League Management problems caused by the lock-out (1 Viewer)

[madd futher]

I'd like all of your feedback on an issue that I'm very concerned about.

Let me say that I have been very optimistic about the prospects for having a fantasy season this year, and I still believe that we will have one. But this year, I am seeing signs that interest in fantasy football may have indeed peaked for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is a natural consequence of fantasy football having become 'red-hot' popular. Most of the "hard core" types that I compete against have been in anywhere from 5 to 9 leagues, and some have naturally gotten a little burned-out. In one very active deep keeper league I compete in we have had 3 guys resign because they felt the need to reduce their addiction to fantasy football. In that same league, one other owner has not signed in in about 2 months. And this was a very fun and challenging league. Our commissioner has advertized these openings for the last 3 weeks and hasn't got even a nibble. How much of this is due to burn-out and how much was due to the lock-out, I'll never know. But I'm concerned that that league might possibly disband.

My current semi-dynasty league has two unfilled openings, and the commissioner of my local auction league says it looks very doubtful that we will have a league this year, even though everyone seemed to love the auction format.

I started a new dynasty league this year with rules that I was sure would attract owners very quickly. although a couple guys are on the fence, I feel pretty good about having 9 commitments right now, but since I'm deferring sign-up and league fees until after the lock-out is over, I was frankly surprised that it has taken this long. The rules for this new league are right here: http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=589634

The real point is that of 6 leagues, only my local Re-draft league and my Family and Friends league are fully committed at this point.

Part if this is venting, but it is a situation we should discuss. I've also noticed that fantasy website traffic is significantly lower than this time last year for for many websites, showing clear signs of a real problem.

So this seems like a very challenging year for fantasy football.

I really don't have any solid answers, except to say that if you really like your league, support your commissioner by being extra aggressive in recruiting replacement members and extra flexible in adjusting to the uncertainty of the labor situation. i still believe we will have a season.

If anyone has something to contribute to how we can create excitement for your great pastime and maintain our leagues, we all can learn from it and be better off.

So please - sound off!

 

[fruity pebbles]

I agree with you but i do think it will come back when we have football again. I went a month without doing anything fantasy football related and really didn't miss it much. Got back into it around the NFL and fantasy rookie drafts. Now that they are over, i'll probably go back into hibernation. No football related activity not really much to do fantasy wise either.

 

[JohnW1970]

12 of my 13 dynasty leagues are full. Only have 1 opening in a dynasty salary cap league. Also a lot of trading and action in all of them lately due to NFL and now rookie drafts.

 

[Warpig]

I agree with you but i do think it will come back when we have football again. I went a month without doing anything fantasy football related and really didn't miss it much. Got back into it around the NFL and fantasy rookie drafts. Now that they are over, i'll probably go back into hibernation. No football related activity not really much to do fantasy wise either.

I'm in the process of a startup 32 team vet draft that goes 43 rounds not including the rookie draft. Each owner gets 18 hours for each pick. It wasn't bad when we first started back in March. But we are now in round 18 (pickings are getting slim) and we are getting more time outs and owners not making their picks right before they time out because they don't check the site as regularly. We have 25 more rounds to go and we have just recently (as of yesterday) dropped the clock to 12 hours. We still have owners that aren't checking the sites regularly. Even with the possibility of the season starting late, we may struggle to get our drafts done.Honestly, I'm not very opptimistic that free agency will open any time soon and I think there will be a delay in the season at least. Kinda hard to stay motivated at this point.

 

[Jeff Pasquino]

I think anyone around these parts reading this thread in May is by definition a diehard.

I also think you're right that the interest has to be lower now due to all the suits / legal stuff going on with the league. That will sour most fans.

Dynasty leaguers will become more of a bigger percentage simply because they're already "invested" for this season, since there are rookies to draft and 80% of their team is rolling over from last year (or more).

The longer the lockout goes, the more damage that will be done. That's just the way it is.

 

[Late225]

I'm interested to hear the footballguys.com business contingency plans in case there's no football this season.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

Overall, I think this is good news. Fewer leagues means more time devoted to each league they're actually in. I believe too many leagues suffer because each one is just one out of 10 leagues a person is in. They give it the bare minimum of attention (or what they can afford to give) and attend to the others as best they can.

And that's a best-case scenario. Too often a lack of time, interest or performance means some teams get abandoned altogether. When there are openings in my leagues, I prefer a new owner not be in 10 others. How important can my league be to them when we're #11 on the list?

If a decline in interest means people are in two or three leagues instead of seven...I think they might even enjoy that experience more. Each decision is more important and it's clearer to follow who you're "for" and "against" over the course of the season. While I hope the lockout is resolved in time for a full season, I won't complain if it causes some casual fantasy football owners to drop out of leagues or move on to other things.

 

[Mr. Retukes]

I'm interested to hear the footballguys.com business contingency plans in case there's no football this season.

Barbeque and boats.

 

[sihaokills]

Leagues are getting slower and slower to fill up. I think the lockout has scarred our lives

 

[LawFitz]

I think one factor that's being missed here is the fact that we are still knee deep in the greatest economic recession of our lifetimes. Many people across the country are having to face the reality of economic obsolescence and the upheaval that results from job loss/ career transition. Hard to focus on a game under such circumstances, especially when the league that game is based around is going through a controversial and unpopular labor stoppage at the same time.