What do you do if one of your leaguemates hasn’t paid their entry fee yet?
Reginald James is here to provide advice on difficult situations faced by fantasy league commissioners on a weekly basis. Here’s the latest edition.
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Commish,
Right before our draft, I had someone drop out, so I asked a friend, who had been asking to join for a while, if they wanted to replace them. They wanted in but didn’t have the pool fee at the time. I told them I would cover them and that they could pay me later. They haven’t paid me. I’ve asked for the money a number of times, but now he acts like I’m harassing him. So now he’s not speaking to me, and I’m still out 70 bucks. I feel like I’m damned if I do … you know the rest. Suggestions?
You’re jammed. If your “friend” hasn’t paid you now, chances are he’s never going to pay you. He hasn’t been acting honorably so far, so I would soothe the conflict by just letting him be.
There’s no need to heighten any drama. You don’t want to push him to leave his team or dump players in protest. If he comes around, fine, but don’t hold your breath.
The only way you’ll get some relief, is if he wins. You’ll just deduct what he owes you from his winnings. Otherwise, let him finish out the season and he doesn’t get invited back.
Commish,
New commissioner here with a winless team and others with only two or three wins in my league. What can I do to encourage players to keep playing even though they may be out of it to win the league?
In an ideal world, folks would compete to the bitter end as a matter of pride. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t see the benefit of doing that unless there’s an incentive.
You could offer weekly awards for the team with the highest point total of the week, or for the team with the largest margin of victory. If you have a league that doesn’t do playoffs, you could offer awards to the team with the longest winning streak during Weeks 13 – 17. You could also award the team with the highest margin of victory in a single game, or the highest cumulative point total for that final five-week period.
Offering to refund a person’s buy-in fee if they have the highest Week 17 total score would be a big, juicy carrot to dangle as well. If you’re thinking, “How do we come up with the extra money to pay for these bonuses?” You could increase the buy-in and have a certain amount allocated for the bonus prizes.
You could also tap into the talents or resources of those in your league. You might have restaurant managers, hairdressers, barbers or personal trainers in your league who could offer free meals, free haircuts, training sessions, movie tickets, etc. as bonus perks. Have fun getting creative.
Come up with your own incentives or get everyone involved to offer up ideas for some cool perks. Hopefully, the cash or freebies up for grabs will keep the members of your league active and motivated to fight on.
It’s not too late to announce something like the Week 13-17 bonuses. Your 2-7 owners may appreciate the announcement, and it’s not a rule change, so you’re good.
Good luck, and let me know how it goes.
You can find previous editions of the Fantasy Commish Q&A here.
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Reginald James is a FantasyPros correspondent and freelance writer. He is the host of The Fantasy Commissioner Show podcast heard live every Friday at Rabble.TV.com. He is the commissioner of Cair Paravel, the fantasy football league he started almost 20 years ago. Follow him on Twitter @MrReginaldJames and send your questions to reginaldjfantasy@outlook.com.
