Fantasy Football For Dummies. Martin A. Schulman

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more likely to get bored and quit. Leagues may be decided by these no-shows. If you’re eager to chat and talk smack, but not many of the coaches want to rant football with you, you may soon realize that this league is a bad fit for you. Furthermore, most free public leagues don’t have a commissioner (although some do allow one of its coaches to act as commissioner). Not having a commissioner means having to live with default settings, public trade votes, and obnoxious coaches. An acting commish/coach can be reasoned with when there are disputes and can help make a league run more smoothly.

      Anyone can sign up for a free public league. Just surf to the fantasy pages of the league provider and click fantasy football. Either you’ll be randomly assigned to a public league or you can choose from a list of public leagues based on league size and the time of the league’s live or auto draft.

      Pay public leagues

      Pay public leagues are similar to free public leagues, with the exception that you have to pay money to play. (No surprises there, right?) The amount you pay depends on the league. Often, when fantasy coaches grow tired of dominating their free public league, they seek out a public pay league to feed the need for competition.

      

When you pay to play, you’re in essence paying for access to different features including expert advice, real-time scoring during games, a draft kit with team previews and player rankings, depending on the site. (Make sure you read the league default settings and the site’s rules before you make your payment to know what you’re getting for your money.) By committing your hard-earned dollars to fantasy football, you give yourself the incentive to prepare for the draft and play out the season, no matter what happens. The other coaches will feel the same way, and the competition will be better because of it.

      So how do you sign up for a pay public league, and how much money will you spend? After reviewing your options, just follow the provider’s links to their payment options from their fantasy football main page. Your monetary commitment depends on your personal budget and what you’re willing to spend. There are contests in various formats for just about any budget range, the draw being higher payouts proportional to your entry fees. DFS leagues are primarily pay public leagues but can also be customized with private league settings.

      

Despite all the benefits of playing in a public pay league, it does have some of the same drawbacks as a free public league. (Check out the previous section.)

      Joining the private sector: An invitation required

A private league isn’t as secretive or exclusive as it sounds. Fantasy coaches are invited to play by another fantasy player in the league (often by the commissioner). So when Joe from Accounting invites you to join his league with his buds, Joe is the commissioner and you’re in essence joining a private league. The league’s website provider doesn’t randomly group fantasy players together like in a public league, and the commissioner customizes the rules and setup.

      

The only way you can play in a private league is if someone invites you (or you set up your own private league). Private leagues tend to be more good-naturedly competitive and more fun than public leagues, and they’re a great bonding tool. In fact, a private league is where fantasy football was meant to be played. Your league name and team names can be inside jokes that all the coaches are in on. You’ll probably see or talk to the other coaches in your league regularly, so now you’ll have even more to talk about.

      Most sites require a private league to have a commissioner to run the show. The commissioner runs the league by collecting the dues (if applicable), setting the league rules, reviewing trades, and so on. The commish also plays in the leagues. A good commish can help his or her league flourish for years, but a bad commish may discourage coaches from signing up next season. Either way, the buck stops with the commish, so when you have questions or complaints, you’ll be heard quickly. (For more on the commish’s role, see the “Starting Your Own League: You Want to Be a Commissioner?” section later in this chapter.)

      As with public leagues, private leagues offer both free and pay varieties. The following sections break them down.

      Free private leagues

      A free private league means there are no league dues to be paid, but you still need an invite to join. The commissioner can customize the rules and scoring settings and select a draft time.

      

Just like in free public leagues, when coaches don’t have any money invested in playing, they may not be as dedicated to the game. Even if you know all the coaches in a free private league, someone will probably quit before the season is over, I promise. Quitting is less likely in a private league, but consider yourself warned.

Most league providers save their best tools and expert advice for their premium services (in other words, for the pay leagues where players give money to the site). If you don’t sign up for the site’s services, you should consider surfing around to research your draft prep, and perhaps sign up for an expert pay service like Rotowire, Fantasy Pros, or Pro Football Focus. If that sounds like too much work, I recommend paying for the premium features from your league site such as ESPN+ or Yahoo! Fantasy+.

      Pay private leagues

      Joining a pay private league is the best way to play the game, in my humble opinion. A pay private league is by invitation only and has an entry fee that covers the site fees as well as cash awards and prizes. You get the same advantages in a pay private league as you do in a pay public league if you put in money through the league provider (check out “Pay public leagues” earlier in this chapter). To sweeten the deal, though, you get to play with your friends or coworkers in a pay private league.

      

I don’t think you need to play for big money to have fun; just make the fee enough for coaches to care about their teams and play to win. Of course, that amount has to be determined by the commish and the rest of the league.

Identifying Other Important Considerations

      When determining what type of league you want to play in (private versus public; check out the previous section), you have to choose a specific type of game. Every league has variables that affect how tough it is to play the game and how tough it will be to defeat your foes. These different considerations can make a game more competitive or more casual. What do you want from your fantasy experience? Keep these other considerations in mind as you decide:

       Draft type: Most fantasy leagues utilize either a snake draft or a salary cap draft. For more info on each type, check out Chapter 4. If you’re new to fantasy football, I suggest that you join a league that operates in the traditional, casual

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