Tell Us About Your Home League! (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

If you've been around Footballguys for any time, you know we base everything we do around the Home League. We like the tournaments and DFS and things like our Subscriber Contest or the Footballguys Bowl. But the backbone of Footballguys, and I think our industry, has always been the home league.

We're trying to gather together fun things about Home Leagues.

Would love to hear your insights here. https://footballguys.typeform.com/to/gDgFkLvL

Thank you!

 

[eighsse2]

I've heard the term "home league" but I don't know what it means. My first thought is that it simply means the one league that an individual considers to be his most significant league (like "flagship"). But it could also mean something specific to Footballguys. A google search doesn't return much, so I'm thinking it's something organized here at FBG?

 

[needanap]

In 1988 I graduated college and started working at Hewlett-Packard's corporate office in Palo Alto. At that time, they already had an established fantasy football league up and running on the HP3000 computer. I believe this may be one of the first, if not the first, automated Fantasy Football Leagues. Had to logon and enter your lineup by 5pm on Friday. On Tuesday you would get an email with the weekly results. In 1990, myself and 7 college buddies started our home league using the same rules at the HP league. We have weird scoring and I used to do the stats manually using the newspaper. It was not until MyFantasyLeague came around that we computerized our league. MFL allowed me to customize our scoring system (points are based on tiers, ie 51-75 yards rushing are 25 points, 76-100 are 50, etc..) We know our scoring is strange and complicated, but we continue to keep it. The best guys are still the best guys, but mediocre players are pretty much worthless -- this works since we only have 8 teams.

Our drafts are live drafts, typically in California at a golf location. Drinks are prevalent during the draft and teams are in various states of drunkenness. No studies have been done correlating BAC and fantasy football finish. First place gets a large trophy on a base with all the winners engraved upon it. Loser gets a smaller toilet bowl trophy and recently a license plate frame was added that they need to put on their car. The license plate was ordered at some cheap Temu-like company and came back spelled incorrectly. Loser nows get to sport a license plate frame stating "I came in last place in my 'Fantasty' Football League". We have the same original 7 members and heading into our 36th year.

 

[Scoresman]

Live auction league since 1994.

For the longest time, our auction prices stuck for the entire year, meaning you had to stay within cap for the whole year and free agents were bid on weekly. All transactions were done vie excel and manually entered into ESPN.

Live draft with great food. If you mess up at any time, like bidding over your budget, or roster size you need to take a shot. This applies to the guy running the auction too. Great memories of our auctioneer trying to pronounce a name like Tim Biakabatuka after a few penalty shots.

Our trophy is a beer mug, the winner has to chug a beer from it at the following draft.

Having a live auction is everything. We look forward to it like a kid looking forward to Christmas day.

 

[Cowboysfan8]

I've heard the term "home league" but I don't know what it means. My first thought is that it simply means the one league that an individual considers to be his most significant league (like "flagship"). But it could also mean something specific to Footballguys. A google search doesn't return much, so I'm thinking it's something organized here at FBG?

I always thought it meant live draft with your friends instead of online with others

 

[Joe Bryant]

I've heard the term "home league" but I don't know what it means. My first thought is that it simply means the one league that an individual considers to be his most significant league (like "flagship"). But it could also mean something specific to Footballguys. A google search doesn't return much, so I'm thinking it's something organized here at FBG?

Good question. When I think of "Home League" I think it means the league with friends where the community is as important as the fantasy football. Often they're local leagues but many times people have spread out across the world and they're a connecting point for friends.

 

[Joe Bryant]

These are great.

Please keep posting here but also please let us know here https://footballguys.typeform.com/to/gDgFkLvL

 

[wlwiles]

i love hearing about leagues that started back in the 80's and early 90's. Having results emailed to you after the commish tabulated everything from the Monday/Tuesday box scores in the newspaper. I can't fathom what fantasy would feel like without being able to real-time sweat a MNF game while I'm holding a narrow lead against my opponent's QB, it just seems like the old days would be too transactional and far less emotional.

