Creating a Lions-Friendly Fantasy Football League

The evolution of fantasy football has brought the general manager experience into the hands of the fans.  There is so much more to the game than simple lineup decisions. 

While luck plays a large role in determining the outcome of a fantasy season, proactive player management is the key to success in most leagues.  The concept of "buying low" and "selling high" is the foundation, and the ability to package players in creative and mutually beneficial trades is essential. 

This, however, is not reflective of how many NFL franchises operate.  The prime example is the Detroit Lions—they can stay unproductive year after year, yet the franchise is still profitable.  As the commissioner of my own fantasy league, I sought to replicate this phenomenon. 

The result, a self-funded league with a profit redistribution system.

With a profit redistribution system, I am able to fund the league simply through transaction fees and remove team fees entirely.  The basic premise is that teams will initially pay nothing or a small amount to cover fixed league costs: trophy/engraving, league website, draft materials (including beer,) etc. 

The payouts for the winners would be a set percentage of the transaction fees collected for add/drops, trades, and possibly for "keeper" options as well. 

Those fees would be substantially higher than the average, at around $10 per transaction.  At the end of the year, 80% of the fees will go to the league winner(s) and the remaining 20% would be redistributed back to the participant teams based on their regular season record. 

Now, for the most part, the funds distributed would act as "transaction credit" and fees due would just be subtracted from this amount. 

However, for the Matt Millens of the league (who make no transactions and finish in the bottom of the league,) they would still make a profit.

Here is an example of how this could work:

A 10-team league with zero expenses generates 120 transactions for the year, which amounts to $1,200 in fees. 

Eighty percent of the $1,200 goes to prizes for the top three teams after the playoffs, which will total $960. 

The remaining $240 gets distributed back to the league.  In this 10-team league, the top team gets 10 "shares," the second place team gets 9 "shares," and so on.  Now we just add the total number of shares (10+9+8...+1,) which equals 55. 

The first place team will receive 10/55 (18.3 percent) of the $240, which is $43.68.  The team in last place gets 1/55 of the pot (1.8%) or $4.37.  The percentage of fees to redistribute is up to the individual commissioner, but the impact of a 50 percent redistribution would be interesting to say the least.

This is clearly a system for the geekiest of geeky fantasy football commissioners, but I know there are a silent army of us.  To increase revenue, the commissioner may consider reducing bench spots on rosters to compel teams to make more transactions, but the problem with this and with most fantasy leagues is the post-season collections. 

To combat this, I would advise a $100 franchise fee which is returned when the fund redistribution occurs at the end of the season.  The net result is that teams have essentially pre-paid for 10 transactions (at $10 each,) so there will be considerably less to collect.

Once this system is implemented, the league can take the "buy low, sell high" stock market analogy to another level. 

The more tech-savvy commissioners can graph profit forecasts and assess franchise value based upon projected standings.  Owners can use this data to determine how individual trades will affect the bottom line. 

While it may create an environment where the less successful teams are more reluctant to make transactions toward the end of the season, it still encourages teams to improve their place in the standings, as that affects their payout. 

A further safeguard would be to charge owners per loss, but I have always found that policy to be too extreme.

Now you have the information needed to produce your own NFL mirror where poor management will be rewarded!