Fantasy Syndicate League - 2024 - Discussion

[Exe Gesis]

I have created a new prize money league on MyFantasyLeague.com

Link to league home page: Fantasy Football: SYNDICATE LEAGUE

Seeking expressions of interest to join.
12 owners maximum (including me).
$30 entry fee. Wont ask for it till near end of season when prizes have to be paid out.
Depending on how much this league costs me will determine the allocation of prize money. But it will be something like either winner takes all, or a split between champion and runner-up, around the $250-300 total pool.

Basic league type/structure...

Dynasty type league.
Active roster size, 28
Starters, 16...
1 QB, 5 RWTs, 1 offensive flex (either a QB or RWT), 1 K, 1 P, 2 DL, 2 LB, 2 DB, 1 defensive flex (either DL, LB, DB)

Bench then is 12, with 6 for IR and 6 for Taxi (rookies only).
Maximum per position....3 QB, 10 RWT, 2 K, 2 P, 5 DL, 5 LB, 5 DB. (32 into 28 available spots).

You will be able to start bye players because there is no tanking for picks concept and no h2h results affecting division standings. If you suck each week, you suck each week with a 0-11 record. Won't affect how well/poorly others do in the standings.

Salary Cap league (100m)
Contracts for players.

No draft....the startup rosters will be acquired by an ongoing online email auction, bidding money from your available salary cap to fill your roster.
There'll be two auctions...April-June....vet only auction.....July-August....rookie only auction.
Both these auctions are open-view auctions, you will see who is being bid on, by whom, and for how much.

The Vet Auction...opening bid on players will be minimum 1m, with increments of 50k.
The Rookie Auction....opening bid on players will be minimum 500k, with increments of 50k.

After that, all weekly waiver acquisitions will be done nightly via a Blind Bidding Auction, again salary cap dollars based. Blind meaning you wont see who has been bid on, by whom, or for how much.

These waivers will be done by Conditional Blind Bidding......eg, bid 2,250,000 on Trevor Lawrence, but if i don't get him then 1,000,000 on Justin Fields.
Any "undrafted" rookies from the Rookie Auction will have a minimum salary of 1m like vets if acquired in waivers afterwards. But they'll at least be classified as (R) rookies that they could be put on your taxi squad.

So all free agents will have $0 salary and 0 contract, until acquired. Once acquired via a bid, they'll now have a salary and a contract (1).
Players acquired via auctions will have a default 3-5 year contract.
Players traded can have their contracts upped to maximum 5 years.

When a players contract runs out in the future, there'll be some kind of Feb-March period where people can choose something like 2 vets to re-sign, 1 to franchise tag, and x amount of rookies to re-sign. Players unsigned going back into the free agent pool for the Vet Auction.

Team owners can trade players for players and/or cap dollars (no draft picks remember). Kind of like a transfer system.

Might be a manual thing I have to do....Eg, you spent 1m on a player in 2024, and trade him for 4m....that 3m difference goes from one teams cap to the other teams cap for 2025. Am still pondering ideas on this, measures/conditions. But that's the gist of it.

The league has no divisions, it is a single table like the English Premier League. Whomever finishes top is the champion.

There are no h2h games. Your score each week will be versus every other league opponent. What is called All-Play. So if you have the highest weekly score week 1, you would be 11-0 (having beaten all other 11 teams if you matched up against them h2h). If you finish with the worst weekly score, you would have a record of 0-11. Each weeks results then tally up your overall All-Play record.

As this is a start-up league, the league will be open to changes if there are any glaring issues before the season starts. And open to tweaks for future years with an end of season ideas/suggestions voting.

 

[drd23]

No draft....the startup rosters will be acquired by an ongoing online email auction, bidding money from your available salary cap to fill your roster.
There'll be two auctions...April-June....vet only auction.....July-August....rookie only auction.
Both these auctions are open-view auctions, you will see who is being bid on, by whom, and for how much.

What do you mean by this? Is this the same as what the FA bidding is in Empire?

 

[Exe Gesis]

What do you mean by this? Is this the same as what the FA bidding is in Empire?

Same except whatever the winning bid is, is that players salary.

Difference....empire auction starts at 50k and that winning bid is just a cap hit on top of the players salary, the player already has a salary.....whereas syndicate....opening bid on a vet is 1m, say the winning bid ends up 1.55m, that IS the players salary for the term of his contract.

Fantasy points dont determine players salary in syndicate, only auction cost.

vet only auction....opening bid on a player is 1m.

rookie only auction....ooening bid on a player is 500k.

So their eventual auction price becomes their salary.

 

[Exe Gesis]

So all 12 franchises will open season 1 with zero players rostered. You will fill your roster thru a vet auction april-may-june. Using your 100m cap as bidding dollars. The winning bids automatically convert to players salaries. Theyll be given 3-5 yr contracts.

Then in july-august will be a rookie only auction. Again using your remaining cap dollars. And the winning bids again become the rookies actual salaries.

