where do you hold your draft? (1 Viewer)

[Jackal]

we had it last year at a conference room at the marriott. iirc it cost us $75 a pop for two different occasions. one for the draft and one for a meeting where we could go over the rules once and for all. i was'nt the one that booked it last year but the guy said that they gave him a break on the price since we were going twice. i went to book it today and the woman tells me the going rate is $250 and the price is negotiable if we have them cater. she is out of her damn mind. for you guys that have it in a conference room, how much does it run you? anyone have any unique ideas?

 

[bikerider']

If you live in a city, go to a local sports bar off hours. When they just open for example. The place is dead and you get a great spot. We have done that for three years now.

 

[wannabee]

we had it last year at a conference room at the marriott. iirc it cost us $75 a pop for two different occasions. one for the draft and one for a meeting where we could go over the rules once and for all. i was'nt the one that booked it last year but the guy said that they gave him a break on the price since we were going twice. i went to book it today and the woman tells me the going rate is $250 and the price is negotiable if we have them cater. she is out of her damn mind. for you guys that have it in a conference room, how much does it run you? anyone have any unique ideas?

He have held ours at:A restaurant/bar on Sunday night (their slowest nite)

One guy's offices on Saturday morning when vacant

Other ideas would be to see if local restaurants have a room you can reserve. I know there are many in each city (esp a city with a Marriott). They only ask that you order. Many owners would anyway. Many restaurants will even cut you a GREAT deal because they would love to have a big party on a Sunday nite.

 

[bikerider']

Why need a conference room?

 

[Uncle Randy]

If you live in a city, go to a local sports bar off hours. When they just open for example. The place is dead and you get a great spot. We have done that for three years now.

We hold one of ours at the same bar every year. We call ahead, and they give us a deal on a barrel. We get there promptly at 10:30am (when they open) and get set up in the beer garden, which is just large enough for our 12. There's one nice wall for the draft board.We hold the draft and then enjoy each others' company along with the beer and some grub from the bar. Works great.

 

[Mooks77]

We hold our draft in my basement. I hookup a laptop with a projector showing the rosters and provide pizza and beverages. The ladies hangout upstairs while the guys draft.

I'll only charge you $50 to use it.

 

[Chaos Commish]

I hookup a laptop with a projector showing the rosters...

I want to do this in a sportsbar this year. I'm clueless irt the software and other needs. What do I need? And will the lighting in a relatively dim corner of a restaurant be too bright? I guess I can test that, but if it's out of the question let me know.... tired of manually keeping the board and trying to bid at the same time... chaos commishing, indeed.

Also Jackal, a local pub or restaurant can be a great option if you reserve a "party room" or a specific section. It should be free, we have great service, no interruptions and have used the same spot for five years without an issue. The last couple of years fantasy fans not in the league have showed (brought the place some unexpected business) just to watch our auction. We have a peanut gallery, and a very very good time.

 

[fridayfrenzy]

We have used a projector for the last three years.

Someone's office, place of employment or basement should have a projector available. We have used that and then project an excel sheet I make for the draft board for everyone to see.

Works well.

 

[JMJ]

None of your buddies has a house or apartment you can hold it at? We take turns hosting and its my turn this year.

We'll just order pizzas, sit in my living room / dining room, make fun of each other, each others moms, wives, girlfriends, and picks and three to four hours later, our draft will be complete and I'll be fresh on my way to my 4rth title in 7 years.

HTH.

 

[CommuterMan]

We hold our draft in my basement. I hookup a laptop with a projector showing the rosters and provide pizza and beverages. The ladies hangout upstairs while the guys draft.

I'll only charge you $50 to use it.

Does that come with or without the pizza beverages and ladies???

 

[Cixelsyd]

We have done them at local pizza parlors... they usually have party rooms and won't charge since we all eat and drink....

One year we went to an "all you can eat" pizza place (that served beer... a must) and just got there early and took over one of it's rooms... we had others that just ate and watched that weren't part of our group but it was no biggie...

The last 4 years I've hosted it at my house... we do a poker party the night before... with a Fantasy Poker Champion bracelet to the winner... the first year we did breakfeast burritos... the last 3 we've BBQ'd... drafted 10 rounds, ate, then drafted the last 10 rounds...

2 years ago, the poker night lasted til 5am... so 3 of us didn't sleep, we had to go shop for the food and prep for the draft at 9am... thank the lord for redbull and starbucks....

 

[Mooks77]

I hookup a laptop with a projector showing the rosters...

I want to do this in a sportsbar this year. I'm clueless irt the software and other needs. What do I need? And will the lighting in a relatively dim corner of a restaurant be too bright? I guess I can test that, but if it's out of the question let me know.... tired of manually keeping the board and trying to bid at the same time... chaos commishing, indeed.

