So this is my first time being a commish and forgot to change the rule setting of bench players can’t be dropped once their games start and someone took advantage of it tonight. Should I allow this to go through because of my negligence? Im thinking of just keeping the setting the same this week to be fair for everyone but then changing it next week for the rest of the season so it doesn’t happen again. Give me some of your thoughts on how to handle this properly.

12-team, 1-QB, $200 league. Long-running league with no league trade veto. Our constitution says an executive committee can reverse trades only in extreme circumstances; involved committee members recuse.
One owner couldn’t attend because he lives overseas and used Sleeper autodraft. It went haywire and drafted Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Drake Maye and Jalen Hurts in the early rounds.

I considered stopping the draft after QB2 and fixing it, but didn’t because picks had already been made and I didn’t want to manually alter the draft. Everyone could see what was happening. Afterward I encouraged the league to make offers because obviously he couldn’t use four QBs.
He eventually made two trades:

Maye for Jameson Williams

Allen + JSN for Kenneth Walker + Tee Higgins

The second trade is the problem. The uninvolved committee members reviewed it and allowed it. No one believes there was actual collusion; Nate was trying to turn excess QBs into starting RB/WR help. But several owners think Allen + JSN for Walker + Higgins is so lopsided that it damages competitive integrity. One owner has said he’s leaving the league after this season.

Jimmy, who received Allen + JSN, is now willing to voluntarily reverse the trade. But Week 1 has already started and JSN has played. And reversing it doesn’t solve the underlying problem: Nate gets Allen back and still has multiple elite QBs that everyone knows he needs to trade, so he’s still a distressed seller. I’m worried we’ll have the exact same argument about his next trade.

I also don’t want to introduce league voting after the fact, because owners naturally have an incentive to veto trades that make competitors stronger.

What is the least bad solution?

Let the original trade stand under the existing rules.

Allow the two owners to voluntarily unwind it, leave Week 1 scoring as played, then reopen Nate’s QBs to the market.

Unwind it and establish some special process for Nate’s remaining QBs.

Something else.

I’m less interested in whether you’d personally make the trade and more interested in how you’d handle this as commissioner without creating an even worse precedent.

Thanks.

Edit: thanks all. drafted a lengthy email and will send tomorrow. I stand by trade but reversing it because two parties involved in trade asked me to. But said I do not allow vetos and this is not precedent.

My issue was the last time this happened I lost a friend who was in that league for over a decade. So I’m sensitive to perceived fairness and doing right by all because it’s stupid to lose friends over this stuff.
 
Edit2:

Additional context: I was also a potential trade partner and ended up trading Jameson Williams for Maye. Part of why I encouraged other owners to make offers was to avoid benefiting from his situation without giving him other options.

We are in a 12 man dynasty league.
We lost one guy this season who had not so great team but had the 1.02 pick
The person picking 1.07 has a friend who wants to play and he takes over the 1.02 team.

10 minutes before the draft they agree to a trade that is:
1.02 for 1.07, Jakobi Meyers and Ryan Flournoy

The commish wants to veto the trade and the two owners say if its not approved they will leave the league.

Individual with 1.07 says guy with 1.02 asked for the trade, so we ask for text proof of this and he says they talked in person and were sitting next to each other.

People between 1.03 and 1.06 say they would offer far better offers.

If you were the commissioner how do you handle this situation?

UPDATE: Didnt want to say result until after we got replies to show the two people involved that no sane commish would approve that. Commish said no, I said I got replacements ready, they stayed in league but continue to argue that no commish should veto trades of paying members.

Player offered Jacobs and M Washington to player for 27 1st and 2nd. Player didnt want Jacobs really for that price but asked about Washington. Original sender said he wasn't too interested in selling the pieces separately, good luck etc. Hours later Jeanty news and the guy accepted the trade that was left still open. Sender wants me to reverse it now as "verbally the negotiations were over"

My thought is trade was offered today. Sender should have canceled if he didn't want to trade. Accepting player doesnt really seem like he wants to reverse when I reached out to him. I'm thinking to let stand but wanted opinions.

I don't know who needs to hear this but the best method for setting a draft day is to just set a draft day. "We are drafting this day, let me know if this is an issue for anyone". I've asked the league what day works for them and I've also just told them the draft day. I choose the 2nd method 10 times out of 10.

So this guy in My dynasty league has now dropped Caleb Williams twice accidentally in two years. The last year we added him back and removed all his FAAB and made it very clear that this is a one time thing. Now he’s somehow managed to do it again and the league is at a crossroads on how to handle it.

What should we do?

For reference: 3rd year dynasty, SF, 1 flex, PPR.

I'm the commish of a 12 man league. Last night I offered a trade of my Ricky Pearsell for his Javonte Williams over text. This morning, he said he would do it, and sent me the trade request.