When the NFL season starts, everyone should have by then a 28 man active roster and max six rookies on taxi.

Instead of all that happening via drafts, it will be via auctions

In-season waivers will be conducted nightly via blind bidding auction waivers, like omega.

Players won in waivers will only have a 1 yr contract (like empire). And the winning bid amount again becomes their salary for the term of that contract.

If you get say Justin Fields in vet auction for 3m and 3 yrs....that will be his salary till his contract runs out. He will go back to a base 1m for that years vet auction.

Actually, that reminds me....i have to figure something out when you re-sign an off contract player....maybe then fantasy points are used.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Hopefully the more i write doesnt equal the more i confuse people

 

[BeinPurplenGreen]

Hopefully the more i write doesnt equal the more i confuse people

 

[Exe Gesis]

Full rules/FAQ for the league ....

Those who already play Empire will find this similar/familiar but with twists and differences....

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CALENDAR EVENTS AND RULES



FEBRUARY -- Off-Season

• League site is activated and paid for. Commish sets up new season.
• Off-season roster size is 56. Position limits - QB-6, RWT-20, PK-4, PN-4, DL-10, LB-10, DB-10, IR-6, Taxi-6.
• League members to pay $30 entry fee.
• Annual prize pool is $?? ... Winner takes all.
• League is a single table, top placed team end of the season is the champion, there is no h2h schedule, each week's results are based on All-Play W-L record.

MARCH to APRIL -- Re-Signings

• [Off-Contract Player Spreadsheet Link
• When a rostered player reaches 0 years contract he becomes a RFA.
• Create cap space by releasing unwanted RFAs.
• The spreadsheet lists all these RFA rookies and vets.
• Elect (no max) rookies to re-sign for 1-2 years contract.
• Elect (max 2) vets to re-sign for 2-3 years contract.
• Elect (max 1) vet to give a 1 year Exclusive Franchise Tag to. The cost of an exclusive tag is the same as the player's eventual salary.
• Any players chosen to be re-signed and franchise tagged will obtain a new salary based on their previous season's fantasy points scored multiplied by $20,000.
• Any players not re-signed will reset to a $1m salary and enter the vet auction player pool.

APRIL to JUNE -- Vet Auction

• Trading opens. Cutting contracted players is now enabled.
• The Auction period begins, conducted on the MFL site.
• On your team page, CUSTOMIZE/CONTACT INFO, ensure your email is entered and league-related notifications are ticked.
• Ensure your email is attached to your phone's email app and it's receiving notifications.
• The vet auction player pool consists of only free agent vets, including all released RFAs.
• Minimum opening bid is $1,000,000.
• Minimum bid increment is $50,000.
• When a player is bid on, a two day timer begins. A new high bid resets the timer. When the timer elapses, the player is won.
• All players won in the vet auction get a 3-5 year contract and the bid amount becomes the players salary for the term of his contract.

JULY to AUGUST -- Rookie Auction

• The rookie auction player pool consists of only free agent rookies.
• Minimum opening bid is $500,000.
• Minimum bid increment is $50,000.
• When a player is bid on, a two day timer begins. A new high bid resets the timer. When the timer elapses, the player is won.
• All players won in the rookie auction get a 3 year contract and the bid amount becomes the players salary for the term of his contract.

SEPTEMBER -- Blind Bidding Auction Waivers

• At the completion of the vet and rookie auctions, blind bidding auction waivers opens and operates 7 days a week for the rest of the season.
• Free agents can only be acquired via auction waivers.
• Free agents acquired via auction waivers retain a 1 year contract for the remainder of the season (unless traded).
• Auction Waivers operates by a conditional "group selection" method...
• Fill a "group" with multiple players, order them by priority.
• MFL will award you first available player from group one if you are the highest bidder, and the remaining claims in that group are voided.
• A maximum of 8 groups can be used per auction waiver day.
• To make auction waiver claims, select TRANSACTIONS > ADD/DROP from the menu. Populate more than one group if you desire to acquire more than one player.
• Auction Waiver tiebreakers are determined by worst to best All-Play record.
• Auction Waivers process at 7:15 pm AEST and immediately re-open for new auction waiver claims for processing the same time on the following night.

SEPTEMBER -- Deadlines

• September 1st - roster size and position limits are restored to their defaults.
• September 5th - you must bring your team under the cap and roster limits.
• The salary cap is $100m.
• Active roster size is 28. Position limits - QB-3 (4 including taxi), RWT-10, PK-2, PN-2, DL-5, LB-5, DB-5, IR-6, Taxi-6

