MyFantasyLeague.com Tutorial

102. Setting Up A Fantasy Football League

1. Planning the structure.  The first step in creating any fantasy football league is to define it’s overall structure. Answers to the following questions will help make the league setup process run more smoothly.
   
   
   1. How many teams (owners) will participate?  Most leagues include between 8-12 owners, but some operate with as few as 4 while others use up to 64. Once you get beyond 16, it’s common to use multiple “player pools” as the top NFL talent is otherwise spread too thin. Also, as the number of teams increases, it’s a good idea to break into multiple divisions or even multiple conferences (whereby each conference has multiple divisions).
      
   2. Will the format be head-to-head (H2H), total points, or something other?  In H2H play, teams are paired up for each weekly matchup so a fantasy schedule must be created. If H2H play is desired and you have an odd number of teams, the extra team can either play against the “league average” or take a “bye” (a week off).
      
   3. How long will the season last?  The regular NFL season runs for 17 weeks with each team getting one bye. Most H2H fantasy leagues start along with the NFL’s week 1, run through weeks 13-15, and then offer fantasy playoffs for the latter weeks. Most total points leagues run through weeks 16-17. A common debate is whether or not to include week 17 with roughly half of fantasy leagues playing through week 17. The crux of the issue is that many playoff-bound pro teams will bench their best players to give them an extra week of rest and prevent them from getting injured just prior to the NFL playoffs.
      
   4. Will there be any fantasy playoffs?  Regardless of whether your league uses H2H, total points, or any other format, you can optionally define fantasy playoffs for the latter weeks of your overall season.
      
   5. Which positions will your league support?  Most leagues include support for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, place kickers, and team defenses (the cumulative stats of a pro team’s defensive and special teams players), but MyFantasyLeague.com includes support for 28 different positions.
      
      
2. Populating initial rosters.  While most leagues get together to hold a preseason fantasy draft (arguably one of the most fun parts of the entire season), some leagues prefer to auction off players, while others have the system select the initial fantasy rosters. MyFantasyLeague.com supports all of these options regardless of whether some or all owners are at the same place.
   
   
3. Submitting weekly lineups.  Prior to kickoff each week, owners are required to submit their starting lineup. This subset of players on each roster is used when calculating fantasy points. These player’s stats will be counted in the weekly total while the non-starters (also known as bench players) points are not tabulated. A common starting lineup consists of 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 2 wide receivers, 1 tight end, 1 place kicker, and 1 team defense (the cumulative stats of a pro team’s defensive and special teams players).
   
   
4. Player moves.  During the course of the season, owners will find the need to replace some of their roster players with others. This is typically done when a player is under-performing, has been injured, or is on a team with an upcoming NFL bye week. In the MyFanasyLeague.com system, player adds and drops are called “waivers”. There are several types of waivers, but the two most common are “First-Come-First-Served (FCFS)” and “Waiver Requests”. FCFS moves allow owners to immediately add and drop players as needed while waiver requests are made by owners early in the “fantasy week” and queued up for a few days. At the end of an agreed-upon time, these requests are prioritized based on league-specific criteria and subsequently awarded to the fantasy teams.
   
   
5. Trading.  A slightly more advanced method of changing roster players is to perform a trade between two fantasy owners. One common problem with trading is that a more knowledgeable owner might be able to take advantage of another. Or two owners might collude to unfairly stack the talent of one team. In either case, it’s not uncommon for leagues to either have owners vote on each trade or require commissioner approval.
   
   
6. Scoring rules.  One of the best ways to demonstrate how fantasy football is extremely flexible is in each league’s ability to define it’s own, customized set of scoring rules. While most leagues award points for a QB throwing a touchdown pass, some get as detailed as awarding points for a pass defensed by a cornerback. The benefit to a simpler set of rules is that it’s easier to get a feel for your score while focusing on watching the games. Regardless of the level of scoring depth your league desires, MyFantasyLeague.com offers a number of predefined sets of scoring rules as well as more than 130 different rule categories to accommodate your needs.
   
   
7. Have fun!  We know firsthand that fantasy football is supposed to be fun so we continue to work year-round to enhance the MyFantasyLeague.com experience. The following list contains just a few of the many ways you can make your league more enjoyable.
   
   
   1. League appearance.  MyFantasyLeague.com offers several dozen “skins” that can update your league’s overall look and feel with a few mouse clicks. More computer savvy commissioners can also programmatically use HTML/CSS to customize virtually any aspect of a league.
      
   2. League chat.  Much of the fun of fantasy football is in the form of “trash-talking” with your league-mates. Each league offers a chat room where owners can converse in real time.
      
   3. Message board.  Similar to the chat, the league message boards allow owners to submit message posts that will be archived. This is best suited for league communication that’s not real time in nature.
      
   4. League polls.  Use these to gauge your league’s feelings on everything football (Which owner had the best fantasy draft?) to non-football (Which Survivor contestant will win this year?).
      
   5. League articles.  Many leagues with creative owners use these to define periodic, satirical stories regarding the league owners. You are limited only by your imagination and writing skill.
      
   6. Audio sound-bytes.  Using the site’s online live draft (or the FFLM program draft) as well as the MFL GameDay program for live scoring, you can hear the names of each player along with other related information. This is especially nice if your computer is not located near your television on game days as you can hear updates announced while focusing on watching the game.