Commissioner Tips

Suggestions for making your fantasy league fun-packed and drama-free

Constitution/Bylaws

This can be as complex as desired, detailing the minutiae of every rule and procedure, or just a simple statement listing the basic rules (or even just “as shown in [the hosting site]”). The important thing is to have a published statement of how issues will be resolved. The simplest, and recommended way, is to have a “Commissioner’s judgement” catch-all for anything that comes up, and suggested among that is to state that the Commissioner will defer to how the hosting site handles scoring and other applicable issues (e.g. 2022 Bills-Bengals game). Other ways to resolve issues include league-vote (which often introduces more drama) or even social media polling.

Rules

Similar to above, this can be as complex as desired, after all it is “your” league, or as simple as what is set-up in the hosting site. If anything is customized, make sure it is both well thought out and very publicly communicated to the league before the Draft so that there can be no confusion later.

Hosting Site

There are many choices out there, each with their pros and cons. The big names offer (usually) stable platforms and simplicity, but with limited customization and go years resting on their laurels without improvements. Some sites offer tons of customization but can be overly complicated. And there is the decision between free and paid hosting options. The best site is what works for your exact league particulars. Of course, make sure to choose one that is compatible with Playoff Computer!

Draft

Again, “your” league, choose the draft type, time, as desired. Two very important items regarding the Draft, neither have anything to do with actually drafting players:

• If the league is for money, if you listen to one word of advice on the internet over your entire lifetime, let it be this. Do not, under any circumstances*, let a team draft that hasn’t already paid the dues. In fact, it is highly recommended that dues be collected at least a few days in advance of the draft so as to find replacements as needed. *Every rule has an exception, if you will personally cover for any delinquencies so as to not diminish the prize pool, that’s on you as commish.
• If you listen to one more word of advice on the internet, let it be this. Do not, under any circumstances, change any scoring or other rule after the Draft. People signed up, and perhaps paid league dues, and drafted players based on the rules that were in place at that time.

Trades

Some people get great enjoyment out of making trades in their fantasy leagues. It is also the source of 94% (probably) of the horror stories on fantasy sports forums. Some suggestions to reduce the amount of drama:

• For the love of all that is holy, do not subject trades to league-votes in order to be approved. It never ends well. If a commissioner cannot be trusted to make sure there is no collusion then that commissioner shouldn’t be running a league, JMHO.
• Which brings us to the ONLY reason a trade should be rejected, and that is for collusion. If it can be determined that two teams are making a trade for any reason other than both trying to improve their respective team, such as to specifically harm one or more other teams (e.g. tradebacks), or to harm the league in general (e.g. tanking), that is collusion. A trade that both teams believe improves their respective team and doesn’t intentionally harm other team(s) or the league itself, no matter how silly or unfavorable it appears to others, is not collusion.
• Much of the trade caused drama occurs when a team with no chance at the playoffs makes a trade with one of the top teams, usually a buddy/family connection (the classic “trade-rape”). There are two elegant solutions to prevent this. First, consider a rule that once teams are no longer in contention as judged by the Playoff Computer App for a playoff spot (or similar metric), they cannot make trades. Second, consider an earlier trade deadline than what is the default in the major hosting sites to take away the option of tanking trades. For fantasy football, something around week 9 will be just before most of the win-challenged teams have given up.

League Size

Another “your” league you decide item. But for “redraft” leagues, the sweet spot seems to be 12 teams. There may be some considerations for other sizes depending on schedule and/or division desires. 12 teams also pairs nicely with arguably the best playoff set-up of 6 teams with the top 2 getting a “bye”. And for football at least, it also seems to work out for not having teams that are too stacked or too lean. For fantasy football anyway, consider a smaller bench size for leagues that are both smaller or larger than 12 teams, so as to not have overly stacked teams in smaller leagues and to not have no talent left on the waiver wire for larger leagues.

Playoff Set-Up

Again, “your” league. However, consider the following. Fantasy sports is supposed to be fun. Anything you, as commissioner, can do to make engaging for as many teams as possible for as long as possible makes the league more fun. Having a 16 team league with only 4 playoff spots is not going to keep most of the league engaged for much of the season. Having a 10 team league with 8 playoff spots is going overboard the other way and doesn’t provide any reward for the best regular season team. If at all possible, consider a 6-team playoffs where the top 2 teams earn a “bye”. Otherwise, suggested playoff sizes for league sizes are:

• 8-team league: 4 to playoffs.
• 10-team league: 4 or 6 to playoffs.
• 12-team league: 6 to playoffs.
• 14-team league: 6 or 8 to playoffs.
• 16-team league: 8 to playoffs.

