Should there be Divisions in Dynasty Football?

[splendorlex]

I like the idea of putting controls in place to make sure the best teams usually make the playoffs while still maintaining divisions.

[Phaded]

In both my 10-team & 12-team it is conference.

In 10-team, each conf winner & then 2 best records.

In my 12-team, each conf winner gets a bye & then 4 best records.

[balaberda]

For years we ran 2 divisions in my main league. We had them the same and they became unbalanced over years. Then we tried changing them every year and variance sometimes made it even worse.

I missed the playoffs last year with AJG Julio Evans Charles etc. Finally we went to one conference in that league.

My other leagues have two divisions but they are still reasonably balanced so I am ok with it. I really like the idea of top 2 get byes or seeding as a league. Fantasy football already has so much luck involved that I think the 1 vs 8 or the top 2 bye helps make the regular season matter a bit more.

[Coogan Football]

I'm also a fan of conferences, especially in dynasty league play. This is a game I play for fun. Money is always involved, but that's not why I play. Conferences and divisions make it more entertaining. And if it happens that a mediocre team sneaks into the playoffs, that just helps fuel the conversations!

This. 12 teams, 2 conferences, 2 divisions per conf with 3 teams in each. All 4 division winners make playoffs plus 1 team per conference makes the WC spot by using VP system. We like it a lot.

Also, you play your divisional opponents TWICE each year and all other teams once, that builds up the rivalrys very quickly

[bigchiefbc]

We just got rid of divisions in my main league and I don't like it, I like divisions. Rivalries are a good thing, and I think that the worrying about subpar teams making the playoffs is overwrought. The standings usually tend to come out pretty close to how they should.

I know you made this a more general question, but see my comments in the DLF PL thread about that case in particular.

[FiremanEd]

12 team league, we use 3 divisions of 4 teams. Top two division winners get a bye. 3rd gets 3rd seed. The rest is best records (points for for tie breaker). Divisions change every 3 years.

I like the added excitement of division matchup weeks. Really make an impact, while 1 division is just all weeks are the same..

[vflgladiators]

In my main league we have 2 conferences and 2 division per conference. Two division winners and next best team per conference make the playoffs. Highest seed per conference gets a bye.

[terryb24]

In my 14 team league there is no divisions. 7 teams make the play offs, top team gets a bye.

[BaltimoreBlowfish]

12-teams, 3 divisions. Division winners plus four wild-cards make it. The top team overall gets a bye in the first round. First round is 2-7, 3-6, 4-5; lowest seeded winner plays the top team in the second round. It works just fine for us, but I'm pretty opposed to divisions in both reality and fantasy - let the top overall teams in.

[ratfilth]

12 team 2 conf. 4 divisions 6 teams make it. top team from each division and two wildcards.

[ajb3313]

We have three divisions of four teams each. Truthfully, divisions are outdated in real life and probably doubly so in fantasy. Last year we had a 6-7 division winner go on to win the league (to be fair, his team did finish fifth in points). It sucked, but all of our owners tend to be level-headed enough to not get too bent out of shape about it. In the few years prior, I don't think we'd ever had a division winner bump a better team from the bracket.

[bonscott]

First off, need to clarify a couple things of what these mean.

Divisions - Self explanatory

Conference - Usually mean two separate player pools and that's also technically what it means on MFL. For example, you have a 24 team league separated into two 12 team conferences that each have their own draft, player pools, etc. What a lot of people are calling conferences in this thread are really just divisions.

So my main dynasty below is a 24 team 2 conference setup. Each conference has no divisions, just straight 12 teams. Each conference plays their own 15 week season (no games across conferences) and then the winners of each conference play each other for the "Super Bowl" in week 16. So in that game you might have both teams with Luck for example. Also, top 5 teams by record make the playoffs, 6th team is highest scoring team not already in.

All my local leagues have divisions.

For dynasty I kind of like the no divisions thing, something different then my other leagues.

[splendorlex]

Bonscott, you're right that some clarification is needed. I'm also in a 24 team, two conference league. It's actually my deep keeper referenced in my signature, though I think of it as a 12 team, as our conferences are explicity separate in the same way. We just have the one "Superbowl" at the end of the year that pits the winner from each conference against the other. We do not play each other otherwise, as we do have the same separate player pools.

What I'm really referring to is a league like the DLF Premium league. We have 16 teams, split into 4 divisions of 4 teams each. But technically we also have a "conference" split that will play a part in what teams make the playoffs. The four division winners make it, along with one wildcard from each "conference." This is an exceedingly arbitrary split, and in this case one "conference" has stronger teams overall, and there's a good chance it will look a little short-changed on playoff representation. I think it's something I'll just keep in mind for the future. Maybe it's that divisions still make sense for rivalries and such, but that any "bonus" or wildcard spots shouldn't care about division/conference at all.

[JSylvester87]

We use 2 conferences and 4 divisions (it is a 16 team league). The top team in each division makes it to the playoffs and a wildcard from each conference. It is only 6 teams out of 16 in the playoffs this way. We have had a team that was significantly better than another make it than a team with a losing record, although I have no problem with that. Adds more competition to the division I am in anyway.

[theone]

This decision depends on what the goal of the league. If the focus of the league is to determine the best team then divisions, conferences, and playoffs are really not needed and add a lot of unneeded variability to the end results. In most leagues all teams will be able to play each other at least once (obviously not deeper leagues) and a season winner determined without the need of playoffs. There is also the argument that head to head games not be used and instead rely on total points scored. Divisions, conferences, and playoffs do help to keep more teams involved and interested throughout the fantasy season at the chance of making the playoffs. A similar argument could be made for a professional sport like MLB where each team could face every other team multiple times to determine the champion just from the regular season. There is a financial motivation in professional sports due to increased fan and media interest for playoffs.