Feeling for Interest in Real $ League

[ELDoro]

Hey guys. Currently I'm deployed in Afghanistan but return home in less than a month and shortly after will be getting out of the Army.

I have an idea for a league and want to gauge the possible interest.

Basically you pay players actual money. Of course there will be a cap of around $20-$30 a season. I believe this will attract owners that are serious about being committed to an online league for many seasons while also giving a bit more realistic approach to running their teams. Of course it might be a bit of an excuse to the wife or girlfriend if you actually win something. WS winner would take a majority of the pot each season along with the runner up and division winners and a small portion going towards running the league (server space, ect).

Right now I'm building a 16 team fictional league with fictional players. 8 Team in North America and 8 teams in Asian (Japan, S.Korea, China). The winners of the American and Asian leagues will play each other in a true world series.

Please let me know if you would be interested in such a league or if you have any ideas or suggestions.

thanks!

[DaKilla64]

If it wasn't fictional and you just re-drafted the league, I would be down

[ELDoro]

Other than keeping the league smaller I'm not sure of the copyright laws using real teams/players if you could win cash.

anyone have any info to shed on this? thanks

[DaKilla64]

Originally Posted by ELDoro

Other than keeping the league smaller I'm not sure of the copyright laws using real teams/players if you could win cash.

anyone have any info to shed on this? thanks

It's like betting on a game of Madden...who cares? I think it's fine lol

[John C]

This already exists, if memory serves. Ping: Cooleyvol

[Cooleyvol]

Originally Posted by John C

This already exists, if memory serves. Ping: Cooleyvol

It exists. We just finished our first season with payouts going out this weekend (WS champ is pocketing ~ $110.00).

However, money, evidently, doesnt equal to a stake in the team. We saw 7 of 20 clubs not returning and thus, have decided to abandon the experiment.

My advice to anyone attempting this (with an initial draft) is to set some guidelines on drafting youth over talent in early rounds.

[ELDoro]

Yes, that problem has already popped in my head. Was trying to think of an initial draft rule or possibly just auto-draft.

thanks for the input!

[bigfatcat]

Originally Posted by ELDoro

Yes, that problem has already popped in my head. Was trying to think of an initial draft rule or possibly just auto-draft.

thanks for the input!

i'll play.
auto-drafting the entire league would save a lot of trouble.
can assign teams by random draw.
if someone doesn't like their team...they can just make it better.





thanks
mark f.
mrf4000@gmail.com

[ELDoro]

This is getting closer to being setup so figured I'd put out another feeling for people interested. People who have shown interest on this thread or by other contacts need not reply again. You have been noted

[waltwa]

El doro i am very interested as i was in Cooley's league. It was a can't miss league but it proved to be somewhat trickier than expected.

Here are some suggestions. Do not get too complicated i would go with fictional usa teams- 16 is ok.

Cooley had all the basic great rules

1. draft pick trading allowed
2. salary cap obviously to equalize teams in a $ league.
3. no fa comp (i think)

Here was the killer of the league. All players were dumped into the initial draft - MLers and Prospects.

Who would have thought that a small number of GM's would have drafted prospects starting in the 1st round. Simply giving up 2-3 seasons in order to create dynasties. The majority of the teams drafted ML players and then when the 25th+ round came up there wasn't any prospect talent left to speak of too draft. This was the death of the league right from the begginning.

My suggestion would be to have 2 drafts. One comprised strictly of ML players and the other comprised of younger minor league players. It doesn't particularly matter if its auto picked or manual but the GM's must be forced to draft by the same philosophy. i.e.majors 1st then minors.

Don't downplay this occurrence. In cooleys league there wasn't a great deal of prospect talent to begin with. I would suggest ML,AAA,AA,A, and either SS or Rookie. This would add more prospect talent- Cooley went with only 3 minor leagues. I would suggest min 4 at least. As i recall if u looked at the minor league system ratings 2 or 3 teams were rated like 250 and then it dropped off to 100. I drafted MLplayers and literally had zero in the minors because as i said earlier when the 20-25th round came up the minor league talent was gone.

The teams that had the minor league talent weren't going to trade any of it because they were simply waiting for the future and the remainder of the teams had nothing to trade.

