chance of having to pay in more money to the kitty and get a lower pick.

 

[pmcdade]

Every three years the team with the best record over three years gets $$$. Only works so well, but its something. Also we have 6/12 making the three-week playoffs so 7-6 will get you in, and you've got a shot pretty far into the game.

 

[pacman_fl]

In Redraft league we set ours up like this...- Our Draft is in reverse order for the Non-Playoff teams....so the team just missing out on making the playoffs gets the #1 pick and the last place team gets the #6 pick (#7 thru #10 picks are the Playoff teams)So, there is absolutely no incentive whatsoever to tank the season or lose game up until the final game of the regular season. The more you win the better your chances of making the playoffs or getting a higher pick is.....the more you lose the better chance of having to pay in more money to the kitty and get a lower pick.

I like this rule also. Tried to get my league to vote it in, but it was "too confusing" at the time.

 

[offdee]

In Redraft league we set ours up like this...- Our Draft is in reverse order for the Non-Playoff teams....so the team just missing out on making the playoffs gets the #1 pick and the last place team gets the #6 pick (#7 thru #10 picks are the Playoff teams)So, there is absolutely no incentive whatsoever to tank the season or lose game up until the final game of the regular season. The more you win the better your chances of making the playoffs or getting a higher pick is.....the more you lose the better chance of having to pay in more money to the kitty and get a lower pick.

I like this rule also. Tried to get my league to vote it in, but it was "too confusing" at the time.

What's confusing about it? Pretty straightforward if you ask me.For 10 team league (4 teams make playoffs)#1 pick (5th place team)#2 pick (6th place team)#3 pick (7th place team)#4 pick (8th place team)#5 pick (9th place team)#6 pick (10th place team)#7 pick (4th place team)#8 pick (3rd place team)#9 pick (2nd place team)#10 pick (1st place team)

 

[C-Pod]

12 Team League:

- Top 8 Make Playoffs

- Bottom 4 compete in their own tourney: Winner gets the 1st Pick next season.

We've seen a 0-9 team make trades to bolster his team for the "second season"

 

[softball]

If its a keeper league, then there isn't much wrong with it. They are looking to improve their team for next year. Building for the future.If its a redraft, I wouldn't allow it as the commish and would look into kicking the owner out. In a redraft league, you never want an owner inthe league which will give up.

In a keeper I agree, it is part of the strategy, not much you can do. I was in an EFS Dynasty and we had one terrible owner who sold off players year after year to one or two other owners, the league was won by two different teams in three seasons and I bailed. They were loaded and there was no catching them after this guys fire sale. Very annoying and disappointing.In a redraft, build a "cannot drop list" immediatley. Anyone from Rounds 1 thru 3 seems like a good way to do it.

 

[offdee]

In Redraft league we set ours up like this...- Last place team of each division pays a certain amount of money for each loss they had after the regular season.- Our Draft is in reverse order for the Non-Playoff teams....so the team just missing out on making the playoffs gets the #1 pick and the last place team gets the #6 pick (#7 thru #10 picks are the Playoff teams)So, there is absolutely no incentive whatsoever to tank the season or lose game up until the final game of the regular season. The more you win the better your chances of making the playoffs or getting a higher pick is.....the more you lose the better chance of having to pay in more money to the kitty and get a lower pick.

In addition to these above that I quoted we also have a rule where 1st thru 6th round picks are not allowed to be traded either.....the only time these picks can be traded are during the actual draft itself.What this does is promotes more player for player trades and still allows for 7th round and lower picks to be traded as well to help even deals out.....but the picks are low enough that getting a 7th rounder at best isn't worth enough to tank a season like a 1st rounder could.In review:- charge last place teams an amount per loss to pay at end of regular season.- do reverse draft order for all non-playoff teams.- don't allow high draft picks to be traded at anytime other than during the actual draft when everyone has the same motivation at that time to draft the best team to win this year.

