This one goes out to the MLS Fantasy commissioners.
Now, you may have thought that your job was done after you sent out the invites to the league, but there’s still a lot you can do as commissioner to keep your private league engaging and fun.
As we enter the third week of the MLS Fantasy season, chances are some of your league’s owners have experienced some ups and downs in their fantasy fortunes. (I, for one, followed up an excellent Week 1 with a dog of a Week 2.)
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To keep those owners with flagging fortunes engaged, here are a few suggestions to keep your league top of mind.
Send a weekly e-mail
This idea comes from my friend Greg, who has been running a classic league for three years. Each week he summarizes the action amongst the league’s owners and gives a “Commissioner’s Shoutout” to the high point earner for the week.
Additionally, he tabulates the league standings to date, posts links to the weekly dream team, and gives a heads up about anything that might affect fantasy owners (think international absences and double game weeks).
Each e-mail follows the same template and only takes about 20 minutes to compose. It’s a great way to celebrate successful match weeks while also chiding members who’ve forgotten to update their lineups. You might want to consider taking advantage of this strategy in your own league – you can use e-mail, post it to a blog, send a group text, or any other way you communicate.
You can also put your own spin on it. Instead of the standings, you could consider using a “Power Rankings” format to reward the managers that are coming on strong. Create a list of the three hottest player adds from the previous week or see who made the boldest coaching decisions with a Coach of the Week award.
For the multimedia savvy among you, leverage video to create your league’s weekly recap. There’s no limit to the number of approaches and the league members will appreciate the camaraderie you generate.
Stage weekly challenges
Nothing gets the game going in a like challenging another owner to a friendly side bet. Whether the wager is a beer or a brat, the new dashboard screen makes it easier than ever to track the progress of the game in real time for head-to-head leagues.
Consider promoting weekly challenges in your league to add a little extra spice.
Host a weekly viewing party
This year’s MLS schedule gives us something a lot of us have desired: stable weekly time slots. Consider gathering your league together for a Friday night viewing party of the MLS action on UniMas or Univision Deportes. Or, nearly every Sunday features an MLS doubleheader, with one game on ESPN2 and another on a Fox Sports network.
Take advantage of these games to bring people together, either virtually or in-person, and engage in a little trash-talking.
Give a platform to share
The one truism with fantasy sports is that people always love to talk about their own fantasy team. As a commissioner, you can offer your league a platform to talk about their teams. There’s an active MLS Fantasy thread on Reddit, but consider encouraging your managers to take the discussion online.
As always, use the #MLSFantasy hashtag to join the discussion on Twitter and engage with MLS Fantasy Experts. Post in the comments section and stay tuned for Starting Lineup, which comes out on Monday and Thursday each week.
We all know the MLS season is long and fantasy can be a lot to navigate, especially for rookie managers. A couple small steps to connect your league could help make that journey even more rewarding.
Do you have any special tactics you use to keep your league in the game? Maybe a special trophy or reward for the league champion? Share with us in the comments below.
