Auction vs. Draft

[frequency 0]

Just wanted to get thoughts on Auction vs. Draft. Great read here but looking for your opinions.

 

http://tenyards.com/2009/06/27/fantasy-foo...ction-vs-draft/

[Belushi 9]

IBTL

[IAMWood 6]

Would love do to an dynasty auction league. Hope I can find one. Seriously, my very first fantasy draft was auction in 1988, haven't done one since.

 

[CookieG 4]

I'm a huge advocate for auction drafts.

 

The points in the article are good ones. I'd add that your draft prep is based on player values.. and you generally use prior year's values to help determine the tiers for an upcoming season's draft (never done a keeper this way.. only a redraft). This way, you get an idea of the equivalent players may fetch in the upcoming draft. Bidding goes lightning fast and bidding players on the block up without really wanting them is a rush. If you don't want an Adrian Peterson type top pick.. you throw those guys out right away to limit the spending power of other owners.

 

The key is the accuracy of your value sheets.. and with not a whole lot of auction cheatsheets out there for the format.. it's a good bit of work and fine tuning to get them really right. That said, it's really rewarding coming away with more key players than most of your league-mates when you nail some good deals.

 

You do have be disciplined and not got "caught up in the moment". It's tempting to grab a bunch of top level, seemingly undervalued WRs, before you have your RBs settled.. but if you make even one ill-advised luxury buy.. you can screw up your whole team getting shut out of the more solid RBs.

 

A good value sheet will let you go out and buy early if a pick is really undervalued.. you don't always "hang back" and save.. esp. as the RBs start flying off the board. The end of the draft is awesome if you have a few bucks left over. Some of the best sleeper types can be had for pennies on the dollar.

 

We use a $100 draft cap.. Every team needs to fill in at least a starting lineup of course.. and instead of having 1 or 2 poor commish types run the thing.. we have each of the 12 owners nominate a player in a rotation. Most people don't nominate a major player they want until pretty late in the draft.. but it can vary.

 

Feel free to email me about any questions you may have.. I can't recommend it more highly. I'm in one auction out of a couple leagues and it's easily the most fun one.

[madd futher mucker 36]

There was some very good earlier discussion with lots of tips on running an auction drafts. Just do a search under "auction".

 

I would highly recommend having a live auction among local owners than getting involved with an internet auction. If you are goind play with non-locals, I'd stick to re-draft.

 

But auction is MUCH more fun than re-draft.

[R8RMick 242]

I'm a huge advocate for auction drafts.

 

The points in the article are good ones. I'd add that your draft prep is based on player values.. and you generally use prior year's values to help determine the tiers for an upcoming season's draft (never done a keeper this way.. only a redraft). This way, you get an idea of the equivalent players may fetch in the upcoming draft. Bidding goes lightning fast and bidding players on the block up without really wanting them is a rush. If you don't want an Adrian Peterson type top pick.. you throw those guys out right away to limit the spending power of other owners.

 

The key is the accuracy of your value sheets.. and with not a whole lot of auction cheatsheets out there for the format.. it's a good bit of work and fine tuning to get them really right. That said, it's really rewarding coming away with more key players than most of your league-mates when you nail some good deals.

 

You do have be disciplined and not got "caught up in the moment". It's tempting to grab a bunch of top level, seemingly undervalued WRs, before you have your RBs settled.. but if you make even one ill-advised luxury buy.. you can screw up your whole team getting shut out of the more solid RBs.

 

A good value sheet will let you go out and buy early if a pick is really undervalued.. you don't always "hang back" and save.. esp. as the RBs start flying off the board. The end of the draft is awesome if you have a few bucks left over. Some of the best sleeper types can be had for pennies on the dollar.

 

We use a $100 draft cap.. Every team needs to fill in at least a starting lineup of course.. and instead of having 1 or 2 poor commish types run the thing.. we have each of the 12 owners nominate a player in a rotation. Most people don't nominate a major player they want until pretty late in the draft.. but it can vary.

 

Feel free to email me about any questions you may have.. I can't recommend it more highly. I'm in one auction out of a couple leagues and it's easily the most fun one.