PlayoffComputer sub-reddit has tips and info

APP INFO

PlayoffComputer (the “App”) takes a league’s standings, schedule, and tiebreaker data to analyze its playoff (title, safety, etc.) races. For fantasy sports players this provides valuable information on their teams regarding their playoff chances as well as giving commissioners a treasure trove of content to share in weekly recaps and newsletters. For fans of professional teams and leagues, several pro-leagues can now be imported for tracking favorite teams and creating personalized scenarios.

The App contains no ads and does not collect any data outside of device use for performance monitoring and analytics.

There are minor differences in the presentation, features, and access level capabilities between the android and iOS version, but the overall functional aspects are the same. Differences will be noted within.

Features

There are two access levels, Basic and Premium. The App upon installation includes the Basic Level. The Premium Level is available on an annual subscription basis for about the price of a beer. It is recommended to insure that basic functionality for a particular league(s) can be accomplished before upgrading to the Premium Level as there may be a complex league set-up that is not compatible (please advise if that occurs).

Features in ALL Levels

• Data transfer from popular fantasy sports hosting sites such as ESPN, Yahoo, MyFantasy, Sleeper, Fleaflicker, NFL Fantasy, Fantasy Premier League* (iOS – “Draft” leagues only), and Fantrax**. Additionally, data transfer from a Google Sheets spreadsheet template available HERE for other leagues. This spreadsheet takes a little bit of time to initially set-up but only a few minutes to update each week/round (advanced users can automate this for many leagues). More instructions for using this option are below in the TMI section. (* See below for important info regarding FPL; ** See below for important info regarding Fantrax)
• For some hosting sites, playoff race details such as number of playoff teams, tiebreakers, when the playoffs start, etc. are automatically transferred. For others some details may need to be manually input.
• Accepts multiple-division leagues and even multiple-conferences (My Fantasy, Sheets).
• Customizable set-up allows many options for analysis.
• Popular tiebreakers can be included in calculations, such as: Head-To-Head (several options that should cover varying hosting site rules), Division Record, Conference Record, Points, Points-Against-High (schedule toughness), All-Play, and Points/Goals Difference.
• Can utilize “Best-in-Division” (e.g. My Fantasy, Fleaflicker) methods as desired.
• Customizable sorting of analysis results display (android version only).
• The android version allows all users to import data from several popular professional leagues (premium feature on iOS).
• The android version allows all users to create their own “what-if” scenarios (premium feature on iOS).

Calculations in BASIC Level

• Approximate odds for each team to win their division and/or to make the playoffs.

Calculations and Additional Features in PREMIUM Level

Note the presentation of these features as well as what requires Premium access varies slightly between the android and iOS versions.

• The famous “paths-to-clinch” which provides NFL-style listings of what needs to happen in upcoming games for teams to clinch a division and/or playoff spot (e.g. “Bananas clinch a spot with a win and a Dragons loss”).
• Clinched / Eliminated status info for each team for division and/or playoff spots.
• Increased-accuracy odds.
• Minimum number of wins/points each team would need to have any chance.
• Projected targets for each team to aim for to make the playoffs and/or win division.
• The number of wins each team needs to guarantee making the playoffs.
• Whether or not a team must win out to have any chance.
• Whether or not a team controls their own destiny.
• PDF reports for printing or sharing the intel with the league.
• “What-If” component to see what the picture would look like with user-created scenarios (aka similar to the ESPN NFL playoff machine) (available at all levels in android version).
• Data import from the NFL, Premier League, and other Professional sports leagues (available at all levels in android version).

League Requirements

In order to function as intended, a league must:

• Play head-to-head games, where each game either results in a win, loss, or tie for the teams, or for “points-based” leagues (e.g. soccer) each game results in “league-points” as a result of a win, loss, or tie. There is very limited support for Median scoring in the android version, see below for more info).
• Determine all playoff spots firstly by either overall winning percentage or by “league points” (e.g. soccer). For leagues that award an additional spot to the leftover highest-scoring team, the App can only calculate the wildcard spots available by record or “league points”. FWIW this shouldn’t diminish the enjoyment of the App as generally speaking this additional spot is so in flux in most leagues that it doesn’t matter if it is not included in the calculations.
• Leagues that play double-header schedules are accommodated but note that depending on league size and various other factors for the situation at the time of analysis, the “paths-to-clinch” report may become fairly complicated or almost indecipherable and the mathematical accuracy of some calculations may be impaired.
• Have all teams play the same number of games.
• Leagues that play uneven schedules (e.g. not the same number of games per week/round) are accommodated as long as each team plays the same number of games for the season, with the same possible impacts as described above depending on the specific circumstances.
• Single conference leagues with more than 32 teams or multi-conference leagues with more than 16 teams per conference are likely to experience difficulties during calculations depending on the exact scenario presented at the time of analysis, which is difficult to quantify ahead of time.