Too many fantasy teams in my league

LaPuzza

So, my fantasy football league has gotten huge. We were 12 teams last year, up from 8. Now we are in danger of being 16 this year.

Traditionally, we are not serious football fans but most of us try hard. We are very low on trade volume, as most adds come if the wire.

I don't want to split the league, but the size worries me. I am thinking about how to keep things fair. We run 2rbs, 2 wrs, te and a swing rb/wr/te.

I am trying to decide what to do. Should I maybe cut the second rb? Maybe add or subtract a bench spot?

How do you keep things fun in a league where you have too many teams? Does anyone, as an owner or commissioner have any advice on what to do our not do?

TheDrifter

We had 14 in our local league last year...and that was already just too many. Bye weeks were a real pinch at QB (and, sometimes defense...though that matters much less).

I think dropping one of the RB slots or converting it to a second flex position would probably be wise. Just to relieve some pressure there.

For bench, I'd make sure everyone has just a reasonable amount to carry backups. Depending on the group, dont want one or two people trying to corner the market on QBs in what it going to be a very QB starved league midseason.

In the end, we dropped back down to 12 this year. I think everyone knew 14 just busted things. No one is happy about having to choose between Blaine Gabbert and Matt Leinart.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

You could just tell the new guys you aren't willing to expand past 12 or 14. On the other hand if 10 of the 12 current players want to expand, why not?

There's nothing really unfair about a big league. Fantasy football is highly random anyway; big leagues just make that more obvious.

I would maybe go to a qb/rb/wr/2flex/te format rather than a qb/2rb/2wr/flex/te format; that's one less player for everyone to play each week, and gives people more flexibility. Also limit bench slots to discourage hoarding (especially if you don't trade much.)

You could also do an auction, to keep people from feeling put out by their draft position

zepherin

Big leagues can be fun too. You get to use players who are really deep and it makes for some interesting machups and player choices. My prefered league is 12, but I could get into a 16 person league. It'll be the only time I seriously consider drafting Sam bradford.

Griswold

I'm of the opinion that 12 is the absolute max for a league to remain fun. Rosters either get too thin, or the number of starters at each position becomes so small that draft order skews the power level of teams by an unacceptable amount.

I would look to either split the league or cap it at 12.

jefe414

My league was 12 last year and now it stands at 14 with a big risk of hitting 16. I'm not looking forward to it for the first time in years.

zepherin

Griswold, I think at 16 an auction system would mitigate the power shift instead of a snake draft. Although even a snake would make it so that draft position wasn't too bad. Because the 1st draft position is going to have 30 players go before he can draft again.

Darkewolfe

An auction system with a big group is a pain in the ass and a half, especially once you get into the season and into waiver wire pick-ups. No one has any fun, everyone is frustrated by their picks, etc.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

doing an auction draft doesn't impact waivers at all; you don't have to use a bid system for in season pickups

if you're really serious you can auction week one waiver positions along with players; otherwise just assign them randomly