Dynasty league dilemma

[Cojo 2020]

My league is in its 11th season, but I am worried for its future and need some advice.

We have ten owners: three original owners (including me), two that have been in for 3 years, one original who returned after a four year hiatus from fantasy football. And four new owners this year.

This past off season was the second time that we have had to replace five owners (it happened three years ago too). Both times, we held a “redistribution draft” for the new owners from the pool of players on vacated team rosters, prior to the rookie draft. The idea was to give them more say in their team makeup instead of inheriting a team (some of which were pretty bad due to owners bailing on them). They were shown the scoring rules, and were allowed to pick from the rookie picks that had belonged to vacated teams. The rookie draft was held a month after they drafted their initial rosters. They were given website access to view league rules, history, and existing team rosters. We have always been starting 2 QBs, but switched to superflex this year to give teams that lacked QB depth, more options.

The available player pool had some decent talent including Bell, Gurley, Goff, Brady, Watson, Rivers, K. Allen, Kelce, Winston, T. Hill, Thielen, Elliott, Fournette, Ertz, Hilton, Cooper, Ryan, Tate, M. Jones, Landry, Manning, D. Adams, Agholor and Engram, among others.

A few owners did not look too deeply into that information before drafting. Now that the season has started, three of the new owners (all buddies) are claiming they were misled, and are frustrated that some of the existing teams are stacked with talent (the 3 original owners who have worked up to this level over ten years). They are threatening to quit after the season, and one played four inactive players this week “in protest” of the disparity.

I’m not sure what to do. I tried to ease their entry into the league by giving them agency in building their team. Was very transparent about the rules, existing rosters, etc. But they still feel it is unfair. I hate to have to replace owners in chunks like we have done recently, but can’t seem to keep people in because of perceived barriers to success for new owners. How can I honor what existing owners have built, but still make it fun and competitive for new owners?

Thanks!

[slaughterrt]

It’s on them if they didn’t do their homework.

The one should get one warning for starting inactive players, and then he should get booted if he does it again.

If you believe they are serious about leaving, then maybe place restrictions on their trading as well (if it’s pay league then that gets a little sketchy with paying next years dues)

Sucks if it’s a pay league. Sounds like you have a couple of lazy boners in your league that want to bitch and moan because they didn’t do their homework and prob set themselves back another couple of years.

[clarion contrarion]

sounds like it is time to put that old dog to sleep !

[Shcritters]

It sucks when you put a lot of work into a team and then the rest of the league protests because you’ve built your roster to last. I just had a trade vetoed in my main league even though it was completely within the rules and the trade values were fair because... it would have made my team too stacked (still waiting for a reason)?

Your only options are wither to let the league die or to try to get new owners next year. If it is a pay league would be very tricky to try to put restrictions on trading for those other teams... good luck!

[Orenthal Shames]

It’s on them if they didn’t do their homework.

The one should get one warning for starting inactive players, and then he should get booted if he does it again.

If you believe they are serious about leaving, then maybe place restrictions on their trading as well (if it’s pay league then that gets a little sketchy with paying next years dues)

Sucks if it’s a pay league. Sounds like you have a couple of lazy boners in your league that want to bitch and moan because they didn’t do their homework and prob set themselves back another couple of years.

This exactly. Worst case blow it up after this year, take good owners and find a new league to join. Constantly churning new owners rarely fixes the problem in my experience.

[Cojo 2020]

Man, it would suck to reboot the league, since I've worked hard to build my team.

I was hoping for a silver bullet on how to keep new owners in...lol...guess there isn't one.

[bjd5211]

F*ck 'em.

Let them go and run the teams as the commish if you have to, no transactions just start the best lineup each week. It's a pain in the butt and not an ideal scenario, but you can't let them hi-jack the league. I guarantee you can find some good owners here on this site to replace them next year and do another dispersal, you could very well find a few willing to take them over as is right away, never know until you ask...

[Dr.Graffin]

Whatever owner started 4 inactive players Week 2 should be kicked out the league at the earliest convenience. It's a complete sabotage job. A new owner doing that "in protest", as if they have any real say in how things should be run after 11 years and just hoping on board. Unless the league is free, there's really no justification for this type of behavior as it ruins the league for the rest of the owners. Also, Week 2 is not the time to be complaining about league rules and settings...lol

Personally, I'd boot whoever you need to at the end of the season, keep the rest of the league as is, but plan on doing a better job of screening new owners in the future and avoid allowing friends to recruit friends to the league. This doesn't work out well in my experience.

[ArrylT]

Is your league the 10 team league that is in your signature?

Either way a league can survive as long as there is always a core # of owners that want it to, and a Commissioner that can drive that goal. So you replaced owners once, you can do so again. There are always ways to give incentives to get new owners, including giving extra compensatory picks, that do not 'punish' strong teams.

You could even institute an empire pot if need be - that would (a) guarantee that your league would start fresh and (b) give the owners that spent the long haul building their dynasties a shot at one last big pot.

Long term it does not matter how good a team is there is always an up and down - so a team that is elite now can become average in a couple of year - so long as the other owners work hard at building their teams. If the other owners do not - or do not have the patience it takes then in the end you have to decide what is more worthwhile - regular turnover or starting fresh.