Page 1 of 1

Would Empire Leagues Work In The NFFC?

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:26 am
by Greg Ambrosius
One of the things we've never set up in the NFFC is Dynasty Leagues or Keeper Leagues. We know several other sites do a great job of running those and with all that we have going in football, baseball and basketball it's tough for us to run these. Dynasty Leagues lose owners from time to time and it's on the game operator to fill those vacancies, something that is tough for Tom and I as we're working in other sports during this off-season.

But as part of our move to SportsHub Technologies, two of the companies that we're now working with are CDM Fantasy Sports and LeagueSafe. Paul Charchian runs LeagueSafe and he created a unique Dynasty League format in 2012 called Empire Leagues. The concept is that half of the prize money goes to the league champion each year and the other half stays within the Empire League until someone wins a league title 2 years in a row. The prize money accumulates each year, so losing one team is easier to fill because with a low entry you could now win multiples of the prize pool. The league only dissolves once someone has won back-to-back league titles.

It's very unique and might be uniquely different for our space in the high-stakes market. Check it out:

https://post.leaguesafe.com/introducing ... re-league/

Here's what Paul wrote:

The term “dynasty” in dynasty leagues is a misnomer. What happens when a dynasty is achieved in a dynasty league? Nothing!

That ends now.

I’ve created a new kind of league, a league that actually ends when someone actually has a dynasty. It’s called an Empire League.

What’s an Empire League? It’s a dynasty league with two unique twists:

1) Each year, half the pot goes to the year’s winner, and the other half is set aside in a rolling Emperor pot.

2) When someone wins an Empire League in consecutive years, they win the rolling Emperor pot. And the league disbands.

I can hear what you’re thinking: “Disbands?!? Oh, no! That’s just wrong!”

First, every league will come to an end eventually, right? Disinterest could end it. A dispute could end it. A freak dirigible accident could end it.

Why not prescribe the end of your league on your own terms? And is there a better way, than by crowning the ultimate champion?

And when it disbands, if the owners want to keep playing, they can just start fresh the next year with the same owners. And, everyone would draft/auction new dynasty rosters.

The strategic ramifications alone will make The Empire league a fascinating one. Imagine what happens when you win the first time. You’re going to be a marked owner the following season. Everyone will be gunning for you, doing anything possible to keep you from a second victory. Would anyone dare trade a good player to you? Free agent bidding would be furious and competitive. Even the last-place team is going to make moves designed explicitly to defeat you and make your repeat run impossible.

Draft strategy would also be fascinating. Do you play it as if it’s a two-year league and attempt to win it all in the first two years? Or do you assume it’s going to last at least 4-5 years and take a longer-term approach and build with young players that will potentially allow you to win two seasons in a row at some point down the road. And if you do manage to repeat? The pot could be huge, and who doesn’t want to be crowned the Emperor of their league?

For just one example of how the Emperor Pot could grow, assume a 10-person league with $150 entry fee, with $75 going to the Emperor Pot each season. You’ve got $750 in the pot for the current year, plus an additional $750 going to the Emperor Pot each season. If someone manages to repeat in years 5 and 6, they’ll take home the single season champion’s portion for each of those years, plus a whopping $4,500 for becoming the Emperor! Think that might make for an intense league?


Paul wrote a followup article about the Empire League after its debut:

https://post.leaguesafe.com/the-empire- ... ikes-back/

Now we would have administrative fees involved with running these leagues and would likely pay out a similar percentage as regular NFFC leagues, but the payout would still be 50% of payout for first place and 50% toward the league's Empire prize pool. On our new software, we could tweak the rules the way we want while using NFFC scoring rules. Could be fun as some owners draft for the long-term, while others draft while trying to win back-to-back league titles right away. Lots of strategies in this format.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this. We would start it in 2018 if there was demand. Thanks all.

Re: Would Empire Leagues Work In The NFFC?

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:48 am
by Henry Muto
I am in several high stakes dynasty leagues on other sites. The turnover there is alarming as people quit anytime they see they no longer have a chance to win and just sign up for a new dynasty startup. An Empire league would help this because if your putting 50% of the pot for a future winner teams will not likely want to drop out without having a really terrible team. Also if someone drops out you have a better chance to find an owner because the new owner steps into a potential big pot if they can win it which they have not had to put a cent in so it may be worth their time to try and rebuild a team to get the big pot. Some teams make terrible trades that is part of the game in dynasty/empire leagues you have to have trading but you have to watch for collusion in an Empire league because of the big pot at the end. If a team is looking bad they might trade the current champ so they both can end the league and win the big pot. One way of solving that issue is the team that is current champion is not allowed to trade from the moment they win the championship the previous year they can no longer trade in that league until they are no longer champion. This does 2 things it makes it a little harder for that team but most of all it prevents collusion.

It would work if you have the time to invest in it.

Re: Would Empire Leagues Work In The NFFC?

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:49 pm
by TheReckoner
Trading in the NFFC? Tried that one time in a pretty good sized baseball league elsewhere..... it how I ended up here.