 

[j3r3m3y]

If its a keeper league, then there isn't much wrong with it. They are looking to improve their team for next year. Building for the future.If its a redraft, I wouldn't allow it as the commish and would look into kicking the owner out. In a redraft league, you never want an owner inthe league which will give up.

that's the problem (that it's a keeper league). problem is, earlier and earlier every year, people are going to start tanking their games, and starting guys like jake plummer at QB even though they drafted Tom Brady in the 2nd round, but because they can monetize it for something in the current year, they don't mind losing.my problem is, i'm too competitive to ever do that. i can't bear the thought of going 1-12 or 0-13 for a season. other owners are shameless and are willing to tank each and every game so that they can butcher their draft (with extra picks) again next year. at what point does this become too much? i feel like inasmuch as we're all friends in this league, this isn't a very "friendly" or respectful way in which to manage your team. and at $350/team/yr, it carries some weight. i'd hate to be the one guy that lost to the team who goes 1-12 just because i had him earlier in the schedule before he started tanking each week....what's the answer, or is there one?

It isn't "shameless" to play for next year in a keeper league. And there is no problem. If the guys who aren't winning are having fire sales, pick up their players. You have as much opportunity to get them as the other owners in your league.It is fair, it is equal and if you aren't willing to give up 2nd round picks next year, and other owners are then you are not willing to do what it takes to compete. Every league is different, in ours sometimes this is an issue and sometimes it isn't. If the other owners are stocking up I know I need to keep up with them. It isn't a problem, it is a strategy.

 

[humphrp]

We play a consolation bracket for the teams not in the playoffs. Two positives. First is that the winner of this consolation bracket gets the first overall draft pick, second is that it keeps everyone interested and playing all season long even into the playoffs. This was so popular that for a few years we would get teams purposefully lose a game to keep out of the playoffs, because the only reward for winning was a pat on the back. We have since added a $10 buy in and the winning team gets the cash.

 

[Restricted]

We installed transaction fees that go toward a "Toilet Bowl" so to say, that the people not making the playoffs play for. Entices them to keep a decent team together for seasons end.

 

[DoGdr]

We have a 12 person league that is basically a redraft except you can keep one player by paying a fee based on draft position. That fee doubles every year. For example this year LT cost me $20 because he was a first rounder last year, next year he will cost me $40.

Whave had problems with fire sales so we have done the following:

Limit the number of picks you can have or loss in the first 4 rounds.(You can add or trade one).

Require owners to pay next year's membership fee before they can trade future draft picks.

And finally limit how high of pick you can trade by the week of the season. First in week one, second in week two, third week three...

I like the first two but the final one has effectively ended any meaningfull trades for the next year and i think we should do away with it because trading draft choices lead to more trades and more league activity.

 

[BaBastage]

We have a 12 team, 1 keeper H2H league.

We do 3 things to discourage "Fire Sales":

1. Charge $10 per player/pick traded.

2. Funds from said traded players go into the "Toilet Bowl", which is the consolation tourney for the bottom 6 teams that don't make the regular playoffs. The TB winner can almost make their league dues back.

3. We also limit the number of future draft picks any owner can have. (Each owner can only have one future draft pick.) This means if you trade a player for a 2nd round pick, you can't trade for any more picks.

But mostly, it comes down to each owner honoring their commitment to stay competitive. Especially in a H2H league where you play your division members twice, it becomes unfair when owners throw the last half of the season and their division members get easy wins down the home stretch. That part doesn't matter if they sell out their players or quit setting their rosters because they've given up.

(Personally, I'd put to league vote to oust someone who didn't at least try to stay competive through the end.)

Good luck.

 

[red]

i see nothing wrong with trying to better your team by trading for future picks; it's all part of the game.

our keeper league is only a 2 player keeper and each has to be from a different position, so that might temper people trading away all their future draft picks. also, if you lose you pay so that might discourage tanking to get a higher draft pick (plus, guys in my league, more or less, have decent integrity)

 

[Lauryn]

in my 12 team keeper league, there are 3 teams in particular that are all 1-3 or 0-4. they're all selling off their best non-keepable (not a word, but i digress) players to the highest bidder. guys like TO are going for 2nd round picks and Hasselbeck for 3rd rounders. this is obviously destroying the competitive balance in the league this year, to the point where really only 9 (and soon probably less than that) teams are vieing for 6 playoff spots.how does your league handle dissuading teams from giving up on the current season? we've talked about making people pay for losses, but is there another way? i mean, they're working to improve for next season, so it's somewhat reasonble, but it obviously cheapens the mid-season schedule.

keep more players?

