What to do with this owner?

[MontrealBen]

An owner sent me a trade offer last Wednesday. I told him I would think about it, but needed to clear some roster spots. He adjusted the offer on Thursday. I managed to work out the roster crunch on Friday night, which included a chat with him about him taking back more players. Now that the trade is agreed on, he completely bails. Not answering emails. Not answering group chat messages. Since I am the commissioner, I can however see that he has checked into the league site on Sunday, so he has to know the offer is there to accept. We're now on Wednesday of the following week, and he's still not responding.

If I *weren't* the commish, I'd be sending screen shots of the agreement, asking for the trade to be executed and the negligent owner to be kicked out of the league. Perhaps that's too harsh. In any case, I feel that my own role as commissioner complicates things; I'm worried that anything drastic would be seen as an abuse of powers.

How would you guys handle the situation, or expect the commish to handle the situation, if you were in a similar position?

[ZPalmtree]

Commish or not, imo handshake agreements don't mean anything. If he changed his mind oh well. I know it probably sucks, but I think that it would be pretty stupid for you to force him into this.

[The Red Rooster]

Commish or not, imo handshake agreements don't mean anything. If he changed his mind oh well. I know it probably sucks, but I think that it would be pretty stupid for you to force him into this.

Sadly, I tend to agree. It's not official until its sent and accepted on your league site. Sorry man.

[Tvols]

Agreed it blows but people do change there minds just remember to not deal with him anymore

[Slackalacker]

I see it as the trade isn't official until someone CLICKS accept. Unless there's some sort of 'verbal/textual' trade agreement clause I would lean on the side of a trade isn't 100% until it has been submitted on the website and has been accepted by the other owner.

If the situation were he submitted the trade on the site and you clicked accept and he wanted to bail then as the commish I'd tell him tough luck it's going through. Not sure if I'd force a trade that was agreed upon Outside the website. Others may disagree. Feels more like a political issue than a fair game issue.

[thebeast]

Yep, sorry to pile on, but until he officially accepts the trade nothing is, well, official.

[thebeast]

By the way as the commish you should learn from this and propose a new rule to the league to allow trade to create an invalid roster and have a rule that if an invalid roster is created it must be fixed at the earlier of 24 hours or the kickoff of the first game of the week or something.

[skip]

Offers are only offers if they are submitted for acceptance. Negotiating terms elsewhere is nothing I would pursue. You should know better as a commissioner.

[onetwothree]

Why does it feel like you came out well ahead on the deal and that's why you're trying so hard to make sure it happens?

It sucks the other owner is unresponsive but owners are allowed to change their minds until they click the accept button. It would be courteous to at least say he's no longer interested but it's his prerogative.

You don't really have any recourse and using your commissioner powers to force a deal or impact the other owner in any way is a total abuse of power and enough reason for other owners in the league to bail.

[saw061600]

Piling on that it's not a real offer/deal until it's accepted. I'm with you OP that it should be accepted if it was agreed to pre official offer, but it's not something you can/should force or dwell on. Be annoyed but move on.

[MontrealBen]

Thanks for the sanity check guys. I do appreciate it. This is my first time being a commissioner in a league where people don't really know each other (it's always been university buddies or guys from a very active message board who never ever bailed), so I guess this is part of the learning curve. And to be clear, I would never use my commish powers to do something I wouldn't do for another owner. That's why I came here first to get unbiased perspectives.

@thebeast -- that's a good idea. I'll see if the other guys are in favor of implementing that.

@onetwothree -- you're right, the deal was a big win for me, but I could have handled it if he would have had the decency to hit me back with a note saying he's reconsidered.

Anyway, moving on. Thanks again everyone.

[cazzie33]

I guess you could go public and shame him for less than honourable negotiations tactics. Start a ruckus within the league. That's what I did as a new guy in a league after getting bombarded with asinine offers.

Pissed the guys off that I called him out. Must be their initiation ritual to try and take advantage of the new kid on the block. Embarrassed the other GM went postal about putting his offer on the message board. I sarcastically asked for help in evaluating the trade offers. A 4th rd rookie draft pick and Brian Quick or Cordarelle Patterson for A. ROB. Turns out karma would've bit him in the butt anyhow for at least this year.

Instead I got Njoku and D. Parker for A. ROB whom I had posted as available. Unanimously every GM that commented said I lost out on the trade by a fair margin. I don't think so even had Robinson not gotten injured.

You never posted what the trade was. Perhaps if it was too lopsided he privately shopped your offer and was told by others it wasn't a good deal. Usually when a deal isn't a slam dunk owners ask for a 2nd opinion or try to get a better deal elsewhere. Still I agree it is a dick move to not give a response.

[vlax525]

I posted something similar last year. It burns me as I am a man of my word and if I say I'm going to accept I do, if I say no I don't. I expect the same with other owners. The consensus was the same last year as it is now...no accept button no deal. I did shame him to warn other owners in my league by posting screen shots of the accepted deal then the rejected email from him which I believe but can't prove hurt his credibility, he has done another trade with me though but I'm sure that is person dependent. Long story short I feel your pain and it sucks