How to become a fantasy football league commisioner

The earliest recorded fantasy football leagues started in the 1960s. Players submitted lineups via telephone and the league commissioner would tabulate results with newspaper box scores and a calculator. The Internet has made information more readily available to fantasy football players, but every fantasy football league still needs someone to organize the league. Each fantasy football league is different, with unique rules and guidelines that each team owner must follow. It is up to the league's commissioner to enforce rules and settle disputes.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer with Internet access
  • An owner for each fantasy team
  • Television
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Instructions

  1. Setting Up Your League

    • 1

      Determine how many teams will be in your league. The number of teams in each fantasy football league differs from league to league. Most leagues have 8-12 teams, usually an even number. Some leagues will have as few as four teams, while others may have up to 16 teams. As commissioner, it is your job to decide how many teams your league will have. Verify that you know or can find enough people to manage each team. Contact perspective team owners and gauge the level of interest before setting the number of teams. Finally decide how your league will be accessed. There are a wide variety of websites that offer commissioners options for running their leagues. Find one that works well for your needs.

    • 2

      Determine the rules. As the league's commissioner, it is your job to lay the foundation for the league's rules. How will points be scored? Will points for all positions be the same, or will some positions be weighted more heavily? How many teams will make the playoffs? How will adding and dropping of players be handled. There are dozens of variations in each fantasy league, and as the league's commissioner, the responsibility of determining these rules and communicating them to the other owners in the league falls on your shoulders. Try to get input from most, if not all of the owners in the league and put the rules up for a vote before setting them in stone.

    • 3

      Determine what kind of league you are going to run. A standard league starts fresh every year. A keeper league carries over a certain number of players from year to year. Dynasty leagues give fantasy football players the option of keeping a player on their fantasy football roster for as long as they wish to have them. Remember, as a commissioner, leagues that are more elaborate will require more work and dedication on the part of the commissioner to make sure the holdover players remain with the correct team year after year.

    • 4

      Choose a method for dispersing players to each fantasy team. Some leagues use a randomly-generated draft in order to determine who gets the first choices of players for their fantasy team. Others use an auction format to give each team a legitimate chance at any football players they want. Again, it is ultimately up to the commissioner, but you should get input from other owners to see which format most players will prefer.

    • 5

      Start the season. You've secured ownership for each team, determined the schedule and picked players for everyone's team. It's time for fun, but the commissioner's job is not done when the season begins. You are now the final authority when it comes to disputes that are bound to arise in the league. Be vigilant, watching for player collusion, teams that aren't paying attention and starting injured players or any other behavior that may affect the integrity of the league. When it's all said and done, an absentee commissioner will be the downfall of any league that isnt' successful. Most long-running fantasy football leagues have stable commissioners who take their game seriously and ensure that all players have fun playing the game.