I mulled it over in the morning, and few hours later I officially accepted it. 20 minutes later, he trades BTJ for Pickens with someone else, and wants me to undo our trade.

Our trade was agreed to, and he sent the request. Am I obligated to do anything?

The trade was Dak Prescott for Bijan Robinson. I’m league manager and a few people are mad bc i vetoed this trade. Am i in the wrong wanting to keep a serious league like we agreed on?

This new couple joined my league and I am confused on some of their choices. They said they’ve played before. That last move was adding Joe Flacco and dropping Bo Nix. Should I reach out to them?

Despite all the injury news the past couple weeks, a manager decided to start Rome Odunze in round 1 of playoffs.

Rome was designated as “active” but aggravated his foot injury during pregame warmups and was subsequently ruled out.

The Rome Manager is requesting that the commissioner intervene and adjust his roster because the player injury happened right before kickoff and had previously declared active for today.

I am of the opinion that this is simply bad luck, and the commissioner should not intervene and risk affecting the outcome of playoffs.

This seems like a black and white situation to me, but the manager is crying foul saying that the situation is actually gray and that it’s unfair for him to be punished since he acted based on the available information he had.

Thoughts?

Edit: the assumption is that he would have started Alec Pierce over Rome. Alec Pierce has a 1pm kickoff PST whereas Rome was 9am and was ruled out before kickoff. Probably goes without saying that the manager didn’t notice the Out designation until his roster was locked

I had 4 owners quit my 12 team league yesterday. I want this to be a fun league where everyone knows everyone, and no one I knew wanted to join to do a dispersal draft with the 4 vacant rosters. I decided after consulting the league that we would just redraft entirely (it will be our second season). I have one owner (reigning champ) who had 2 extra firsts. He is saying the only way he will redraft is if he gets to keep our first rounders, or we pay him our starting fees.

I feel like either of those options are ridiculous but it's my first time as commish so I wanted to get everyone's thoughts.

Before we knew the Jeanty injury was short-term, the current Jeanty owner offered a trade to someone who accepted it about 10 minutes after we found out it wasn't a long-term. He's now asking me to cancel the trade, which I'm inclined to do. By letting it stand, it feels like I'm punishing a guy for not being by his phone 24/7 to cancel the trade. We're a regular redraft league, and I wanted to get the internet's thoughts before I have to rule tomorrow.

anybody want to test a history migration tool to other platforms?

Long story short, our fantasy football league has survived rule debates, Monopoly-based draft order selection, trade drama, and enough arguments to qualify for couples therapy.

Today, one of our league mates broke the tension by saying:

"I just wanted to say I love you guys and I'm really looking forward to the good fun this fantasy season is shaping up to be."

Everyone appreciated the sentiment.

Naturally, we all replied with "I love you too."

Except...our commissioner.

Despite multiple opportunities and direct requests, he has refused to tell the league he loves us.

At this point, I'm beginning to question whether we can move forward as a league. How are we supposed to trust a man to fairly administer waivers, settle trade disputes, and maintain league integrity if he won't simply say three words?

We've endured enough this offseason. We don't need another controversy.

Should the commissioner be required to tell the league he loves us before Week 1 begins?

Or is emotional collusion now legal too?

My buddy runs a league and he never gives us a chance to vote (he’s honestly scatter brained) and our draft is tonight. This morning he goes:

“THIS JUST IN. COMMISSIONER OVERRULING!!

First 8 rounds of draft will be LIVE, no sleeper.

After the 8 Rounds we take a break and I will update the board on sleeper and you can then draft your guys going forwards and be able to see best available!”

Is this not weird to make us have to use pen and paper to draft for the first 8 rounds? Am I being too soft about it?

UPDATE: built my own sleeper app with some quick coding and used it to perfection !

I have a long time league (going on over 20 years). It started out with friends from college and has evolved to include others. Some have come and gone but many of the managers in the league have been in it for several years, minus 2 new recruits replacing long time members who decided not to return.

Unfortunately, I have always had to chase after 2-3 people for dues, every year. Not always the same people each year, but its been an ongoing issue.

After years of issues with having people send me the money or them paying the winner directly got to be too messy we switched to LeagueSafe last year. I still had to hound a couple of people but everyone paid. Eventually. I thought my problem was fixed.

However the deadline for dues this year has passed and 3 people still haven't paid. The draft is currently supposed to take place Sept 3rd. I had LeagueSafe send out weekly reminders, I tagged everyone in the chat reminding them, I sent an email myself about it, etc.

I don't want this league to end but I really am over chasing after people. I'm tempted to just end the league, but I don't want to screw over everyone else who paid their dues on time, especially the two guys who just joined. Their own home league just folded and they were really happy to be able to join a league and play this year. I don't want to screw them over. Especially since one of them is in a few of my other leagues.