 

 

 

It's always fun to see who gets stuck with a player they don't really want, because they're trying to jam someone and run up the bids...

[Ambroc 0]

I'm an auction snob.

 

I honestly believe it is a waste of time to do anything other than a pure auction.

 

Try an auction ONE TIME and you will be hooked forever.

 

There was some very good earlier discussion with lots of tips on running an auction drafts. Just do a search under "auction".

 

I would highly recommend having a live auction among local owners than getting involved with an internet auction. If you are goind play with non-locals, I'd stick to re-draft.

 

But auction is MUCH more fun than re-draft.

[Ray_T 591]

I like both formats.

 

Our league did a draft & switched to auction. We keep 3 every year that are salary exempt.

 

key wrinkles to our auction:

 

1) Base spending is $93 + 1$ for your rank in last year's standings.

 

ie. First place team gets $94 to spend and 2nd place gets $95...... 12th place gets $105

 

2) You have to have a starter in every starting slot, so one dollar is reserved for each starting slot not filled. This prevents you from spending too much and being unable to fill the roster.

 

3) drinking is Manditory!

 

This works for us.

[WhiteWonder 2,172]

I'm an auction snob.

 

I honestly believe it is a waste of time to do anything other than a pure auction.

 

Try an auction ONE TIME and you will be hooked forever.

 

I have done a few autions. While they are different and fun in their own unique way, I prefer a snake draft.

 

I like the experience to be as much like NFL draft day as possible while also being as fair as possible. ITs just FF but id rather do a draft order and have the excitement of hoping players drop just like a real draft. NFL teams don't get to sit there and yell out bids for the players they want so I find it a little less fun than a regular draft format tho I still enjoy an occasional auction.

 

unfortunately a true draft format wouldn't really be fair but snaking it helps in that regard.

 

and for those who argue that in the NFL, the worst teams get first picks but in a redraft everyone is on the same playing field, well, what we do is have the draft order determined by last years standings.

[Ambroc 0]

I like both formats.

 

Our league did a draft & switched to auction. We keep 3 every year that are salary exempt.

 

key wrinkles to our auction:

 

1) Base spending is $93 + 1$ for your rank in last year's standings.

 

ie. First place team gets $94 to spend and 2nd place gets $95...... 12th place gets $105

 

2) You have to have a starter in every starting slot, so one dollar is reserved for each starting slot not filled. This prevents you from spending too much and being unable to fill the roster.

 

3) drinking is Manditory!

 

This works for us.

 

I like this for a keeper auction. Nice wrinkle.

[Ambroc 0]

I have done a few autions. While they are different and fun in their own unique way, I prefer a snake draft.

 

I like the experience to be as much like NFL draft day as possible while also being as fair as possible. ITs just FF but id rather do a draft order and have the excitement of hoping players drop just like a real draft. NFL teams don't get to sit there and yell out bids for the players they want so I find it a little less fun than a regular draft format tho I still enjoy an occasional auction.

 

unfortunately a true draft format wouldn't really be fair but snaking it helps in that regard.

 

and for those who argue that in the NFL, the worst teams get first picks but in a redraft everyone is on the same playing field, well, what we do is have the draft order determined by last years standings.

 

To each, his own.

 

Snake draft has some excitment, don't get me wrong, but I found most of the excitment was waiting, sweating and praying that the player you really want is not taken before your turn. In an auction, every player is available, every bid is exciting. The last time I did an draft, I felt like I had regressed as a human being, somehow -- perhaps I did.

[Skanker 0]

Auction is the new wave of the future!

 

[WhiteWonder 2,172]

To each, his own.

 

Snake draft has some excitment, don't get me wrong, but I found most of the excitment was waiting, sweating and praying that the player you really want is not taken before your turn. In an auction, every player is available, every bid is exciting. The last time I did an draft, I felt like I had regressed as a human being, somehow -- perhaps I did.

 

the most common reason i see people give for converting leagues to auction format goes something like this "wahhh wahhh people in the bottom half of round 1 never have a shot at ______ or _____ or ______."

 

like i said, i enjoy auctions just not as much as the anticipation of each pick in a draft format.

