Should You Change Your League Management Service?
“League Management Services” go by a few different names: Sometimes they are referred to as “Commissioner Products”, or “League Host”, and even sometimes “league software”. Regardless of what you call it, where your league gets managed is something that we as commissioners deal with on the reg.
We’ve all experienced frustration with our L.M.(League Manager) at one time. Whether it be live-scoring outages, a lack of rule flexibility, or simply wishing the services would do more. These momentary frustrations can sometimes lead to a desire to change services.
There are 7 highly recognized commissioner products to choose from:
Yahoo! Fantasy, ESPN Fantasy, CBS FF Commissioner, NFL.com, MyFantasyLeague, Sleeper, and Fleaflicker.
No matter which one you use, there are benefits and drawbacks to each. It’s important to decide whether or not to make a change, and if so, which service may work best for your league.
The “Why?”: Have a reason for changing
“The grass is always greener on the other side” is an adage the rings very true with this predicament. It’s important to recognize that every league management service will have its positives and negatives:
You may lose your league history.
There may be costs involved.
There may be pushback from your leaguemates.
Changing services will have an impact on your league. Sometimes a good impact, and sometimes a bad one. Understanding what the impact will be is important. Because of this, make sure and have a reason “why” you are changing. If it’s simply because your current service is “stale”, then it may not be worth the work and risk. If you have other reasons though, having a “why” will make it an easier sell to the rest of your league.
Understand the Drawbacks of Changing Services
The biggest drawback to changing your L.M. is that you are likely going to lose your “League History”. If you’ve run a league for a long duration, losing that history can be a real bummer. There is currently only one league service that lets you carry over a detailed league history (MyFantasyLeague), but also note that it comes at a cost (MFL is a premium service and it can be a laborious process).
Another downfall of changing your L.M. is that there will be a learning curve for everyone involved. You will all have to become familiar with a new user interface, and finding/remembering where all the important controls are.
Finally, you’ll have to really dig around any potential new service, and make sure they are capable of supporting each and every nuanced rule that your current provider offers.
Know Your Owners
Are your owners resistant to change? Think about it. How frequently do they complain every time a granular change is made to rules or processes. Get ready for pushback.
Also, how technologically savvy are your users?
Are you in a league with a bunch of 40-50 year old parents, who may prefer older interfaces and lack the time to learn something new?
These owner types could have a difficult time with the extremely mobile-first experience provided by Sleeper. On the other side of that, if your league skews younger, those owners may have problems with a more dated look (and lack of mobile quality) provided by services like MyFantasyLeague and Fleaflicker.
Free isn't always “free”
There are more free services than paid ones nowadays. Although “free” isn’t a real thing. What you may gain in zero-dollar cost, you lose in disruption via advertising and lack of premium features.
Commissioners often forget that a league, in its power of numbers, provides buying power. Splitting up the cost of a paid service between several owners makes the total cost of a "pay site" relatively trivial. A service that costs $70 is really just a measly $6 per person in a 12 people league. Personally, I'd happily sacrifice a Starbucks Latte one day, in place of a year of quality, ad-free service.
All that said, if you are running a very basic league, with very few needs, it’s hard to justify paying money for a premium service.
Pros and Cons of the Available L.Ms.
Yahoo! Fantasy
Pros
Free service, simple interface, flexible scoring and rule options.
Cons
Mobile app is good but a bit more confusing than many others, can not import league history.
ESPN Fantasy
Pros
Free service, simple interface, one of the better mobile apps available.
Cons
Can not import league history, not a powerful amount of customization.
CBS COMMISSIONER
Pros
Much more customizable than free services, better design/UI than other premium services (eg MFL).
Cons
$149 per year, can not import league history
*note: CBS now offers a free service, however, we have not fully tested this.
NFL.com
Pros
Free service, very simple to use UI.
Cons
Customization less flexible than Yahoo and ESPN, not a great mobile app, can not import league history.
Pros
Can import league history, probably the most powerfully customizable services out there (can accomplish nearly any strange idea, or scoring/league rule that you want to incorporate), fully integrates with FanDraft.
Cons
$69.95 cost, dated desktop UI and mobile app.
Pros
Free service, very modern UI, flexible customization.
Cons
Focus is primarily on doing everything within the mobile app (desktop website can be limiting), contemporary UI can feel bloated with extraneous features and confusing for some, can not import league history.
Pros
Free service, 3rd only to MFL and CBS in supporting fine-grained customization.
Cons
Interface experience slightly better than MFL (but not as good as others), can not import league history.
