CommishRx: How to Deal with Collusion in Your Fantasy League

This is the first of a multi-part series on a fantasy commissioner’s role in dealing with league trades and collusion.

I recently found myself involved in a Twitter discussion primarily about yet another fantasy football commissioner behaving badly and league members vetoing a legit trade. Then, the topic of collusion popped up. Fun times.

I’ve already stated my opinion briefly in a prior article that league members should not vote on trades. Later in this series, I’ll go into great detail why I believe commissioners should be the only one deciding on the status of a trade.

First, we’re going to focus instead on collusion: What is it? How do you recognize it if it’s happening in your fantasy league?

It’s almost an unavoidable rite of passage during an internet debate about collusion that someone will refer to Webster’s Dictionary. Let’s stick to the tradition, shall we?

"col·lu·sion/kəˈlo͞oZHən/nounsecret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.“the armed forces were working in collusion with drug traffickers”"

That’s settled. Now, how does this apply to you as a fantasy commissioner?

Collusion in Fantasy

There’s more than one way to collude in fantasy. A common act of “illegal cooperation” for example, would be trading between two players to purposefully help one player gain an unfair edge against another opponent. They might work together to try to make a “super team” to ensure that one of them will win the league.

Collusive activity doesn’t necessarily have to be that ambitious. Two friends may simply make a deal to help one of them win a specific game and nothing more. Winning that one game however, could ensure a playoff run.

Common signs to look for:

• lopsided trades between parties that leaves one team glaringly uncompetitive
• a team repeatedly dropping a player(s) that only their partner in crime are able to claim off waivers
• a team repeatedly dropping a player(s) in a league with no waiver period and the same team immediately picks them up
• two teams “borrowing” players, swapping the same players more than once to cover a bye week, or to help one win the aforementioned “a specific game and nothing more”

The first case can get tricky if a league has a  commissioner who isn’t objective about a trade league members are trying to make. Errant personal interpretations often cause a commissioner to falsely accuse two parties of colluding simply because they don’t like the trade. They may think the trade is unfair, or they feel it’s a trade they wouldn’t make themselves.

That’s a problem.

Or, as C HENRY, who was part of the Twitter discussion I inserted myself in, said:

Yup. As a commissioner it’s irrelevant that you don’t like the trade. It may even seem that one party is getting a “better” player. [I talk about this aspect of trades in “Don’t Use Trade Analyzers“].

What matters is if you see that one team literally can’t compete because they’ve depleted their team of all talent by sending their top talent to the same team. This isn’t a value call about whether you think LeSean McCoy is better than Peyton Barber in a trade. It’s pretty obvious if someone has a team of zombies.

You may be asking, “Why would people do this if it’s so obvious?” My short answer: “Because they believe they can get away with it – and they’re stupid.”

When is collusion likely to happen?

First and foremost, collusion is primed to happen in a league that plays for money. People act crazy over money. Will folks collude in a league that doesn’t play for money? Sure they will, but it’s less likely to happen. Most sane people don’t see the benefit to cheat to win nothing but bragging rights.

Collusion is more prone to crop up in leagues where there’s a lot of turnover of owners. Folks don’t have an incentive to act right when there isn’t a strong connection between league members. Why should they care if they blow up a league after playing, then leaving after one season?

Generally, the longer the members of a league have been together, the less likely a league will  experience collusion because the future and the stability of the league is important to them. Members have time invested, and no one wants to mess up a good thing.

Shady dealings like folks borrowing players or trying to get away with building the Avengers version of a fantasy team can undermine the morale and the integrity of a league.

That’s why it’s important for new commissioners to set a high bar when starting a league. You want to run a league that’s going to stay together. You don’t want folks coming and going, and you don’t want to have to kick knuckleheads out of the league every year.

Your primary concern as a fantasy commissioner should be to eliminate any activity that would negatively affect the league. If you can protect your league from silly humans sabotaging your league, the fantasy experience will be much more rewarding for all involved.

Hopefully this series will give you some ideas to help you do that.

Next, we’ll discuss what preventive measures commissioners can take to try to discourage collusion from happening in the first place. Plus, we’ll cover what do if it does happen.