I didn't start playing fantasy till 2010. I'd been interested for a couple years but online Find-A-League options weren't quite as prevalent and I wanted it to be a "Home League" where we could get together for a draft, on Sundays to watch games, etc. Finally found a group of coworkers and we started a 10 team league. Of those 10, only one had ever played fantasy before, so we all started on equal footing and learned the game together. We all threw in $40, and we did $10 prize for the weekly high score, and winner gets the rest. One of my favorite parts of being commish was showing up to the Tuesday morning meeting and handing a $10 bill to the high scorer. We'd have non-members in the office start asking "Who's gonna get the $10 this week?" at lunch on Mondays.

This year we're about to start our 16th season. We expanded to 12 teams in 2016, and of the original 10 we still have 6 OG's. Every year we vote in the offseason for any rule changes brought up, We've gone from non-PPR to half to full and back to half again. We tried keepers for a few years, we added superflex in 2020, and this year we finally got the votes to eliminate kickers. We've gone from waivers to FAAB, and we even tried an auction one year (too difficult to pull off since we all don't live in the same place anymore).

 

[Gatorade]

For many years I ran two leagues at work. One redraft and one keeper. We would draft live at someones house. Eventually I moved away and someone else took over as commissioner. I would still come back for the live draft then held at a local bar. I eventually moved out of state and stopped playing FF. Those leagues are still going on and I actually rejoined the redraft league last year after a ten year absence with an online draft. The smack talk at work was always great and I do miss that. Other than the commissioner, I only know a couple of the owners now.

The FBGs leagues on sleeper last year were probably the closest things to a home league I have now.

 

[Joe Bryant]

The FBGs leagues on sleeper last year were probably the closest things to a home league I have now.

You made my day.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

We have tried to get as close as we can to the perfect 12 team format that eliminates as much "luck" as possible....and we think we found it...

12 teams
3 divisions

3 division winners make the playoffs and the next three best "all play records"....

so you have a head to head matchup each week, but you are also playing every other team each week...

long story shorrt...it awards the teams that are the most consistent and have the best records throughout the year...takes the bad luck of having the second highest score of the week and happen to be playing the highest scoring team kind of out of the picture....you may take that one loss that week but you beat the other 10 teams...cream rises to the top...

you still get the rivalry of head to head matchups....but you get awarded for having the best lineups throughout the year...

one year a 6-8 team made it into the playoffs over teams with like 8-6 records or 7-7 records because his "all play record" was dominate....he just had bad luck weekly matchups...he won the whole thing...

"all play" is very underrated....

 

[Joey Wright]

Submitted my home league story even though "I go here" haha. What is amazing for me is how it has grown from 8 single guys in our first year to become two generations of managers with 12 members, 11 spouses, and 17 kids. When we get the whole league and families together it is QUITE the event!

 

[Dacomish]

Started my 16 team Dynasty League in 2017 from scratch. Had a few owners/teams turnover due to various reasons but still have 12 as OG. It's a 1QB, PPR (.5 RB, 1 WR, 1.5 TE), IDP league with 7 Off and 7 Def starters, lots of flexibility in lineups. We have the normal in season entertainment with trash talk and I do weekly recaps/randomness with highlights from NFL and our league matchups. A few years a team with less that .500 record has made the playoffs on total points and we even had a sub .500 team win a championship with a lucky run in the playoffs. 8 years we have had nearly every team make the playoffs at least once and have had 5 different league winners. Even the worst teams that are orphaned and reinvigorated have eventually made the playoffs through active ownership.

Where I think I like our uniqueness is in the offseason - we have multiple calendar events in nearly every month (Jan-Mar Devy, Apr/May Rookies ect.) and trades/FA are active throughout the offseason. Owners stay engaged and very few shut off completely.

As a commish I am heavily engaged with teams and always work with owners, through help and guidance if they are new to various aspects of our league and tend to be more accommodating to a point, so we don't have much drama. I get lots of feedback about owners enjoying being in the league and can honestly say it's the most enjoyable one for me yet.

