Auction vs. snake draft...Need help!

[BUCKEYES 0]

I have been running a 10 team 2 player keeper league for the last 12 or 13 years. We have always used the snake draft method, but I have always wanted to switch to an auction style draft. I did one in another league and absolutely loved it. My problem is how do I do an auction with having keepers? Currently, we give up the corresponding draft pick for our keepers. Example: I drafted Alexander in the first and Mcgahee in the 5th. So each year, I lose my 1st and 5th round picks. We only keep guys for 3 years and then we have to throw them back in the draft pool. How do you guys do this, or is it even possible? I'd like to hear as many comments as possible.

Thanks in advance!

[G3-175SE 0]

I personally haven't done an auction draft but am considering doing it this year.

 

From what I have heard you can go based on a percentage (50%, 75%, 100%, whatever works for you) what the person paid for the player or maybe a percentage of what the "experts" think he is worth for that particular season. That amount would be deducted from the money available for current draft.

[BUCKEYES 0]

Do you know where I can get some sort of an auction "price list" from the experts?

[Portis26 0]

Auction Style - REAL Fantasy players

Snake Style - Something to do with a few friends, and it helps the lesser players compete.

[Trainer1 0]

Well you can make two keepers and then auction off the rest of the field.

 

Another thing you can do is put a single price on all the keepers say $30, then hold a seperate restricted free agency auction. If someone outbids the current owner, then the person that outbid the owner needs to pay a set amount of cap space say $10-15 that the owner that loses the player, and can use that money anywhere. If the owner wants to have only one keeper, then the price would be raised to $60, and if outbid then he would get like $20-30 compensation.

 

Next year they can keep the player at the same price they got them for the year before, or you can do the Restricted free agency auction again if you like that.

 

Does that make sense?

[Walter34 3]

Auctions are awesome.

 

You will have to implement a salary structure / cap and incorporate this into your keeper rules.

 

We have a contract system where you can sign players for multiple years wgere they start at their original auction price for a salary and then get a 50% raise for each year of the contract. You declare the length of the contract when he is first signed and then they become a FA when the contract runs out.

 

You get a player for $4 in the auction.

 

You declare a 3 yr contract.

 

Year 2 - $6

Year 3 - $9

Year 4 - FA

[BUCKEYES 0]

Auction Style - REAL Fantasy players

Snake Style - Something to do with a few friends, and it helps the lesser players compete.

 

 

Portis, I think you read my question wrong. I didn't ask which way is better. I asked how to structure. Since you have such a strong opinion on this, then how about giving me some insight on how to structure with keepers.

[patchyfogg 0]

I love auctions for baseball--in fact, you never go back.

 

But, I've gotten a ton of pushback on Football auctions--some having to do with time concerns and others having to do with the fact that it's fun to mimic the real NFL Draft.

[BUCKEYES 0]

With all the people on this site, I thought I would have had more repsonses. I guess fewer of you use an auction draft than I would have predicted. 70 some looks at this post and only a few responses. I could really use some more insight. Any other guys want to chime in? Or does anyone have a link that would help me out?

[Portis26 0]

Portis, I think you read my question wrong. I didn't ask which way is better. I asked how to structure. Since you have such a strong opinion on this, then how about giving me some insight on how to structure with keepers.

 

oops, sorry...

 

Here is our constitution:

 

UFFL’06

 

2006 The Ultimate Fantasy Football League Bylaws

 

Introduction

Welcome to the Seventh Year of the Ultimate Fantasy Football League

 

This is a keeper league with a salary cap, auction draft and free agency system. The purpose of this league is to simulate the ownership and management of a NFL Franchise and to compete for a League Prize. This document, amended annually as needed will set forth the parameters under which our league will operate and how performance will be measured. Please review the entire manual and contact the Commissioner if you have any questions. All team owners are strongly encouraged to provide feedback such as suggestions for rule proposals. Any issues that arise during the season not addressed herein shall be resolved by the best judgment of the Commissioner and the Executive Committee on a case by case basis. Changes to the Bylaws and rule proposals can be recommended by any owner at any time, but will not be considered until after the current season. All suggestions are to be submitted to the Commissioner.

