What makes your league unique? Share ideas here

[Jcrowe41 0]

As a commish entering my sixth year, I've always made it a priority to try new ideas in an effort to keep my league fresh and innovative. I thought I would check out a couple forums to hopefully gain some new thoughts for use this upcoming year. Here are some unique features our league has. Please share yours!

 

- Draft spot lottery. I use a large office water cooler and give each team a ping pong ball. Some just write their name on it, others elaborately decorate it. All the balls go in the cooler together, the order they fall out is the reverse order for the draft each year. We also use this as a get together to go over rule changes.

 

-A Draft Day full of activities. We start off with a captains choice golf tournament (most of our league are avid golfers). After golf we have a cookout at a league members house. The draft is later that night at a bar. We hire an emcee to announce picks and maintain the flow, and two hot girls to apply the player stickers to the board.

 

- Weekly Payouts. At the beginning of the year, each team pays $55. Every week the highest scorer of that weeks position wins $50. We do this for each of the 13 regular season weeks. This is a fun way to keep everyone engaged throughout the year, even if they are at the bottom of the standings.

 

-Double headers. We tried this last year but espn doesn't support them and I had to manually adjust the standings. Did not go over well, won't be doing that again.

 

-Pro Bowl. This was a big success last year. As our championship is Week 16 I started a Pro Bowl on the last week of the nfl season. The winning team from each division is the captain and manually creates a lineup using players from their divisions' teams. Each team throws in $20. This also served to be a year end get together and trophy presentation.

 

So what are some unique qualities of your league and why do they work? Less

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

Sounds great. The problem is finding the time for everyone to be off on the same day. Usually that day is draft day with a few being open for an in season get together.

[Jcrowe41 0]

Yea we pick the date out way in advance and attendance is required for a spot in the league. Only lost one team to this over 5 years guess we've been lucky.

[ThugLifeSports 0]

Love the pro-bowl idea! We host a live radio show each week on blogtalkradio which we conduct team owner interviews from the previous week matchups. They love it!

[Jcrowe41 0]

Yea the Pro Bowl worked out great. We also made it a rule that each team had to have at least one player representing them. Made for some interesting decisions.

[Maulers1973 117]

First and foremost, one of the most unique things about the league that I am in is that it is 24 years old. That's pre-internet for you young folks. Just about everything makes the league I am in unique:

 

* members meet semi regularly to determine the rules, there was a basic format to start with and then it has been tweaked with rule changes over the years to get to the format we are in today

* it is auction style draft ($70 salary) and keeper league. To keep a starter adds $2 to his previous year value. To keep a b/u it automatically defaults to a $4 value.

* IDP with 2 DL's, 2 LB's and 2 DB's - we track tackles, sacks, interceptions and defensive TD's.

* Special teams counts - we draft kickers and punters

* Pays more for overall standings rather than H2H. Thus, it rewards productiivity.

* Usually pays 4 spots in Overall and 2 spots in H2H so lots of opportunity to finish in money.

* We place emphasis on the draft and draft preparation. This means you must use your starters unless they are questionable or on a bye week, and you can't buy a player unless forced to by injury(must be questionable or worse health status) and bye weeks. You must drop a b/u and the bought player is added to roster as a b/u.

* We have a great bunch of guys that have a lot of fun on draft day!

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

What is this pre Internet you speak of?

[Jcrowe41 0]

Great thoughts Maulers. 24 years and going deserves much respect. We tried punters one year, but espn kept recalculating their scores for two even three days after. Once it messed up the waiver order bc the standings changed on Thursday! I liked having punters count, they're undeniably a big part of the game. Has anyone else had problems using punters?

[Quickolas1 80]

- Draft spot lottery.

 

-A Draft Day full of activities. We start off with a captains choice golf tournament (most of our league are avid golfers). After golf we have a cookout at a league members house. The draft is later that night at a bar. We hire an emcee to announce picks and maintain the flow, and two hot girls to apply the player stickers to the board.

 

Switch to Auction, especially with emcee and your draft day setup. Have the ladies update the teams/players/cap won on a whiteboard.

Everyone should have equal opportunity to choose any player they want.

Keep it simple - $100 cap, min bid $1 and increases of $0.25.

Waivers is also more fair - by who is willing to cut salary/create space and bid the most on a FA instead of some partial-luck-driven waiver order.

 

Thank me later.

[weepaws 2,467]

oh wow where do i start every league i am in is unique

[jerryskids 5,213]

First and foremost, one of the most unique things about the league that I am in is that it is 24 years old. That's pre-internet for you young folks. Just about everything makes the league I am in unique:

 

* members meet semi regularly to determine the rules, there was a basic format to start with and then it has been tweaked with rule changes over the years to get to the format we are in today

* it is auction style draft ($70 salary) and keeper league. To keep a starter adds $2 to his previous year value. To keep a b/u it automatically defaults to a $4 value.

