Paid Commish Leagues

[grooner]

I wasn't sure what to call them, but there are tons of sites that offer leagues where the site gets a cut. I don't want to list them out, as I am not sure it is allowed.

The league may take upwards of 3 buyins (out of a 12 team league), which is a huge amount of money out of the prize pool. It is hard enough to win money as it is, without 25% of it disappearing.

My question is, if you play in one of these leagues, why do you choose it over a league ran by someone in the league? Availability? Safety?

I am not sure if people were around, but there was a large site where the owner had been running leagues for numerous years, ran into trouble and took all of the participants money.

[ArrylT]

I am not sure if people were around, but there was a large site where the owner had been running leagues for numerous years, ran into trouble and took all of the participants money.

Wasnt that phenoms? That occured back in 2014 I believe - there was a massive thread in the FBG site about it:

https://forums.footballguys.com/forum/t ... t-17576877

[ArrylT]

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=159094

Also here is the link to a similar thread from back in April.

[grooner]

I am not sure if people were around, but there was a large site where the owner had been running leagues for numerous years, ran into trouble and took all of the participants money.

Wasnt that phenoms? That occured back in 2014 I believe - there was a massive thread in the FBG site about it:

https://forums.footballguys.com/forum/t ... t-17576877

yeah it was phenoms, wasn't sure if we were allowed to post names of other fantasy football websites!

Thanks for the link to the paid commish one. I feel like that is more talking about commissioners playing in the league, but playing for free. Where I was more referring to something like FFPC or draftkings with their season long leagues.

[Goirish374]

Well, even without it being about Phenoms in particular its a fair question.

The obvious answer is that a league Commissioner is not objective. They are trying to win the same way everyone else is. They almost certainly *believe* they are acting in the best interest of the league, but even the most cursory review of the Discussion forum shows whiny posts about Commish decision making wrt trades.

Most people are probably not willing to pay for that kind of thing.

Some are.

[Cult of Dionysus]

I would have to disagree with my DLF PL league mate on this one. The best commissioners not only strive for impartiality and fairness, but they hold themselves (and their teams) to a higher degree. If I'm adjudicating a league issue, I go by the book. But if the issue involves me, I go above and beyond what the book requires. This includes me not pushing for a loophole or the type of mercy some individuals sometimes push for when they make a mistake.

That's not to say many, many commissioners fall short of what is desired and/or required.

[Goirish374]

The best commissioners not only strive for impartiality and fairness, but they hold themselves (and their teams) to a higher degree.

I don’t think there is any disagreement on this point.

I think the question is how many Stanley Teprovich’s there are out there and how many...Other Guys there are out there. You can probably guess my opinion.

[Cult of Dionysus]

My guess, 8 out of 10 fall short in dynasty, and many many more in ESPN leagues.

[Goirish374]

My guess, 8 out of 10 fall short in dynasty, and many many more in ESPN leagues.

Exactly.

So, as usual, we agree.

What you are or are not willing to pay for to address that difference in agreement, well, that’s the issue.

[Cult of Dionysus]

Think that’s why the new Scott Fish leagues are so interesting. Because you get an experienced, impartial commissioner without any direct cost. Anyone who is looking into getting introduced a standard dynasty league, should be going that route. Only if you want a very elaborate league, should your go another route.

[Goirish374]

I actually agree with you completely!

I have pounded the pulpit hard in the no veto threads, but it bears mentioning that this is the exact reason that, as bad as league veto leagues are, commish veto leagues are worse. Eleven other voices (or 9, 13, 15) are inherently more balanced than *one* other voice. I abhor veto votes in general and advocate strongly for instant trade approval in all situations...but if your commishioner is a team owner, single point veto by commish is even worse than league veto.

[Cult of Dionysus]

Commissioners should not make value judgements. They are there to administer rules, full vacancies and keep things rolling along. Anything that impacts the competitive balance needs to be dealt with by the league as a whole, or with the league having a reasonable right (75%) to override the commissioner.

[Goirish374]

Or simply by a commissioner who doesn’t have a stake in the outcome (ie not a team owner).