hezagenius Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 For those that prefer pay sites, what is it about the pay sites that you can't get on free sites? Which pay sites do you use? For those that prefer free sites, what would make you play in a pay site (if there is anything)? Reason I ask is that I am in a league that uses a pay site (I'd actually never heard of the site until I joined the league) that costs about $130 per season. I'm not sure why we pay that much. There is no proprietary information we get from the site. Any player news is just a link from another site. I prefer Yahoo's setup much better and I can get the same information there as most places. Fox is decent as well, although I think Yahoo has it down pretty good. I used CBS for a few years and thought it was a waste of money. No different than Fox or Yahoo. I have never used ESPN so I can't comment about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexgaddis Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Pay sites have way more exclusive content, and prettier models... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 yahoo's free site doesn't offer live scoring. It's $10 yahoo's free site doesn't offer customizable scheduling yahoo's free site doesn't offer division setup yahoo's free site doesn't offer an IR spot (whether this is good or bad is debatable) just off the top of my head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hezagenius Posted October 26, 2006 Author Share Posted October 26, 2006 yahoo's free site doesn't offer live scoring. It's $10 yahoo's free site doesn't offer customizable scheduling yahoo's free site doesn't offer division setup yahoo's free site doesn't offer an IR spot (whether this is good or bad is debatable) just off the top of my head See, I've never understood the need for live scoring. It doesn't affect the outcome and if you really want to know your score, plug the numbers into a spreadsheet. It takes about 3 minutes to do your team. I will grant you that customizable scheduling and divisions are nice but is it worth paying $100+? I guess it depends how much your league fees are. As far as information goes, I have yet to see a true advantage to the pay sites. Yahoo, Fox, ESPN, this website and several other free FF sites get the same information. Alex, what type of information do you think pay sites have that free ones don't? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABearWithFurniture Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 yahoo's free site doesn't offer live scoring. It's $10 yahoo's free site doesn't offer customizable scheduling yahoo's free site doesn't offer division setup yahoo's free site doesn't offer an IR spot (whether this is good or bad is debatable) just off the top of my head yahoo's free site is basically the training wheels for fantasy football, much like what SandBox was back in the 90's yahoo's free site...draft order is randomly selected 30 minutes before the draft starts... the biggest upside to a Yahoo free league is that you can pretty much dominate your league very easily if you sit by your PC while you watch the games and just pick players up off the waiver wire as soon as they score FCFS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hezagenius Posted October 26, 2006 Author Share Posted October 26, 2006 yahoo's free site...draft order is randomly selected 30 minutes before the draft starts... That is a bit lame if you do an online draft. I personally hate online drafts. We do an offline draft and then input the results into Yahoo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Spreadsheets? live scoring is the shiznitt. Especially when you have yer opponent over and you see the look in each other faces as points roll like an tripodometer. some sites are quite a bit less than $100, some more. If your league dues are $10 bucks, stick with Yahoo. If your dues are $100+, move on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fpuma Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 I have used CBS for the past 4 years but moved away from it this year to cut costs. I used Fox Sports and hat it. I am in 3 leagues this year, 2 of which are hosted at Fox and the other is Yahoo. One of the Fox leagues I run and have to say that Fox is just terrible. I cant stand it and neither can any of the owners. We are moving that league to MFL next year for sure. The Yahoo site is ok but as stated above you are very limited. I cant stand not having the live scoring. To me its an essential part of FF. The fact that Yahoo want $10 for live scoring per team is crazy. If everyone paid that you could use that money and host your league at MFL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fpuma Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Spreadsheets? live scoring is the shiznitt. Especially when you have yer opponent over and you see the look in each other faces as points roll like an tripodometer. You took the words right out of my mouth. lol I have the laptop setup next to the tv and we watch all the scores. My yahoo league kills me adding everything up manually. Most times I just wait until the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 See, I've never understood the need for live scoring. It doesn't affect the outcome and if you really want to know your score, plug the numbers into a spreadsheet. It takes about 3 minutes to do your team. I will grant you that customizable scheduling and divisions are nice but is it worth paying $100+? I guess it depends how much your league fees are. As far as information goes, I have yet to see a true advantage to the pay sites. Yahoo, Fox, ESPN, this website and several other free FF sites get the same information. Alex, what type of information do you think pay sites have that free ones don't? Two different questions here: Free vs. Pay League Hosting sites and free vs. pay Football Information sites. Most places offer some type of free service.. you get the news etc. The pay portion often gives a detailed analysis by someone that does this stuff for a living into the affect of that particular news and how it has an affect in the fantasy football world, in other worlds, gives that news relevance to FF. Most of the free sites, as noted, merely report something and move on. That's why they are free. Regarding league hosting sites, it all comes down to features. If you have a keepr league, Yahoo is useless. If you like to have your own defined draft order, Yahoo is useless. If you like to define your own schedule or do divisions, Yahoo is useless. If you like to pay $150 for bad information, lack of service and overall a poor experience, CBS is your ticket. If you want to pay roughly $60 for complete customizability, good customer service, etc., then a ste like MFL is perfect. Many others also like RTS.. I don't have personal experience with them, so I refrain from comment. I have lots of experience with MFL and cannot reccomend them highly enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madman34698 Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Fanball is pretty cheap 65.00 I thnk, they have live scoring and as a comish its very easy to work with. I can set up my own schedule, and has better setups for the rules. They also have on line help for questions. Yahoo does not. Colston isnt a TE either.. Yahoo just gave me a loss, they changed L Evans scoring him with a fumble -2 iI lose by .25pts . nfl.com states he didnt Yahoo I have no recourse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 