Incentive for winning keeper league?

Question

I have a 20 team keeper league. Its a free league and very competitive. We keep 5 players at the end of the season. The problem is we have nothing really to play for. I want to keep it free so no money would be involved. At first I was going to give the 1st place team 1st pick in the draft but this was shot down by most of the league since it would be giving the best team the best available player. Right now we do a random draft because even doing a reverse order from standings of last yr would be unfair. Anyone got any suggestions to reward the top teams in league?

Answer 1

Consider adopting The Vulture System

This system is not only fun, but you can harm your opponents' teams in the process. And let's face it, nothing's better than chop-blocking a pal!

The worst team in the league can either keep one player from his team or one player from the team that finished in first. The same goes for the second-to-last place team and the second-place team, and all the corresponding teams in between in the standings. Once the lower-half of the league decides their keepers, the top half gets to return the favor with those bad teams.

Example: I finished in last with Peterson, but the first-place team has LaDainian Tomlinson. I can steal Tomlinson from their team or keep Peterson.

Thoughts: This one is tough to prepare for because you have to look at two rosters for potential keepers. Moreover, if you finish well, you could lose one of your best players to a competitor. This makes for a very challenging and very personal long-term league.

Award the top two teams a pass on vulture system, so that the 20th-place team picks from the 3rd place team. If you want to extend this to the top 4 or 6 teams, you can but just keep the number even since you are in a 20-team league.

Answer 2

with out adding money to the mix there really is no way to "reward them" in my free keeper leagues the satisfaction of beating the cailber of people in our leagues is enough (oh & yahoo's free dustless trophies in you profile) but, what we do to keep the guys NOT in the playoffs interested is the WINNER of the consilation or LOSER Bowl, gets 1st pick next year.

in one free league we bought a cheap trophy & mail it the winner. he keeps it for the year, if he doesn't repeat he must mail it to the winner.