 

[kface]

Same 10 guys since 1990. We used to buy the USA today on Monday morning and have 3 people hand score the weekend. Been together ever since. 10 team, 18 rounds modified keeper (you can keep someone you drafted 2 round earliers the next year).

 

[Joey Wright]

For many years I ran two leagues at work. One redraft and one keeper. We would draft live at someones house. Eventually I moved away and someone else took over as commissioner. I would still come back for the live draft then held at a local bar. I eventually moved out of state and stopped playing FF. Those leagues are still going on and I actually rejoined the redraft league last year after a ten year absence with an online draft. The smack talk at work was always great and I do miss that. Other than the commissioner, I only know a couple of the owners now.

The FBGs leagues on sleeper last year were probably the closest things to a home league I have now.

SOMEONE is trying to be the first invite to Footballguys Bowl 2025... and it might be working. I know a guy!

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

For many years I ran two leagues at work. One redraft and one keeper. We would draft live at someones house. Eventually I moved away and someone else took over as commissioner. I would still come back for the live draft then held at a local bar. I eventually moved out of state and stopped playing FF. Those leagues are still going on and I actually rejoined the redraft league last year after a ten year absence with an online draft. The smack talk at work was always great and I do miss that. Other than the commissioner, I only know a couple of the owners now.

The FBGs leagues on sleeper last year were probably the closest things to a home league I have now.

SOMEONE is trying to be the first invite to Footballguys Bowl 2025... and it might be working. I know a guy!

When do those leagues open and how do you get into one?

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Started as a 5-owner league where everyone managed two separate teams in two conferences just to get to a 10-team league in 2006. I can't imagine that I actually resisted online platforms and manually scored all games and drop-adds through email for the first 3 or 4 seasons.

Eventually, got up to a more traditional 14 teams (14 owners) for a number of years, before dropping down to just 10 last season. It looks like we'll be able to get back to an 11 or 12-team league this year, which I'm excited for.

I started paying attention to football around the age of 9 when Super Bowl XXVI was in town. The league seemed ancient even at that time, so 26 has always been the magic number in my head that I want the fantasy league to last for despite no shortage of headaches over the years. We still draft live every August which is truly the best part and what makes it a home league.

League trophy shown at 22:15 of this video.

 

[TheWinz]

12-team redraft, created 4 years ago by me and another guy, because we were in a boring league with little to no trading. The first year we vowed to lead the way by seeing who could trade the most. Neither of us had a single player we drafted still on our team at the end. The other owners quickly followed suit, and it's been a blast. Last year, every team made at least 2 trades, and some of us still churn our roster frequently. It's the most active league I've ever been in. Draft takes place in a massive suite in Foxwoods Casino. Booze is flowing, and last few rounds are comical.

 

[Dez]

Started my first league in 1990 a redraft league I have still never had a losing season in 35 years made 33 playoffs and yet only 3 championships. I used to take lineups via phone calls and delivery fantasy lineups and standings and writeups every Saturday night in town to each owner.

Started my first dynasty league in 1997 still have 70% of the original owners from 1997. Won 11 championships in the 28 years thank you Randy Moss! Also this is my only dynasty league that uses a fast 1 hour rookie draft never went to a slow draft. For the first 24 years everyone came to my house still to do the rookie draft/FA auction then once covid hit that came to an end and now everyone is lazy and drafts online.

 

[Crippler]

My home league going on year 8. I was in another 20 years before that before politics got in the way
We have tons of different little rules. 15 team, so play doubleheaders. Kicker can be flexed as start 11 O and 11 D. Thus have value and not 2nd thought. We are only allowed 30 waiver wire moves each and waivers open up after rookie draft. It is a frenzy.

The commish is great and writes articles all the time. Mock before our draft. Breakdown of every team after last year by position followed by breakdown of each team separately after draft. Draft grades annd 2026 early mock.

Ownership is okay. I know we have way more trades than my previous league but it is not easy. I had built up a hugely dominant team and dispersed with 2 new owners who took over crappy teams. All 3 now contenders. But KTC, draft daddy, FBG rate my team have me pulling away again as 1 of 2 very active owners. But a few buddies and my son and girlfriend in, so it is enjoyable. Only league I do other than Interboard Challenge for week to week. Rest is just draft and never look till end of season.