 

[Bushead]

We just eliminated the trading of draft picks. In almost all cases, when draft picks were traded in our league (redraft) it was a bad team trading away players for draft picks to a good team who was loading up their team without giving anything from their roster up.

Two teams trying to make a ligititmate trade will almost never need to include draft picks to make it happen, multiple player trades can almost always balance things out effectively.

 

[BoulderBob]

MLB/NBA/NFL teams do this all the time. Nothing wrong with it. It's up to you to find the owners willing to build for the future before the other members in your league.

 

[Ahmad Rashad]

1) Switch to an auction draft -- much more fun and fair

2) Implement a trading deadline that is before teams are eliminated from contention

3) Have some type of toilet bowl or other incentive for teams that are out of it

 

[Godsbrother]

Require owners to pay next year's membership fee before they can trade future draft picks.

This is absolutely critical otherwise you can have teams trading away multiple picks in order to try and buy a championship this season and then walking away next season when they have no picks in the upcoming draft.This has happened 2 years in a row in a league at work. They wanted me to take the team that had no 1st or 2nd round picks and it's 4 keeper players weren't really all that great. I passed.

 

[XFLcommish]

In our Dynasty (contract) league we had issues the last couple years with a team(s) trying to lose to better their Rookie draft position. We decided that next year's draft position for all the teams that did not make the playoffs will be the inverse order of 'Potential' points. This should ensure that the worst team gets the first pick, which is what I am after.

I am also planning on starting a bracket for the bottom 8 teams to play for 5th place in which the winner will get their money back. I am hoping this will keep everyone interested and active through Week 16.

 

[XFLcommish]

Require owners to pay next year's membership fee before they can trade future draft picks.

We also have this rule.

 

[j3r3m3y]

We just eliminated the trading of draft picks. In almost all cases, when draft picks were traded in our league (redraft) it was a bad team trading away players for draft picks to a good team who was loading up their team without giving anything from their roster up.

We did the same thing, but that wasn't enough. We eliminated the draft. We noticed that the good owners consistantly picked better teams than the scrubs. Now we just write every players name on a card and randomly distribute them. We noticed that the better owners still had an advantage because they started their best players. Now we have a chicken trained to pick 9 cards at random from every owners stack and those are their starters for the week.Now I finally have a shot at beating the other guys. McNabb is in my stack. Come on chicken! PICK MCNABB!!!!!

 

[Val Rannous]

We just instituted a new rule this year of playing a free for all game week 17, with a prize of an additional 1st round pick next year for the team with the best overall score that week. People are wanting to hold on to try to win that pick, even if they are out of the running for the playoffs.

 

[j3r3m3y]

We just instituted a new rule this year of playing a free for all game week 17, with a prize of an additional 1st round pick next year for the team with the best overall score that week. People are wanting to hold on to try to win that pick, even if they are out of the running for the playoffs.

Wow, I actually like this suggestion.hmmmm. Where is the pick?

 

[Marburg]

We only allow trades for other players, not picks, and base our protection scheme on points scored this season.

It limits the fire sales to prospects or injured players being picked up because they can be protected easily in the following season. It also makes the draft easier in hte following year.

 

[intrinsic]

We just eliminated the trading of draft picks. In almost all cases, when draft picks were traded in our league (redraft) it was a bad team trading away players for draft picks to a good team who was loading up their team without giving anything from their roster up.

