Morning all !
Hope everyone’s well… we are just a few weeks from the draft day, so it’s time I send out some info. Anything I’ve forgotten to cover, feel free to ask.
And I have two pieces of information I need from you, so please read till the end!
The Draft
The draft will be back at our regular location of The Hampshire Suite, in the Ibis Southampton Centre hotel.
The draft room is available from 11:00, so I will be there from then, getting things set up for the day. Feel free to rock up as soon as you want, but can I ask you to be there by 12:00 please (and when I say ‘you’, I mean ‘Adam’…!). There’ll be the usual bit of housekeeping, but I’d like us to be making the 1.01 pick by 12:30 at the latest.
We’ll draft 15 rounds, in 5 blocks of 3.
The draft will have a third-round reversal like last year. So whoever drafts last in round 1, will draft first in both rounds 2 and 3.
After round 3, there’ll be a half hour break to let folks grab food from the McDonald’s near the hotel. After rounds 6, 9 and 12, a shorter break.
Social
I know a few of you will be rocking up on the Friday night. Happy to meet up for a few beers, a bite to eat, and some cagey pre-draft chat. Probably meet at the Duke of Wellington, same place as 2021, but I won’t book any where to eat, we can just wing it on the night once we know numbers.
Saturday, the draft should be done by 5:00 / 5:15 – so as usual, most of us will slope off to the Scholars’ Arms to discuss where we went wrong, plus watch the day’s late Premier League game (Brighton v Newcastle I believe).
After that, a bite to eat at a local restaurant (probably Chinese). This is the one bit of the social that I’ll have to reserve in advance, so please let me know if you’ll be joining us for this (plus, I think Dan A. and Sean are bringing wingmen to the draft, so let me know about them too!)
Ben is ultra keen and will be hitting Southampton on the Thursday! I’ll join you for a welcome-to-Hampshire beer, mate , but won’t be able to make a big night of it.
Prep
Most managers are signed into the league on the Sleeper app. If you’re not, let me know and I can re-send a link.
All managers start with $200 waiver budget, for making in-season player pick-ups. This waiver budget will also be used to set the draft order, in advance of draft day.
Please send me a private message with a bid of $0 to $200 (whole dollars only). The manager with the highest bid gets first choice of draft spot, next highest has second choice etc (two or more managers with the same bid will draw lots for priority). Each team will then have the amount of their bid deducted from their $200 points, to leave their remaining budget for the season.
(as soon as the first person sends me their bid, I will let them know mine, so I won’t be accused of setting my bid once I have seen everyone else’s!)
After the Draft
First thing to say, is no changes to team rosters for 24 hours after the draft finishes. We need people to be able to be able enjoy the Saturday socialising without worrying that they’re missing out on free agents. Don’t worry, there’ll still be plenty of time to try to repair your awful draft choices before Week 1 kicks off…
Once we are off and running, it’s a 14 week regular season, after which 8 teams will make the playoffs (seeded on Win-Loss record, with points scored as a tie breaker if needed).
In the Week 15 Quarter Final, the number 1 seed will choose their opponent from the other 7 playoff qualifiers. Then the other six playoff qualifiers will be paired off automatically, highest remaining seed plays lowest remaining seed, second highest plays second lowest etc.
Week 16 is the Semi Final and Week 17 the Grand Final.
Winner – £1,000 prize
Runner Up – £300 prize
Losing Semi Finalists - £125 X two people
Highest Weekly score in Weeks 1 to 14 – £125
Most Total points scored across weeks 1 to 14 - £125
Questions
So, two things I need to know from you.
1: Are you coming to the Saturday evening meal?
2: What is your bid amount for draft spot?
Could you let me have both answers by Wednesday 23 August please?
Sucks!