First of all, I hope I've put this thread in it's proper location.
So me and my friends have typically done redraft leagues on nfl.com/fantasy (Same as CBS I understand) for the past few years. We really like the simple but very user friendly layout of that site.
But we are looking for a bit more of a challenge these days, and seeing as we typically have the same group of guys from year to year we decided to give a dynasty league a try. I've basically been nominated as the commissioner so I need to decide on a website to use.
I'd greatly appreciate if you guys can give me some pointers and suggest a good website.
Here are some things I'm looking at when making my decision.
#1 Cost: I realize there's probably going to be a cost for these types of services. We've never paid for a league in the past, but we will be willing to chip in a few bucks for a REASONABLY priced website. 130$ for a league is NOT reasonable. I hang out with a bunch of unemployed bums and getting everyone to toss in an extra 12-15$ for administrative costs that won't even go towards prizes is not something I'll be able to do.
#2 Real time scoring: It's a must. I will instantly ignore any website that doesn't offer it or charges an arm and a leg to get it like lame yahoo.
#3 Off line drafting ability. We want to do a draft party, or at the very least maybe draft on a message board giving each person enough time to analyze their decision and not feel rushed.
#4 Customization: Probably interested in doing a PPR league. Probably interested in fractional scoring. Would really like to be able to customize for return yardage and such as well. And obviously league size, roster size, and draft length. Last but not least, must be able to customize waiver system (refuse to do instant pickups on game day.... first come first serve system is LAME!!!!!)
#5 Year round league access. Not a must, but it would certainly be nice. Also, we would really like the ability to trade draft picks and have the website remember these trades from year to year. IE, trade a player this year for a pick next.
#6 Other suggestions from people who have done this in the past?
I'd really appreciate any and all useful info you can think of for a commissioner interested in setting up one of these leagues. Website advice especially, but also anything else you can think of that would be useful such as what type of scoring system works well for you.
Portlis X wrote:#1 Cost: I realize there's probably going to be a cost for these types of services. We've never paid for a league in the past, but we will be willing to chip in a few bucks for a REASONABLY priced website. 130$ for a league is NOT reasonable. I hang out with a bunch of unemployed bums and getting everyone to toss in an extra 12-15$ for administrative costs that won't even go towards prizes is not something I'll be able to do.
MFL is $80 if you buy before August, which is much better value than most pay sites.
Portlis X wrote:#2 Real time scoring: It's a must. I will instantly ignore any website that doesn't offer it or charges an arm and a leg to get it like lame yahoo.
Included
Portlis X wrote:#3 Off line drafting ability. We want to do a draft party, or at the very least maybe draft on a message board giving each person enough time to analyze their decision and not feel rushed.
MFL offer slow email style drafts. Basically you draft on the website but can have long draft clocks (e.g. a day).
If you hold it offline you can always use the Import option.
Portlis X wrote:#4 Customization: Probably interested in doing a PPR league. Probably interested in fractional scoring. Would really like to be able to customize for return yardage and such as well. And obviously league size, roster size, and draft length. Last but not least, must be able to customize waiver system (refuse to do instant pickups on game day.... first come first serve system is LAME!!!!!)
This is the real strength of MFL. The level of customisation in not just the scoring and settings, tbut the look and content of the league site is ridiculous.
They offer many waiver settings including blind bidding.
Portlis X wrote:#5 Year round league access. Not a must, but it would certainly be nice. Also, we would really like the ability to trade draft picks and have the website remember these trades from year to year. IE, trade a player this year for a pick next.
Everything catered for here.
One thing I will warn you is that some people at first can find it a bit daunting and confusing because there's so much there and getting the right page layouts and settings isn't the most intuitive around. But if you take the time to learn how to customise it to your needs I doubt you'll be disappointed.
For what it's worth, MFL will let you completely set up your league for free. There is no obligation to pay until the season rolls around.
