changes for 2015

[nails]

Greg that being the case, then you should award a lot more money to the regular season win loss leader, the points leader and third place in points leader after week 13. then if you want to lottery out the next 3 weeks, so be it, but at least if someone gets screwed, if that person had a great regular season they are in fact rewarded.

Remember, in primetime, the regular season winners are awarded a good sum of money. yet in the private leagues, not so much in terms of the entire purse. to me it's more skillful to win 11 games in a 13 week season and or be a point leader after 13 weeks in a 14 team league, then get lucky out of 4 teams in a 3 week playoff when during that playoff you can't make moves. you are awarding the bulk of the prize purse to a team in a 3 week playoff but taking away the ammunition he or she used to get there (i.e. free agents). If your going to take away that tool (which was used to get into playoffs) then front load the private league money to the top 3 finishers in the regular season then have your 3 week playoff and award less to those teams.. to give a team that finished in 4th place regular season 90 percent of the money is ridiculous ...

just my 2 cents. Mike Weber.

[nails]

Greg, using the 2500 super auction as an example.. I think the below payout would be better and fair if your going to leave things the way they are.. it rewards more for regular season.

Right now you have a prize pool of $35000.00 (2500x 14). your take is $3750.00.

Currently you have top 2 teams getting 2500 for best record and point total.

I would propose best record gets $7500.00, top points (can be one team) gets $7500.00. 3rd in points gets $1000.00.

then of course you have a 3 week playoffs.. 4 teams make it same as you have it.

1st place in the playoff gets $8000.00, 2nd place gets 5500.00 3rd place gets 1750.00

consolation team gets their 500.00.

this way , the teams that do good with all the tools available to them don't get royally screwed in the playoffs even if their squad gets decimated with injuries.

the above is not exact, but you get the picture.. why award 2500 to team with most points in 13 week season then if they falter in the 3 week playoff they could end up with zero. to me, most points in 13 weeks out of 14 teams is much more impressive then starting pretty much on an even keel in a 3 week playoff when you can't make any changes. Award SKILL.

everyone keeps labeling fantasy football as a game of skill.! that is why fanduel, etc even has a platform to play. that is why your events are legal in the united states. because congress has deemed them games of skill. yet, in most of these leagues, your giving away the bulk of the money to teams who get lucky. your changing the rules mid way through the contest and then end up awarding more money to teams that weren't able to do it in the regular season but get lucky in a 3 week playoff.

yes, im adamant about this. I know no matter what there is luck involved, I understand that and I've been very successful with the system the way it is, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be changed.

in the super auction this year the guy that finished in 4th place reg season is labeled with winning the super auction championship.. great. well I consider my achievement in that league more impressive with 11 wins and 2nd in points after 13 weeks with joe schmo at running back all season long, mixing and matching all year.. compared with the guy who ends up taking down the bulk of the money ... crazy..

hopefully things will change, if you want to chat before you set the rules, that would be great.. later.. mike weber.

Here's my thoughts on this proposed rules change and we can still discuss later:

1. I'm not opposed to having slightly different Rules for the private leagues than the national contests. Obviously in the national contests we need to make sure every owner in every league has a fair chance of competing for the overall prize pool, so Rules have to be written in that regard. For private leagues, we can certainly make changes that the vast majority of owners agree with to make the league better.

2. That being said, adding roster spots in the post-season via FAAB could cause as many problems as it solves. In the 14-team format that Mike is talking about, we've already increased roster size since 2004 from 18 players to 19 players. Then when the NFL started having six-team bye weeks we raised that total to 20 players per team, or 280 players overall. Some owners actually left the Classic format because they felt the free agent pool was too thin with the increased size in rosters. Now we're saying that 10 reserves over Weeks 14, 15 and 16 aren't enough? Finalizing that roster before Week 13 is critical for the stretch run, and I realize injuries happen after that, but every team faces the same injury possibilities.