 

Ownership

Each Franchise in the league shall have an owner who manages the operation of the franchise, including drafting, auctions, trades, activations and the like. A Franchise may have more than one owner (co-owners), however these co-owners must elect a majority owner. The League shall deem all requests received from co-owned franchises void unless received from the majority owner.

 

Free Agent Auction

•The auction draft will be held as close to the start of the season as practicable. The draft will be held online.

 

•All teams must have their team fee paid at least 15 days prior to the draft to participate in the auction draft.

 

•There will be an unlimited number of bids during the auction draft. The auction is complete when all teams have 18 players on their roster. The 2005 Draft will include all non-keepers and rookies.

 

•The order for nominating players will be submitted, based on last year’s results, prior to the draft and will remain constant each round.

 

•A player nomination must include the name of the player, NFL Team, position played, and opening bid.

 

•During the auction, you must draft enough players to field a starting lineup and 9 option players, 18 players total all within the confines of the salary cap. Teams may not place a bid on a player if the bid places them over the salary cap. This will include factoring the $1 minimum per available roster slot during the bidding process. There will be no trading or dropping of players during the auction.

 

•There are some restrictions on how or when a team would like to nominate players. All bids must be legal with respect to the bidding team’s salary cap and roster restrictions. You may not elect to pass on opportunity to nominate a player. You must pass on your opportunity once you have 18 players on your roster. If you have not filled a minimum starting roster on your last pick(s), you must nominate a position player that will complete your starting roster (if you have 17 players on your roster, but no Defense, then your 18th nomination must be a Defense, if your bid is not successful, then your next bid(s) must be a Defense again until you get one). Additional details regarding the draft follow at the end of this document.

 

Salary Cap

 

•Each team will be given a salary cap of $200 for the Auction Draft.

•Salary Cap increases to $220 at the completion of the auction draft.

•Salary Cap decreases to $200 after the Super Bowl.

•Your keepers may not exceed $100 in salary for next season.

 

Team Rosters

•At the completion of the auction, each team roster will consist of 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1 TE, 1K, 1D and 9 option players.

 

•During the regular season, a team will have 2 Injured Reserve slots available for use. A player may be placed on Injured Reserve only if he has been placed on the NFL Injured Reserve List. Players on the Injured Reserve List are on the list for the remainder of the UFFL season, and do not count towards that team’s salary cap. Players may only be placed on the UFFL Injured Reserve List if they went on the NFL Injured Reserve List while an active member of that UFFL team. A UFFL team may not claim a player on the NFL Injured Reserve List and then move that player to their UFFL Injured Reserve List.

 

•7 Days before the Free Agent Auction team owners will be required to submit their list of keeper players to the commissioner. Each team may keep any number of players but no more than $100 (50% of cap).

Keepers

 

•You may keep an unlimited amount of players, however your keepers may not exceed $100 in salary for next season.

 

•After two seasons (a season is defined as any part of a NFL season) of a player being owned by any team without having been released to the free agent pool, the player must be signed to a long-term contract, given his option contract, or released.

 

•If a player is not designated as a keeper in the off-season, the player becomes a free agent and available in the free agent auction the following season. When drafted again, they will enter their first contract year.

 

•Keepers are not eligible to be nominated for bidding in the free agent auction draft by other team owners. Only free agents (including rookies) may be bid on at the Auction.

 

•Each player is signed to a 3-year contract with the 3rd year an option year. A newly signed player’s salary will remain constant through the first two (2) years of the contract as determined by market value.

 

•If a player is released, he is made available to all teams in the next free agent auction.

 

•If a player is given his option contract, his salary remains the same for one season. After that season is complete, the player must be released and made available for the next free agent auction.

 

•If a player is signed to a long-term contract, his salary will be raised by $5 for each year of the long-term contract. For example, if a player’s salary is $9 and a team wishes to sign him to a three-year contract, his salary is increased by $15 to $24.

