How to Be a Good Fantasy Football Commissioner

Fantasy football commissioners are not exactly on the same scale as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Goodell must deal with almost daily crises concerning such things as the Michael Vick situation, drug offenses by players, domestic violence and a whole laundry list of transgressions by NFL players.

Fantasy football commissioners are kind of like the Maytag repairman in most fantasy football leagues, only occasionally having to veto a trade or something to that effect.

Many fantasy football leagues don't even require the commissioner to do even that, with any questionable trades subject to a league vote by the other owners.

The fantasy football commissioner's main duties are simple enough. Just to bring any league issues to the attention of the owners by email usually, or veto a trade just in case some of the fantasy football team owners are napping.

In every fantasy football league, there are scoring disputes from time to time, but that's easy enough to deal with. Just revert to the league rules, which are clearly spelled out in most leagues. The online fantasy football leagues all rely on statistics services or official NFL stats.

Therefore the fantasy football commissioner's role is to, as Rodney Dangerfield's character in Caddyshack exhorts to the referees of the mega-buck golf match: "keep it fair".

In other words, be even-handed in your rulings. Don't allow a trade between two of your buddies that you wouldn't allow between other teams.

One of the things fantasy football commissioners must watch for is the late-season deals when a fantasy team owner in their league who is out of the playoff picture tries to either cut good players or make an obvious deal to help their buddy who is still in the running for the league championship.

In every fantasy football league I've ever been in, and I have participated in very many over the last 9 years, there are always a few owners who quit on their team before the end of the season.

By that I mean players who are out for the season due to injury or suspension are left in the starting lineup by these clowns. There is not really anything you can do about that, fantasy football commissioners cannot change anybody's lineup for them.

About all anyone can do about that is try to weed out the deadbeats before the draft by screening prospective team owners or only allowing owners in their league that they know.

It is not necessary to restrict the role of commissioner to someone outside the fantasy football league, in fact, I would rather have a commissioner who is in my league. It just has to be someone who can put aside their own team's self-interest and folow the rules of the league.

It helps for the fantasy commissioner to know or at least keep in touch with the owners in his/her fantasy league. Let the owners know of any issues that arise, any problems with point disputes and so on.

Here are seven tips to being a good fantasy football commissioner.

1. Have your authority spelled out clearly up front to avoid misunderstandings.

2. Make it known up front that if your league members want a league commissioner who is a puppet that they need to choose someone else.

3. Be fair, but firm. Make it clear to your league members that everyone plays by the same rules, no exceptions.

4. Keep your league informed, don't be an absentee commissioner.

5. You can't put everything to a vote, otherwise there's no need to have a final authority, but do seek input. A fantasy football commissioner is not a dictatorship.

6. Stay on top of NFL personnel moves. A player's value can go up or down with a change of teams in season affecting a player's trade value, which in turn could bring about a lopsided trade. When one owner gets fleeced due to not keeping up, it's not fair to the other owners and some may not check in with their teams in time to vote against such a trade.

7. Keep up with your own team. As commissioner you set the tone for your fantasy football league. if you don't keep up how can you expect the other owners to?

A league in which half the owners have injured players starting or playing through their bye weeks decreases competitiveness and hurts the creditability of the entire league. Winning a competitive league has much more meaning.

To be a good fantasy football commissioner, follow these tips and your league will be more competitive and enjoyable for all involved.