Each take their own type of planning. Auctions require financial planning as well as roster management while drafts are really just about roster management.

[heavy-set 39]

I like the auction, but it is much more complicated and time consuming. I like it better casue everyone has the same shot at every player. The draft is a lot of luck if you ask me.

 

 

But

 

Drafts are funner, simplier and more user friendly. For me its difficult to get 12 diehards for an auction.

[G3-175SE 0]

I would like to do an auction draft in all my leagues but can't get everyone on board. I think the idea of having an option on each and every player is the way to go. Granted you do have to be careful tht you don't use all your funds but you can put together a great team if you pay attention.

[49ER MAN 0]

Our league went to auction in 2005 and I don't anticipate us switching back anytime soon. It gives you an opportunity for every player and you can get people to spend a lot of money on players they don't want. But be careful as you may sit with a player or players you do not want and a lot of your money is gone.

[Cuse9 128]

Both are awesome, both are fair. It's fantasy football....it's all good!

[akareckas 0]

I'm in two of each and the two auctions are dynasties with multi year contracts, a rookie draft, holdouts, restricted free agency, franchise tags, IDP. We tried to make these two as complex as possible to put a group of active owners into a year round format that is tough to win. It's a ton of fun but I definitely appreciate my redraft and my keeper draft pools as well. Having done plenty of both, I do consider the auctions to be the 'big leagues' because they tend to attract the more seasoned, active owners.

[Bert 1,091]

the most common reason i see people give for converting leagues to auction format goes something like this "wahhh wahhh people in the bottom half of round 1 never have a shot at ______ or _____ or ______."

 

like i said, i enjoy auctions just not as much as the anticipation of each pick in a draft format.

Each take their own type of planning. Auctions require financial planning as well as roster management while drafts are really just about roster management.

 

My problem with a serpentine draft is any idiot can print a cheat sheet 5 minutes before and walk in and draft a solid team. There is no way you can do that in a auction league.

[#1LionFan 0]

I like the auction, but it is much more complicated and time consuming. I like it better casue everyone has the same shot at every player. The draft is a lot of luck if you ask me.

But

 

Drafts are funner, simplier and more user friendly. For me its difficult to get 12 diehards for an auction.

 

 

Agreed.

[WhiteWonder 2,172]

My problem with a serpentine draft is any idiot can print a cheat sheet 5 minutes before and walk in and draft a solid team. There is no way you can do that in a auction league.

 

im pretty sure you can print the same cheat sheet and use it to determine who you want to spend money on. Its not as easy but still...

 

also alot of sites have auction info to print out.

[Ray_T 591]

My problem with a serpentine draft is any idiot can print a cheat sheet 5 minutes before and walk in and draft a solid team. There is no way you can do that in a auction league.

 

Yep.

 

a serpentine draft is just as much about strategy as it is about knowledge.

 

If you know your opponents well enough you can predict what they will do.

 

 

However, an auction format tends to favour the people who do their homework and who know more about player value. So if you are starting a new league where there are rookies and fantasy veterans, I recommend against an auction because the vets will clean up because the rookies wont know when to bid and when to pass.

 

If you have a competitive league where everyone is on the higher end of knowledgeable, there is no comparison to an auction format. You will never go back to the serpentine draft once you make the change.

[Slothman 0]

I have participated in both auctions and snake drafts. With all things considered, I prefer auctions a little more, however, there are two big reasons why we still choose to do a snake draft in my main league that I commish:

 

1) It is very hard to get every owner to the draft every year. We have 20 owners in our league with several living out-of-state, so there is no way we could get everyone together in the same room every year, and we have not been able to find a very good solution for doing an auction via phone, webcam, etc. So that is a major hurdle.

 

2) While I prefer auctions a little more, I enjoy draft preparation more than auction preparation mostly due to mock drafts. I love doing mock drafts at fantasyfootballcalculator.com all summer. If my main league went to an auction format and I had no reason to participate in mock drafts I'm not sure what I would do.

 

So for these reasons, we stick to a draft (which despite not being quite as fun as an auction, is still a blast and has its own distinct advantages).