Quitters and Flame Out Leagues

[hamburglar]

I just completed my 20th year playing fantasy football. I've been in a 3 player keeper league for the past 10 of those years and finally took the plunge into dynasty leagues about 3-4 years ago.

And yet already what I feared is coming to be. Once owners realize that their team is a mess they quit and suddenly and now in 2/6 dynasty leagues (my first two playing with non friends and DLF people) are on the verge of folding.

When I do a start up draft I purposely think of things in terms of the long term... However after my experience it makes me wonder why I don't just draft the oldest still studs I can and crash and burn in and out of leagues moving forward.

It's really a shame because I love this game a lot. And I suppose I'm just airing my frustrations at this point. Does anyone else feel this way or have this happening to them?

[RonW15]

I play a lot of my leagues on websites that keep the leagues full and running. I've played in a few leagues for 6+ years and owners come and go, but new owners always come in.

[MEuRaH]

In my league (where I'm commish), I make it mandatory that you have to pay a year head if you want to trade away 2015 draft picks. That way, if a team does terrible and the owner bolts, the new owner gets a shiny new draft pick to work with, usually a top 3.

What I also can do, since the league is so large, is setup a new-owner draft. We had 17 new owners last year. I setup a random draft owner, and the first owner got to choose which team he wanted to take over first. The 2nd team went 2nd, and so on. I don't think a league our size will ever fold.

Salary cap leagues also have a good chance at staying alive. Even if a team is bad, they have free agents that they could pick up.

[MucBuc]

I just completed my 20th year playing fantasy football. I've been in a 3 player keeper league for the past 10 of those years and finally took the plunge into dynasty leagues about 3-4 years ago.

And yet already what I feared is coming to be. Once owners realize that their team is a mess they quit and suddenly and now in 2/6 dynasty leagues (my first two playing with non friends and DLF people) are on the verge of folding.

When I do a start up draft I purposely think of things in terms of the long term... However after my experience it makes me wonder why I don't just draft the oldest still studs I can and crash and burn in and out of leagues moving forward.

It's really a shame because I love this game a lot. And I suppose I'm just airing my frustrations at this point. Does anyone else feel this way or have this happening to them?

Been playing dynasty for 2 seasons in 2 leagues now, and I noticed the same. None of the leagues has folded yet, but I already saw plenty of owners coming in, doing a ton of deals to retool their team for a quick playoff run, or unnecessarily do expensive trades for their favorite superstuds, then leave when they fail. The orphaned team then often has no depth, no young studs, no draft picks for the next 2-3 years left. And that's in 32 team leagues where rebuilding is already very tough.

I totally hate that approach, and already thought about opening a league with some special rules for transactions and roster management, and probably a mandatory DLF membership. Too bad I don't really have the time for that.

[MARKinMI]

A league is only as good as its commissioner. If the commish screens applicants and runs the league the right way those leagues will last. I commish multiple leagues and I dont have any of those issues. BUT I didnt do any public invites. I screened owners and selected who i wanted to be in the league. I drew from a pool of established owners i already knew and some who were recommended to me by those owners i knew.

[Leghumper]

A league is only as good as its commissioner. If the commish screens applicants and runs the league the right way those leagues will last. I commish multiple leagues and I dont have any of those issues. BUT I didnt do any public invites. I screened owners and selected who i wanted to be in the league. I drew from a pool of established owners i already knew and some who were recommended to me by those owners i knew.

I do this as well but man, a few guys still sneak through the cracks. We had a guy last year that I screened and he had all the right answers but came in and made a series of bad trades that almost folded the league. Thankfully he wasn't the only team to bail so I was able to sell his team in a dispersal with others cause selling that team as is would have been a challenge. Ahh the joys of being Commish!

ETA: I have made it a point now to get links to applicant's leagues and look back at their transactions and especially their trade history. A series of bad trades or no trades at all and I'll likely pass. Guys in my leagues know to vote in the polls and respond quickly to trades or they'll get nagging emails from me. It's all part of keeping an active league IMO but no matter what you do the guys that destroy their team will be reluctant to donate to the winners pot every year and move on to the next startup or promising orphan.

[Cy23]

Depends entirely on accountability.

I am on this forum and on fantasysharks, and my leagues encompass owners from both. Whenever there is an opening and owners express an interest, we vote based on who is most active in the forums.

A lot of guys troll through and express interest in 5+ leagues and you know that they are "auditing" the league... after a year they choose their favorite and drop the rest. I hate that.

[Leghumper]

Depends entirely on accountability.

I am on this forum and on fantasysharks, and my leagues encompass owners from both. Whenever there is an opening and owners express an interest, we vote based on who is most active in the forums.

A lot of guys troll through and express interest in 5+ leagues and you know that they are "auditing" the league... after a year they choose their favorite and drop the rest. I hate that.

Activity on these forums is something I've never thought to check but it's a good idea. One of my leagues has good input on the league MB but the other two I get almost no input on that front and it's something I wish there was more of. Great idea.....

[MARKinMI]

Depends entirely on accountability.

I am on this forum and on fantasysharks, and my leagues encompass owners from both. Whenever there is an opening and owners express an interest, we vote based on who is most active in the forums.

A lot of guys troll through and express interest in 5+ leagues and you know that they are "auditing" the league... after a year they choose their favorite and drop the rest. I hate that.

Activity on these forums is something I've never thought to check but it's a good idea. One of my leagues has good input on the league MB but the other two I get almost no input on that front and it's something I wish there was more of. Great idea.....

I wouldn't use forum activity to gauge prospective owners. The worst leagues i've ever been in have been sponsored by FF forums and comprised of its posters. They all had revolving doors and featured owners who disappeared during the offseason. I'll never do another one.

