Undefeated72 Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 This is my first year trying an auction...I am commisioner of my league and It seems to me that it would probably take longer than a serpentine draft... Also anbody who has been through an auction draft and has some tips for me to make things go smoother and avoid problems....PLEASE LET ME KNOW!! Even if it is a small and stupid detail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keys Myaths Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Live, or e-mail? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 1. The auctioneer must be given 100% authority with no arguing. When he says sold it is sold. If he says someone's bid was too late, then it was too late - no questions. 2. The auctioneer must adhere strictly to a time span for going, going, gone. I would recommend a count of 10 for going(1), then a count of 5 for going (2) and then a count of 5 for gone. They cannot do it perfectly but they should try to be consistent and fair. The auctioneer can adjust the count shorter if he would like as long as he instructs everyone what it will be. 3. Repeat #1 because it is important. 4. Conduct the auction by having each team owner throw a new player out in clock-wise order (counter clockwise if in Australia). Owners have 15 seconds to throw out a player or pass. Then it is on to the next one. 5. If the auction ever gets to a point that there are only 3 or 4 teams with more than minimum bids to spend, you can allow those teams to throw out players for anything above minimum and bid among themselves while the rest wait until it turns into a standard draft because there is no more money to spend. In any case, expect to run it in the order of the teams in the "circle" by the later half of the auction since it becomes more like a draft with the ability of some to "steal" players with higher bids. 6. Every hour stop and read the total players taken and cash remaining for every owner. Make sure someone other than the auctioneer is tracking this officially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slambo Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 I was in my first auction draft last year. We used a yahoo chat room and it took 7 hours. Considering the complexities, it went very smoothly. It was an established league so all the other owners had gone through auctions before. I did end up in the dollar derby and had to stick around for the whole draft. If you're doing a live auction, just do what DMD told yuh. If you're doing an online auction, check out fantasyauctioneer.com. Its a really nice package. We wanted to use it last year but not everyone had powerful enough systems to run it. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trrhyne Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 (edited) We do a 12 team, 16 roster spot auction and it usually takes around 4 hours. Ours goes smoothy because our commish does exactly what DMD recommends above. It may seem to drag around the middle of the draft, but the last 3 to 4 roster spots go pretty quick. Edited July 6, 2005 by trrhyne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Furley Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 I don't use an auctioneer. We all rearrange the furniture so that we're sitting in somewhat of a circle and a person calls out a player and a bid. Then the bidding goes around the circle. If your bid makes it around the circle, then you get the player. This avoids a lot of problems that you have with an auctioneer. I really like doing it this way, because some people may pass on the player, but the bidding comes around again, and they jump back in to raise the price. Then when you get the player, you put the name on the board and the amount of money that you have left to spend so that everyone can see what you have left. A lot of fun! It's a 12 team/14 man roster and it usually takes about 5 hours or so. It could be a lot faster, but we make it a pretty fun time and end up dragging it out for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebellab Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 We have never had a problem with our 12 team league. We are all friends, and so whomever is not bidding calls the going going gone. It takes us 4-5 hours with beer and pizza. If you are not bidding you can go to the bathroom, get a beer or so on. A player will come up and it will boil down to two people really quickly. I know the players that I want to key on, and the ones I want to hangout and see what they bring. I get down to a dollar every year. You need to to get a good solid starting team. We enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Talker Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 I've commished a local auction league for the last 7 years, and we always have a great time. IMO auctions should only be done live--conducting them on-line or by e-mail is tedious work and misses out on all the jazz that comes from live bidding (but that may only be me since others seem to enjoy on-line auctions just fine). Our 10 team, 17 players/team auction usually takes about 3 and a half hours, which is a decent pace (averages out to a little more than a minute per player). DMD has given good advice. Here are some other things to think about: 1. Recruit a non-owner to be the auctioneer (a girlfriend or spouse of one of the owners works well for this). It's a pain to conduct an auction and draft a team at the same time, and it puts you at a disadvantage. The other option is to allow each owner to conduct the auction of the player he/she has nominated. 