Top Heavy Dynasty Leagues

[conbad]

So I had some stuff on my mind. Our league is currently in year 5. It has just this year become VERY top heavy. There are basically two teams that can win it, maaaaaybe 3. I happen to be one of them and am also the commissioner. I am sort of torn between two thoughts, on one hand I am the commissioner and this league is my baby. I want it to flourish and live on forever. On the other hand, I have worked night and day for five years to build my powerhouse roster and now I want to reap the rewards and championships that I have earned.

I am concerned it is so top heavy and will continue to get worse as my team, and one or two others are hoarding most of the elite assets.

Which presents the crux of the issue. The point of dynasty leagues is to build dynasties. But unlike the NFL(where the dolphins, bills, jets can't just quit) there is a real concern for the lower tier of the league (basically teams 4-12) to just give up and quit. I want to believe they won't just quit but we have a steep league fee ($100) and most of these teams are 4-8 years out from being competitive.

Ultimately, I wanted to engage in discussion to see if there should be some sort of rebalancing of power or just let it run its natural course and hopefully people stick around. Anyone with some long standing dynasty leagues that can provide insight on the pitfalls and peaks over the years?

[JoshGordonsDealer]

It's typically in year 3-5 that a few teams emerge as true powerhouses. That's totally normal.

[kamihamster]

If it's their first dynasty league, there's a learning curve. Some are probably frustrated and will want to quit. It's normal. If the relationships are there, most will stick around and they'll become better managers.

[Ice]

The cream usually rises to the top in Dynasty. Experience matters and the ability to play chess instead of checkers is key.

IMO the best Dynasties ultimately get more complex to force hands on management.

Salary cap and contract years matter to reduce turnover.

In an idp league we have 32 players with 60 max years over 3 years. players can be extended in the last year with one tag. Salary is based on performance and the open players are auction won. The average team will have 5-15 players needed annually.

The biggest issue IMO is the fee. The more expensive the league the more turnover you will have. I love playing in BML redrafts but not in dynasty leagues. At that price point expect turnover. At half that, expect a much lower turnover.

[conbad]

It's typically in year 3-5 that a few teams emerge as true powerhouses. That's totally normal.

This is definitely what we observed in our league. The current powerhouses are the two teams who went into the startup with the future in mind. Both finished last and 2nd to last in the first two years. Its been a long time coming but it looks like it will persist for quite some time.

[conbad]

The cream usually rises to the top in Dynasty. Experience matters and the ability to play chess instead of checkers is key.

IMO the best Dynasties ultimately get more complex to force hands on management.

Salary cap and contract years matter to reduce turnover.

In an idp league we have 32 players with 60 max years over 3 years. players can be extended in the last year with one tag. Salary is based on performance and the open players are auction won. The average team will have 5-15 players needed annually.

The biggest issue IMO is the fee. The more expensive the league the more turnover you will have. I love playing in BML redrafts but not in dynasty leagues. At that price point expect turnover. At half that, expect a much lower turnover.

Some great points here. I think if I could restart to 5 years ago, I would implement salary caps and contracts. That is definitely one of my bigger regrets I have looking back. But the entire league was new to dynasty back then. We had no idea what to expect for the future.

There hasn't been much chatter or complaints yet about the amount of the fee, but I could see it start to ramp up over the next couple years.

[JoshGordonsDealer]

It's typically in year 3-5 that a few teams emerge as true powerhouses. That's totally normal.

This is definitely what we observed in our league. The current powerhouses are the two teams who went into the startup with the future in mind. Both finished last and 2nd to last in the first two years. Its been a long time coming but it looks like it will persist for quite some time.

The best team in one of my leagues added Nuk and Fournette without giving up any major piece of his core this offseason. He paid a ton for them, but he's got

Carr
Gurley/Zeke/LF27
Nuk/Evans/Adams/JuJu/Fuller
Engram

[ninotoreS]

The current top team in my favorite league built his foundation by exploiting the worst owner in our league at league formation via trades, who happened to be his co-worker. It snowballed from there.

The most dominant owners at the five year mark of the average league are usually the ones that were the boldest out of the gate about bleeding the weak owners dry.