We did the same thing, but that wasn't enough. We eliminated the draft. We noticed that the good owners consistantly picked better teams than the scrubs. Now we just write every players name on a card and randomly distribute them. We noticed that the better owners still had an advantage because they started their best players. Now we have a chicken trained to pick 9 cards at random from every owners stack and those are their starters for the week.Now I finally have a shot at beating the other guys. McNabb is in my stack. Come on chicken! PICK MCNABB!!!!!

great ideas in this thread, i especially like that the top picks cant be dealt, only lower picks can, but this definitely made me laugh after a long day at work

 

[heckmanm]

in my 12 team keeper league, there are 3 teams in particular that are all 1-3 or 0-4. they're all selling off their best non-keepable (not a word, but i digress) players to the highest bidder. guys like TO are going for 2nd round picks and Hasselbeck for 3rd rounders. this is obviously destroying the competitive balance in the league this year, to the point where really only 9 (and soon probably less than that) teams are vieing for 6 playoff spots.how does your league handle dissuading teams from giving up on the current season? we've talked about making people pay for losses, but is there another way? i mean, they're working to improve for next season, so it's somewhat reasonble, but it obviously cheapens the mid-season schedule.

keep more players?

I agree. We keep 7 of 22 on descending contracts, so teams having a bad year still need to keep some good players on the roster to keep.Also agree with:

Require owners to pay next year's membership fee before they can trade future draft picks.

We decided that next year's draft position for all the teams that did not make the playoffs will be the inverse order of 'Potential' points.

Early trade deadline helps as well, with more teams still in contention for a playoff spot.

 

[Ice Cream Man]

- Our Draft is in reverse order for the Non-Playoff teams....so the team just missing out on making the playoffs gets the #1 pick and the last place team gets the #6 pick (#7 thru #10 picks are the Playoff teams)

+1

 

[duaneok66]

To summarize the thread - be careful who you let in your league . . .

a league is only as good as the people in it . . .

 

[turnit643]

We faced a "tanking" situation a few years ago in our 16-team salary cap / contract league (keep up to 3 with extended contracts).

1. We instituted the same reverse order of non-playoff teams strategy that was mentioned earlier in the thread.

2. To add to it, we've eliminated the snake in our draft for the first few rounds - so if you just miss the playoffs, you have the 1st pick overall and the first pick in each of the first 3 rounds. A pretty significant motivaton to keep trying to win throughout the year.

3. Our contract players (keepers) also take the place of their team's top draft picks. Most of the better teams have players that they want to hold onto for the future already, so they are rarely willing to give up high draft picks (and the ability to keep their best players). The dumping owners won't usually settle for getting a mid to late round pick for a stud.

4. Any tanker faces a literal onslaught of grief from the rest of the league - we're all longtime friends - so the embarrassment/competitiveness/manliness factor also helps to curtail potential issues.

Beyond that, if teams are willing to dump and build for the future, as long as the trade is reasonable enough to satisfy our trade requirements, trade away.

 

[j3r3m3y]

We just eliminated the trading of draft picks. In almost all cases, when draft picks were traded in our league (redraft) it was a bad team trading away players for draft picks to a good team who was loading up their team without giving anything from their roster up.

We did the same thing, but that wasn't enough. We eliminated the draft. We noticed that the good owners consistantly picked better teams than the scrubs. Now we just write every players name on a card and randomly distribute them. We noticed that the better owners still had an advantage because they started their best players. Now we have a chicken trained to pick 9 cards at random from every owners stack and those are their starters for the week.Now I finally have a shot at beating the other guys. McNabb is in my stack. Come on chicken! PICK MCNABB!!!!!

great ideas in this thread, i especially like that the top picks cant be dealt, only lower picks can, but this definitely made me laugh after a long day at work

Glad I made someone laugh, but my point is this.Extra rules to "even the field" inhibit competittion, they dont increase it.In my league, if an owner decides to start an arms race I have 3 options. I can look at my team and say "I am good enough to compete with the guy who just gave up his second round pick." Or, "I need some help, I should make offers to other owners who are weak but have a good players". Finally, "I can't compete this year, time to look for some draft picks."The point is there are options. Learn to compete with these guys rather than look for more rules. It will make you a better owner. Dumbing down the system only helps the bottom feeders.