you can define draft order in yahoo. it's an option the commish sets up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 Fanball is pretty cheap 65.00 I thnk, they have live scoring and as a comish its very easy to work with. I can set up my own schedule, and has better setups for the rules. They also have on line help for questions. Yahoo does not. Colston isnt a TE either.. Yahoo just gave me a loss, they changed L Evans scoring him with a fumble -2 iI lose by .25pts . nfl.com states he didnt Yahoo I have no recourse. NFL.com is generally a very poor source for game stat information, as they do not update with any of the official stat changes as issued by the Elias Sports Bureau. As noted in a thread in the Advice Forum, I'll keep my eyes peeled for a post at MFL about it, as they are generally on top of these with their nightly updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonkis Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 MFL Gameday is awesome. It announces scoring so you don't even have to look at the screen to know what's happening in other games. If it announced Sacks, Tackles, Passes Defensed, etc. it would be even better. IDP rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 If it announced Sacks, Tackles, Passes Defensed, etc. it would be even better. IDP rules. Jeez, it would just be a constant babble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooGie Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 yahoo's free site doesn't offer live scoring. It's $10 yahoo's free site doesn't offer customizable scheduling yahoo's free site doesn't offer division setup yahoo's free site doesn't offer an IR spot (whether this is good or bad is debatable) just off the top of my head I'm a hugh fan of Yahoo. The free site rocks, and the live scoring is only $10, so you get what you need for a mere $10, where other sites are $150 and crap. The customizable division and scheduling isn't enough for me to pay more than $30 for. Much less around $100. See, I've never understood the need for live scoring. It doesn't affect the outcome and if you really want to know your score, plug the numbers into a spreadsheet. It takes about 3 minutes to do your team. I will grant you that customizable scheduling and divisions are nice but is it worth paying $100+? I guess it depends how much your league fees are. As far as information goes, I have yet to see a true advantage to the pay sites. Yahoo, Fox, ESPN, this website and several other free FF sites get the same information. Alex, what type of information do you think pay sites have that free ones don't? Pay for the huddle. that's the only pay site you need. If you're here, and you're truly listening to Yahoo advice, you're a stupid idiot. Period. yahoo's free site is basically the training wheels for fantasy football, much like what SandBox was back in the 90's yahoo's free site...draft order is randomly selected 30 minutes before the draft starts... the biggest upside to a Yahoo free league is that you can pretty much dominate your league very easily if you sit by your PC while you watch the games and just pick players up off the waiver wire as soon as they score FCFS This is truly an asinine statement. The whole statement. Yahoo has done a great job offering a great service for free. And if you want to pay, you can get all the stuff all the other sites offer, and even a free trophy to the league winner (or a t-shirt). The draft order can be chosen by the commish whether you pay or not. and as far as dominating your league easily, The rules can be set up to not allow FA pickups, especially during games, and all that. And if you're in a competitive local league (like me and thousands of other people) you can't dominate ANYTHING. It doesn't matter what service you use. Now, if you go for a public yahoo league, you'll want to kill yourself. People sign up, and never sign in again. But for a local or the like? It's top notch. The advice is less than Huddle-esque, but seriously, why even look elsewhere for advice? SERIOUSLY? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonkis Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Jeez, it would just be a constant babble. Not unlike having every play-by-play sounding at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 There's plenty of free pron sites so why would you want to pay for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sub150 Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 i use espn and am the commish of my league... it doesnt have a lot of reliable info and it doesnt have live scoring...but thats why i paid ten bucks for a huddle membership...it give me an advantage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABearWithFurniture Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 I'm a hugh fan of Yahoo. That says it all IMHO... :FFLtrainingwheelsgraemlin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 (edited) That says it all IMHO... :FFLtrainingwheelsgraemlin: don't bother bear, he's clearly deranged...I absolutely LOVE seeing all teams ranked by points, whether I've beaten them or not and we have the same record. LOVE that. EDA: That's why I'm in so many points only leagues. I don't care about records. Only points. If yer in it for only points why play head to head? Edited October 28, 2006 by loaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venus Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 You get what you pay for sometimes, except with CBS, then you pay too much. MFL is the best for your buck, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooGie Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 That says it all IMHO... :FFLtrainingwheelsgraemlin: what the hell are you talking about? how is it training wheels? they give you a list of players, and you pick the best lineup. you could do the same thing in a spread sheet. they dont pick your line up for you. they dont draft for you. they dont handle your bye weeks. So, it's training wheels because I still have to do everything I would with another service, except pay? riiiight... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texans Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 I prefer the free sites. Can;t afford too many pay site. Yahoo is pretty good. Works well. Very few problems. Custom leagues can be customized to a point. Fleaflicker is new but is pretty good also. Has good customer service and live scoring and also can customize settings. Stay away from Fox. Nothing but problems and did nothing over the offseason to fix them. MyFantasyLeague.com is very good for a pay site. If you purchase before July (I think) is is $70.00. Pretty cheap for a fully customizeable site with all the options one could wish for. Also has live chat with the members of your league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 I've posted on these type of inquiries before and do seem to be in the extreme minority. We use FanStar -- and have for 9 years, beginning when it was offline software. It costs about $70 to renew -- not sure about original sign-up. It works great for us. One reason I don't look to switch is that the league site now just carries over to each year and I don't have to re-enter rules, etc., just make changes. It provides a variety of reports, live scoring, is fully customizable, and they've provided timely and efficient service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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