 

[Gally]

I have two leagues I consider "home" leagues.

League #1 - The Original

This league started in 1985 before anybody knew what FF was. The league bylaws required you to have an NFL team name. I didn't have a favorite team so me and a buddy (shared the team) put a bunch of available names in a hat. We pulled out "Vikings". So we were the Vikings. For draft day we would get hats and t-shirts over the years. I would wear them around town and people would think I was a fan of the Vikings. I told them no and that it was my FF team. Since nobody knew what that was I had to explain it to them. I eventually go so sick of explaining FF I decided to say F-it I will just become a Vikings fan. It's been fan misery ever since.

The league is actually a Super Flex league. We start QB and K and have one flex that can be a QB or K. We start 2 RB's and a spot that can be a RB or TE. We start 3 flex spots that can be a WR or TE and then a final flex spot that can be a WR, TE, or RB. Our kicker scoring is high enough that many times it is better to start two kickers than two QB's. It's an interesting quirk for sure.

We also allow you to keep one player drafted after in the 10th round or later (we go 20 rounds and have 14 teams). We have no playoffs and the winner of the league is the team with the best record after the NFL regular season (we play all 18 weeks).

We draft the Saturday before the first NFL Sunday games so the Thursday night game has already been played. You can draft those players knowing how they did week 1 and can decide to start them or not. This is a fun wrinkle that can get guys drafted earlier or later than normal based on a big game. Last year I had first pick and was set on CMC and then Barkley went off in Brazil. With the mystery around CMC and his injury I flipped to Barkley and he singlehandedly won me the first week and ended up being the right choice for pick 1.01

I have won the league 6 times (most of any team).

League #2 - Salary Cap with full IDP and 15 Keepers from year to year.

My buddy and I created this league in 2005 from scratch. We created the scoring system, salary cap system, etc. It's still going strong and is a 12 team league. No playoffs and plays the full NFL regular season with the best record taking the title. It's a full IDP league and SF league that also includes kickers and punters. The scoring system tries to make all positions equal with respect to scoring. So a top QB = K = WR = DE = LB etc. We have done a pretty good job adjusting for that over the years with a fairly equal distribution of positions across the top 10, top 50, ,top 100 scorers.

We draft the Saturday before Labor Day weekend. It has worked out well as everyone knows the date ahead of time and it's not on Labor Day weekend so people can play vacations if they want to and not get in trouble with the family. The draft is a combo restricted free agent auction that rolls right into a 25 round draft. It's a long day but one of the best days of the year.

I have won this league 4 times (2nd most of any team).

 

[FarFromHome]

Pretty simple. Home leagues are leagues with people you send a Christmas card to. Not leagues with Soccermom87 and Wizardman69 no matter how much you know them.

 

[PantherThunder]

My home league, 10 team, started in 1990. Yes they turned lineups in on stone chiseled tablets. LOL . I started in 2000 and I am only 5th in seniority. It started as basically as TD league because scoring came from the USA today newspaper. It still is based in TD's but we get some points for receptions and yards. Actually we used have a returner as a position. There used to be a plaque as a trophy which the commish would put the football cards of your team on. Before sports cards became so expensive. Draft is normally on Labor day at 6pm, and up until Covid it was always live or you gave up your spot.

Pretty sure I signed up for FBG in 2002, and have been a member ever since.

I started "my" 12 team league in 2003 and still have 8 original members. 2 unfortunately passed. Always on Sunday of Labor day weekend, grilled burgers and brats, everyone brings a side.

"My" dynasty league II started in 2006. I left in 2008 (I was having some issues) but came back in 2020.

Honesty the redrafts are such a part of my life when people ask hey we are doing X on labor day. Sorry can't make Sunday or Monday.

 

[Mr.Blonde]

We started my main league in 1993.

I had been in a league before that but it was run haphazardly and there were a couple of dickheads in it, so I took the best guys from that league, got each of those guys to bring in another guy, and we made a 8 team league in 1993, 10 teams in 1995 and then went to 12 teams in 1997.

