Setting Maximum Player Acquisitions

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As a fantasy commissioner, you can't turn a blind-eye to activity in the free agent pool. Prior to 08, my league was set to "no maximum" for allowed add-drops and trades. Of course there are many legitimate reasons for needing to drop and add a player. If and when a player gets hurt, or decides to take a year off, you have to fill that empty spot on your roster.

The problem with having a "no maximum" for add-drops was it created "Free agent vultures." These are players who add a free agent just for the sake of take him before someone else could. Its a rotten strategy. Mainly, the only real skill is the ability to jump online before anyone else could.

After researching the subject I found that different leagues do different things for free agents. Having a "no maximum" method was the most common but the "free agent vulture" strategy was mentioned every time as a common downside.

Some leagues actually pay additional dues in order to pick up a free agent. At first the cash for players method seemed most appealing. There is a sense of realism in it; however, dawned on me that I had no real recourse to collect extra money from members in-time to make the exchange before game day.

What I decided for my league (B.F.F.G.) was to simply set the maximum acquisitions to: 10 for add-drops, and 10 additional trades. The change adds a value to the add-drop move. It also makes the live draft more important part of the season.

Doing Keepers

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A hand-full of members in my league were disappointed this year on my decision not to do keepers. When Yahoo Plus added the keepers feature, the idea grew very popular in my league. Each team would choose 2 players, in any position, on their roster from last year. Last year, I communicated the possibility of starting keepers in 09. Consequently, I received many protests from other members, who drafted late or poorly. Its a shame since I had Steven Jackson and Andre Johnson, as my to-be keepers.

I decided to side with the protesters for two main reasons: (1) I mentioned we would do keepers after the 08 draft; some members did not draft properly to do keepers (2) I'm adding 5-6 new members in 09, which means I would need to do a private draft. A private draft with 5-6 new players would be very awkward.

I like the keepers idea because it gives members a sense of identity. Yahoo Plus allows you to set 1-5 keepers. Each team would, in a sense, have a core of players to build the rest of their team around. Another advantage would be making the yearly draft shorter, allowing more focus on ranking NFL rookies.

I just felt my league was not properly set up to do keepers. This year I making changes and communicating to all members, prior to the draft, that keepers will be activated in 2010. Yahoo Plus finally added the IR position this year. I've implemented 2 IR spots for each team. The IR spots will allow members to keep their franchise guys on their roster even if they go on the real-life IR or DL.

Setting the Draft Order

My decision to base the draft order on W/L and total points from last year drew some protest. Is it fair to have the team with the lowest # of wins pick first in the draft?

I set the draft order as follows: team with lowest # of wins picks first. Lowest overall points is the tie-breaker. New members to my league pick after the champ from last year in order of who signs up first.

Setting the draft order his way mimics the real NFL in two ways. 1 bad teams get first pick. 2 teams know in advance where they will pick in the draft.

Members who do poorly 2 or 3 years in a row may not want to rejoin. One of the keepsakes in my league is that i have a lot of returning members and hopefully implementing 2 keeper players next year.

Fantasy Football Registration

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Is there anyone else like me who started checking for fantasy football registration back in late April. I just couldn't wait to start my league back up again.

For 7 out of the last 8 years my league has been hosted on Yahoo. The exception was 2004 when I chose NFL.com. Also the only year I won 1st place. Most of my members claimed it was not as user-friendly as Yahoo. I personally didn't think it was as good looking as Yahoo's. There were some advantages like customizable logos, setting divisions, etc. All of which I do believe are available on Yahoo Plus now.

Anyhow, I've renewed my league and kept all the previous year's scoring settings. I was happy to include some of the new fantasy features on Yahoo Plus. The 3 I'm most excited about are: 1 ability to go up to 4 divisions, 2 IR, and 3 the waiver acquisition budget.

Another great new feature is the online mock draft. I've done 3 already. Not only does it allow you to analyze draft picks but it also gets members familiar with the online drafting tool. Because of this new feature I've decided to conduct my draft online this year.

The past 2 years my draft was done offline in a draft party. Draft parties are tons of fun but too long for most people. I think last year's was 7 hrs or so. Not only were members losing track of who was still available but wives started calling cell phones. The last few rounds just dragged on and we were all making bad picks anyway. The drafting too is much more efficient and I'm glad to find all of my members approve the change.

Maybe the draft party can be replaced with a trophy party? The only protest I hear from my members is they liked getting everyone together and talking trash. The problem is I'm not too sure how to host a trophy party. I live in a small 2 bedroom apt for one. I guess It's just something else I'll ponder over during this season.

Hey, all you fantasy commissioners. Lets Talk.

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So for 8 straight years now I have volunteered my extra time in being a fantasy football commissioner. I assume those of you who have donated the same effort would agree with me; there's a lot to think about. Surely your fantasy members have no idea how much thought you put in constructing the league. They just sign-up and have fun. We commissioners; however, must do more than simply participate.

Commissioners set the structure for league. We adjust the rules and scoring. We recruit. We are trusted with collecting dues and paying out rewards. We are managers. The role we must play in the league is two-fold. Since we also have teams fighting to win within our league we must stay competitive but we can't exactly have a dog-eat-dog mentality.

The commissioner must be the backbone. If members get bored the simply stop participating and the rest fall like dominoes. Commissioners are also responsible for upholding integrity in the league. No one wants to play in a corrupt league. If members get the slightest suspicion your league is faulty they will most likely quit and you could have big trouble on your hands.

What do I hope to accomplish with The Commissioner's Corner? Well, mainly to develop a place to discuss the rules and structure of fantasy leagues. The little details that commissioners ponder over in an effort to make leagues more fair, fun, and realistic. The Commissioner's Corner will focus more on the fundamentals of a fantasy league and less on player rankings and stat-talk.