How to Run an Auction for Fantasy Football

In a traditional fantasy football draft, your ability to draft top-tier talent is tied directly to your draft position. If you are given a low pick, you will likely miss out on the highest-ranked players. For this reason, many commissioners elect to conduct an auction draft instead. In this system, each team is given an imaginary bankroll for them to use to bid on players. Every team has an equal shot at every player. Running an auction in your own league can be done either online or in person.

Instructions

  1. Online

    • 1

      Create your fantasy football league through an online outlet. Some websites, like ESPN (espn.com), My Fantasy League.com (myfantasyleague.com) and RotoWire (rotowire.com), provide an option for auction league drafts and will conduct the auction for you. If an auction league isn't available, choose the offline draft option.

    • 2

      Invite owners to join and set up a draft time. This is the time all owners gather in a virtual draft room or when the auction will kick off on a message board or chat room. All owners must be present for the auction.

    • 3

      Organize your auction draft on a message board or chat room if your online service doesn't provide an option for an auction. Most fantasy football providers include a board or chat room on the league's main page. Other services, including Pro Boards (proboards.com), Boardhost (boardhost.com) and Aimoo (aimoo.com), let you create your own message board for the auction draft. Tell all league owners when the auction will start and end.

    • 4

      Post a thread or message for each football player. Start with one player and allow about 10 minutes for bids. Award the player to the owner who makes the winning bid and subtract the cost of the player from that team's bankroll. Create an order in which owners submit their bids to keep the auction organized. Auction drafts can be time-consuming, so don't dawdle.

    • 5

      Load your draft results into the online game when your auction has concluded and every team has a full roster.

    Live

    • 6

      Create a fantasy football league through an online provider and choose to conduct an offline draft.

    • 7

      Set a draft time and location. The draft time needs to work for every owner in the league. The location should be a room with tables and ample room for all owners.

    • 8

      Choose one owner to draw a player's name out of a hat. That owner can make the first bid on that player. Set an order among the owners for successive bids. If an owner is not interested in bidding on a particular player, he may pass. Go around the room until nobody wants to top the highest bid.

    • 9

      Record the winning bid and subtract the money total from that team's bankroll. Add the player to that team's roster.

    • 10

      Continue choosing players and making bids until all rosters are filled. Input the draft results into the fantasy football program you are using.