- Auctions mean action. Auctions, by their very
nature, are exciting and fast-paced. Things that are being sold are put
up for bids and everyone has a chance to bid on every item. You don’t
have to make one draft pick and then sit on your hands for the next 20
minutes while other managers stretch the time limits of every single pick before you get to select again. You have the opportunity to bid on every player that comes up. You can also follow prices to determine values for players you want to purchase.
- Auctions are fair. As said above, every fantasy team manager can
bid on every player. There is no random draw that relegates you to a
spot late in the draft where you have no opportunity to get each year’s
consensus top players. While you can still build a good team using a
regular draft, you have the opportunity to build a great team by buying
players at an auction. Unless you are in a dynasty league where the
first team gets the first pick in the next year’s draft, then you should
switch to an auction draft. A redraft league is no more like the NFL
then an auction draft would be.
- Auctions are not fair. Auctions can also be unfair. While
every manager can bid on every player at an auction, not everyone will
be prepared enough to know how much to bid on players at the auction.
While everyone can follow cheat sheets and end up with a decent team in a
snake draft, not everyone will be able to have enough foresight,
self-control and savvy to come home a true auction winner. If you think
you spend more time and care more about your league then some of your
fellow league managers, then you should always want to do an auction
draft. Those who properly prepare for an auction will come away winners.
In one league I have been in for the past 15 years, we did not go to
an auction draft for several years. This was because we were worried about some managers doing so
poorly, that it would upset competitive balance in the league. The truth was, when we switched, the best managers still did well using the auction format. So, if you
want to support a league model that props up poor managers and
gives everyone an equal chance of winning the league, keep doing a
snake draft. If, on the other hand, you want to do any of the following:
- Reward hard work and dedication to the league
- Allow those willing to spend extra time to succeed
- Approve of active managers who may take advantage of poor ones
Then you should embrace auction
drafts. Doing so will allow the best players to win your league and
whatever may be associated with doing so.
- Auctions create opportunity. Having an auction
draft gives you, as a manager, the opportunity to construct your team any
way you see fit. You can start fast or slow, or build your team
instantly, or over the entire extent of the auction. The key is to be
prepared for the opportunities as they arise. There are always going to
be a few places in an auction where a player slips through the cracks
and you need to be ready to purchase them when they do. One or two buys
at an auction draft can change your team from good to great.
- Auctions are great competition. There are two ways
you get to compete in an auction. The first is head-to-head against the managers who like the same players you do. There is a certain kind of
satisfaction when you win the bid against your hated league rival. The
second competition is much more important: winning at building your
entire team. While your rival may have paid more than you for one
certain player, that extra few dollars they burned may give you the edge
in building your entire roster.
- Auctions are fun. I think we would all agree that
draft night is one of the highlights of the year. Even perennially
horrible managers in your league are filled with optimism that this year’s
team is going to bring them a championship. We all enjoy making fun of players who make picks we think are horrible, or try to draft stud
players four rounds after they have already been taken. Auctions just
double this fun, as instead of one player making a bad pick, we can make
fun of every manager who bids on some injury-prone, on-the-downhill
player who we think is a total waste of their auction budget. Another way
auctions can be more entertaining is to use an auctioneer and have a
live auction. While there is great software for doing online drafts and
auctions, I think half the fun is having everyone in the same room. You
can still use technology, but I would still highly recommend everyone
being together for your draft. I would always recommend having a
non-league member run your auction, or even your regular draft for that
matter. As an manager, you need to have your full attention on drafting or
bidding. A good auctioneer will keep the auction moving, convince some managers to overpay, and be able to join when everyone makes fun of the
player who just paid too much for a player on the PUP list. If you want to take your auction draft to the next level, contact us to have a professional auctioneer do your draft event.
- Auctions Provide Clarity. Auctions allow you to see
the individual worth of each player, one at a time. In a typical snake
draft, you have to try to predict how other participants will value players.
You are forced to guess if you need to take a player in round three, or
try to risk them coming back to you in round four. This gets even worse
the farther in a snake draft you go, as the informed fantasy player may be more
aware of rising sleepers, while managers using dated cheat sheets won’t
even have them on their lists. It becomes difficult to properly estimate
which round you have to take a player you would like to have on your
team. You do not know if, or how many, other managers want the same player
you do. With auctions, the actual value of each player is knows at the
time of sale. You get to see everyone who is interested in each player
and have the opportunity to “like them a little more” by paying an extra
dollar for them. Knowing the actual value of a player gives the smart fantasy manager greater flexibility in creating their team. It allows you to work
within your budget to purchase the players you want to have on your
team. The snake draft too often leaves you in the dark, as values stay
unknown until an actual pick is made, and you can miss out on players you
really wanted on your team.
- Auctions are Dynamic. No two auction drafts will be
the same. If you have participated in several leagues or done enough
mock drafts, you get a good idea of what round most players are going to
go. Most good sites will tell you to pay attention to ADP, or Average
Draft Position, and you can calculate within a round or so. In an
auction, however, due to the limited number of roster spots available,
uneducated managers, and those who may get carried away during the
bidding, the auction budget cheat-sheets may not even be close.
(This is a great reason to have your draft at a sports bar. My main
league used Buffalo Wild Wings for 5 or 6 years, although sometimes it gets a little noisy for a live auction. In a snake draft, even
an fantasy manager under the influence is going to get their tops picks right and
still be able to pick decent players. In an auction draft, even a
slightly intoxicated competitor can get totally carried away in the bidding
process, allowing you better opportunities elsewhere. That is why I
advocate waiting to indulge until after the auction draft is completed,
and then you can celebrate your winning team to your heart’s content.)
Anyway, you never know how an auction draft will go. If the same competitors had two auction drafts back-to-back, the results would end up totally different. A certain
position may sell higher than typical, which means other positions have
to sell cheaper. You have to be ready and willing to change strategies
on the fly at an auction, which can either be nerve-racking if you are
unprepared, or exhilarating if you are ready.