 

•If a player is released before the end of his contract, the team releasing that player will be penalized as follows: The team's salary cap will be decreased by $1 for each year in the total number of years in the contract. For example, if a player is signed to a 4-year contract and is released at any time within those 4 years, the team waiving the player will have $4 removed from his allotted salary cap in the next season, leaving that team with only $196 instead of the usual $200.

 

•A player may be signed to only one long-term contract. After the contract has expired, the player must be released and made available for the next free agent auction.

 

•Any and all offers made must fit into the team's salary cap.

 

 

The Regular Season

•Teams will play head to head on a weekly basis. There will be no double headers or regular season bye’s.

•The regular season is 14 weeks and the playoffs run Week 15 through 17.

•There are 16 teams divided into 4 divisions.

•Each team plays each team in its division twice and teams in 2 other divisions once. The divisional play for 2005 is rotated for a 3rd year of a 3-year divisional set-up. The schedule has been posted in the Commissioner’s Message space on the site since the end of last season. The change from Gang Green to G-Force will be made once the schedule is inputted into the Season Schedule on the site.

•For the purposes of determining the total points scored winners, play will continue through Week 17.

 

The Playoffs

 

•Eight teams make the playoffs, single elimination with 4 division winners (seeded 1-4) and 4 best wild card teams taken from all four divisions (seeded 4-8The initial bracket will be 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5. There will be reseeding after the first round.

•Winners in the Championship bracket semifinals play for the Super Bowl. Losers in the semifinals of the Championship bracket play for 3rd place (Fantasy Bowl).

•Teams seeded 9th through 16th will enter the Toilet Bowl Sweepstakes which will be bracketed in the same manner as the playoff format (9 vs. 16, 10 vs. 15, 11 vs. 14, 12 vs. 13)

 

Tie-Breakers & Team Ranking

Ties are not allowed for regular season and playoff games. In case of a tie in a game, the 9 reserve roster players’ total points that week will be tallied. Tiebreakers for standings, playoff seeding, division winners and free agent requests are as follows. For ties between 3 or more teams, divisional ties are always broken first.

1.Total Points

2.Most Points Allowed

3.Highest Weekly Total

 

Weekly Requirements

Each week, throughout the 17 week UFFL schedule every team owner will be required to complete the following requirements. No excuses are accepted.

 

1.Enter your team’s complete lineup on time every week on the online site. The weekly deadline for submitting starting lineups is 12:55 PM EST. In weeks where there are Thursday, Friday, or Saturday games, the deadline for submitting players involved in those games into the starting lineup is 5 minutes before kickoff of said game.

 

2.The league web site will be the official lineup for an owner. E-mails to the commissioner and opponents are merely a courtesy. If the e-mailed lineup differs from the lineup entered online, the online lineup will be used.

 

Starting Lineups

1.If a team owner fails to submit a lineup by Sunday at 12:55 PM EST, the previous week’s lineup will be used.

 

2.If a team fails to submit their lineup twice, they will be placed on probation and removed from the Rules Committee (if applicable). Failure to submit a lineup three times in one season will result in the loss of franchise and it will be put up for sale to the highest bidder who will take over the team immediately. All players on a suspended team’s active roster are ineligible to be traded and no transactions are allowed until a brand new owner is found.

 

3.For early games team owners only need to submit the player(s) who will be in the starting lineup and playing in the early games even if the player(s) were in the lineup the previous week. The remainder of the lineup may be submitted by Sunday at 12:55 PM EST.

 

Starting lineups will consist of 9 players using the following combination, no other combinations are accepted.

QB RB RB WR WR WR TE K D

 

Free Agency

You will be able to drop players after the completion of the draft, who immediately become free agents who will be available for free agent bidding after the conclusion the auction draft. You may drop players at any time after the draft, but will not be able to bid on free agents until the conclusion of the auction draft. You may drop players at any time thereafter during the course of the season, provided you pick up players to replace their roster spot.