Also Jackal, a local pub or restaurant can be a great option if you reserve a "party room" or a specific section. It should be free, we have great service, no interruptions and have used the same spot for five years without an issue. The last couple of years fantasy fans not in the league have showed (brought the place some unexpected business) just to watch our auction. We have a peanut gallery, and a very very good time.

Most projectors should be bright enough in a dimly lit room, the more lumens the better. As for software, a guy in our league is a programmer and he wrote a nice little draft board application. This year I will probably create an excel spreadsheet since we are doing an auction draft.

 

[Mooks77]

We hold our draft in my basement. I hookup a laptop with a projector showing the rosters and provide pizza and beverages. The ladies hangout upstairs while the guys draft.

I'll only charge you $50 to use it.

Does that come with or without the pizza beverages and ladies???

Just the pizza and beverages are included, the ladies are taken.

 

[Da Good Da Bad an Da Ugly]

Wolski's (Neighborhood Tavern) opens up an hour and a half early for us to grill and do our draft. The beer is cold and the wings spicy.

 

[J-Money]

We usaully have ours at the commish's house. last year we went to a bar and apparently some people stiffed the commish on their booze/wings tab so this year we're back at the house...

 

[thayman]

we have a guy in our league that owns a bar...very very nice....$5 each gets us all the beer we can drink, plus he puts out some pretty good grub for free.......

 

[Silver & Black]

Big old tent in the backyard. I bring in wings and a 5 foot hero, tons of beer with the league trophy sitting in the middle of the table I use. Good stuff.

 

[zamboni]

We take turns hosting

We do the same thing. My league is a bunch of old married farts with kids, so we make it a family get together thing. We draft in one room, while the wives and kids play outside (weather permitting). We join them post-draft.

 

[Winning IS Everything]

We have ours at the Commish's house each year. We all chip in $ for food and drinks. We will draft and eat/drink while we sit around the big screen HDTV watching pre-season football so we can poke fun at draft picks that may be playing in the game we are watching. It is a blast every year.

 

[Sweet Love]

Last year we had ours in a one of my league mates' office coonference room...it was awful. It was so sterile and boring (we brought in pizza and soda...yeah) that I could not wait to get out of there.

We all go out later that night and hit the bars, but the actual draft suxor...which is NOT how it should be.

 

[Angry Beavers]

one draft - local bar - get the whole downstairs to ourselves - do it on a SUnday night when the place is empty;

other draft - rotates amongst houses - host supplies food, brew is BYOB

 

[BigTex]

I have a private room at the restaurant and I pay two of the best servers wait on us.

edittoadd: ladies of course

 

[Longrifle]

We make a weekend out of it. We all go to a campground at a lake (about a 2hr drive for everyone). Most of the owners bring their families and rent a small cabin. A couple of other owners who cannot take the time will just come for the day. Anyway we use the campgrounds clubhouse to hold the draft. The wives and kids get to play while we draft. After the draft we have a big cookout, sit back and talk trash by a camp fire. Makes for a fun weekend, but the planning can be a bear.

If you want to stay in town you could call the local convention and visitors bureau and ask them about rooms in the area. They should have a general idea of the size and cost of just about any meeting space in the area (its their job).

 

[mozzy84]

we had it last year at a conference room at the marriott. iirc it cost us $75 a pop for two different occasions. one for the draft and one for a meeting where we could go over the rules once and for all. i was'nt the one that booked it last year but the guy said that they gave him a break on the price since we were going twice. i went to book it today and the woman tells me the going rate is $250 and the price is negotiable if we have them cater. she is out of her damn mind. for you guys that have it in a conference room, how much does it run you? anyone have any unique ideas?

this is what we do, conference room at a hotel, draft software with projector. It only runs like $40 to get the room though here, its not the marriot but its nice enough. Its the middle of the day on labor day every year so we get the room cheap I believe. Two other leagues we just do it at someones house and don't even have a draft board, those are fun too because you don't have to spend $80 on drinks.

 

[mozzy84]

getting shocked with a tazer gun for 3 seconds.

Nice!

 

[piston pete griffin]

We hold ours at someones house. It rotates every year, but some owners have yet to host. Be play pre-draft golf and the draft is catered by the owner of the last place team! Buying food and beer for 12 guys is a nice insentive to to finish last in our league.

 

[Incogneto]

We go camping, get LOADED all weekend, and have the draft on Saturday night.

 

[Robbie Cooper]

10 team league, most of the owners live within about a 40 miles radius of each other in North Houston.

I'm the commish, but live in Austin --- so I end up making the long drive every year.

One of the guys in our league is an executive at a Houston area golf and lake resort. So he gets us a great rate on a large Golf Cabin (extremely large living room, full kitchen, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms) right on the golf course.

On Friday night we host a poker game in the cabin, and get two tee times for early Sat. morning.

After golf, we have our draft --- I take care of the food (usually just dogs, chili, chips, and maybe some hot wings), and it's BYOB.

Nice thing is that we dont' have to worry about clean-up after we're done.