CommishRx Advice: “My Family Dueling Over Fantasy Dues”!

CommishRx Advice: “My Family Dueling Over Fantasy Dues”!

"I’m the commissioner of a league with some friends, some I work with, but also a couple of family members. One of my cousins couldn’t pay dues last year, and he still owes me, and now it’s time to pay again. I gave him two more weeks to pay me, or I’d find someone else to play. I know he’s spending money on other things. Now feel I was used last year. I covered for him with my own money, but it’s not like I can do it again. I’m still in school. I’m set with my decision, but I need a second opinion more for the negative talk I’m getting from family. What do you think?"

You’re doing the right thing. I’ve mentioned in the past, how I’ve had to replace family members in my league too. Maybe the ones chattering in your cousin’s defense don’t know that he played for free last year (and maybe angling to do it again). Feel free to provide them with this information.

Then proceed to tell them you’ll be glad to let him stay in the league if (1), they pay you back (on his behalf) for last year, and (2), they pay his fee for this year – by the deadline.

Ask commissioners if there’s anything that they don’t like about running a fantasy league – collecting money will be one of the most popular answers. It’s always a pain in the backside when you have to go after folks for dues.

It’s even worse when it’s family because you would hope that they would respond more favorably to you than say, one of your co-workers. It’s important to not let personal relationships deter commissioners from doing what is right for the league.

Lots of people have a hard time asking others for money in situations like this. It makes them feel uncomfortable, so they’ll put it off as long as they can. Freeloaders take advantage of those who are like this. They will also be the first to claim harassment when you finally start asking them for the money they owe, even if it’s long overdue.

Someone simply owing only you money is one thing, but if the money is for pool money, their delinquency can affect the whole league. Obviously you have a payout of some sort, otherwise, you wouldn’t be collecting money. Last year, you chose to cover for him so you ended up paying for the both of you.

What if you couldn’t? At the end of the season, the league would’ve been without part of the prize money. Also, in covering for him, you actually let him play without paying – while everyone else did. Meaning, you held the others to a different standard than your cousin thereby potentially opening yourself to accusations of playing favorites – because he’s your cousin.

Freeloaders seem not to care about the difficult predicaments they put others in when they behave irresponsibly. You’re family. You should expect better, and they should deliver accordingly or go play in another league that plays for free.

"We’re a redraft league. I’ve decided to not draft in July and announced that we would do it later in August. That didn’t go over well with everyone. I haven’t opened our league yet, and now people are upset because of that and are threatening to leave, actually some have already. What was I supposed to do? We’re just waiting to start."

[NOTE: I started answering questions and giving advice a number of years ago with a keen focus on helping new commissioners and fantasy players. This sounded like that type of situation. Needing more information, I responded. Specifically, I wanted to know how long they’ve been running their league. This is their second season. Normally, I would’ve answered this one privately but I think the following response might be helpful for other commissioners running a league for the first time. – R.J.]

Welcome to the world of running a fantasy league! What did you do? You made some missteps. It’s okay, you’re new, figuring things out. Better to get things worked out now, instead of years down the road when or if you start playing for money. That’s when people really start acting crazy.

You mentioned most of you are new players, so that’s the good part. You can learn together.

Your first mistake was making a decision for the league and not sharing it. Further, you announced it way too late. You weren’t trying to be underhanded or sneaky. You unwittingly put yourself in a bad position. To some, did it seem more like a personal whim of yours rather than official league business? Perhaps.

Your league has only been playing for one year, certainly not long enough for folks to get set in their ways, but at the very least, you have to expect that the people in your league would think that you’d be doing the same thing this year that you did last year – unless you told them otherwise. You didn’t.

Secondly, even though your league mates now know they’re not drafting as early as last year, I’m sure some of them still may want to rearrange the rankings to mirror their own player preferences. Actually, I’m pretty certain they do. You shouldn’t prevent them from doing that by not “opening” the league.

If you can imagine doing this until you’re old and grey, then you have to learn how to plan ahead and be open and up front in your communication with your league. The better you are at both, the happier you’re likely to be while running your league, forever how long that is.

I suggest that next year, as soon as your fantasy platform goes live, tell your league. This is also the time that you present any rule changes, any items that are up for vote, and what’s expected for the upcoming season.

For example, is their ability to gain access dependent on them paying pool money first? Fine. Make sure they know the details so they can plan ahead themselves.

Yes, you’ve thought about these things in the offseason and you’re ready to go as soon as your platform is. I run my league on Yahoo! which went live on April 24th. The league got my first message announcing the draft date, all applicable deadlines, and news of a pending proposal that would be up for league vote, the next day on April 25th.

Keep in touch and let me know how it goes during the season.

The Commish is here to help. Send your questions to: reginaldjfantasy@outlook.com