Dynasty Dispersal Drafts Explained
Hey all!
Most people reading this know how Ryan and I feel about dispersal drafts (we’re obnoxiously pro), but maybe you don’t understand exactly what is meant by this. Dispersal drafts (snake or auction) are something Ryan created and many have now moved to doing in their dynasty leagues.
The Basic Definition
Instead of simply finding new team managers and handing the abandoned teams over to them, you drop all their players and future picks into a pool. The new managers then draft from that pool to create their team.
The Basic How-To Snake Dispersal
Figure out which teams are abandoned in your league. You do this anyway.
Create a document (google doc or spreadsheet works for most) with all players and future picks from every abandoned team listed.
Drop all players off of both teams.
Use another tab of the document to create a draft order. One column the order, one column the selection.
Go back and forth drafting players and future picks.
Some leagues only allow players from the abandoned teams to be drafted. This requires tracking. You will need to mark players off from the pool as selected.
Commissioner adds the players drafted to their respective team.
The Basic How-To Auction Dispersal
Figure out which teams are abandoned in your league. You do this anyway.
Create a document (google doc or spreadsheet works for most) with all players and future picks from every abandoned team listed.
Drop all players off of both teams.
Use your league site to auction the players. You will potentially need placeholders for future picks.
Some leagues only allow players from the abandoned teams to be drafted. This requires tracking. You will need to mark players off from the pool as nominated.
In my leagues, I allow free agents to be won by new teams. This means I do not have to track players because any player not on a team is available. Existing teams have free agency prior to the dispersal but this isn’t necessary as free agents usually aren’t that good and/or the abandoned teams can probably use the help. There is an argument to be made that if there is a valuable enough free agent, it going to a new team can help facilitate some trades between new and existing teams.
Advantages
Adds excitement to the league in the form of a draft the whole league can watch and depending on the rules of your league, jump into.
The incoming managers are building the team they want with the strategy they want. This will lead a new team manager to feel stronger attachment to the team and they will be more likely to stay long term.
It solves the problem of which new manager gets which team. Not all abandoned teams are equal. Some may be good, some may be bad.
It evens out the teams being replaced. Depending on the amount ot teams being replaced, this could seriously help league parity.
Depending on the rules you have in place, other existing teams may trade into the dispersal. This causes leaguewide activity. Even if you do not allow this in your league (very understandable)… existing teams will likely be talking with the new teams getting deals in place for players that get drafted. This adds both leageu activity and helps build relationships between new and existing teams.
Disadvantages
For most leagues, it’s complicated and commissioner intensive. It generally requires a google doc, to be done off-site in many cases, and then the players be added to the team. There is more work involved for the commissioner on a few levels and it can be time consuming. This is the major downside most have. The tiniest of arguments can be made that existing owners may not like X amount of the teams are getting a fresh start and they will have to compete against completely new rosters.
Second Chance twist
If you feel like getting wild, adding a second chance element to your league along with a dispersal can be fun.
Basic Definition: A second chance dispersal draft allows an existing team to decide to drop their team and join the dispersal draft. This is also a Ryan creation.
Basic How-To: It’s basically the league treating an existing owner’s team as abandoned. All players get dropped into the dispersal.
Advantage: Just an extra layer of fun.
Disadvantage: This is a pretty big one. An existing team can completely sell out to win. Trade all future picks. Roster all win-now assets. The team is borderline torched for the future. They don’t have to live with those decisions. They can simply drop what they did and rebuild.
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