OK, the dynasty league is set up. I've gone with ESPN.com as the site, based on playing a few seasons on there, as it seems to have the fewest compromises in terms of what I'm looking for in a site. The only issues are that I was restricted to 4 IR slots (I wanted 5) and the only option for online drafts was a snake, which is fine for Season 1, but may mean that we'll need to draft offline in later seasons as we need a 'normal' draft format for the rookie drafts.
12 team league, 30 man rosters plus 4 IR slots (which only become available to use for someone on real-life IR). I've made it a Half-Point PPR league, so you also score 0.5pt for every reception made by a player (which is different from the redraft scoring, where this doesn't apply). Full rules are on the site, which should be visible via this link for those wanting more info:
http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leaguesetup/settings?leagueId=1369802For info, these were the reasons why the other sites didn't win, but we have the option of transferring onto another site at the end of each season (just needs existing rosters replicating at setup) so we'll see how things go in Season 1 and re-assess for next year if necessary:
Yahoo - doesn't allow contingent waivers (i.e. you want two players on waivers, you'd normally claim A dropping Z, then B dropping Z, then B dropping Y to do this. Yahoo would only allow A for Z and B for Y so if you miss out on A you still end up having to drop player Y instead of Z, which drives me insane at times!)
Fleaflicker - don't like the layout particularly, and it's full of ads and a bit of a faff to negotiate at times.
MyFantasyLeague - slick, but costs $90 per league per season, and the free sites give us what we need.
NFL - home of the Redraft league, and want to create a bit of separation between the two.
The draft times are confirmed as per my earlier emails, so
Dynasty is this Thursday (28th) at 8pm, Redraft is next Monday (1st) at 9pm.Based on the responses, we're potentially oversubscribed for both leagues (the redraft can accomodate 16, the dynasty only 12) which means that some people will be disappointed with regard to participation. I've pulled together a priority list based on previous participation and timing of expression of interest if needed, but the key thing now is to ensure that payment is received ahead of the draft so that I can sort out the league invites, particularly for the Dynasty League ahead of Thursday. I realise it's short-notice but most of you are itching to pay by the looks of things, so hopefully, this won't prove to be a problem.
Basically, if you want to participate in either or both leagues then please send me the appropriate entry fee (£30 for the redraft, £20 for the dynasty) via bank transfer as follows:
CL Ledger
09-01-28
22855609
Please provide a reference to identify yourself, if not likely to be obvious to me.
I'll set the cut-off for receipt of funds for the Dynasty League at 9pm on Wednesday 27th, at which point I'll sort out entries/invites based on the priority list (to be clear, the timing of your payment won't affect this priority, provided you hit this deadline, so it's not simply a race to send funds after I post this). After the deadline, I'll fill the list in priority order based on payments received, and hopefully I won't be scrambling around to fill any spots!
The same deadline applies for the redraft league payments. The difference is that those who played last season are guaranteed their spots if they sort out payment, but I can't offer the same guarantee for the Dynasty league due to the smaller size.
If anyone is likely to have any issues in hitting this deadline or paying by bank transfer, for whatever reason, please drop me a PM and I'll see what options are available.
I'm not going to publish the priority list up front, but will do so after the leagues are filled if I've had to disappoint anyone, so that they can understand the basis used. Refunds will be sent by the end of the week to anyone sending payment for an entry that I can't fulfill, and they'll get priority as and when any spaces develop down the line. Consequently, if you're interested in playing, then it's still worth sending funds, even if you think you have no-chance of getting in. The one thing I've learned from running this to-date is that expressions of interest don't always translate into entry fees.
For anyone missing out, it's also worth checking this thread in the couple of hours prior to the draft as the one problem with these leagues is that the drafts don't run if there's an odd-number of teams signed up. Therefore, if anyone hasn't set up a team ahead of the draft then there may be some last-gasp slots to fill to make it run (I hope this won't be necessary, but you never know!)
I'll publish a full set of guidelines for the leagues ahead of their drafts (i.e. how trades will be handled, etc) so that we have as much up-front clarity on everything ahead of things kicking-off (in both senses!!)
Hopefully, everything above is clear, but let me know if otherwise.
Looking forward to an awesome season, with double the fantasy
frustration fun!!
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