Commish 101: An Intro

Coin Flip Posted On June 14, 2015

commish101

Editor’s Note: This article is the first submission from our newest writer, Carla Gruse (Coinflip). We welcome Carla to our Member Corner family and look forward to seeing more from her in the near future.

Deciding to be a commissioner of fantasy football was on my mind for quite some time before I actually set out to tackle my first league. I wanted to become a “sponge” for knowledge. I found it best to keep my eye on who I thought were the best in the business so I could share the same type of experiences with those who would join me as a fearless leader. What I found is I valued many ideas from several commissioners not necessarily all ideas from one source.

There are many tasks a commissioner performs and understanding them is important.

1.) You begin by Creating Bylaws for your League

These become the bible and sometimes courtroom for all to reference. If you have loopholes or do not address items in your bylaws you may not be providing the best landscape for your teammates. If you have a solid set of bylaws, you can avoid more of the courtroom decisions and use your bylaws as a point of reference or bible as I mentioned earlier. Once you have the bylaws in place, you have the foundation set. It is important to keep your bylaws up to date and knowing even the perfect bylaws may need alterations over the years. This is your responsibility as the commissioner of the league.

2.) Create a Theme for your League

[inlinead]I personally like to create a site using the software on My Fantasy League (MFL) – that allows for variations in graphics and templates to make the league come to life. My Fantasy League (MFL) offers free skins, but I prefer a unique approach. The graphic sites that provide themes also charge for their services. There are many sites such as ESPN, Yahoo Sports, RT Sports, NFL.com and others that allow commissioners to create leagues. Once you pick a theme, you can begin filling your league with close friends or new friends. I like a balanced group of owners when filling leagues. I like established owners I have played with to mix with at least 2-3 new owners. This has proven to keep player values from mirroring one another and trading is more likely when we have different values. I also like to find owners that are similar in expectations. I have been in leagues where drafting slow and taking hours off the clock per draft slot is normal and other leagues where owners expect a certain pace to exist or the draft savages grow restless. If you keep similar styles together it can reduce on owner frustration.

3.) Make a League Calendar

Once your teams are in place along with your scoring and rules you need to pick a payment due date, run and set draft order and enter all calendar events pertinent to your league bylaws.

As a commissioner, I take pride in reminding owners of important events to help them manage their rosters. I like a competitive environment and if half the owners are missing deadlines the league can suffer in competitiveness. I send reminders for draft dates, waiver begin and end times, trade deadlines, IR violations dates, polls created and so forth.

Paying out league winnings is where you will gain the most respect from your owners. Some leagues prefer to use a holding company such as leaguesafe and others use methods to hold the money themselves. Both options should result in winnings being paid promptly within two weeks of the season’s final stats being recorded. Some owners may wish to apply some or all winnings to next year fees. Recording these transactions are important and a message thread titled “Payment Thread” will help owners feel a bit of security.

SUMMARY

It should be an enjoyable experience when deciding to be a commissioner of a fantasy football league. Keep in mind the time requirement is more than being an owner only. I have had many years of positive experiences being a commissioner. I know these experiences are based greatly on the excellent owners I have played with over the years. Recruiting is not always easy. If you take the time to find the right owner for openings you have in your league you will experience the same positive return on your time spent.

In a future article I would like to focus on specific settings outlining pros and cons along with my likes and dislikes in choosing certain settings. I would like to share two links showing examples of graphics and the creativity you can provide as a commissioner if you want to add a theme for your league.

http://www2.myfantasyleague.com/2015/home/41020#0 Quiet Riot

http://www27.myfantasyleague.com/2015/home/31726#0 Yac

Enjoy the off-season. It will be week one before we know it and the football chaos will begin! Visit your bylaws and be prepared when the season begins.

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