What do you look for when joining a league?

[darkhorse]

A commish who enforces the league rules evenhandedly is a big plus as well.

[Aussie Mark]

1. Easy to navigate fast loading website with all the basic info

2. At least 2 owners I recognise and know from other leagues or this forum

3. Clear, concise rules/constitution

4. Less than 10% of owners in the league have AOL addresses

5. No owners with email addresses in the format of griffey16@***.com or nomar13@***.com

6. Instant messenging not a prerequisite for owners (what's the hurry to make a trade in 60 seconds?)

[TC Dale]

Most of the time when I look for a league, I ask my commissioner of the league I am in. He knows me and my interest level, and how I would fit into additional leagues that I might be interested in.

How does the commish handle problems within the ranks, or judgement calls. Is there a good base of owners, that welcome new members easily, or is it a clique?

Do they have a live sim? Do they sim certain amounts every week? I have some that do the MWF others that do the Tue Thur Sun , and others that do 2 times a week.

I usually visit a prospective site for about 4-6 months before I decide to apply if I have an opening on my schedule for another league. If the league has activity on the boards, and genuine respect and affection for the league and commishes that run them...I get on their list.

To my commissioners that I am a part of now.. I thank you for letting me join you. It is a ball being a part of your world, and letting me play in your sandbox.

(Even sporr, who takes my poor attempts at humor with a smile..."When do I get to move to the American League Shane? Bribe.....er...I mean payment is in the mail......yeah.")

If it is a fun and active league, I find myself wanting in or enjoying being a part of a great league.

Stability is a big factor for me as well.

And Aussie, I agree with you. If I want to make a trade, I don't usually make it within 20 secs of an IM , if someone wants to make a trade with me, don't offer me "let me know if there is someone you want for XXXXXX."

I tell them make me an offer by email, in fact two or three, so I can look at them and make a decision. If they want a player bad enough, they will make a serious offer without asking me to peruse their roster.

I will check their roster out when I get a serious offer.


Thanks to sporr, steve kuffrey, corey cowell, joe at ABA.net for the chance to play with a great group of owners. I enjoy it more than you know.

And if anyone needs a great future co commish, if he has the time, I highly recommend andy samford. Dude has some skills Great owner too.

[Oakjefferson]

#1 Owners. Not that I have to know them, but looking at the forum, is their alot of participation, team news? Do the owners care about there team or is this a coaster league to them

#2 Commish. After having the pleaseure of being in two leagues with Madodie I'm not sure any one else can live up to the standards

#3 Rules of the league. Historic leagues move to slow for me, and prefer a quick offseason. Are there a lot of fluff and "great" ideas in the constitution but when it comes down to implementing them the commish doesn't have the time?

#4 Webpage.

[Chappy]

If I may bump an oldie but goodie...

Hmmm. Let's see, I've only been a part of 4 leagues, and three of them are still going, so I must have done an okay job picking them.

The most important thing for me is the league setup. I like small fictional leagues; they seem to have the most creative owners and also tend to last (most likely because of the creative owners). The first league I was in folded after two seasons, so I looked everywhere for a league with similar rules and setup. The closest thing I could find was the NPBL (the main difference between it and my first league was there were no financials). I think there was a posting on this forum, and I noticed and active message board and decided to apply.

I was so impressed with Satchel, the NPBL commish, that I joined his other league (the Jamaica League) even though I swore one league was enough. So I guess that time, the commish was the most important factor for me.

Niether of those leagues use finances, and with OOTP6 on the way I started looking for a small, fictional league with finances turned on. I think I stumbled into the JOBL through Cato's Catobase example. I noticed that there was a wait list, which meant owner turnover couldn't be too high. I signed up and a team opened up about a month or so later. So, that time the first thing I looked for was the league setup. Jason turned out to be an excellent commish as well, so I've really lucked out.

Alright, here's my list.

#1 - League setup

#2 - Commish reputation

#3 - Owner involvement

[Jeremy Weimer]

Damn you and digging up my old threads.

[phenom]

this stuff is excellent. My first (yes, my first commissioner job) league will go live within a month, and this is great info to have.

[Chappy]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Weimer

Damn you and digging up my old threads.

KQ dug it up. I just posted in it.

[Skywalker76]

Nice thread !

Currently I'm in four leagues and I'm playing online leagues for two years now. Basically it took me one year to figure out what I really want when I join a league. But now I really know what I'm looking for:

1. League setup, I only like leagues which have a faster sim plan. Other than that I prefer leagues with coaches/scouts off and the possibility to trade draft picks.

2. I'd rather join an older league than a new one. I've been in some new leagues that folded after 1-2 seasons. After these experiences I'm looking for stability.

3. What kind of league, I prefer historical and fictional leagues.

These are the factors I'm really looking at when I consider to join a league. The following are factors I look at too but don't seem too important to me.

4. Size of the league. Except the NAHHBL all my leagues are rather smaller leagues, I think that you get to know the owners better if the league has only 16 teams than 32.

5. Website (a nice website always attracts new owners)

6. Activity on forums; if I see no new post at the forum for more that two weeks I know this league has no future.

7. Commish. I've had nice guys with good reputation doing a lousy job, while people nobody heard of have done awesome jobs with their leagues.

8. Owners. It's nice to know some guys but not essential.