[Cy23]

Depends entirely on accountability.

I am on this forum and on fantasysharks, and my leagues encompass owners from both. Whenever there is an opening and owners express an interest, we vote based on who is most active in the forums.

A lot of guys troll through and express interest in 5+ leagues and you know that they are "auditing" the league... after a year they choose their favorite and drop the rest. I hate that.

Activity on these forums is something I've never thought to check but it's a good idea. One of my leagues has good input on the league MB but the other two I get almost no input on that front and it's something I wish there was more of. Great idea.....

I wouldn't use forum activity to gauge prospective owners. The worst leagues i've ever been in have been sponsored by FF forums and comprised of its posters. They all had revolving doors and featured owners who disappeared during the offseason. I'll never do another one.

Different perspectives. My best leagues all have owners from the same forum and are active all year long, both in the forum and in the league.

I've seen some passive leagues that have crap owners too... but you can usually tell what it will be like based on how well you know the other owners from the forum.

[tidewaterjc]

I wouldn't use forum activity to gauge prospective owners. The worst leagues i've ever been in have been sponsored by FF forums and comprised of its posters. They all had revolving doors and featured owners who disappeared during the offseason. I'll never do another one.

Very true.... activity on forums does not make a good or bad owner.

Do like the idea of getting links to current leagues and combing for activity level - trades, WW activity, etc

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[MARKinMI]

A league is only as good as its commissioner. If the commish screens applicants and runs the league the right way those leagues will last. I commish multiple leagues and I dont have any of those issues. BUT I didnt do any public invites. I screened owners and selected who i wanted to be in the league. I drew from a pool of established owners i already knew and some who were recommended to me by those owners i knew.

I do this as well but man, a few guys still sneak through the cracks. We had a guy last year that I screened and he had all the right answers but came in and made a series of bad trades that almost folded the league. Thankfully he wasn't the only team to bail so I was able to sell his team in a dispersal with others cause selling that team as is would have been a challenge. Ahh the joys of being Commish!

ETA: I have made it a point now to get links to applicant's leagues and look back at their transactions and especially their trade history. A series of bad trades or no trades at all and I'll likely pass. Guys in my leagues know to vote in the polls and respond quickly to trades or they'll get nagging emails from me. It's all part of keeping an active league IMO but no matter what you do the guys that destroy their team will be reluctant to donate to the winners pot every year and move on to the next startup or promising orphan.

Yes one can slip thru the cracks but if you have a solid group that one guy is easy to replace because good owners want to be in your league. I'm not trying to sound boastful but i've got a small list of guys who want a spot in a league when one opens up because they share leagues with some of my owners and they hear about the league. If you do your job well as a commish your owners will notice and basically fill any openings that come up for you.

Asking people their FF history when they show interest also can weed people out. I have a league labeled as "under construction" in my sig and ive had two DLF posters i didnt know send PMs asking if they could have a slot. I explained i normally fill my ownership slots with people i know or who are recommended to me by people i know but that I'm willing to add some new blood so to tell me a bit out themselves and their dynasty history. Neither guy wrote back..... So right there it tells me they probably weren't right for what i was putting together.

[polk_high_allstar]

Have heard of leagues that will take 15-25% of fees from years 1-4 and the winner in year 5 would get a super pot with all the extra cash from years 1-4. Sound like a good way to get owners to be active and having to have them make the choice of competing right now or building a team to peek in year 5.

[jlasaf2007]

I just completed my 20th year playing fantasy football. I've been in a 3 player keeper league for the past 10 of those years and finally took the plunge into dynasty leagues about 3-4 years ago.

And yet already what I feared is coming to be. Once owners realize that their team is a mess they quit and suddenly and now in 2/6 dynasty leagues (my first two playing with non friends and DLF people) are on the verge of folding.

When I do a start up draft I purposely think of things in terms of the long term... However after my experience it makes me wonder why I don't just draft the oldest still studs I can and crash and burn in and out of leagues moving forward.

It's really a shame because I love this game a lot. And I suppose I'm just airing my frustrations at this point. Does anyone else feel this way or have this happening to them?

I've been playing fantasy football for 13 years. I had never dropped out of any league until this year (2 leagues). In both cases, I left because of poor commissioning, not because of the quality of my team. I've taken over multiple orphaned teams that had god-awful rosters...dropping $150 buy-ins each year knowing full well it would be 2-3 years before I was competitive.

I can handle rebuilding. I can handle losing. But I can't handle commissioners that make rule changes without league approval, don't respond to emails, or threaten to bail midseason. Good commissioners make good leagues, IMO.

[mahonebayhitmen]

I've been playing dynasty for 10 years now and am in 11 leagues and i must admit I've been pretty lucky. The first league I joined had a great commish (who I found off a forum page)and I've been able to piggyback off of that guy and now I'm in 3 leagues with that commish and my experience with those guys have been great.

It is hit and miss I've also had 3 leagues shut down and one commish even stole our money from us (pre league safe days). I'll be honest this made me almost want to quit. The best thing to do is be active sign in every week at least, watch for your other owners league signin's. i usually find the writing is on the wall if owners aren't active beware those leagues tend to have issues.

People do change tho I'm also in 4 leagues that we've either had the commish step down or had to replace him. Fantasy football comes 2nd to alot of people and I've found as a 28 year old. That people change jobs, have kids, even had 1 owner pass away with terminal cancer. Life is short and some people just don't have the time that they once had.

The best thing to do is not to let a few leagues sour the experience because when you do find good leagues it makes it all worthwhile.