2. Keep up the pace. I've heard complaints over the years about the auction proceeding too slowly (even though I try to keep things moving), but no one has ever complained about it going too fast. 3. Make the bidding a complete free for all. Going around in a circle is great for poker, but it slows things down for a fantasy auction--especially if bidders have the freedom to pass or bid each time anyway. A more traditional format that allows everyone to shout out their bids at random is more exciting, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Furley Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 3. Make the bidding a complete free for all. Going around in a circle is great for poker, but it slows things down for a fantasy auction--especially if bidders have the freedom to pass or bid each time anyway. A more traditional format that allows everyone to shout out their bids at random is more exciting, too. 866303[/snapback] I disagree with this thought. If you can't find someone to auction, the circle works great. You can make the auction as fast or as slow as you want no matter what way you do it. We've done it this way for 5 years now and it has worked great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Talker Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 I disagree with this thought. If you can't find someone to auction, the circle works great. You can make the auction as fast or as slow as you want no matter what way you do it. We've done it this way for 5 years now and it has worked great. 866365[/snapback] That's cool--whatever works for you. Sounds like you have a lot of fun with your auction, which is great. I will point out, though, some stats already cited on this thread: Your league = 12 teams, 14 players/team = 168 players auctioned Your average auction length = 5 hours My league = 10 teams, 17 players/team = 170 players auctioned My average auction length = 3.5 hours It's fine to disagree with me, but the evidence backs up my point that free for all drafts proceed at a quicker pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Furley Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 (edited) That's cool--whatever works for you. Sounds like you have a lot of fun with your auction, which is great. I will point out, though, some stats already cited on this thread: Your league = 12 teams, 14 players/team = 168 players auctioned Your average auction length = 5 hours My league = 10 teams, 17 players/team = 170 players auctioned My average auction length = 3.5 hours It's fine to disagree with me, but the evidence backs up my point that free for all drafts proceed at a quicker pace. 866419[/snapback] I understand what you're saying, don't get me wrong. Like I have said before, we could easily make it 3 hours if we wanted to, but we like to take our time, have a few beers, fire up the grill, etc. you can make it as long or as short as you want. If you have people in your league that don't enjoy the draft and want to get done ASAP, thats cool. we just like to have fun and make a day of it. Not trying to argue, point is you can make the auction as short or as long as you want. I guess it just depends on what the other people want to do. Edited July 6, 2005 by Ralph Furley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Talker Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Well, you are trying to argue, but that's okay--I am, too. Honest disagreement is what makes these threads interesting. I'm glad you have fun at your auction, and I'm not slighting your approach at all (not trying to, anyway). On the other hand, our group also likes to have fun, eat and drink, take breaks, and so on. We're certainly not in hurry mode when we get together for our auction. The question I'm addressing here is really a narrow one: does it take longer to go around the circle for every player up for bid, or to use a more freewheeling approach that allows everyone to bid randomly until the auctioneer says "gone"? It's hard for me to see how there could be no time difference between the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Furley Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Well, you are trying to argue, but that's okay--I am, too. Honest disagreement is what makes these threads interesting. I'm glad you have fun at your auction, and I'm not slighting your approach at all (not trying to, anyway). On the other hand, our group also likes to have fun, eat and drink, take breaks, and so on. We're certainly not in hurry mode when we get together for our auction. The question I'm addressing here is really a narrow one: does it take longer to go around the circle for every player up for bid, or to use a more freewheeling approach that allows everyone to bid randomly until the auctioneer says "gone"? It's hard for me to see how there could be no time difference between the two. 867067[/snapback] Yeah, who really cares. I don't like to argue about little things. Point is that auctions are WAY better than snake dradfts and for those of you that haven't done an auction you are really missing out on something fun. I think that all the beers and Captain and Cokes are what make our auction take so long. By the end, some people are just shouting out bids anyway. So I guess I kind of do the auction both ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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