We are entering the first weekend of the 2011 NFL Season. There is no Hall of Fame game, but as preseason starts next week so does your Fantasy Football League. League invites are being sent out, mock drafts are taking place. Some people like the status quo with his or her league, others like me find ways to tweak their league and make it even better. Given most drafts will take place the weekend of the third preseason game. Here are some suggestions to jumpstart and improve any league you’re in.
1) HAVE A LOTTERY TWO WEEKS BEFORE YOUR DRAFT – For the main league I am a commissioner; this is a great way to meet league members to discuss and make changes to make the actual draft day is smoother process. We meet usually at a bowling alley; have a few drinks, start the trash talking, but go for whatever venue works best for you. Then I get a deck of cards; pick a card suit, then use Ace through Queen for a 12-team league and for a 14-team league us Ace through King and a Joker for the 14th pick and the league champion picks his card first and continue all the way to the last place person. The best part is you have two weeks to run mock drafts knowing where you are picking and can evaluate your draft accordingly. You could use numbers in a hat or a bingo ball kit but seeing that “Ace of Spade” trumps picking a “1” written in pencil out of a hat.
2) USE THE LOTTERY RESULTS TO FORM THE DIVISIONS – This creates even more anticipation for the lottery by figuring out who is in your division. In a 12-team league 3 divisions of 4 teams is best using (Ace-Six-Seven-Queen) (Two-Five-Eight-Jack) (Three-Four-Nine-Ten) and if you are going 14-terms use 4 divisions and go (Ace-Eight-Nine) (Two-Seven-Ten) (Three-Six-Jack-Joker) (Four-Five-Queen-King) if you are in a 10-team league I’d suggest not using divisions but use the lottery for draft order
3) CUSTOMIZE LEAGUE SCHEDULE AND SET DIVISION GAMES FOR FINAL 3 WEEKS OF SEASON – This could get tricky for someone who doesn’t know how to go about customizing a schedule. You could reach me @BOSSHAWGKASINO and I have schedule templates available for you. This is the clincher for week by week excitement. The final three weeks are games within division (for 14-team league you would have one inter-division game) since it’s late in the season it creates a possible head to head matchup for a division title or even a head to head battle for a playoff spot, much like NFL Week 17 all division matchups, there is a high chance for playoff like excitement before they even start. The best part of the shift of schedule is weekly not only are you trying to win your game but you are hoping your divisional rivals lose and adds flavor for the full season.
4) HAVE TWO WEEKS IN THE SEASON THAT ARE CASH WEEKS –I suggest picking two weeks out of season; pick from (Week 4-10) which is the weeks the NFL has bye weeks & pick from (Week 1-3, 11-Final Week) since these weeks there aren’t any byes and all teams are at full strength. If your league entry fee is $100, I suggest $50 payouts for each cash week that will create buzz for two particular weeks out of the season and everyone gets a chance for some additional cash and the cash weeks is a way to make even a team that’s (0-10) still participate fully and set there lineups with the hope to make some Return on Investment
I hope these methods are some good ways to improve the quality of your league. The participants of my league love these settings and trust me; it will make your league stand out and makes the fantasy football experience even more enjoyable.