Need Advice on a New League Set-Up (1 Viewer)

[cormanman]

Well, it took me half a decade, but I've finally turned my old buddies into decent fantasy players. Sure, it took years of me kicking their #%^, but they have arrived.

Now that we're not dominated by idiots and guppies we'd like to change the league, but we can't seem to agree on a direction. We need a format that is less time consuming, as we all spend waaay too much time on FF and must scale back.

We've tried several setups in the past. We've always been a keeper league with no salary cap and no auction. One of our biggest challenges is that we've always had waivers/free agency open 24/7 throughout the season because different people work at different times and live in different time zones. In order to be fair we didn't want to restrict transaction times. The unfortunate result is that we have evolved into a league where it is impossible to travel or leave the computer while a game is on. Being first come first served is great...as long as you are the first one to the waiver wire. Those who can spend the most time in front of a computer on gameday are generally most successful. Anyone away from the TV & PC on Sunday is terriffied that they'll miss out on an injury replacement or the next big thing.

We want a league that is fair and competitive, but we want to eliminate free for all transactions at any time. We want to have fun, and have parity, but we also want to find a format that allows us to spend less time while still fielding a strong team. We are thinking of locking down the league on Sundays and Mondays, and just changing our waiver system, but we want to consider other options as well, including wholesale changes to the league.

I am familiar with different formats, as I have played many styles in the past, but with this group it needs to be pretty straight forward. I wanted to ask if anyone else had worked through a similar situation and possibly get some tips or suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[thecardiackid]

We've tried several setups in the past. We've always been a keeper league with no salary cap and no auction. One of our biggest challenges is that we've always had waivers/free agency open 24/7 throughout the season because different people work at different times and live in different time zones. In order to be fair we didn't want to restrict transaction times. The unfortunate result is that we have evolved into a league where it is impossible to travel or leave the computer while a game is on. Being first come first served is great...as long as you are the first one to the waiver wire. Those who can spend the most time in front of a computer on gameday are generally most successful. Anyone away from the TV & PC on Sunday is terriffied that they'll miss out on an injury replacement or the next big thing.

We are thinking of locking down the league on Sundays and Mondays, and just changing our waiver system, but we want to consider other options as well, including wholesale changes to the league.

I am familiar with different formats, as I have played many styles in the past, but with this group it needs to be pretty straight forward. I wanted to ask if anyone else had worked through a similar situation and possibly get some tips or suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

Solid drafts and savvy trading are what wins leagues. The guy with 6 TVs watching 8 different NFL games at once - jockeying for the rights to the new #3 WR replacement on the Saints isn't gaining a ton of advantage in your system. Mainly since "most" valuable backups (especially @ RB) are already rostered/handcuffed.Of course there are some unique scenarios (like S Gado last year) where I can see your point. This may only get more complicated w/ the new TV schedule.

That said, unless your league is either small (8-10 teams) or you only carry a limited # of players on your standard rosters, the FAs rarely make a significant difference in the overall league standings. Can they cover a bye or replace a starter/backup on your team that was injured, sure, but there's usually a reason they weren't drafted in the first place (talent or situation). It's hard to punish the dedicated owner(s) just b/c another guy wants to spend some quality time with his kids on a Sunday afternoon.

Our league has FA signings on Wed. @ 5pm EST - giving everyone a chance to check out the injuries, etc. Another thing we do is set the FA selection(s) based upon overall league standings (W/L) - where worst gets first dibs. Giving the bottom dwellers a better chance of improving to keep the league competitive, w/ ties (record wise) being decided by total points scored. Or you could consider drafting a couple more rounds, and letting draft talent decide whose team is best.

Hope this helps.

 

[roadkill1292]

Another form of free agency that you should consider is blind bidding with a separate budget. It's a little more difficult to administer, though not appreciably so, and is really the fairest system of them all. Doesn't provide welfare for the weak sisters, doesn't make you watch every game waiting for an injury.

Oh, and your league is ready to go auction.

 

[Angry Beavers]

limit waivers from the kickoff of the first game on any given week ( sometimes a thursday, sometimes a saturday, and sometime a sunday) until Wed. @ 5:00 or some other time - I am in three leagues and in each league there is no Free Agency from kickoff until various times ranging from Tuesday at Midnight until Friday @ 5:00 pm. Hope this helps

 

[David Yudkin]

I COMPLETELY misread the topic. I thought it was a league for 6-year-olds . . .

 

[u999spf]

As stated above you could limit the Free Agency Period.

We use the blind bidding system (MFL site) for waivers. 100 points for free agents, once the points are gone so is the ability to make any more pickups. You can trade players for points to get more however.

We stop pickups on Sundays at 1pm. Open up blind bidding Mon-Wed at noon, process those bids then make it first come first serve the rest of the week up until Sunday at 1pm. (Minimum bid of $3 a player still applies to these pickusp as well).

Blind Bidding is the fairest way to acquire Free Agents. You give owners enough time to put in their bids up to a point during the week then open it up for the rest of the week.

You could also consider, no pickups until week 3 or Week 4 and have an email draft or chat room draft of available free agents, then have another one in week 8 or 10 or something like that, to eliminate waiver wire moves every week.

This method would promote more trades within your group, as injuries and bye weeks come into play.