One thing I’d like to implement is creating a fantasy league with a more business/management-like setup or pay structure. I’ve mentioned this when you discussed incentives for and against dumping in keeper leagues, but I think building a payout model that rewards wins throughout the regular season, as well as in the playoffs in H2H leagues is the next step in the fantasy experience. It’s really something I haven’t seen done anywhere (but that doesn’t mean no one has thought of it before me). I developed a set of rules with a league structure similar to that of my 20-team H2H 8×8 keeper league. Essentially, you actually pay your payroll which goes into an escrow-type account as the money pool, there can be a cap or a luxury tax, and you have to calculate your marginal revenue based on the expected wins from the regular season, along with an entry fee for the tournament style playoffs. Not only does it enhance the keeper incentive situation, but it also makes things more realistic in evaluating payoffs and costs.

I’ve written up some rules on my site and discuss how the league could be set up. The payouts could be linear or non-linear, caps can be changed, etc. It’s all open. Anyway, here’s the 3-part post I have on the rules (start at the last post and go up):

http://princeofslides.blogspot.com/search/label/League Rules

Just a warning: the rules are quite long. I’ve tried to anticipate any problems that may arise, but would love to hear opinions on improvements. While this is a slight change over how leagues are run, I think it’s an extra nerdy way to improve involvement throughout the season. In fact, it would even enhance the ‘value’ estimations in your derivatives market and make them realistic in terms of expected cash flows!

Okay…sorry about the link.  If you go to the site it’s under the “League Rules” keyword.  Just click that and the 3 posts should come up (assuming anyone cares).

the headline pictures on that fantasy insurance site are, well, brutal.