My concern is that if we allow FAAB after Week 13, we're going to have league titles decided not because of injury replacements but because of lucky pickups when FAAB is at a minimum. Nobody knows which teams are sitting starters in Week 16 back in Week 13, but a $1 pickup before Week 16 of a meaningless player that nobody would roster beforehand could decide first place in this season-long league. Is that really how we want these titles decided?

I understand the injury concern and they can pile up in Weeks 13, 14 and 15, but I think we're trying to plug one hole in the Rules and opening up a whole bunch of other holes that could prevent the best team from winning this league. When rosters are locked after Week 13, everyone goes in with their best 20 players for the next three weeks and we don't have titles being decided on unknown players suddenly playing a role when few teams have any FAAB left. And teams shouldn't be punished for using all of their FAAB to get into the playoffs and now suddenly they are behind others in the last three weeks when all the money is decided.

Just my two cents. I'm preparing the Rules now without this addition, but I'll listen to more thoughts and we can definitely change it if the consensus is overwhelming the other way. I'm open to all thoughts and I appreciate the well-spoken thoughts so far. Thanks all and I hope this helps you see where we're coming from.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Mike, I certainly get your point, but I think you are making injuries that occur in Weeks 13, 14 and 15 bigger than they really are. You are saying there is no skill in winning that 3-week league playoff because you can't pick up free agents during that time, but honestly if you are losing starters in those three weeks and hoping to equally replace them with free agents who are better than or equal to your starters it's going to be tough. That's why the reserve squad is so important, in case you do have injuries during the season and in the playoffs. There's skill in making those reserve choices for the 3-week sprint.

I get that without any FAAB during those final three weeks that there's more luck involved than during the regular season when you can replace injured players, but to change the entire dynamic of rewarding the champions because you're not getting FAAB in the playoffs is a huge leap the other way. Many of us have had good regular season squads who didn't get it done in the playoffs, not only in fantasy football but in the NFL, and I don't think we're trying to overly reward those regular season teams. I mean, why not just go total points for 16 weeks if that's what we're trying to prove.

These 14-team leagues deal with a lot of adversity, injuries and depth and those four teams who make it into the playoffs then still have to outmanage their squads in the playoffs. I think the big reward should be there. Are there other contests who reward regular-season winners the way you have it?

I think it's a healthy discussion to have about FAAB beyond Week 13, but again I can see a team winning the prize money on a $2 bid for a RB in Week 16 that really didn't take a lot of skill to get it done. All it took was one more remaining FAAB dollar to pick that player up in a key week. So I see benefits and problems associated with the change. Some folks have spoken about this, but I'd love to hear more. It's a worthy discussion.

We are working on the site now and will have it live in February, but this can be talked through for a league like this even after it's posted. I'm open to further discussion with all participants involved.

[HIGH FIVE]

what about in playoff weeks teams start with even amt. of FAAB say, zero out everyone and each have 50 per week or a total of 100...to use

[nails]

what about in playoff weeks teams start with even amt. of FAAB say, zero out everyone and each have 50 per week or a total of 100...to use

I agree with this or any change.. but I doubt they will change anything up..

[Greg Ambrosius]

what about in playoff weeks teams start with even amt. of FAAB say, zero out everyone and each have 50 per week or a total of 100...to use

I would be more in favor of allowing the four playoff teams equal footing at that point with your idea to reduce luck during this very important part of the contest than carrying FAAB from the regular season. It's a worthy point to the discussion.

[nails]

my last post on this.. as you can see the FFPC has this rule.. it can definitely be done in these types of leagues with the software. obviously their rules are different, and 6 teams make playoffs but same concept.

"The blind bidding process will be available after the completion of Week 1 and end prior to Week 13 for all teams NOT advancing to the League Playoffs. Teams which ARE advancing to the League Playoffs will have the blind bidding process available to them in Weeks 14, 15 and 16 and will end prior to Week 16. Only the 6 teams which make the League Playoffs in each Live Auction league will be allowed to continue making bids in Week 14, 15 and 16. The two teams which are eliminated in Week 14 of the League Playoffs will no longer be allowed to make bids in Weeks 15 & 16. There will be no free agent pickups after the completion of the FFPC regular season for teams which did not make the League Playoffs. Rosters will be updated with the results of all successful bids after 10:00 PM EST, following the completion of the blind bidding process."