Cooley had the right idea and worked at it but when u put out $ for a league GM's want activity and the ability to win and get better but the initial draft killed that possibility.

i don't like the idea of spending to buy players. can't the same thing be accomplished with a buy-in fee and then a salary cap.

[progen]

Isn't it amazing. I took such a beating for this on the boards, saying Cooleyvols idea of a money league wouldn't work, and look what happen. I applaud him for venturing in unchartered territory, but knew all along it would end up in the scrap heap!

[scott1964]

Maybe interested.

[bailey]

My suggestion would be to start a league with twice the number of teams needed for players. Sim the league a few seasons, then let the GM's choose whole teams from those available. Contract the teams not taken; their players become free agents. Then, to give everyone a chance to customize their team, have a 5 round draft from the available free agents. Then delete all the remaining free agents and delete history and begin play.

I have another suggestion: limit it to 10 teams and have the top 7 make the playoffs. Divide the prize pool in 15 parts.
1 part to league champion
1 part to each to the top 7 who play in the hail mary round (league champion gets a bye)
1 part to each to the 4 survivors who play in the wild card round
1 part to each of the 2 survivors who play in the league championship
1 part to the champion.

By allowing the top 7 out of 10 to be "in the money" with a chance to win the championship should keep everyone's interest high, with a real expectation of making the top 7.

[JWay]

Originally Posted by bailey

My suggestion would be to start a league with twice the number of teams needed for players. Sim the league a few seasons, then let the GM's choose whole teams from those available. Contract the teams not taken; their players become free agents. Then, to give everyone a chance to customize their team, have a 5 round draft from the available free agents. Then delete all the remaining free agents and delete history and begin play.

I have another suggestion: limit it to 10 teams and have the top 7 make the playoffs. Divide the prize pool in 15 parts.
1 part to league champion
1 part to each to the top 7 who play in the hail mary round (league champion gets a bye)
1 part to each to the 4 survivors who play in the wild card round
1 part to each of the 2 survivors who play in the league championship
1 part to the champion.

By allowing the top 7 out of 10 to be "in the money" with a chance to win the championship should keep everyone's interest high, with a real expectation of making the top 7.

Why so complicated?

Simply here, start a league, simulate 20 years, auction the teams off in 5 year packages. After 3 years allow teams to buy extensions at a slight discount, 4 seasons less of a discount, and if the deal expires, allow anyone to bid (current owners of other teams included.)

Allow the sale of your team to another entity all together, etc.

I think 20 people who are dedicated up front could be found. Without a doubt. This also guarantees the first 5 seasons, allows for an established track record, plus it removes any sense of feigned equality. You're buying to win over a 5 year period, if you buy the well set team, they should cost you more. If you buy team wrecked team, its likely you should get them for the minimum.

[Cooleyvol]

Originally Posted by progen

Isn't it amazing. I took such a beating for this on the boards, saying Cooleyvols idea of a money league wouldn't work, and look what happen. I applaud him for venturing in unchartered territory, but knew all along it would end up in the scrap heap!

Amazing! You're such a smart guy, afterall, aren't you?

Is that what you wanted? I hope so, because that's all you're getting from me.

[JWay]

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

Amazing! You're such a smart guy, afterall, aren't you?

Is that what you wanted? I hope so, because that's all you're getting from me.

Feeding the trolls!

[waltwa]

Here is what is really important with a $ league. the league has to be setup in such a way that the rules encourage activity. Gm's who play regular online may be content to take 3-4 seasons to rebuild but in a $ league u wantto set it up so that rebuilding can be done faster. That's why draft pick trading is important as well as a salary cap which forces teams to unload players to stay within the cap and no fa comp since all the teams have equal finances. The yankees aren't there to sign evey good FA as exists in real ML baseball.

in addition as i said earlier there must be adequate talent in theminors so teams have prospects to trade for vets if they so choose. So the 2 tiered draft is really important.

[ELDoro]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys. I have been noting them, experiences from past leagues, and have been running solo test leagues. I promise you I'm not gunna rush this thing just to get it started. It will be done the right way

[ELDoro]

Any suggestions on a website to hold the league's money? Making it easy to submit dues.

I've thought about Paypal but they do take a %.

Also https://www.fantasysportsvault.com/

[JWay]

Leaguesafe works well.