If you are wondering, “How do you start a dynasty fantasy football league?,” then you are not alone. Everyone that is new to starting and commissioning a dynasty fantasy football league has been there before. In this “How To” guide, I will walk you through the exact steps I have used to start all RotoHeat leagues, which feature over 400 owners and paid out over $22,000 in 2020.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 1: The By-Laws
When it comes to dynasty fantasy football, by-laws are a very important part of making sure the entire league is on the same page. While you are unlikely to get all league members to agree on everything, having something set up that all owners know prior to signing up is very important. This will help ensure that you have minimal surprises arise throughout the duration of your dynasty league. In RotoHeat leagues, I make sure to break down the following scenarios in my by-laws.
- General League Setup: How many teams, conferences, divisions are in the league?
- Roster Setup: How many roster spots, IR spots, taxi squad spots will you have?
- League Finances: A breakdown of league dues, hosting fees, and total payable prize pool.
- Payouts: What earns a payout and how much. Make sure to include tiebreakers.
- Ownership Expectations: What is expected of each owner?
- Situations That Could Result In Immediate Removal: What can get an owner kicked out?
- Tanking: Each league has different rules on what is accepted and not accepted in regards to tanking.
- Replacement Owners: How will you replace owners that leave the league?
- Waivers/Blind Bidding: What will your waiver/blind bidding format entail?
- Schedule and Playoffs: Explain your schedule and playoffs.
- Trading: Explain your trading rules and requirements for trading future draft picks.
- Draft: Explain how your startup will work and how future draft picks will be decided.
- Taxi Squad: Explain how your taxi squad will work.
Now, this would be a really long article if I dove into each of these sections, so I will give you a link to the RotoHeat 96 V1 By-Laws. Now, it must be mentioned that you are going to learn things as you progress through a league. I always recommend discussing all rules with your league members, but you also have to have the freedom to make changes as needed.
That being said, never, ever, ever make a major change without consulting your league. This is not fair to your members. Changing from a 1QB to a SuperFlex is a very bad move without the right preparation and league agreement. By including the league in these major decisions, it ensures that things remain fair.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 2: LeagueSafe
You may be asking, “What is LeagueSafe?”
LeagueSafe.com is a website that holds league fees to help ensure that commissioners do not rob their league members. If you want to run a legit dynasty league, LeagueSafe is a must and is very easy to use.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 3: League Setup
When setting up your league, you have a few options. Right now my most preferred option for dynasty league hosting is MyFantasyLeague.com. MFL is the most customizable way to play fantasy football, but they also have fees depending on your league setup. They are your only option if you want to run larger leagues, such as the RotoHeat 96 team leagues.
If you want to run regular smaller field leagues, there are multiple options. Sleeper is a fast growing hosting platform that makes playing dynasty easier than on a site like Yahoo or ESPN, but is easiest used on mobile. FleaFlicker & Reality Sports Online are also popular platforms. I suggest researching and finding the best one for your league.
After finding your platform, you will need to set up your league according to your by-laws. Each platform is different, so I will not cover that here.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 4: The Owners
Now that you have the setup portion completed, it is time to find your owners! There are a number of ways you can do this. First, it is always the most fun to play with your friends, so ask them! If that fails, look no further than the RotoHeat Dynasty Fantasy Football Community on Facebook. Join up, get to know people, and you will have no issue finding owners to fill your leagues.
Now, I am obviously biased in thinking our community is great, but there is also a large dynasty community on Twitter and Reddit as well.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 5: Initial Draft
When setting up my league’s start-up drafts, I always take my owners list over to Random.org and randomize the list 7 times to determine snake draft orders. We will have some more articles dropping on different types of drafts, but snakes are currently the most popular. This is where you draft from 1-12,12-1,1-12 and so on. The other popular type of draft is the auction. In auction drafts, each owner has $X to spend on their entire roster.
One thing to note is that if you are drafting before the NFL draft, make sure to include your rookie picks. For example, on MFL, you can create custom players and name them 1.01, 1.02 and so-on. By drafting that spot, you are locking up that rookie pick in the rookie draft.
I highly recommend against using the same draft order for the rookie draft. In a lot of rookie drafts you will see guys at the top reach into the top 2 rounds of most startups, this gives the owners that draft early a shot at great value in both drafts. Even if you flip it and have the 12th pick in the startup pick 1st in the rookie draft, they could essentially get an extra top 12 player.
If you are drafting after the NFL draft, just include the rookies in the start-up draft.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 6: Rookie Drafts
You have finished your startup draft and either the NFL Draft has completed or you are in a league offseason and it is time to draft your rookies. In RotoHeat leagues that feature 1QB starting rosters, we normally draft 4 rounds of rookies. If it is a SuperFlex league, we normally add a full round for 5 total. The amount of rookies you draft is strictly up to you and your league, but you should never snake or auction your rookie picks outside of the initial season. The worst teams in your league should get the best picks.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 7: Waivers/Blind Bidding
After you complete the start-up draft, you will have to start up your waivers/blind bidding. I highly recommend blind bidding for all free agents. During the offseason I have blind bids process up to 3 days per week. During the season they process 2 times.
Unlike redraft leagues, you will not see a lot of volume when it comes to free agents, as you typically have deeper rosters.
Now, one thing to consider is “Open Free Agency” for periods of time. Most of my leagues feature owners from all over the world and in different time zones. For this reason, it is not fair for me to allow owners to grab a player based on breaking news, when other owners may be across the world sleeping. Plus, you have owners that work 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shifts, so it can be a detriment to owner’s ability in adding valuable players.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Step 8: Taxi Squads
Taxi squads are additional roster spots reserved for young players, in most cases. There are a number of ways to set up taxi squads, but I will explain how we use Taxi Squads in RotoHeat leagues.
- Taxi Squads hold the same number of spots as rounds in our rookie drafts. If we draft 4 rounds, we have 4 taxi spots.
- Taxi Spots are reserved for 1st and 2nd-year players only.
- During the offseason, you can move eligible players on & off freely.
- Once the regular season starts, you are no longer allowed to add players to your taxi squad, but you can promote taxi players to your active roster.
How do you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League? Conclusion
Like all redraft leagues, you will set your lineup, trade, and pick up players throughout the regular season. The difference in dynasty is that you will also do these things in the off-season of your dynasty fantasy football league. The biggest key is making sure you are on the same page with your league members and you foster an environment that helps sustain your league for years. One of my dynasty leagues started in 1991 and is still going strong today. Have fun, and if you have any questions, you can find me on Twitter or see more of our FAQ and How-To articles.
