The dynasty community is a passionate bunch who tend to be extremely ambitious. Whether it’s the latest hot take or innovative new league format the collective minds of the dynasty universe are always pushing the boundaries and the number of leagues one joins isn’t exempt from being pushed to its limits. Joining multiple dynasty leagues isn’t something I’m against but I do advocate for restraint and moderation as overextending yourself leads to negative outcomes for all your leagues and league-mates. While joining many dynasty leagues has its benefits there are also tons of potential consequences if you don’t have the time, commitment, organization, and endurance to power through the yearly responsibilities of an excessive number of leagues.
DEDICATION & COMMITTMENT
One of the most important aspects of dynasty fantasy football we don’t often discuss and many don’t consider is the level of commitment needed for a league to survive and be successful. Each dynasty league requires the members to stay active year to year, pay league dues, and return for the following season which can become increasingly difficult as your league count grows. The less committed you are to a team the more the entire league suffers. Think about your favorite dynasty leagues and how active the chat and trade wire is, you simply can’t and won’t contribute the same level of activity others with fewer commitments will.
The more leagues you join also dilutes your appreciation for each team and some become favorites and others may fall by the wayside. It’s truly inevitable as the league number increases over the 15 or 20 marks. I believe it’s important for dynasty leagues to remain together with as many inaugural members as possible to maintain integrity and stability.
TIME & ATTENTIVNESS
Managing more dynasty teams means more research and team building which doesn’t stop during the offseason, especially if you want to improve your dynasty chops. I don’t think most consider this when joining their first few dynasty leagues. Dynasty managers should be sending trade requests and welcoming offers all year long (within reason) and ideally approach each team with the same care and concern. If you are considering entering more dynasty leagues each year without a limit you should ask yourself a few questions.
— If you’re in 20 or more leagues do you have time for 20+ rookie drafts all around the same date and time?
— Will you have time to hit the waiver wire every week or set your lineup in every league at a bare minimum?
Assuming you’re in more than even 10 leagues it’s quite likely a variety of formats. One of the main reasons we join more than one dynasty league is that they offer different rules, rosters, and competition. While it’s understandable and fun different formats require more work such as Devy or salary cap/contract league.
— Are you prepared for not only your rookie drafts in your 10+ or 20+ leagues but also your Devy draft?
— Will you have time to send in your contracts for the players you keep? The responsibility can truly become daunting.
CROSSOVER
Something more minor managers of many dynasty teams will encounter is player crossover. While it won’t in most cases affect your dynasty’s success or failure it will become a headache during the season nonetheless. It’s practically impossible to stop worrying about players you have in one league going for your team and against you in another. It’s confounding being excited and angry all at once about the same play.
One thing I want to do the most on Sundays during the NFL season is enjoying the games themselves as much as possible and for me, that means limiting or eliminating my concern for my fantasy team once 1:00 PM roles around. I prefer to have my lineups set and not score watch and I also prefer not to have to think so much about things like the crossover, so limiting the number of dynasty leagues I’m in inherently increases my overall watching (and playing) experience.
I want to clarify, I never avoid players in drafts or trades to limit crossover. Each league is its own and rostership in one shouldn’t affect the other. It’s just an inescapable inconvenience of managing a considerable amount of leagues.
FINANCES
More leagues tend to mean more money. Of course, there are plenty of free leagues if that is your cup of tea but I find the majority of people playing dynasty appreciate the art of gambling or at the very least putting your money where your mouth is. Let’s face it, money leagues are much more competitive and offer that extra bit of motivation to not just throw in the towel at some point. I believe the stakes must be high in dynasty or at least there should be stakes of some sort as it really encourages yearly commitment.
I don’t know about you but I’m no millionaire and those league dues can begin to add up. $25-50 per league (or more) over 10 or 20 leagues…you do the math. Might want to hide the ledger from The Wife (or Husband). Don’t let me tell you what to do with your hard-earned money. I’m just here to promote self-control and moderation. It will make for a better overall dynasty experience in my opinion.
ORPHANS & COLLAPSE
More leagues could lead to more orphans and less fun.
The final and most severe consequence of taking on too many leagues is leaving an orphan behind or even worse the entire league folds due to a mass exodus. There is no shame in leaving a league for any reason really but it would be unfortunate if the main reason a team was left behind was that someone overextended themselves and simply joined too many dynasty leagues. Again, commitment is a major piece of the dynasty puzzle and we want anyone participating to be dedicated and engaged and I think joining too many leagues can be an impediment to maintaining one of the most integral elements of dynasty fantasy football.
IDEAL NUMBER OF LEAGUES
Is there a perfect number of leagues to join? Certainly not. I think everybody has their own limits and some can take on more than others. For me though, somewhere between 5-10 is the ideal number. This allows for testing multiple different kinds of formats but still manageable to prioritize and maintain each team with a winning level of focus.
Once you cross the 10 league mark it becomes difficult to track roster moves and transactions and while there are tools to help with the organization and specifically setting lineups across all your leagues it’s still complex and not for the faint of heart. I encourage anyone reading, to begin with fewer and keep it that way if it suits you as it does me. It helps me stay passionate about each of my teams and extremely engaged in the league’s activities.
Thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts or would like to discuss them, you can find me on Twitter @WillieBeamanDFF.