 

Free Agency Pickups

Free Agency starts immediately following the auction, where you will have access to all players released since the Auction, as well as any undrafted players. Each week, through Week 16, Free Agent Signings will work on a silent bid process, where each team may make bids for multiple players during the signing period. The team with the highest bid for a player will receive the player. In a case where more than one team makes equal bids for the same player, the team with the worst record will receive the player. It is acceptable to pick up a player that you previously released or traded. You may have a player on your roster a maximum of 2 different times during a season. Once you drop or trade a player for the second time, you cannot attempt to claim him a third time. If you do pick up a player that you previously released or traded, you must pick him up at the same salary as when he was on your team previously. You may bid for multiple players, as long as you prioritize how you want those bids placed. Examples of a properly formatted bid will be released prior to the start of the regular season.

 

1.Free agent bidding will start each Monday and end each Friday at 1 P.M. Eastern Time. For weeks with Thursday games, the bidding will end on Wednesdays at 1:00 PM Eastern Time

 

2.To make a bid on a free agent, you must state the player you’re bidding on, the amount of your bid and any player(s) you’ll need to waive in order to free up either a roster spot, or room under the salary cap.

 

3.When making multiple free agent bids, you need to clearly state how you’d like the bids prioritized by player, or by the bid amount, and what player(s) will be waived based on which player(s) you get. If you prepare well for contingencies you will be assured of getting the players you desire.

 

4.If a free agent bid is made but does not adhere to these rules, the bid will not be honored and the next highest bid will be accepted.

 

5.All free agent transactions must be processed by the commissioner before the transaction is considered complete.

 

6.The commissioner must e-mail his free agent bids to an owner not participating in the free agent bidding that week (preferably an owner on the Executive Committee) by Thursday 9:00 PM EST at the latest. Owners are advised not to submit their free agent bids until the commissioner e-mails them advising to do so.

 

7.If multiple team owners make a bid on the same player, the highest bid gets the player. If the bids are the same, then the team with the worse record will get the player in all cases.

 

8.Any player that is released will enter the Free Agent pool and will be eligible to be bid on the next week.

 

Trades

1.All Trades must be made through the commissioner.com “transaction” section on the league web site. E-mails, phone calls to the Commissioner or others do not constitute an official trade

 

2.To start a newly acquired player via trade, the trade must be complete and the players must be legal according to the rules concerning lineup submissions.

 

3.Any trade viewed as one-sided, questionable or unethical is subject to approval by the Rules Committee at the request of the Commissioner, or any 2 owners. There will be no Collusion, Loaning or Dumping of Players. Trades must be contested within the first 48 hours of the trade. After 48 hours if there is no protest, the trade cannot be overturned.

 

4.All trades must be completed each week by Friday at 5:00 PM. The Commissioner’s trading deadline is Thursday at 5:00 PM, or when he submits his free agent bidding intentions, whichever comes first.

 

5.Trading deadline is the Friday before week 10 games.

6.There will be no trading of Auction Dollars in future drafts.

7.There will be no trades involving “Players to be Named Later”

 

8.All trades are subject to approval pending the status of the teams involved as dictated by the rules governing teams on probation and/or suspension.

 

Franchise Fees & Earnings (for a 16-team league)

The yearly franchise fee is $250 per team and is payable before the draft. The cost of commissioner.com service is anticipated to be $120. This will generate a prize pool of approximately $3,900 for the winners. The prize pool be paid at the conclusion of the season approximately as follows:

 

Super Bowl Winner ($570)

Super Bowl Loser ($300)

Fantasy Bowl Winner ($160)

Toilet Bowl Winner ($120)

Each for 4 division winners ($50)

Each for 4 division winners ($50)

#1 total scorer ($690, subject to fee adjustment)

#2 total scorer ($530, subject to fee adjustment)

#3 total scorer ($300)

#4 total scorer ($160)

 

In addition, there will be a $50 prize given each week for the 17 weeks to the team with the highest total points score for the week, an additional $850 to be given out. This brings the total prize pool to $3,880.

Scoring

 

TD's

Pass: 3 pts

Rush/Rec: 6 pts

 

Performance (Passing, Rushing and Receiving combined)

QB: .05 pt every 1 yard passing

RB/WR/TE/K: .1 pt every 1 yard rushing/receiving

2PT conversions run or rec. = 2pts

2PT conversions pass = 1 pt

 

Example: 19 yards rushing = 1.9 points

39 yards passing = 1.95 points.

