Online drafts (1 Viewer)

[JohnnyCat]

Our league is considering moving to an online draft next year. A few years ago, before I was in the league, I believe they did an online draft on FoxSports and it was a complete disaster. There were a lot of automated picks and people were just having technical problems. Does anyone have any opinons on what sites to use or avoid? Are online drafts worth the convenience or should we stick to live ones?

TIA.

 

[pmark]

My leagued used Fox sports this year and it was a disaster. It was like you described, it kicked us out half way through and then auto drafted the rest of it. At least we were able to reset it...

 

[LionsFan78]

I used Webleaguemanager.com to run one of my leagues this year. Their site is 1990's technology at best. The draft software is absolutely horrible, we scrapped it and had a last minute live draft, with 3 out of staters up on IM. You can't create pre-draft lists, you can't auto-select anything. If you get booted, you get the first alphabetical player remaining, and the commish can't pause the timer. Not to mention you can't even enter the room until the draft STARTS.



Another league I play in uses MFL, and I love everything about it, including the draftroom.

 

[JoeSteeler]

I have used MFL and Fanball and have had no problems.

 

[ckalltheway]

Both of my leagues run through RTSports and there's never been any draft trouble.

 

[Squinting Cyclops]

MFL worked fine and suprisingly this year I had no problems with ESPN, though I have had issues with them in prior years.

 

[Liquid Tension]

Both of my leagues run through RTSports and there's never been any draft trouble.

RTSports is an excellent site.

 

[pollardsvision]

i will never use anything besides fantasyauctioneer.com in any league where money's involved. (unless another auction site comes along).

it's the only site of it's kind that i am aware of, but it has it's share of tech. difficulties. sometimes it gets so bogged down you just have to abort the auction.

for some reason, the free mock auctions seem to work better than the paid ($25) private auctions. one of my leagues had to abort the paid auction and have everyone register really quickly in a free mock and transfer.

i don't know if this trend has just been my personal experience, but i've always been suspicious about the free stuff working better in an attempt to get new business.

it's a good site b/c there's not another one like it that i know of, but i'm sure they will either improve it and/or other sites will come along that run more smoothly.

 

[RUSF18]

I drafted a team for a friend last year through ESPN and it was a complete mess, constantly autopicking players for people who were sitting in the draft room, including me and I know I wasn't hitting anything I shouldn't have.

 

[Genester]

i will never use anything besides fantasyauctioneer.com in any league where money's involved. (unless another auction site comes along).

NEVER is a strong word here. The functionality they offer is outstanding. The performance / technical difficulties made this offering a disaster this year. If you have a 16-owner, all over the world league like I do, and your action goes apes..t in the first hour, NEVER quickly turns into "maybe not". I have a lot of respect for the owners and customer service of this site, but the technical difficulties this year are inexcusable, in my opinion.

 

[JohnnyCat]

Thanks for the input. I will defintely be avoiding FoxSports and ESPN. Looks like RTS got the best feedback from these posts. And at $90 works out to 7.50 a person which is great. I will check it out. Thanks again.

 

[Warehouse Nasty]

If you have the option to do a live draft, why would you choose to do an online draft? The live draft is the best part of the whole season.

 

[JohnnyCat]

If you have the option to do a live draft, why would you choose to do an online draft? The live draft is the best part of the whole season.

It has been brought up in conversation in our league - online vs. live. I think online adds a bit of convienence. The last 2 years we have had our live drafts on the weekend with 1 or 2 preseason games left - both times there was at least one person who was on the phone during the draft. At least if the draft was held Labor Day weekend, one could be away but still attend the draft.Which is another question...Online or Live?

 

[Warehouse Nasty]

If you have the option to do a live draft, why would you choose to do an online draft? The live draft is the best part of the whole season.

It has been brought up in conversation in our league - online vs. live. I think online adds a bit of convienence. The last 2 years we have had our live drafts on the weekend with 1 or 2 preseason games left - both times there was at least one person who was on the phone during the draft. At least if the draft was held Labor Day weekend, one could be away but still attend the draft.Which is another question...Online or Live?

Given the option of online or live, live is infinitely better. But, if one can't make it, I see the advantages of online.

 

[Intergalactic Kegger]

I have used myfantasyleague.com for several years. The only problem I have with it is that in most years there will be some breakout player that comes out of nowhere. You want to pick this guy up, but he's not in their database because they are lazy about updating it. I think Rudi Johnson and Dominic Rhodes were two examples. Its frustrating when you want to pick a player up and he's not in the database.

 

[JohnnyCat]

If you have the option to do a live draft, why would you choose to do an online draft? The live draft is the best part of the whole season.

It has been brought up in conversation in our league - online vs. live. I think online adds a bit of convienence. The last 2 years we have had our live drafts on the weekend with 1 or 2 preseason games left - both times there was at least one person who was on the phone during the draft. At least if the draft was held Labor Day weekend, one could be away but still attend the draft.Which is another question...Online or Live?

Given the option of online or live, live is infinitely better. But, if one can't make it, I see the advantages of online.

Is your opinion on a live one being better because of the comradery during the draft or it just "work" better than an online one? I.e is it better because an online draft does not go as smoothly as a live one?

 

[LordHusker]

Just set up a chatroom if you have any random site where you can do that. That's what we do.

 

[-JAP-]

If you have the option to do a live draft, why would you choose to do an online draft? The live draft is the best part of the whole season.

I agree. Had a great time in my live draft. Great chance to get to know the people in your league. I don't think I would play in a league w/ an online draft.

 

[captbly]

If you have the option to do a live draft, why would you choose to do an online draft? The live draft is the best part of the whole season.

I agree. Had a great time in my live draft. Great chance to get to know the people in your league. I don't think I would play in a league w/ an online draft.

I agree.. live draft rocks!!! and there is the poker game aftwards to boot.

 

[Krewe]

FFB Rules: #1- Have Fun

#2- Have a live draft. Why? Refer to rule #1.