Are Commissioners necessary?

[GridironGuerilla]

The leagues I commission wouldn't exist without me. Plain and simple. No one else is willing to deal with the headache or have a separate set of responsibilities aside from just managing a team. No one wants to write and uphold rules and bylaws or communicate with the league members, often times individually and remind everyone about deadlines and other important calendar dates. I personally love it and see the role of commissioner as one that is vital to a league and the quality of the commissioner is directly reflected in the quality of the league.

[clarion contrarion]

(Side note: no matter how drunk, I always maintain my spelling!)

That's impressive.

My thesis: league's should be commissioned by leagues.

Oh, never mind.

started to tag him for Hinden burg

but my take is people in glass wigwams shouldn't throw rox !

[onetwothree]

Even the NFL needs Goodell (even if fans hate him)!

[meineymoe]

But do you REALLY need an actual commissioner once a league has been set up?

a couple of questions come to mind:
Have you ever been a commissioner?
Have you been in a league without a commissioner?
Have you been in a league with a bad commissioner? with a good commissioner?

Have you ever been in leagues with owners who constantly miss deadlines? How do you deal with them, if you don't have a commissioner? Something covers this in your ironclad league constitution, no doubt....

Have you ever arbitrated in an argument between two owners in your league? whose duty was it then?

Who made sure the draft order was set? Who checked the league settings after the software provider did some updates and messed those settings up?

who monitored the draft board to make sure things were running smoothly?

Did you even know some of these things were happening?

who sends out the annual invite to the league, letting them know that the league site is set and ready to be used?
who gets on the case of those few stragglers?
who knows which owners need a little more prompting, and which owners they see as a blessing?
(this may be slipping into that more airy field of integrity, etc...)

Basically, do you just want to watch the world burn?

-oo-

[Goirish374]

Have you ever been a commissioner?

Cult is actually an excellent commissioner, i think he is just thinking deep philosophical "down the line" thoughts.

many leagues need a Commissioner where there is a gulf in experience, commitment or understanding of league rules. with bylaws and owner selection you can possibly ameliorate some of this need. some. probably not all.

after spending time thinking about my responses above and looking at the other posts here, i think maybe the problem is that we are using the word "Commissioner."

some leagues may not need a Commissioner in the way we have grown accustomed to meaning that word. the way the NFL uses it, for example. that's probably not what fantasy football leagues need. i think 'babysitter' might be better. or "whip" better still.

[GridironGuerilla]

Thank God the draft is next week.

[Cult of Dionysus]

Have you ever been in leagues with owners who constantly miss deadlines? How do you deal with them, if you don't have a commissioner? Something covers this in your ironclad league constitution, no doubt....

Have you ever arbitrated in an argument between two owners in your league? whose duty was it then?

Who made sure the draft order was set? Who checked the league settings after the software provider did some updates and messed those settings up?

who monitored the draft board to make sure things were running smoothly?

Did you even know some of these things were happening?

who sends out the annual invite to the league, letting them know that the league site is set and ready to be used?
who gets on the case of those few stragglers?
who knows which owners need a little more prompting, and which owners they see as a blessing?
(this may be slipping into that more airy field of integrity, etc...)

Basically, do you just want to watch the world burn?

-oo-

Let me preface that I was very drunk when I wrote my OP.



Unfortunately I don't have time to elaborate on the substance of the posts above beyond the following: I believe it could be possible to share the role of running a league among its constituents. Some roles might have to be assigned to specific members, while other roles can be shared league-wide. Sure this probably couldn't be pulled of in your standard, run of the mill league. But it could work if (a) the Bylaws are absolutely fantastic and (b) it's a league made up of experienced players who are and have been commissioners and want to share the burden of commissioning.

Bear also in mind that recently I've become a proponent of having fewer leagues, maybe as few as 1 or 2. And the concept above would work best if its members weren't spread thin running/participating numerous leagues.

[Goirish374]

Some roles might have to be assigned to specific members

that's a little bit brilliant.

i'm kind of shocked no one has thought of this before.

[thewirelessathlete]

Some roles might have to be assigned to specific members

that's a little bit brilliant.

i'm kind of shocked no one has thought of this before.

Philosophically this is jus a matter of preference. Eggs in one basket, eggs in multiple baskets. Both ways have their inherent risks. I just think that the more juggling and moving parts there are to a league, the less sustainable it would be in general. This conversation started very general - "I dont think leagues need commissioners". I think the better way to state this is that not ALL LEAGUES need commissioners....but most do.

[meineymoe]

I do tend to agree that a hard-line Commissioner is not needed, especially in an established league.
Truthfully, I see myself as the Facilitator, and I'm good with that title.

On the other hand - thinking of MFL and particular leagues I'm in -- it would be very dangerous if everyone had access to the Commissioner functions!

-oo-

[Goirish374]

access to the Commissioner functions!

that's a great point.

as much as i like the idea that it is easier for 12 guys to maintain excitement and focus on 12 different things (i would be all in on my one job of being the "draft date" guy for example), we are to some degree prisoners of the platforms in this respect. they seem (understandably) designed to keep commish powers under glass that only one person has keys to.

[Capitalist Pig]

Some roles might have to be assigned to specific members

that's a little bit brilliant.

i'm kind of shocked no one has thought of this before.

I actually had an owner suggest this to me as I was finally getting burnt out commissioning my league of 15 years...He suggested someone be appointed to oversee the draft, someone for contracts/salaries, another owner for FA, etc. However I was still too much of a control freak to allow someone else access to the innerworld of the league I built...In the end, I just resigned and left the league. Two years later, the new commish is inefficient and lazy and does not keep up with everything that is time-sensitive...and he was my co-founder of the league.

[shyatt60]

Commissioner duties:

1) Maintain the integrity of the league and enforce the bylaws. Someone needs to do it, and do it right.

2) Fill vacancies.

3) Hold funds, enforce payment.

4) Set dates (or at least hold polls to set dates) for drafts, rule changes, polls, anything that needs votes basically.

5) Post updates, playoff scenarios, and generally keep everyone engaged all season long (and all year long in dynasty).

Most of those duties are only able to be done properly by a select few fantasy footballers. I've seen bad commissioners destroy leagues quickly, and good commissioners hold leagues together for years. I've also seen "rotating" commissioners, where each year someone new takes the reigns. But overall, I feel like the commish is an extremely important person that does a lot more than what most fantasy players notice, and the good ones usually don't get the thanks or respect they deserve.

Agree with this....