The cream usually rises to the top in Dynasty. Experience matters and the ability to play chess instead of checkers is key.

The incompetent / low effort owners are typically more numerous than their opposite number, and by year 5 or so the former category's mistakes have compounded to the point that the competent owners find themselves with a good team simply by taking advantage of the trade and draft mistakes of the incompetent owners. At which point the merely competent owners might develop an ego about it and think of themselves as the 'creme' playing chess and not checkers, or similar such self-aggrandizement of their 'little pond' achievement.

[juke05]

most of these teams are 4-8 years out from being competitive.

Haha an 8 year rebuild!? That seems a tad extreme...even an inexperienced owner can turn things around in 3-5 years just by sheer luck. Our league has been around since 2008, and everyone's gotten better over time. A true dynasty league (keep all players) is never going to be perfectly balanced out amongst all 10-12 owners once you get past the first few years of the start-up, but the power shifts over time, just like real sports. My advice is to try to make the rookie draft as fun as possible - my team has not been competitive for the last several years but I've gotten to the point where I almost like the rookie draft/scouting part more than the actual regular season, so keeps me engaged in the league even though I'm not competitive.

[jman3134]

It's typically in year 3-5 that a few teams emerge as true powerhouses. That's totally normal.

This is definitely what we observed in our league. The current powerhouses are the two teams who went into the startup with the future in mind. Both finished last and 2nd to last in the first two years. Its been a long time coming but it looks like it will persist for quite some time.

The best team in one of my leagues added Nuk and Fournette without giving up any major piece of his core this offseason. He paid a ton for them, but he's got

Carr
Gurley/Zeke/LF27
Nuk/Evans/Adams/JuJu/Fuller
Engram

How big is your league?

[bjd5211]

It ultimately depends upon the owners you have in the league. Personally I get more enjoyment and fun out of building the team and roster than just winning games. The payoff for me will come when I've built a team up from nothing to winning a title, so I would probably prefer being one of those lower teams in your league over just being great from the start. I guarantee you though that none of those teams are as far away as you are projecting, no team takes 4 to 8 years. I took over an orphan a year ago that had zero picks (2017 rookie draft) and the two best players I inherited were Andy Dalton and Pierre Garcon, it doesn't get much worse than that. After a lot of work on the waiver wire and in trades I now have a roster of Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Barkley, Guice, Sutton, Gallup, Will Fuller, Hunter Henry and Dallas Goedert; obviously not a contender just yet but very much within sight just a year after having literally nothing.
The league will be fine so long as you have engaged owners that understand and enjoy the differences between Dynasty and Redraft formats, and if some of those guys do end up leaving I doubt you will have much trouble finding replacement owners if you advertise it on the Help Wanted forum here.

[dynastyninja]

Things change quickly in fantasy. Give it a year or two and your league will probably look way different.

[JoshGordonsDealer]

This is definitely what we observed in our league. The current powerhouses are the two teams who went into the startup with the future in mind. Both finished last and 2nd to last in the first two years. Its been a long time coming but it looks like it will persist for quite some time.

The best team in one of my leagues added Nuk and Fournette without giving up any major piece of his core this offseason. He paid a ton for them, but he's got

Carr
Gurley/Zeke/LF27
Nuk/Evans/Adams/JuJu/Fuller
Engram

How big is your league?

12. He's absolutely stacked. There are a few bad owners and he has drafted exceptionally well. I'm in good shape to be a strong owner in a year or two, but I've had some nasty injury/retirement luck.

[Patsfan86]

I never get this thinking, how do you KNOW for sure only two teams are competitive? Like my name says We Know Nothing. None of us know anything about anything. A guy is worth a first then he busts one year, is worth a third, then he has a great year and is worth a first again. Fantasy is so random no one has any idea what is going to happen, even if it is dynasty. Your entire team could get hurt and you finish last while other teams are competitive and they end up staying. Let it ride.

[IBall2]

most of these teams are 4-8 years out from being competitive.

How can teams be 4-8 years out from being competitive when most NFL players don't even last 4 years in the league? There is so much turnover in the NFL, I find it hard to believe that half (or more than half) your league can't even compete for 4-8 years. Do you have 60 man rosters with full taxi squads of college players or something?