Link to start a league of your own and compete in the overall contest.
Link to join the Drunken Daredevils and Seahawks Fans league I will run.
I don't like fantasy football. I don't understand why fantasy football is the far and away most popular form of fantasy sport. The 16 game NFL season and preferred head-to-head scoring model compound the already unpredictable nature of football until there is seemingly no connection between skill and outcome. I mean, does anyone feel particularly satisfied after a good draft? Is there any great skill to selecting LaDainian Tomlinson first overall and then riding him to a championship as he sets the all-time rushing-touchdown record?
And I don't like money much either. I know. I know. Sounds like a lie, probably is a lie, but it soothes the poverty man. It soothes the poverty.
I do like SBNation. And as such, I am doing my best to buy into these sponsorships. It's a cold, bleak world for the written word, and money is money, and money makes the servers run.
Here's the matter at hand: CBS is paying SBNation to run fantasy leagues. Bloggers are receiving $250 to participate and run one league. We also receive $20 for each additional league we add, and, I quote:
- We’re also giving $2000 for the site that signs up the most leagues (minimum of 15 paid leagues) and $1000 for second and third place (minimum of 10 paid leagues).
The big catch is, of course, these are pay leagues, and no one pays for fantasy football anymore. Most of the features you'll find at CBS are likely available free elsewhere. I have never to my knowledge used a CBS league, but here are the features I was told about.
- Customization of entire league…rules, scores, teams +more
- Multiple draft options including auction drafts
- Ability to manage your league and team on your mobile phone
- Expert and user generated analysis
- Live chat/league instant messenger
- Fast and incredibly accurate live scoring
- Archived historic league data for future seasons
My addition to that list: People care more, stick with longer and try harder to win a pay league than a free league.
Let's face it, this is a mug's game. Sponsors are cashing in because bloggers have credibility and credibility is a vanishing quality. I have no stomach for sales. However, there's got to be some kind of compromise. And I think I have one.
All money paid to me through this sponsorship will be donated to the charity of choice of the overall winner among all leagues. Overall winner will be determined by best record among first-place finishers, then, if that's not decisive, highest-percentage point differential. I pick percentage because that frees you to set up whatever scoring you want. Overall winner will receive a front page post detailing their epic struggle to the top, along with a mention of and link to the winner's charity of choice.
So instead of this being a $10 buy-in (roughly) to do something you can do for free, this is a $10 dollar buy-in to compete for a minimum of $250 towards charity, and possibly over $2,000 dollars towards charity. It's a $10 buy-in for a completely unique opportunity and a chance to make fantasy football rewarding.