REGULAR SEASON -- General Rules

• The salary cap is "soft". You can exceed it via trades and waivers but must get back under to submit a weekly lineup.
• Only players with an (IR) or (S) or (C) covid status can be placed on IR.
• Players with an (R) rookies status can be placed on Taxi.
• Players on Byes can be started.
• Rookies can be moved between Taxi and Active roster unlimited times.
• Players can be moved between IR and Active roster unlimited times.
• Ineligible players on IR and Taxi will prevent a weekly lineup submission.
• When a player is on IR, 50% of his salary counts against your cap.
• When a player is on Taxi, 0% of his salary counts against your cap.
• No cap exemption for cutting a retired or deceased player.
• Cutting a player incurs a cap charge of 20% of his salary multiplied by years left on his contract.
• All cap charges remain for the duration of the season.
• When trading for a player, you can retain their current contract or request a new 3-5 year contract if it's currently under 3-5 years.
• Any new contract always involves a new salary, devised by multiplying $20,000 by that player's fantasy points total from the previous season.
• Team owners can trade players for players and/or cap dollars. Cap dollars are taken from one team's cap and awarded to another team's cap, so a team can end up having a higher cap figure than 100m. Cap dollars acquired via trade will be brought forward for one year maximum.

 

[Chism]

How complicated is this crap!

Just do an old school Cut throat on ESPN for $50 a spot and winner takes all like we use to. So much better format and the waiver is always stocked which was cool.

I will be in that.

 

[BeinPurplenGreen]

I'm in.

I have no idea at all what I am in for, but I'm in.

 

[Exe Gesis]

How complicated is this crap!

Just do an old school Cut throat on ESPN for $50 a spot and winner takes all like we use to. So much better format and the waiver is always stocked which was cool.

I will be in that.

Fleaflicker is my go to site for free leagues, no longer ESPN.

cutthroat still runs every year, on fleaflicker.

This particular new start up prize money league is a dynasty format....but much smaller roster size than usual (so heaps of free agents), has a salary cap and expiring player contracts (cant keep them forever), but the added twist is there are no drafts whatsoever, everything is done via auctions, and you can trade players for cap dollars rather than draft picks.

Rules seem complex written all down like that, but its fairly easy to follow how you play or manage. Its a simpler offshoot of existing Empire league.

 

[Exe Gesis]

How complicated is this crap!

Just do an old school Cut throat on ESPN for $50 a spot and winner takes all like we use to. So much better format and the waiver is always stocked which was cool.

I will be in that.

It's an All-play league (no h2h), single EPL-like table, no divisions, no playoffs, winner takes all.

How you would play is simple really...

March.... youd have players on expired contracts, so first have to decide who to re-sign and who to let go, way to create cap space too.

April-June....a vet only open auction (instead of a start up draft to acquire your year one 28 man roster)

July-August....a rookie only open auction (instead of a rookie draft)....each new year will have a rookie only auction. No matter if you finished bottom or top, you have an equal chance at acquiring Marvin Harrison Jr, say, depending how much youre willing to spend to win him based on how much cap space you have.

Open auction means its like an ebay auction, people see the highest bid and can bid higher.

Waivers each week are based on blind bid auction waivers.

You submit a lineup each week.

You have a salary cap of 100m to try to stay within....all the player salaries (auction costs), and every time you cut a player incurs a dead money cap charge.

The trading aspect is new here, not done before in any other league. Say you have 15m cap space for 2024, you can trade 5m of your cap to another team for their star player on a 3m salary. 15m becomes 12m due to his salary, but 12m becomes 7m because youve given 5m to the other team. Effectively operating now on a 95m cap max for the year. The other person will take your 5m, and now have a cap max of 105m. Both you and his cap will carry forward for one future year at most.

All the while trying to field a team to win the league.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Elements of soccer transfer systems hybrid with a gridiron salary cap system. No drafts, just auctions. Can have a promising player on a cheap 1m salary, say, and trade him for 4m or maybe 8m, other team owners in a bidding war in PM. But your good management skills pushing your cap figure higher, becoming a ManU with more money to spend, while other teams managed badly and are operating with a lower cap ceiling.

A other way to look at it ...instead of trading a promising player for a future 1st round pick, youre trading for extra millions of dollars in cap space that will last one future year ahead.

Hypothetically you could end up with say 130m cap ceiling for 2024 and 2025, while other teams have made bad deals and operating on 80m cap for 2024 and 2025.

Eventually theyll reset back to 100m if no more trades done for money. But by then you might be in a pickle, having to get rid of players to get under 100m instead of 130m

 

[Exe Gesis]

A management tactic i can already see.....you bid really hard on a top rookie prospect. Doesnt matter if you exceed the cap, because you stash him on the taxi squad for a year where all salaries dont count toward your cap whilever they are still rookies, or, whilever they remain on taxi.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Has the potential to be an Empire-killer. Much more interesting in ways, simpler in ways, whilst also being as engaging with management dilemmas.

 

[Exe Gesis]

• Teams can elect to sell/trade or loan players...
• Trade -- players are sold for players and/or cap dollars on a permanent basis. Any cap dollars gained or lost are carried forward for one future year maximum.
• Loan -- players are loaned out for cap dollars only for a period of four weeks in-season, where both the player and the cap dollars are returned.
• The trade window opens in March and closes end of week 12. The loan window opens twice a season -- weeks 4-6, weeks 10-12.