5 Ways to Get Your League Mates More Involved

DFS Army’s Gthom breaks down five different ways to get your fantasy football league more involved!

Follow Gthom on the cesspool they call twitter, @GarettThomas.
Join the DFS Army today for best in the industry projections, Best Ball Rankings, Lineup Optimizer, Fantasy Football Draft Kit, Daily Fantasy Cheat Sheets, Research Station, Coaching, for ALL DFS sports!

Dec 23, 2018; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) reacts after his touchdown is confirmed via replay during the second half against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Group Chat (And Utilize It)

This seems to be the lowest hanging fruit but it’s a simple and effective way to get your league more involved. Involving your league mates creates a fantasy-friendly culture; this would include: competitive smack talk, trade discussions, league issues to resolve, voting on league rules, random videos about the NFL, etc.

By creating a dedicated space, your league mates will come to utilize the group chat and engage with each other more. And if your league mates don’t engage with the group, it is on you the commissioner to keep the group chat going and alive.

Here are four channels you can utilize for your Group Chat, along with a brief overview.

Group Text/App – Quickest and easiest to implement.
Facebook Group – Little more formal but requires minor setup. Easy to use once setup. Little customization. Must have/create Facebook account.
Slack – Pretty simple to use. Could be a minor learning curve for some. Moderate amount of customization. Must have/create slack account to use.
Discord – Most difficult of this list. Likely learning curve for first-time-users. Allows the most customization. Must have/create a discord account to use.

Legitimate Prizes/Payouts

The most effective way to get your fantasy league more engaged. Additionally, it can weed out weak and/or non-engaged managers from your league. The higher your league dues are, the more likely a manager will be dedicated to his team.

A unique way to justify a higher price tag for your league is by rewarding one-team with a weekly bonus payout. In several leagues that I play in, our commissioner sends out a $25 prize to the top scoring team of the week. This keeps managers engaged in the long-term and in the short-term.

I cannot state this any clearer: bigger payouts make the league more fun for everyone. Weekly payouts keep players the most engaged.

Checkout our “Too Early” ADP Analysis – Value Picks for 2022

Involve Managers in League Decisions

It’s easy to overlook but involving other managers with league decisions serves a great purpose. People enjoy transparency and the ability to weigh-in with their opinion. This creates trust with the commissioner and allows league mates to be apart of the changes that take place. You don’t have to accept everything proposed by other managers, but it could be the start of a great discussion which leads you toward changing your league for the better.

A great example of how to involve your fellow managers in the league decisions would be

Polls on Rule Changes
Setting the Fantasy Draft Date
Polls on Scoring Changes
Suggested Positional Additions or Subtractions

Allowing league mates to help with league decisions gives them a real connection to the league itself. It helps them feel like they are building the league with you, and that will ultimately create a more engaged league.

Last Place Award (or Punishment)

Face it, we have all had one-or-several teams in a league give up after going 0-6. It’s not fun and creates lopsided competition. Just like you want to incentivize managers to chase the championship trophy, you want to keep players from bailing out on the league prematurely.

A “last place award” would be awarded at the end of the season to the worst team in your fantasy league. The term is more of an oxymoron and usually becomes a silly punishment for the manager themself. I have seen everything from wearing embarrassing outfits into bars, to a guy sitting in a Waffle House for 24 hours scarfing down waffles. The whole purpose is motivating players to stay plugged in and try to win rather than abandoning ship.

Check out Three Backfields to Avoid in 2022 Fantasy Football

Meet Up with Your Fantasy Football League

Last but certainly not least is having league meet ups. The easiest way to accomplish this would be a live league draft, even if the live draft is everyone bringing their own laptop to a house or bar. Another way to meet up regularly is by going to a sports bar or house for big NFL games. This is even more fun when there’s a Monday Night Football game with lots of fantasy implications.

For leagues that have many strangers playing together, this easily allows players to mingle and put a face to the manager’s team name. But even for leagues where everyone is familiar with each other, you get to hang out with a great group of people and enjoy ice cold beer, football and legendary company.