It Is Decided

So, we had an auction and draft date all set, and then it turned out that we could not accommodate everyone. Through spirited discourse, we may have discovered a way forward that benefits everyone.

Instead of doing a live auction like we did last year, we are going to do a more protracted email auction.

“Email auction” is a bit of a misnomer. The auction will actually be held on our myfantasyleague site. But you can change your email settings on the site so that you receive the specific auction notifications that you’re interested in.

The Rules

1. Each owner can put up to 2 players up for bid at a time.
2. All owners who wish to participate in the auction must nominate a player within the first 24 hours of the auction starting. No waiting around for 2 weeks and then deciding to jump in on someone else’s auction when you have not taken on the risk of nominating a player and potentially being stuck with him.
3. The auction will be open for 20 days: from August 3rd (at 12:00 Central) through August 22nd. After August 22nd no new nominations can be made (though existing auctions will be allowed to finish.)
4. We will use proxy bidding to speed things up (see below.)
5. An auction will close 24 hours after the highest bidder has changed.
6. Winning bids will determine the player’s salary.
7. No rookies are available in the auction. If you see an (R) next to a player’s name, then don’t put him up for auction!

Proxy Bidding

The way proxy bidding works is that you set your “drop-dead” highest price that you’re willing to pay. When other people bid, the clock does not restart unless another owner has exceeded your proxy bid.

For example, let’s say I’m interested in the oft-injured Darren McFadden. I decide that $25 is my max. When I nominate him and set my proxy bid to $25, then the computer puts him up for auction with a starting bid of $1.

If Franssen decides that he’s willing to pay $20 for McFadden, then the new bid becomes $20, but it’s a $20 bid for me, because Adam did not exceed my max bid. Let’s say Big Spendin’ Stukas decides he’s going to drop $35 large on McFadden. Now the auction has McFadden going to Stukas for $26 (one dollar more than my proxy bid), and the clock resets to 24 hours. In essence, 24 hours must pass without the highest bidder changing. So nobody else is willing to pay $26, and Stukas gets McFadden signed to his team 24 hours after he put up that $35 bid.

Now, if someone had decided to outbid Stukas, then the clock would restart again with the new high bidder.

In many cases, the proxy bidding will result in the clock not being reset. Let’s say the Marauders are determined to get Darren Sproles back in the fold. They nominate him and set their bid at $50. He goes up for $1. Someone else bids $2, and then Sproles is listed as $2, but still to the Marauders. People stop fooling around and they get the bid up to $36. But the $36 is still listed for the Marauders, because the bid has not exceeded the Marauders’ proxy bid. While all of this bidding is going on, the clock is ticking. It has not reset, because even though the bids have changed, the high bidder has not. 24 hours after Giorgianni posted his nomination, Sproles is awarded to him for $36. He was willing to pay $50, but got him for the highest bid someone else was willing to make, which was $36. And the bonus is that the auction was started and concluded in a timely fashion.

The alternative would be to have the clock reset every time a bid was changed. So someone could run 23 hours off the clock, and in the last hour, a $1 increase would restart the 24 hour clock. It would be tortuously slow.

Now obviously, there will be some strategy involved. If you want to read more about proxy bidding, here a couple of links that might help:

• Proxy Tutorial (support forum)
• Proxy Bids (MFL Help Desk)

How to Make Sure the Auction Does Not Suck for You

Just check the page every day. Make sure your email notifications are set to include auction updates. Here’s a quick tutorial to show you how:

What about the Draft?

The draft is going to revert to our initial date – Saturday, August 24th. Ryan Lindsay was the one who said he could only draft on Sundays, but it turns out he only has one fucking draft pick! And it’s a fourth rounder at that. That guy can submit a draft list. Behold:

So, we’ll have the auction wrapped up by August 22nd (and any open auctions will be finished before the start of the draft on the 24th.) Any players that weren’t acquired in the auction can be acquired in the draft.

Please let me know if I can help in any way. It is decided.

© 2013, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.