The History of Dispersal & Second Chance Drafts
In case you didn’t already know, Scott Fish is a very kind and generous fellow. He doesn’t like to take credit but is always willing to give praise to others. I’m not sure I’m the first dynasty commissioner to come up with the idea of dispersal drafts, but Scott says I am and that’s good enough for me.
I started the HyperActive dynasty leagues fifteen years ago. The leagues were filled with active and competitive dynasty managers, many of whom would go on to have a significant impact on the game we know today. But, each league included 24 teams, so no matter how good, active, or competitive the league, at the end of each season, I had openings to fill.
I remember the process, collecting all pertinent information for each team, including top players and available draft picks. Inevitably, the most attractive teams were quickly claimed while the teams that had been depleted and abandoned were ignored. Sometimes, I even had to offer a discount on the annual league dues just to find someone to take over the team.
Finally, the next year, it hit me. Why struggle to find managers for specific teams when we could kickstart their time in the league with a new draft. Along the same lines as an expansion draft used in the NBA and Major League Baseball, all “assets” that belonged to orphaned teams would be made available in a dispersal draft, including all players and draft picks.
This method quickly spread across dynasty leagues as a more equitable way to welcome new members to an existing dynasty league. (This is another hint that I was not solely responsible for the idea.) Years later, a friend and fellow dynasty player reached out to get my opinion about a “controversy” in his league. They were holding their annual dispersal draft but also allowed one manager already in the league to give up his team and take part in the dispersal.
While I didn’t like the last-minute switch in this specific example, the overall idea sparked something. Why not have a league in which existing managers had the opportunity to be on equal footing with all new players. This is how the Second Chance rule was born. This was a long process to test as I created a brand new league specifically for this rule. Therefore, I had to wait a full year before the managers in this league had the chance to declare for the unique dispersal draft.
Again, the Second Chance rule has become commonplace in many dynasty leagues, which feels pretty cool.
#SFB11
We are now just over 100 days away. We are glad to invite another participant and supporter of Commission: Impossible. Thanks to Rich Havlik and welcome to SFB!