One more question that I have for those of you who do dynasty rookie only drafts. How many rounds do you suggest with a 12 team league? And how many roster slots?
I'm thinking 3 rounds for rookies and 20 roster slots. Does this sound normal?
One more question that I have for those of you who do dynasty rookie only drafts. How many rounds do you suggest with a 12 team league? And how many roster slots?
I'm thinking 3 rounds for rookies and 20 roster slots. Does this sound normal?
The dynasty rookie-only drafts I'm in have a minimum of 4 rounds. They range in size from 21 to 30. And, I endorse MFL, too.
I've played on CBS for years and still believe that if all of the fantasy sites didn't cost a thing it would be the powerhouse. Most folks around here go for the cheapest option possible and they end up with MFL as the best answer.
And for the record, MFL is actually the best for a dynasty...for now. This is the case simply because it allows trading of draft picks and it's relatively easy (not perfect at all) to move everything over from year to year.
All of the "customization" you get with it actually is a massive pain in the arse. For the people who have a ton of time to spend customizing it, I'm sure it's pretty good. It still doesn't allow the type of customizable stats that CBS does (for those of you who say that's not the case, go to MFL and tell me which RB was ranked 25th in overall yards from scrimmage, then tell me how long it took you to find that out; I can do it on CBS in about 2 minutes with most of that time simply getting to the website). And the "out of the box" software is terrible. However if you and your entire league has a ton of time to devote to how your site looks instead of doing "real work" on your fantasy team then this might not be an issue for you.
I run a keeper league on CBS and I couldn't imagine moving the site over to MFL. Maybe my guys are savvy enough to understand MFL, but I think it would be even worse coming from CBS where everyone is familiar. If your league has a ton of super savvy computer geeks it probably won't matter. For my league, this would be a disaster.
They have a "free trial league" option on their front page. I suggest you and your crew give it a shot before buying in. You may feel that the late 90s website layout doesn't bother you and then it's certainly is the best option.
biju wrote:All of the "customization" you get with it actually is a massive pain in the arse. For the people who have a ton of time to spend customizing it, I'm sure it's pretty good. It still doesn't allow the type of customizable stats that CBS does (for those of you who say that's not the case, go to MFL and tell me which RB was ranked 25th in overall yards from scrimmage, then tell me how long it took you to find that out; I can do it on CBS in about 2 minutes with most of that time simply getting to the website). And the "out of the box" software is terrible. However if you and your entire league has a ton of time to devote to how your site looks instead of doing "real work" on your fantasy team then this might not be an issue for you.
I know I'm always looking for total yards from scrimmage
For someone that complains about the time it takes to set up MFL, it took a bit for me to scroll through the list of fields then name that field to generate your little report in CBS. I guess I don't see how that is any different, setting up some custom reports on CBS than setting up your layout on MFL Just because you are more comfortable doesn't mean it is better - if that were the case I would still be on Yahoo
biju wrote:All of the "customization" you get with it actually is a massive pain in the arse. For the people who have a ton of time to spend customizing it, I'm sure it's pretty good. It still doesn't allow the type of customizable stats that CBS does (for those of you who say that's not the case, go to MFL and tell me which RB was ranked 25th in overall yards from scrimmage, then tell me how long it took you to find that out; I can do it on CBS in about 2 minutes with most of that time simply getting to the website). And the "out of the box" software is terrible. However if you and your entire league has a ton of time to devote to how your site looks instead of doing "real work" on your fantasy team then this might not be an issue for you.
I know I'm always looking for total yards from scrimmage
For someone that complains about the time it takes to set up MFL, it took a bit for me to scroll through the list of fields then name that field to generate your little report in CBS. I guess I don't see how that is any different, setting up some custom reports on CBS than setting up your layout on MFL Just because you are more comfortable doesn't mean it is better - if that were the case I would still be on Yahoo
Unless your RBs don't get points for receiving yards, why wouldn't you want to know total yards?
