Plinko Draft
A Rule About [cat=’keepers’] Remember those days when you would fake being sick so that you could stay home from school to avoid taking that quiz in Social Studies? Instead,
The Most Charitable Draft
A Rule About Draft Randomization
The charitable spirit has always been alive and well in fantasy football. Stories of recurring league donations are commonplace. Recently, fantasy football generosity has gained even more momentum with the rise of leagues that put up donations as a form of “punishment” for owners who finish the season in last place. This is a great way to donate at the end of the football season, but what about the other times of the year? Here at MyCommishRules, we continue the tradition of giving by marrying philanthropy and the draft board.
Behold – THE MOST CHARITABLE FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT!
How It Works
Beginning on a date after the season is over, the league owners will vote on a charity to become the league’s “Charity of the Year”. During a specified timeframe, league owners may donate to this charity. Prior to the draft, the Commish tallies up the total amount donated by each owner. The owner who donated the most earns the #1 draft position and so on.
If one or more of the league owners donated the same amount (including $0), a variety of tiebreakers can be considered. One way to break a donation tie is to use the previous year’s standings to determine order. In this case the owner who finished lower in the standings would get the higher draft pick in this year’s draft. Another, more exciting way to break the tie is to open up another round of donations only between those two owners. The owner who donates the most in this additional round is awarded the higher draft position.
Nuts and Bolts
- After the season is over, have league owners nominate and vote on a charity that will be deemed Charity of the Year for the upcoming season.
- Dedicate a specific timeframe that will serve as “open season” for donations to the Charity of the Year. This time frame should be centered around the upcoming season’s draft. We suggest the open season be the 30 days prior to draft day.
- At the close of the open season (and prior to draft day), the Commish will tally the amounts donated by each league owner. The owner who donated the most, earns the #1 draft position, second most gets the #2 draft position, and so on.
- In the event of a donation amount tie, have a predetermined tiebreaker such as a new round of donations or use the reverse final standings from the previous season to determine which owner gets the higher pick.
Change Ups
When you are dealing with other people’s money, things can get sticky and complex. We get that asking your league owners to donate money can be difficult. If the owners in your league are the stingy type, we suggest placing a cap on the amount that can be donated. This can serve two purposes:
- An upper cap on the donation amounts can level the playing field a little bit for those who are not willing or able to drop $100 at once to get a high draft position.
- It will give owners a clear sense of what is expected of them in terms of how they can achieve the pick they hope to get. If the upper donation cap is $50, an owner can reasonably expect that a $50 donation will get them a top draft position whereas a $5 donation will likely find them drafting near the end of the first round.
Another adaptation to this rule would be to combine it with payment of league dues. Owners can be allowed to overpay on their league dues payments. The amount they overpay is their donation to the Charity of the Year. This way, you, as the Commish, will only need to request one transaction to get both the donations and the league dues paid on time, reducing headaches for all involved.
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