* IDP with 2 DL's, 2 LB's and 2 DB's - we track tackles, sacks, interceptions and defensive TD's.

* Special teams counts - we draft kickers and punters

* Pays more for overall standings rather than H2H. Thus, it rewards productiivity.

* Usually pays 4 spots in Overall and 2 spots in H2H so lots of opportunity to finish in money.

* We place emphasis on the draft and draft preparation. This means you must use your starters unless they are questionable or on a bye week, and you can't buy a player unless forced to by injury(must be questionable or worse health status) and bye weeks. You must drop a b/u and the bought player is added to roster as a b/u.

* We have a great bunch of guys that have a lot of fun on draft day!

My main league has been around since 1989 as well; I joined it in 1999 though. Some similarities to yours as well. Main points:

- Deep keeper with a keeper cap of $42 (real money). It costs $3/year a player is kept, so if you've had say Rodgers for 3 years, it costs you $12 to keep him the 4th year. This makes you consider returning some studs into the draft pool.

- You lose a draft pick per keeper. This year if I keep TRich, Morris, Ridley, Harvin, and Ryan, I would not pick until the 6th round. You can keep none if you want, in which case you would pick from the first round. I did this last year, where I decided to blow my team up. Got lucky (or good) with Ridley and Morris and rode them to the championship, which is unusual for a fresh team.

 

This typically makes the keeper decision a fun challenge, because you don't know how many players your opponents will keep, so you don't know who will be available in the draft.

[Johnson Rose 1]

The winner of the toilet bowl gets to urinate in the losers mouth

[stonewall 647]

The winner of the toilet bowl gets to urinate in the losers mouth

 

Better than defecation, I suppose.

[Man_of_Leisure 0]

The winner of the toilet bowl gets to urinate in the losers mouth

I think a couple of guys in our league that would try to lose on purpose.

[Maulers1973 117]

Great thoughts Maulers. 24 years and going deserves much respect. We tried punters one year, but espn kept recalculating their scores for two even three days after. Once it messed up the waiver order bc the standings changed on Thursday! I liked having punters count, they're undeniably a big part of the game. Has anyone else had problems using punters?

 

Did I mention we don't use online scoring? We have a stats guy that manually compiles our stats in Excel and then emails them. It's tedious and thankless, but it's worth it to have it done the way we want.

 

Also, our league doesn't calculate points like others. We base points of statistical rank. If we have 12 teams, and you rank first in rushing yards you get 12 points. If you rank last you get 1 point and so on and so on for every category tracked.

[skinsrule05 30]

Did I mention we don't use online scoring? We have a stats guy that manually compiles our stats in Excel and then emails them. It's tedious and thankless, but it's worth it to have it done the way we want.

 

 

Good move, I don't really think this whole Internet thing is going to catch on.

[Jcrowe41 0]

Anyone else have any fun draft day ideas? Still looking for new twists to add this year.

[edytwinky 1]

Next year I would like to get a hold of one of those professional ping pong ball dispensers to hold our lottery

[We Tigers 71]

 

Did I mention we don't use online scoring? We have a stats guy that manually compiles our stats in Excel and then emails them. It's tedious and thankless, but it's worth it to have it done the way we want.

 

Also, our league doesn't calculate points like others. We base points of statistical rank. If we have 12 teams, and you rank first in rushing yards you get 12 points. If you rank last you get 1 point and so on and so on for every category tracked.

Rotisserie football!

 

My main keeper league doesn't have a lot of traditions or odd rules, but we do a big barbecue and power hour (oof, getting too old for that) on draft day, using the same dated but excellent DVD from 2003 every year. One small rule change we recently added was to have the Toilet Bowl winner get the first pick in the draft, so everyone has a little something to play for even as the season winds down.

 

A couple of us have brought up weekly payouts, but only about half the league is interested. Cheap baastaads. I think it's a great idea even if it's only something like a $20 weekly prize.

[Nickoli 1]

For the first time last year we tried negative points for all missed fg and pat...if you thought the kicker position was worthless and just needed a total guess in the last round, it actually takes some strategy as there were several games lost last year in the league due to missed kicks!

[carmo911 2]

We make up a team of available, active Free Agents and if that team outscore a league team you have to pay into the pot $5. it is a 10 team league, so there are plenty of weeks where owners lose to the Ghost team. just another way to add to the final pot for payouts.