You specifically asked from this thread last time which customizable stats CBS had that MFL didn't which is exactly why I pointed this out. Now that I have found that it seems that the reaction is to quickly compare apples to oranges. I'm assuming you already decided you couldn't do that in MFL which is why you deflected the question, but I'll be glad to wait for an answer as long as you can explain how you did it on that website.
There are lots of people who talk about how great that customization is, but I've yet to hear a single reason *why* I need that. I'm sure one exists as to why I couldn't live without it, but I just haven't heard that answer. I think it's self explanatory why someone would want total yards--give me your example of what MFL has that CBS does not and why I shouldn't live without it. Oh, and it needs to be fantasy football relevant.
Disclaimer: I did forget to also put in my standard disclaimer when I talk about this so I should do so now. My job *is* website usability, so naturally I can pick apart lots of things with both websites. But that also means I take the approach of "Could my grandmother use this?" Yes, I'm aware that my grandmother isn't playing fantasy football but when you're doing this kind of work that's one of the approaches we follow, along with many others.
biju wrote:All of the "customization" you get with it actually is a massive pain in the arse. For the people who have a ton of time to spend customizing it, I'm sure it's pretty good. It still doesn't allow the type of customizable stats that CBS does (for those of you who say that's not the case, go to MFL and tell me which RB was ranked 25th in overall yards from scrimmage, then tell me how long it took you to find that out; I can do it on CBS in about 2 minutes with most of that time simply getting to the website). And the "out of the box" software is terrible. However if you and your entire league has a ton of time to devote to how your site looks instead of doing "real work" on your fantasy team then this might not be an issue for you.
I know I'm always looking for total yards from scrimmage
For someone that complains about the time it takes to set up MFL, it took a bit for me to scroll through the list of fields then name that field to generate your little report in CBS. I guess I don't see how that is any different, setting up some custom reports on CBS than setting up your layout on MFL Just because you are more comfortable doesn't mean it is better - if that were the case I would still be on Yahoo
Unless your RBs don't get points for receiving yards, why wouldn't you want to know total yards?
You specifically asked from this thread last time which customizable stats CBS had that MFL didn't which is exactly why I pointed this out. Now that I have found that it seems that the reaction is to quickly compare apples to oranges. I'm assuming you already decided you couldn't do that in MFL which is why you deflected the question, but I'll be glad to wait for an answer as long as you can explain how you did it on that website.
There are lots of people who talk about how great that customization is, but I've yet to hear a single reason *why* I need that. I'm sure one exists as to why I couldn't live without it, but I just haven't heard that answer. I think it's self explanatory why someone would want total yards--give me your example of what MFL has that CBS does not and why I shouldn't live without it. Oh, and it needs to be fantasy football relevant.
Disclaimer: I did forget to also put in my standard disclaimer when I talk about this so I should do so now. My job *is* website usability, so naturally I can pick apart lots of things with both websites. But that also means I take the approach of "Could my grandmother use this?" Yes, I'm aware that my grandmother isn't playing fantasy football but when you're doing this kind of work that's one of the approaches we follow, along with many others.
The fantasy points are already calculated on both sites based on your scoring, so why do you need total yards, when you can look at total fantasy points Yes, I did ask the question, and yes, I wasn't able to get the specific criteria you asked, but as I mentioned, what do you need it for.
There are a number of templates that are out there for MFL that you can use. You continue to say that it takes weeks or years to customize it to your specifications to even get it remotely usable which is not correct either. Anyone that has played fantasy football or used a FF website before should be able to find everything that they need in order to compete.
biju wrote:There are lots of people who talk about how great that customization is, but I've yet to hear a single reason *why* I need that.
So, on CBS you are creating this customized report and I don't see a single reason why I would need that
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by Portlis X » Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:05 pm 
Just because you are more comfortable doesn't mean it is better - if that were the case I would still be on Yahoo 