There was no 'industry standard' for any of this; every league was completely home-brew; your league setup, the rules, the scoring, everything.

On Sundays you could roughly figure out the scores of our league games from the NBC/CBS/Fox network tickers, ESPN, SportsCenter, George Michael Sports Machine, CNN Headline News, etc.

The yardage totals/bonuses, for the most part, had to wait for the Monday morning sports page.

I worked Downtown and took the train into work every day, about a 30 minute ride, so I would get a USA Today and do the scores on the train on the way to work.

When I got to work, I'd type up a quick summary sheet with the game scores, the standings and I would send them to you via FAX, if you gave me a fax number, if not, I'd slip them out in my companies outgoing mail.

You'd get your update on Wednesday.

This was perceived as "radically progressive"

This may seem archaic to 'the kids' nowadays, and objectively it was, but it was so much more fun, it was like being in on something cool before anyone else.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

My last remaining in-person league, which is 12-team redraft, began in the late '80s, founded by the co-commishes and some of their friends when they were in high school. I joined in 2001 after being recruited by one of the co-commishes, whom I "met" on a fantasy baseball board. It might have been him who told me about this place.

At that time, the draft was 25 rounds (it's now 19) and we drafted coaches, who gave you 4 points for a win, 2 for a tie and 0 for a loss (we got rid of them a few years ago). Scoring was TD-heavy and now it's conventional PPR. TD passes have always been 6 points. We started 5 WR/RB slots -- you could have 5 WR and no RB or vice versa (we now have a more conventional lineup with 2 RB, 3 WR and 2 flex spots).

The one thing that got less conventional was the payout structure. In 2001, the top 3 in head-to-head and the top 3 in total points got payouts. Now it's the top 3 in head-to-head, the top 3 in total points AND the top 3 in all-play. The head-to-head title has always been the most coveted and I have won 3 of them, which is tied for second-most behind one of the co-commishes. We used to have a prize for weekly high scorer, but that was eliminated in 2018, the one year I didn't play (I had a last-minute international business trip that conflicted with the draft date.)

Except during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic years, we have drafted in-person. At the beginning of the draft, everyone picks from 2 sets of cards (Ace through Queen). The first set determines divisions: Ace to four are one division, five to eight another and nine to queen the third. The second set determines order for picking your draft slot. To make picks, we still use one of those massive cardboard contraptions with stickers. If you put up a sticker of someone who is out for the season, you can't repick and are stuck with him until the first blind bidding period. This hasn't happened in a long time, as injury information is a lot easier to come by than it used to be.

Because we start 1 QB and 8 RB/WR/TE, sometimes it seems like we are having a "contest" to see who can wait on QB the longest. I believe the "record" is round 15.

Some people now co-own teams with their children, grandchildren or nieces/nephews. Past owners include a sports talk radio personality and a former NFL executive. One of the current owners is a former NFL player.

 

[Fruitbat]

12 team dynasty, around since 1994. I got my first job in what would become my career field in '99 in large part due to my work in MS Access. I had taught myself access and how to structure a relational database in order to maintain our league historical database. Had no other database experience. Thank you fantasy football!

Still maintain that data. Over 30 years of player scores, transactions, game results, etc.

Draft "week" runs Tuesday through Sunday of NFL opening week. It's an annual reunion.

 

[Fruitbat]

We have a league player hall of fame, voted on by all owners. Think in 30 years we've inducted about 12 players? I have a bobblehead for each one on a shelf in my garage...location of the annual draft.

One owner still gripes that Barry Sanders didn't get in...but since the league started in 1994, we missed some of Barry's prime years!

(12 team dynasty)

 

[Joey Wright]

We have a league player hall of fame, voted on by all owners. Think in 30 years we've inducted about 12 players? I have a bobblehead for each one on a shelf in my garage...location of the annual draft.

One owner still gripes that Barry Sanders didn't get in...but since the league started in 1994, we missed some of Barry's prime years!

(12 team dynasty)

I can understand why you wouldn't let Barry in.