[Greg Ambrosius]

my last post on this.. as you can see the FFPC has this rule.. it can definitely be done in these types of leagues with the software. obviously their rules are different, and 6 teams make playoffs but same concept.

"The blind bidding process will be available after the completion of Week 1 and end prior to Week 13 for all teams NOT advancing to the League Playoffs. Teams which ARE advancing to the League Playoffs will have the blind bidding process available to them in Weeks 14, 15 and 16 and will end prior to Week 16. Only the 6 teams which make the League Playoffs in each Live Auction league will be allowed to continue making bids in Week 14, 15 and 16. The two teams which are eliminated in Week 14 of the League Playoffs will no longer be allowed to make bids in Weeks 15 & 16. There will be no free agent pickups after the completion of the FFPC regular season for teams which did not make the League Playoffs. Rosters will be updated with the results of all successful bids after 10:00 PM EST, following the completion of the blind bidding process."

Mike, sure it can be done. But just because someone else does it doesn't mean it's best to do. Again, I have no problem getting feedback from everyone in these leagues and doing what's best for the vast majority of owners. You can see from this thread that some folks don't want FAAB after Week 13, but we can certainly discuss this in each format and make the right call. If folks want this, we'll get it done for the private leagues, but if it's not popular we won't.

I think this suggestion of refreshing FAAB for the remaining playoff teams has more merit than what you originally suggested.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

what about in playoff weeks teams start with even amt. of FAAB say, zero out everyone and each have 50 per week or a total of 100...to use

I would be more in favor of allowing the four playoff teams equal footing at that point with your idea to reduce luck during this very important part of the contest than carrying FAAB from the regular season. It's a worthy point to the discussion.

If it is determined that extending free agency into the playoffs in the cash leagues is the way to go, I think this type of thing is a good idea. Therefore it would not need to be worried about in the regular season. Everyone knows they have 1k for those 13 weeks. Then a reset goes into effect for the playoffs. I would propose staggering the bidding by total points. For example 1. 200 bucks 2. 150 3. 100 4. 50 Therefore it adds additional importance to the regular season as you get a little more to bid with in the playoff round. The best team being able to get whatever player they want is a nice edge to have in addition to the average score lead, which some don't think is a big enough deal, although that might be more for the overall contests.

[chriseibl]

what about in playoff weeks teams start with even amt. of FAAB say, zero out everyone and each have 50 per week or a total of 100...to use

I would be more in favor of allowing the four playoff teams equal footing at that point with your idea to reduce luck during this very important part of the contest than carrying FAAB from the regular season. It's a worthy point to the discussion.

If it is determined that extending free agency into the playoffs in the cash leagues is the way to go, I think this type of thing is a good idea. Therefore it would not need to be worried about in the regular season. Everyone knows they have 1k for those 13 weeks. Then a reset goes into effect for the playoffs. I would propose staggering the bidding by total points. For example 1. 200 bucks 2. 150 3. 100 4. 50 Therefore it adds additional importance to the regular season as you get a little more to bid with in the playoff round. The best team being able to get whatever player they want is a nice edge to have in addition to the average score lead, which some don't think is a big enough deal, although that might be more for the overall contests.

I am very happy with things being kept as is and I believe Greg's response was likely due to the majority feedback he received. I strongly support the rules as is because I've found they benefit stronger players who a.) gameplan for weeks 14-16 and b.) have accumulated rosters with greater depth during the regular season.

The existing rules are what drew a lot of players here in the first place. That's not to say changes shouldn't be suggested. If rules are suggested and the majority of people voice to Greg that they want them, I think they have a pretty decent chance of being made. I really don't get the sense that these changes have any type of majority behind them which is likely why they haven't been enacted.

If going the route of playoff FAAB (which would only happen if the majority of private league players wanted this), I do like Chad's suggestion the best. Chad's suggestion would at least give some benefit to a more skilled player.