 

The performance scoring system has been designed to give a 100% accurate assessment of a player’s performance. No more rooting for your player to gain 1 more yard to get to the next point level – you get credited for exactly what he scores.

 

Kickers will receive points for any TD

 

 

DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS

Shutout = 9 pts

Safety = 2 pts

Interception = 1 pt

Sack/Fumble Rc. = 1 pt

TD = 6 pts

KO/PR for TD = 6 pts

0-99 yds allowed = 5 pts

100-149 yds allowed = 4 pts

150-199 yds allowed = 3 pts

200-249 yds allowed = 2 pts

250-299 yds allowed = 1 pt

2-7 pts allowed = 4 pts

8-15 pts allowed = 2 pts

 

UFFL Executive Committee

•The decision of the Commissioner supersedes the rules herein and is final in any disputes. He also has the power to change a rule with an unforeseen loophole post de facto (After the fact) for the benefit of the league. The overall good of the league as a whole will be greater then the benefit to any sum of its constituents.

 

•The Commissioner will appoint top 4 finishers in total points scored last season to serve on the Executive Committee for the 2004 UFFL season. In succeeding seasons, the top 4 finishers in total points scored will serve on the Executive Committee along with the Commissioner.

 

•The Commissioner will be responsible to keep the every-day operations of the League running smoothly.

 

•The Executive Committee will be established to oversee and overturn any trade deemed detrimental to the competitive balance of the league.

 

•The Executive Committee will only be enacted if at least 2 owners file formal complaints to the Commissioner, or if the Commissioner requests the Executive Committee to be enacted.

 

•If a committee member is involved in a disputed trade, he will be excused from the committee for that trade.

 

•A 2/3 majority vote by the committee is required to overturn a trade (i.e., with 5 committee members, 4 need to vote to overturn it; with 4 members, 3 are needed and with 3 members, 2 are needed).

 

The Draft

Please come as prepared as possible for the draft. We will conduct the Auction Draft via the Internet. Please set aside at least 6 hours for the actual draft. The speed of the individual members making their respective bids, and how many actual bids are made on players, will determine how quickly we can complete the draft. It is possible that the draft will take as many as 6 to 8 hours to complete depending on those various factors. Your cooperation in keeping the process moving will be appreciated. Prior to the start of the draft, we will spend a few minutes discussing any specific issues that are brought to our attention regarding the league format, scoring system, and salary cap issues. At that time we will also remind you of how we would like your nominations to be formatted. Each Team will be given a salary cap of $200 to conduct the draft. You can spend less than the $200, but no more. The minimum salary for a player will be $1, and there will be no set maximum, although realistically, somewhere in the $65-$75 range will be a practical “top end” for even the best of players. Each team will be required to draft 18 players, no less, and no team will be allowed to “pass” on their opportunity to nominate a player until their roster is complete. Nominations that are made clear will help us make sure that we can clear up any discrepancies regarding the current NFL team or position that a player will be playing. It will be up to all members to bring any issues surrounding position at the time of the bid to be sure that no one will be drafted in a position that they don’t actually play. We will use NFL.com as a reference to qualify each player in the case of any dispute, but most of the players and their respective positions will be obvious. After the opening bid, members are free to bid on the player and increase their bids as they see fit. Once the highest bid is made, the player joins the winning bidders roster at that salary and the available funds will be reduced for that owner’s team. You may not withdraw a bid once placed, and you may not drop a player or trade him to another team during the draft. Trades will be allowed between teams after the completion of the draft, subject to the roster restrictions and salary cap limitations.

[BUCKEYES 0]

Thanks Portis!!!

[akareckas 0]

Actually it's not that hard to incorporate your keepers....

 

Just suspend keepers after this year. Play out this year as is, and add draft picks to the list of things that can be traded (meaning rookie draft picks)...then do your auction next year. Or if you are married to your 3 year rule, just say that it's 3 years from now, with no additional keepers being declared then go auction after that.

 

For my money I'd just scrap the league and start over if everyone's into an auction though. It's WAY better.