 

[turnit643]

Glad I made someone laugh, but my point is this.Extra rules to "even the field" inhibit competittion, they dont increase it.In my league, if an owner decides to start an arms race I have 3 options. I can look at my team and say "I am good enough to compete with the guy who just gave up his second round pick." Or, "I need some help, I should make offers to other owners who are weak but have a good players". Finally, "I can't compete this year, time to look for some draft picks."The point is there are options. Learn to compete with these guys rather than look for more rules. It will make you a better owner. Dumbing down the system only helps the bottom feeders.

Completely agree.The changes we've made in response to the tanking aren't designed to even the field, instead to ramp up the risk of tanking and haven't eliminated it as a possibility. Owners now must think about it and weigh their options more than just deciding in week 5 that their season is over and regardless of how it will affect the rest of the league, they are bailing. Bottom feeders are bottom feeders and, at least as far as we've seen, are least likely to have the foresight to even come up with a plan for their future.

 

[cliffhuxtible]

All these rules don't make any sense to me.

1) As long as its a dynasty league, who cares about fire sales? We have owners announcing fire sales every year in our league. That doesn't mean they don't get fair market value for their players. They're trying to rebuild, so it makes perfect sense to sell portions of their team for draft picks. Allowing market forces to handle these things almost always works out best. It's not like they're going to give their away for nothing.

2) Trading draft picks is sometimes essential to improving one's team. There are teams in our league who do not have the talent to make player for player trades. The ability to trade a couple players plus a first round pick for a stud is crucial in these instances. Forcing people to trade player for player is ridiculous. We've had trades involving two players for three draft picks and one player before. Part of the fun is debating who got the better deal in these scenarios.

3) We have a draft lottery each year to determine the order. While the chips are weighted based on prior year's success, having a lottery does limit the upside of "throwing games" for draft position.

4) We also have two groomer spots on our keeper roster. These can only be filled by players that a team drafted as rookies. As soon as they're traded or dropped, they can no longer fulfill a groomer spot. Having promising players in these spots is the key to rebuilding a team, so it often makes perfect sense to sell players for draft position.

 

[uwgb96]

1) Switch to an auction draft -- much more fun and fair2) Implement a trading deadline that is before teams are eliminated from contention

We do have an auction keeper league, but that doesn't eliminate the problem.We also have moved our trade deadline up from Week 10 to Week 8, but this also does not eliminate the problem.12 teams 3 divisions $100 hard capYou can keep a player for a 25% increase in their salary.The Shaun Alexander ($41) owner is 1-4 with two 4-1 teams in front of him. He has basically put Alexander on the block for any cheap young RB(s) and can eat a majority of Alexander's salary.It looks like he will probably deal Alexander ($41) for Addai ($6) and Fitzgerald ($11) and eat salary.I don't have a problem with it because that is how we have it structured and the 1-4 team is looking at the future, but I know there will be owners #####ing about it.

 

[nerangers]

We play for draft picks...so dumping your team might get you a higher draft pick by being in the lower half of the league, but not having good players to win the higher draft picks usually keep it in check. My league mates rather upset teams from getting in (being a spoiler) then think about next years draft picks.

Also the last place losing team has the following toilet bowl game named after them.

We also have trade deadlines which help as well...plus no one would really give up one of their top five keepers, so the trades are not that outrageous when they occur because of all the other rules that are in place.

 

[TheFanatic]

how does your league handle dissuading teams from giving up on the current season? we've talked about making people pay for losses, but is there another way? i mean, they're working to improve for next season, so it's somewhat reasonble, but it obviously cheapens the mid-season schedule.

How do you deal with a team that wants to sell off their 2nd tier guys for draft picks for the future? Easy. You let them. They are choosing to do so. The other teams are willing to part with the picks to get these guys. Gotta let adults be adults. It's the nature of the beast. If you don't like it then make it a pure dynasty league with no players going back at the end of the year (I'm assuming this is a keep 1, 2, 3, 5 etc. league)....