League Tycoon: Dynasty Salary Cap Free Agent Auction
Editor’s note: League Tycoon is an app or desktop based fantasy football platform, specializing in salary cap contract leagues and gambit leagues. They also have a unique “ranked fantasy football” ladder system which allows you to play against other managers at your skill level and move up based on your order of finish.
Have you ever heard of League Tycoon? Flash back 12 months and I hadn’t. Back then I was jaded when it came to contract and salary cap league platforms. Many had come and gone and none offered the experience I was looking for. Nevertheless, I gave them a shot and I gotta say, I’m happy I did.
In December of 2023 I wrote a review of League Tycoon that included my thoughts about the startup auction and how commishing a league on their platform ran. I followed that up in May by reviewing the transition to the new year and the rookie draft. Now, I figured I would wrap things up with a quick review of the free agent auction and my thoughts on where things will go from here.
Trade Market
As it is with most leagues, our league on League Tycoon had a short “feeling out period” for managers to gauge how the trade market would play out. There were a few moves done in season one but things certainly picked up in year two.
It started in the rookie draft when multiple teams moved up in the first round but that was just a launching point for veterans like Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, Kenneth Walker, and Jordan Addison to get moved, among others.
A couple of star players have been dealt using League Tycoon’s Trade Auction feature which is a game-changer for dynasty players.
We’ve all played in leagues where a player is added to a team’s trade block and an email goes out to everybody in the league letting everyone know what’s going on but how much action does that typically bring? Maybe you get an offer, maybe you don’t. The Trade Auction feature on League inspires every manager to make an offer for each player that hits the trade market.
You see, when a manager offers a player up using the “Trade Auction” feature on League Tycoon, every manager gets notified. Then, as soon as that manager gets an offer they can set it as the “Current Winning Offer.” Once again, each manager gets notified of the top offer, which instantly gets the trade juices of the entire league going.
Now instead of saying, “I would’ve beat that offer if I knew that’s all it took to get that player” after seeing a deal go down on other platforms, managers say “I can beat that offer” on League Tycoon, swoop in, and steal the player away.
Free Agent Auction
As in most contract leagues, a free agent auction is held each off-season. League Tycoon has every option you could imagine when setting up your auction. Our managers are spread throughout the country and are too busy to get in front of a computer at the same time so we chose to do a slow auction spread out over a couple weeks. I’d love to try out League Tycoon’s live auctions in the future though.
We set how quickly nominations are made, how many auctions can be active at a time, and how long auctions last. We wanted to keep things going so we only gave managers a couple hours to nominate, ended auctions when the high bidder hadn’t changed in 16 hours, and allowed up to 36 auctions at a time.
It was a hectic few days.
Our team (my co-manager Ryan McDowell and I) needed some help. We entered the auction with a very solid wide receiver group of Amon-Ra St. Brown, Brandon Aiyuk, Drake London, Amari Cooper, Calvin Ridley, Malik Nabers, and Romeo Doubs but just Jordan Love and Daniel Jones at quarterback, only Zach Charbonnet and rookies Jaylen Wright, Bucky Irving and Tyrone Tracy Jr. at running back, and no tight end on the roster. We also had the second least salary cap space available.
Needless to say, we were skeptical we’d be able to fill our needs and compete in 2024. No matter, we made our list of free agents and made a plan to target startable veterans and give them one-year contracts.
We did exactly that.
In the first few days, we were able to sign James Conner, Aaron Jones, Raheem Mostert, and Zack Moss
to fill our running back need as well as add Dalton Schultz, Hunter Henry, and Isaiah Likely to add some tight end options. Although we really only added Gardner Minshew as a depth QB (along with Drew Lock as Jones insurance), we felt good about what we came away with.
Overall, the free agent auction was a lot of fun. The app made it easy to manage, the auction room was constantly flooded with new bids, and it was especially easy to navigate as a commissioner.
We may not have a championship contender but I feel like we added enough pieces to compete for a playoff spot and potentially put our team in a position to make a big splash on the trade market around the trade deadline.
Contracts
Once the free agent auction is in the books, every manager gets to give contracts to each of the free agents they signed. Our league allows multiple multi-year contracts to be given out each year, with the longest being a four-year deal.
As I mentioned earlier, we planned on giving short-term deals to each of our additions in an effort to be competitive (and also open up cap space going into the 2025 auction.) That’s what we will do, with the exception of Likely who may get a multi-year deal. We have until kickoff of week one to make those declarations.
On top of the new additions getting contracts, we also have the ability to sign players going into the final year of their contract to an extension. Our league has already seen guys like Brock Purdy and Davante Adams get extensions but we may add Cooper and Ridley to that list as they are both very reasonably priced.
What’s Next?
The off-season is in the books so I guess the only thing coming up is to try to avenge missing the playoffs in year one. I feel relatively confident our roster can be a playoff contender.
| QB | Jordan Love |
| RB | James Conner |
| RB | Aaron Jones |
| WR | Amon-Ra St. Brown |
| WR | Brandon Aiyuk |
| WR | Drake London |
| TE | Dalton Schultz/Hunter Henry |
| FLEX | Amari Cooper |
| FLEX | Calvin Ridley |
| SFLX | Daniel Jones |
Overall Experience
As I mentioned in earlier reviews, I’ve really enjoyed my League Tycoon experience. It’s very customizable from a commissioner’s standpoint, the app is incredibly user-friendly, and the added features are very fun. I’d recommend it to anybody whether they have salary cap experience or are new to it. And you can do exactly that by heading to League Tycoon no and use the promo code DLF to get a free trial season just like we did when we started this league.
- League Tycoon: Dynasty Salary Cap Free Agent Auction - August 10, 2024
- League Tycoon: Dynasty Salary Cap New League Year And Rookie Draft - May 15, 2024
- League Tycoon: Dynasty Salary Cap Fantasy Football - December 15, 2023
