Idea to stop deadbeat owners

COZ · Post by **COZ** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:36 am

Renman, all of your points are valid & noted but the fact is that you cannot force people to play, period. It's always happened and will continue to happen. Also, if they won't compete for $1,400, $100 is not going to get them to compete. I truly feel most people have a lack of understanding of the rules, that 3 of 4 playoff spots are based on points not record. If that isn't incentive enough to play, then nothing will. I think getting into managing a team or setting another owner's lineup raises a whole other slew of issues. But maybe announcing this issue & reminding people of the rules re: points v. record prior to the draft may at least shed light on the scoring system that some people may not know.

mattjb · Post by **mattjb** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:51 am

the only solution that works (and many people don't want to go down this line) is to drop the head 2 head aspect all together.

renman · Post by **renman** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:04 am

Coz,

Who is saying we should "force" people to do anything? Certainly not me.

What is being said (by me) is that it is "worth discussing" ways we can "improve on this problem" because no matter how much people try to ignore it, it is a problem.

It comes up every single year, right about this time and another year has gone by while we ignored it. As I said countless times over the years and again in my previous post, I am aware that this problem can never be totally solved. But it can be improved upon.

It reminds me of instant replay in the NFL. Before it, we had bad calls that impacted massively important games because the game is so fast human error will occur. So we instituted instant replay. Followed by limits on instant replay so coaches only have a certain number of challenges, etc.

Has instant replay IMPROVED on the problem of missed or blown calls? Absolutely. Has it eliminated them? Absolutely not.

I agree with you that THIS ISSUE should be announce before the season at the live drafts. Maybe before owners can get into their team sites they have to click "I agree" that they read a short message about this issue. Will this FIX the problem? No.. will it make some people think before they bail on a team in a high stakes league? I believe it would.

All I am saying is this issue/topic should be discussed among expert level fantasy football minds. I believe some good ideas may come out of it. It certainly beats the process of throwing our hands up in the air and acting like nothing can be done.

thegambler · Post by **thegambler** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:30 am

wcoff use to put in the top scoring players for a team after the owner stopped putting in a lineup two weeks in a row. but the guys here don't want that at all.

really nothing you can do unless you get rid of the head to head all together and i don''t want that to happen. i don't like just point leagues...not much fun.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:31 am

I hope somebody proves me wrong but for the 7th straight year I am posting this. You can not stop anyone from quitting. I'm in the NFFC since day 1, and ran or co-ran a league for 15+ years prior to the NFFC. You can tell every single entrant that he/she will be lashed with a bullwhip if they quit and you will STILL find some people that quit. Some are rookies to fantasy and they realize they aren't as good as they thought they were. Some forget because they are busy, forgetful or maybe they tap that bottle of Johnny Walker a bit too much. And some have sickness/death or some other very serious problem at home that makes them wash their hands of their fantasy season to take care of more important things.

You can not stop people from quitting.

I will try and copy and paste this again next year when this comes up. Good luck.

KenGill · Post by **KenGill** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:39 am

It reminds me of instant replay in the NFL. Before it, we had bad calls that impacted massively important games because the game is so fast human error will occur. So we instituted instant replay. Followed by limits on instant replay so coaches only have a certain number of challenges, etc.

Has instant replay IMPROVED on the problem of missed or blown calls? Absolutely. Has it eliminated them? Absolutely not.
----------------------------------------------------
Bingo.

Sandman62 · Post by **Sandman62** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:34 am

Originally posted by COZ:
... Also, if they won't compete for $1,400, $100 is not going to get them to compete.1) They DID compete to protect their $1400 entry fee; they've just given up on continuing to compete once they feel they no longer have a chance to GET anything out if it.
2) By setting aside $100 deposit for continued competitive integrity, they'd now have a whole new contest WITH A GUARANTEED PAYBACK of $100. Yup, just finish out competing and get your hard-earned $100 back.

Im in 9 NFFC leagues, 7 of which are non-DC. Of the 7, we're likely out if the running in 4 so far. I know that I, for one, sure would keep starting a valid lineup each week to get back my hard-earned $400 right around Christmas.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this idea without serious consideration.

Fro · Post by **Fro** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:48 am

What would happen to the forfeited prize money?

joetreff · Post by **joetreff** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:51 am

Originally posted by Renman:
Flex,

You are missing the point. Should the Baltimore Ravens get an extra win this year because the Browns decided not to play week 17? Would the Steelers and Bengals be right to complain about that? If they complained to the league and Goodell said "hey, win your games and you wont be affected by the Ravens getting that one free win.."

Would that be a reasonable response? Yes it would be and it is...every year someone sits their starters in week 17 and quite often it has playoff implications and the NFL teams affected often say very little about it because they know they should've won one more game to avoid the situation...Same thing here, so thanks for pointing that out.

Draft and play well enough that you aren't putting your results into someone elses hands. Deadbeat owners are part of this game.

Head-to-Head is awesome and Tom and Greg found the perfect balance to pay out $2500 for the head-to-head champ so that you have something to root for each week. But the bulk of the cash is points related...It rocks, and having $1400 donators is something I don't want to see go away.

Sandman62 · Post by **Sandman62** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:10 am

I think you're making a potentially invalid assumption that everyone who gives up on their team once out of it is a bad player and dead money even BEFORE their team is out of it? I'm not so sure that's an accurate correlation.

As for what to do with the forfeited deposit money? IMO, that's the least of our worries, as we'd hope to solve part of the problem and REDUCE the number of quitting teams. And I'm confident we can find SOME fair way to allocate these funds.

But here are some options:
1) Divide it up equally among all teams in that league.
2) Divide it up equally among all teams in that league that lost to the deadbeat team before they gave up. Afterall, they may be the ones who got screwed the most, seeing they had to face that team when they were still trying, while others later in the season might've gotten easier wins.
3) Add it to that league's prize fund, proportionate to the existing payout ratios. This could have the undesired effect of simply rewarding even moreso those teams who might have cashed DUE TO getting late-season easy wins vs. deadbeat teams.
4) Donate it to some worthwhile charity.
5) Probably many other options too.

There might be some additional admin costs on Tom and Greg's side, having to return deposits or track them toward next year's entry fees. So a small percentage of this would seem fair to let the NFFC keep, to cover this.