CommishRx advice: Should I tip my fantasy commissioner?

"A  guy in our league tweeted the other day about tipping our commissioner. I’ve never heard of that before. Our commissioner hasn’t asked for any money, or ever talked about something like that. I don’t see the point. Am I missing something? Enjoy your stories, maybe I should tip you. Ha ha!"

Thanks! That’s kind of you. Just keep reading and tell your friends. That’s the best tip possible.

It’s funny, I’ve been writing about fantasy leagues and answering questions from folks for a number of years now. I’ve been running a league even longer, and this year is the first time I’ve heard about tipping fantasy commissioners myself. I too, saw a tweet about it.

[I just recently read a series of tweets about a commissioner who not only played for free, but took a fee, all the while still competing for prize money. That’s some crap, in my opinion, and shall be discussed at a later date.]

If you don’t feel right about tipping your commissioner, that’s cool. If you choose not to do it, that’s cool too. Honestly, I don’t think it’s anything that I would do as a league member myself. After getting your email and actively searching for tweets on the topic, I’ve found that while there aren’t a lot of folks tweeting about it, there are however a certain sort out there wondering, “Why would you not tip your commissioner?”

I do understand that some feel tipping their league commissioner is a way to say, “Thanks.”

For me, this topic falls under the “Different Strokes” category: if people want to tip their commissioner, that’s up to them, and if commissioners feel it’s cool to either ask for tips (although I would never do such a thing), or to accept them when offered, that’s their choice.

I personally would never ask for tips. I don’t need or want anyone tipping me for running the league that I started. Frankly, it wouldn’t matter if I ran a league that I did not start – my sentiment would be the same.

At the end of the season, I’ll get some “thank you” texts or emails, and that’s cool. Yes, I appreciate that. In my year-end letter to the league, I also thank everyone for doing their part by keeping our league competitive and drama-free.

Sure, there is some busy work involved in running my league, but there’s nothing that I can think of that I do that warrants getting tips. For example, every year I have to manually assign keepers to their respective draft rounds. That takes the most time of any of the preseason/pre-draft prep that I do. The rest of the set up is all about checking boxes, and using pull-down menus.

https://twitter.com/Stuckex8/status/682741298084855808?s=20

Weekly “maintenance” of the league is easier than it’s ever been, especially now that scoring is automated. We’re no longer pulling out the yellow legal pad and grabbing Monday’s edition of USA Today to tally scores, then waiting for Tuesday’s edition for the Monday night box score.

I know some folks complain about how frustrating  it is to be the commissioner of a fantasy league sometimes, but it seems to me, that comes more from dealing with interpersonal league nonsense, rather than the “administrative” side of being a commissioner.

That said, every league is different. I acknowledge that my experience as a fantasy commissioner is certainly not the same as it is for some others. Whatever works – if league members are happy and the league is running smoothly, they should stick with whatever processes got them to that point. If greasing the palm of the commissioner with tips is one of the nails that helps hold it all together, so be it.