Consolation Bracket - Keeper League

[Battlecreek Dragon]

Just a quick question here.

We have a 16 team keeper league where you can keep up to 4 players, but don't have to keep any. Picks forfeited for keepers depend on when the player was drafted in the prior year. We also have a consolation bracket for teams that don't make the championship playoff.

The consolation prize has always been the 1st pick in next year's draft and I know that is a fairly common feature.

It was suggested that the consolation bracket winner should get his choice of what 1st round draft pick he wants and not have to accept the 1st pick if he would rather have a later pick.

I got to thinking that this sounded like a good idea, but realized the keepr format makes that be something that could be manipulated pretty severely. A lower tier team with a solid stud could win the playoff and elect to keep his stud with a late 1st round pick and get an early 2nd round pick if you use a serpentine draft. (It probably makes sense to use the serpentine draft since keepers will be somewhat scattered all over the draft board.)

Should you allow the consolation winner to get his choice of picks and manipulate the draft or do you force him to take the 1st pick overall?

[King Colt]

Interesting question.

I think that you should go with the rules that you have in place, and absent a firm rule, you have to go with precedent. If you started the season with a precedent of giving the Toilet Bowl Champ #1 overall, you have to do that again this season. Never change horses in mid-stream.

That said, have any dissatisfied owners propose that rule change for next season and put it to a league vote. We usually have a voting session before the draft starts to cover any rule changes, with discussion and lobbying for a few weeks prior.

We have considered adopting a "draft" for draft position - Toilet Bowl gets 1st crack at their choice of draft slot, Super Bowl Champ gets last. It isn't unfair, provided the owners have elected to use this system.

If you are stuck with the Toilet Bowl champ getting #1 overall and he doesn't want it, she has the option to trade down if they believe it will be beneficial to do so. Every owner values the various draft slots differently. Surely someone will be interested in the #1 overall.

[Battlecreek Dragon]

BUMP (1 and only)

Any other opinions?

Agreed that a mid season change is probably not in order, but what do you think of the concept in general?