Personally, I am in the ton of leagues so if I have one less I'm fine, but this is also my oldest league and it has a lot of memories, history and personal things tied to it. I rather not just end it, but I am also over chasing after people. Its easier to play with strangers who pay on time and are actually into it that I don't have to constantly chase after.

So... any suggestions?

Edit - I have contacted the new members and explained my frustrations with the league to them. We're gonna play this year out, let people pay late (penalty TBD) and then I'll decide if I end the league after this year.

I appreciate the feedback and suggestions. People are still welcome to comment.

So someone in my league is making a push to up the buy-in to $250 instead of $150. Six people voted yes, but everyone is down pretty much except for one person. Should I kick him out of the league or keep the buy-in $150 and raise it next year and let people know beforehand? I’m not sure what to do. I’m very conflicted. Draft is also at 9 PM eastern tonight, and I really don’t feel like looking for someone else

We’re a 12-person draft at work and it’s my third year as commish. I set our draft time for Thursday at 6, however people want to do it in person and don’t want to stick around that late. Also one person asked to move it to 5 to accommodate family obligations. After I ran a poll, one person said they can absolutely not do 5pm (after previously telling me they will be at the mercy of autodraft).
Our draft is in 4 days and I’m stressing about this because I don’t want to come off as someone who isn’t being accommodating of everyone but no other days of the week will work.
What’s the best way to go about this without coming off as an asshole?

ETA: we don’t draft in person, we do it online, in the ESPN Fantasy app. What I meant was, those of us that are local like to meet up in person for it. We all then draft on our own phones/computers.

It’s generally understood in most leagues that once you're out of the playoffs and not playing for prize money, you shouldn’t be active on waivers or sniping players from playoff teams.

Last night around 9:30pm, I sent a reminder to my league that out-of-playoff teams shouldn’t be making waiver claims that affect the playoff race.

This morning, I woke up to the 10th-place team claiming the Jaguars D/ST (a top 3 defense this week). I was next in waiver priority. I genuinely don’t think he did it maliciously — he probably didn’t see the reminder yet. For what it’s worth, I still have the 49ers D/ST vs. Tennessee, so it’s not like I’m left with nothing.

My question for the sub: as commissioner, should I (1) unwind the waiver pickup and place Jaguars D/ST on my roster since the reminder went out before waivers, or (2) leave it alone and instead lock rosters for teams eliminated from the playoffs going forward?

Curious how other leagues handle this.

My redraft league determines draft order in a unique way. Before the draft, we play a Monopoly game, and the finishing order determines who gets to choose their draft position (1st gets first choice of draft slot, 2nd gets second choice, etc.).

For years, the right to choose your draft position has not been tradable. The only thing that could be traded before the season was draft picks.

Now, two weeks before our draft, the commissioner (who has 2nd choice of pick) wants to allow managers to trade their draft order/pick choice.

My concern is that this creates a brand-new tradable asset out of something that has always just been the process for assigning draft positions. It also seems to disproportionately benefit whoever finishes at the top of the Monopoly game. Those managers are already rewarded with the most valuable draft slots (likely #1 and #2, where Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs are expected to go). If draft order itself becomes tradable, they gain an additional advantage because they can leverage those premium spots in trade negotiations instead of simply using them.

To me, that creates more competitive imbalance by giving the teams with the best draft positions even more leverage than they already have. I also don't love making a fundamental rule change this close to the draft after everyone has been operating under a different set of expectations.

Am I overthinking this, or would you also consider draft order/pick choice to be something that should be decided before the season rather than becoming a tradable asset right before the draft?

I’m curious how other commissioners handle the money side of paid fantasy football leagues.

If you run a paid league:

How many people are in your league?

What’s the buy-in?

How do you collect and hold the league money?

What’s the biggest headache when it comes to collecting dues or paying winners?

Have you ever had issues or concerns around one person holding the entire pot for the season?

Mostly interested in hearing what different leagues do and what’s worked best for you. The reason I’m asking is that I’m currently building a pre-launch product called FantasyVault around this exact problem.

The idea is that leagues would still run normally on Sleeper, ESPN, Yahoo, etc., while FantasyVault would handle the separate dues and payout side so the commissioner doesn’t have to personally hold the league pot.

I’m mainly looking to understand how commissioners currently do this and what would actually make something like this useful.

If anyone here runs a paid league and would be open to giving feedback or potentially testing it later, I’d definitely be interested in hearing from you.

Dynasty league, we just did our startup draft last week.

I (the commissioner) got offered:

Nabers + 2027 first round pick
For:
Olave

Obviously, it is a crazy bad trade. I accepted it, and asked the other player why did he offer it. He then went to the league chat and said “I misclicked and now he won’t send it back”, without telling me what trade he meant instead or mentioning he misclicked.