[fanfootballtn 33]

A funny way to decide the draft order. FF to 2:15

 

[huskerinct 1]

We do weekly pools. Each week is a different category. Some examples are: Longest TD pass/run/rec. Most points scored with a loss. Most pass/rush/rec yards. Longest FG.

It lets teams that are out of it have a chance to win a few $$. 13 weeks, @$10 a week, only pulls $130 from the winnings.

[Law 220]

I try to even out the scoring so a strategy of drafting a RB, or a QB, or a WR in the first all can work. It's a 10-team league, but it plays like a 12-teamer because we start 2 QBs, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 R/W/E flex, 1 K, 1 DEF, 2 LBs, 2 DBs, and 1 D with 6 bench spots. The idea is that there shouldn't be any "star" players left of waivers. There may be some marginal guys, but no studs. Just like the NFL. Never understood how it is you can pickup a good QB whenever you want. Can't do that in "real" football. Plus, with a 16 total starting positions and only 6 bench spots, there is no hoarding of positions. Can't do because you'll never get through byes. It's all about needing to actively manage your team and use some strategy.

 

As for scoring, with an effort to make each position's top scorers somewhat equal in number, we do that by using PPR and also making how TDs are scored different values. A pass TD is 6, a run TD 8, and receiving TD 10. With PPR and yards, most WRs and RBs get equal points for the yards they gain, the passes they catch, and the TDs they score so it's not a yards or TD-heavy league, both stats are important.

 

Incredibily competitive all around. It's a real effort to get to the playoffs (top 4). After that, like in every league, luck comes in. Top 4 make the playoffs, middle 4 make the consolation where they still can play and win half their money back, bottom 2 are out after the 14 week season.

[jocstrap 8]

A funny way to decide the draft order. FF to 2:15

 

 

 

Ok, I had to watch - - there wasn't even a marked finish line - what a bunch of rookies. I think they were actually deciding who got to pick which cousin they get to doink first. It's a family thing...

[~OMM~ 0]

We utilize a version of Head to Head Plus that we modified from Mark Bond's concept that he created around 2002 or 03. My friend and I tweaked it slightly and we feel we improved it and it reflects the players performances on the field very well. The standings don't look traditional at all though, but our coaches all love the system. Instead of being like 9-4 at the end of the season, you will end up with a big # in the official standings, like 2,754 and so will all the other teams. Top six make the playoffs. The playoffs have evolved as well over the years. We use a total points system for week 14 only that the #3-#6 teams use to advance to week 15. The #1 and #2 seeds get a bye week and meet the two teams that advance from week 14 and then they use a mini H2H+ system that incorporates weeks 15 and 16 together to determine the SB champion. We use it for a redraft and a keeper league.

 

The keeper league also has a strange rare system that involves keeping 2 "golden" keepers and 3 RFA (restricted free agent) keepers. It is an auction league and the RFA's get bid up by the other coaches and then when they are finished the original owner can match the highest bid or let their player go at that point. The golden keepers can be kept for a maximum of 3 years at the same price they paid initially.

 

If anybody has any questions about this system and would like to try it out, feel free to PM me and I will walk you through the steps in setting up your league. We use RTsports to host those leagues, because it works well with our unique scoring system. MFL would probably work also and I play in leagues at MFL as well, but these two are my local $ leagues with people I know personally. The redraft has been around since 1999 and keeper was created in 2003.

[croatian 0]

In the league I run we do some unique things.

 

Draft day is a full day event. Lots of food and as a homebrewer I supply the kegs.

 

We are a point based league. The big winners are those that finish in the top 3 at the end of week 17. What is different about our point based league is that we also have a H2H tournment on the side that usually runs from week12-16. Seeds are based on point standings at the beginning of round1 and the winner of the tourney also takes home a prize. The tournment gives teams that are in the basement something to look forward to other than trying to trade for pieces that will help them the following season.

 

Our draft is a hybrid combining the the best of both worlds. One half auction and one half serpentine. Basically we start out with an auction then once all teams have run out of money or the player auction limit is reached we switch to serpentine. We then have a system for determining who get first choice of draft position. Once the draft order is set we finish out the draft in serpentine format. That's the draft in short. It's actually much more simple than it sounds and it has helped reduce the amount of time the draft takes.

 

We also do keepers and allow the trading of draft picks and draft money for the next season.

[Bishop82 61]

We also have weekly payout for highest scoring team, QB, RB and WR.

 

We also have to pay fines whenever a player from our roster gets fined or suspended. (Stupid Aaron Hernandez )

 

We to also have a lottery to determine the top 3 picks for next year.

[edytwinky 1]

Ths year we are doing a reverse toilet bowl. Only losers advance.

 

The ultimate loser supplies a couple pizzas and a case of beer at the draft