Flyer2010 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 (edited) I've been playing FF for over 15 years and managing a 12 team keeper league for 8. Last year the league petitioned me to create a playoff format that would enhance competition, open the playoffs to more teams and deter losing teams from selling off their starters for future picks. I have always hated the trade deadline firesale that takes place between playoff bound teams and those likely sitting out, landing ringers on rosters just in time for playoffs only to be traded again in the off-season! We came up with something I consider pretty unqiue so I thought I'd share. Prior to last season we had 2 conferences with 4 divisions. Playoffs consisted of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards in the playoffs- 6 teams, pretty standard stuff. I refused to open the playoffs automatically to more than 8 teams- it just seemed to nullify the regular season. Here's what I came up with... We now have 2 conferences with no divisions- 6 teams each. We base standings on Victory Points (VP) rather than record, but the system would work on overall record also. This allowed for a college football style standings, slightly accounting for factors such as strength of schedule and pts scored. VP's were awarded as follows: win=1, top 1/3 of total points for the week=2, middle 1/3=1. Therefore a team with the 2nd highest weekly point total who lost to the first highest would not automatically fall below a losing team in the standings. Winning teams in the top 1/3 weekly would get 3 VP's (1- win, 2- top 1/3). VP's closely resemble a "power rank." Think of an undefeated Boise St. or TCU compared to a 1 loss Texas, Florida, Oregon, etc. The 1 loss superconference team would still be ranked #1 by the AP most likely, depending on "quality wins." Here's the departure from the old standard playoff format: Conference Tournament: we play an 11 week regular season, each team playing everyone once. The 2 regular season champs (best record) from each conference is paid and get automatic bids to the League Championship beginning in week 15. In week 12, 2 conference tournaments begin. 6 team format, byes to each of the highest seeded teams. (standard 6 team format) Every team plays in their Conf. Toruney with a chance for a small payout & bid to the big $$ playoff. Conference winners are paid (10% of total winnings) and automatically advance to the league championship as top seeds for a chance to play for the big money. This essentially gives every team a "chance" to make the playoffs but favors teams who performed more consistently throughout the year- top 2 regular season teams get paid as well get a bye in the Conf. Tourney and an automatic bid in the league championship. Losing teams basically must "win out" to play for the top prizes! League Championship: standard 6 team format. Seedings: 2 conference tourney winners, 2 regular season champs, next 2 best records (in our case VP totals) "league wide." The last 2 seeds are not balanced by conference. In the end, all 12 owners agreed this format rocked. In the first year the system showed it's true potential. In the league Championship (week 17), we had 1 top seeded team competing against a team that was 5-6 in the regular season (mostly due to injury) and won 5 straight against the best teams to win their Conf. Tourney and reach the finals!! The top seeded team pulled out the win and league championship. Since every team played in the Conference tourneys, everyone played just as many games as they would have if the regular season was 13 weeks as the year before--a losers bracket is in place for first round losers, ensuring they still play for overall standings until the league championship begins in week 15. The only change is that our final was in week 17 rather than 16. Using league software that allows me to run multilple playoff scenarios was a huge help! Brackets could be tracked on the side for leagues that dont have that option, manually adjusting the schedule. More teams played and more teams got paid. Competition was intense all the way through the Conf Tourneys-- fewer teams mortgaged studs for picks before the trade deadline and noone missed a lineup submission. We had more rivalries and league chatter than ever before! Not a single owner complained. I'm not saying this is for everyone but it defintely elevated the level of interest and competition throughout the season for us! If your league is looking to infuse some creative competition--or is full of owners who love the BCS controversies--give it a pitch! It's not nearly as complicated as it might sound. For anyone seriously interested I have brackets. Enjoy your seasons! Edited August 11, 2011 by Flyer2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goopster24 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 whoa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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