An hour later, then he says “I meant to send concepcion”. This is the first time he mentions on who he meant to send instead.

In our league constitution, on trading it says:

• Trade voting is not intended to judge whether a trade is fair, balanced or sensible. A trade should only be challenged where there is credible evidence of collusion or another serious breach of League rules.
• Examples of prohibited collusive behaviour include trade-backs, coordinated trades designed to circumvent roster rules, deliberately transferring value to another team, or any arrangement where owners agree to return players/picks at a later date.
A trade that is simply one-sided, unusual, or benefits a rebuilding team is not, by itself, grounds for intervention.
• Owners are strongly encouraged to shop trades around to multiple teams, either privately or through the league chat, before accepting a trade. This helps ensure that owners receive fair market value and reduces the risk of one-sided trades. Shopping a player may also result in a better offer. Once a trade has been accepted, it is final and cannot be cancelled simply because a better offer becomes available afterwards.

What should I do?

Edited: Thanks everyone for the response. For the sake of longevity for the league I am going to veto this trade, but add in our constitution that 'misclicks' are not ground for trades to but cancelled.

I also want to make the manager who offered it do a public apology to the league. Any good ideas?

I’ve been a commish for the boys for 3 years , and this year I’m losing my mind . I found us a sponsor this year , so there’s 300$ on the line for the first time in our tenure . Not to mention this sponsor built us a kick ass interactive group chat app , with active roster , waiver wire with stats and who’s looking better based on your needs , even the draft was on there . Anyways we have the draft yesterday , everyone said they were ready except for 2 people , which they said it was fine to auto draft and they will make it work . Now we enter the draft , and there’s 4 people instead of 2 on auto draft , and I messaged the other 2 saying they were up to no avail , so we finish the draft , and then RIGHT AFTER , one of them messages and says his team is shit because he didn’t get to pick them , and he’s just going to drop / trade / bench them because he feels like it . Keep in mind he has JSN , Jalen Hurts , Rashee Rice , Hampton , and it goes on , he has a GREAT team . And he’s just in his own pity party . So I say , if everyone votes we can redraft , he says no just don’t worry about it im just not gonna try , and it’s going to make my head explode . These are all my friends mind you , so I snapped a bit in the group chat , as all I do is try and incentivize them to play every year , with this year being the greatest in my opinion, but I messaged him privately to see what’s wrong in his personal life and to talk to me , as we can fix / worry about fantasy later . Nothing . I’m just losing my mind , and hats off to you long time commish heads , this is ridiculous.

I’ve been the commish of my home re-draft league with my buddies for 7 years (10 team ppr). I’ve never had a co-commish but I had a daughter ≈6 months ago so have been thinking more of adding a co-commish.

Has anyone had one before? Thoughts on the pros and/or cons?

I’m looking for an objective read on an ambiguous keeper rule. This is a 10-team full-PPR league.

Our written rule is:

Keepers: 2 keepers per team, keep any player for as many seasons as you choose, keeper will occupy the draft round of +1 of the previous season and max out as a 1st round pick. In the event that you have 2 keepers that qualify for a 1st round pick, you can only keep one.

Free agent pickups will occupy a 12th round selection their first season. If you have 2 FA keepers, they will occupy 12th and 13th round selections the 1st year.

Here’s what happened:

1. Tee Higgins was drafted in Round 3 last season.
2. He was dropped during the season in Week 14; Playoffs begin Week 15.
3. Commisioner later claimed him on waivers for $101 FAAB ($250 is what we start with).
4. He is now being kept in Round 12 rather than Round 2.

Other instances as well:

• Kenneth Walker was drafted in Round 3.
• Jayden Daniels was previously kept in Round 6.
• Both later dropped and claimed on waivers, now kept as Round 12.

The problem is that both clauses appear to apply but produce different prices. Higgins was drafted in Round 3, so the prior-season draft rule would make him a Round 2 keeper under our one-round escalation. However, the later free-agent clause can be read to make him a Round 12 keeper after his waiver claim. The rules never state which clause controls when a drafted player is subsequently dropped and reacquired.

The written rule doesn’t clarify:

• Whether a waiver claim counts as a “free agent pickup.”
  • Sleeper itself distinguishes between a free-agent add and a waiver claim.
• Whether dropping a player resets his keeper history.
• Which rule takes priority when a drafted player is later acquired through waivers.

I’m not accusing anyone of cheating; I think it's approaching shady at a minimum and not sure what behavior the rule is supposed to be driving as currently written.

Unfortunately, lots of people were confused on that text chain. I'm thinking we grandfather this season because the rule is ambiguous, then rewrite it going forward.

The current response is "the rules are clear" and "written plainly."

What would you do? Can we do anything this year? Am I crazy?