Last Place Ideas

[rysano]

Hi,

I am commish for an 8 team (all-star) roto league.

It's a prize league (winner takes all) with transaction fees for trades and add/drop.

This is our 3rd year and I have been trying to figure out a way to keep last place teams interested for the whole season.

Now that the All-Star Break is around the corner, teams on the bottom are realizing that there is zero chance of them making a comeback (especially in an 8 team league).

Anybody have any suggestions as to what incentives i can add to the league so the teams on the bottom dont give up.

I was thinking about waiving next years entry fee and giving them 1st pick, but one of the teams on the bottom had 1st pick this yr and there is no gaurentee they would want to participate next yr.

thanks

[bigmck]

If you have an 8-team league and you are playing mixed (both AL and NL) there is no skill to playing at all. Every team has an all-star roster and if some one gets hurt you can pick up another all star off of waivers. It is impossible to make your team better since everyone has good teams. == Try getting 12 owners and using players from only one league. This will give everyone an incentive to make trades as there are no good players on the waiver wire. It needs to be a Keeper League. Even if you are in last place you can make trades to help your team for next year. == Your idea of waiving the entry fee for the last place team won't help. Guys will be trading off their players trying to come in last place to avoid the fee. == The best way is to get responsible owners who will take care of their teams. Don't do an online league. Get together with some friends and meet for the draft. It is a lot more fun and if everyone knows each other, they are more likely to stay active in the league. == I might have gotten away from your original question, but I hope I have helped.

[RDD15]

The point of waiving next season's entry fee for the last place finisher is extremely valid. You absolutely CANNOT do this, as it will cause several teams to intentionally tank.

What I would do is to pay out to every place, 1-7. 8th gets zero. This won't be doable for this season, but starting next year, the winner take all format can go away, and 2-7 can get paid too. Each position should get paid slightly less than the one ahead of them. That creates constant reason to strive for that one more position in the standings. Now, 7th place might only get like 1 or 2% of the prize pool, but that is better than being in 8th place and getting nada.

[GFBase32]

My leagues always have a playoff cash tournament for the top teams and the bottom teams.
Sometimes we have 2 brackets and sometimes 3 brackets, each with a cash prize.
Obviously teams 1-4 playoff for the big prize, 5-8 small prize, and 9-12 play for a prize just big enuf to ensure owners keep active.
Top seeded team in each bracket gets to choose his first round playoff opponent.

My league mates have always chided me for giving a last place team a chance to win cash, but I have never had a problem with bottom dwelling teams losing interest.