Live draft

how excited is everyone? I think it will be great (occasionally) and a nice option going forward, especially for private leagues.

JT

I am really excited! I think it is a great addition!

yet no one set up a 2012 draft for tonight

yet no one set up a 2012 draft for tonight

no, there's an open 2012 80 mil draft!

Live drafts are pretty good. I used to play with a bunch of ATG guys who live drafted just about every weekend. It never took off quite as much in 200x. There were in inordinate amount of no-cap related issues in the 200x live drafts I participated in, as it tended to draw more inexperienced or new players. There were a number of controversies in a much smaller number of 200x live draft leagues compared to no problems in the vet filled ATG leagues.

What controversies occurred? As a player who's considering my first live draft, I'm curious.

A few player dump issues and trade controversies, as there is no cap to self regulate what goes on. Bernie was contacted at least two or three times or more in the limited number of 200x live draft leagues I played. Once I made a trade that the whole league was on my case and they wanted me to reverse it. My team stunk, another guys team stunk. He wanted a closer and tried to get one from a few guys with no luck. He made me an offer(unsolicited) where he really over paid to get my closer(the best of the set). I accepted and an uproar followed. The only way he was going to get my closer was to overpay as there were really no decent closers left with the unlimited cap, so I wasn't going to give up mine easily. My team was just bad so I figured why not? Bernie eventually upheld the trade, which wasn't awful, just not an even swap. I remember this case because I was involved, but I would guess there were at least two or three more times where someone was just irrationally dumping players or making ridiculous trades because they were out of contention. I don't remember specifics because I just stayed out of the uproar, but at least two were bad situations. I do think the live drafts are a lot of fun, but in the 200x game they tend to draw more of the newer players and one bad apple can spoil a league. I wouldn't let it scare you away, but it is something you should be aware of. As I said, I probably played 30 ATG live drafts without a problem, but there was a known crew of consistent participants who were mostly solid vets or enthusiastic newcomers.

Now that you can have live drafting and a salary cap there shouldn't be too many problems. For me much of the fun exists because of the cap and I don't see myself playing in leagues without a cap. Live drafting with a cap is the ticket for me.

I am surprised at the small number of Live Draft Leagues created and the small number of owners who have joined a Live Draft League during the first weekend that it was available. My opinion is that owners don't want to be the commish of a league they create....sounds like work to them. Also finding 12 owners that can attend a live draft at a specific time and day is a problem. I joined 1 league (ATG) and the draft ran smooth, no problems and it took only 1 hour. I am hoping to see more mystery card leagues with a normal $80 million cap starting soon. I created a 80's league on Friday night but not 1 owner signed up for it so I left it and it disappeared from the list.

It was not very popular with TSN in the 200x game. It is much more popular in ATG. Most of the 200x players who play a lot did not play the Live Draft format when TSN had it available.