Focus on Fantasy Football - Auction Leagues

Welcome to Phil's Fantasy Focus! A short series of blog posts designed to cover the basics of fantasy football. Whether you have been dabbling for a few years, or frightened to jump in for the first time, these blogs will hopefully bring you into the amazing world of fantasy sports or even just help you tap into some deeper aspects!

We run annual Fantasy Football leagues to win amazing signed Eagles prizes! Sign up on our Fantasy Football page!

What is Auction format?

Auction Fantasy Football is in essence, a re-draft fantasy football format but with a nice twist on how the league is drafted. The draft requires all participants to be present for the draft and is usually completed within a couple of hours. The draft order plays much less of an impact on your chances of success, this is because the draft order in Auction only determines who nominates a player to be auctioned, not who will draft when.

Why should I play Auction format?

I only started playing this format last year, if like me you are fully into the fantasy football circuit, things can sometimes get boring and if you are looking for the next exciting way to spice things up then auction is a good way to do that. The opportunity to draft an incredible team if done right without having to trade or miss out on the chance to take any players is certainly another way to experience the game.

So how do I draft players then?

Each participant takes it in turns to nominate a player to draft. This player is then put up for auction for all players to bid on within a pre-determined window of time. All participants are free to bid on any player.

Auction Draft - Any player is fair game, if you have the cash!

So I could buy all the top players, right?

In theory, yes, but you will have to pay top dollar to get the top players and you will all start with the same amount of money as everyone else - usually $200. Buying Saquon might cost you $120, so you then have to hope you can fill your team with the remaining $80, get it? Each player will have a recommended price to help you gauge how hard to go in on a player.

Auction League: Splashing the cash early and on one player won't leave you with many options later in the draft.

So, it's all about balance, right?

Yes, it's all about trying to get the best team, for the least cash. Having discipline and not jumping head over heels for the first player you want and overpaying is rule number 1. But you also don't want to miss out and be left with the dregs after all the top tier running backs are gone, either. So finding balance is key.

Any other tips?

A few:

• Keep an eye on your squad, once you fill your starting line up, make sure you know what positions you want depth in. Fill up on running backs and you wont have space for a depth QB!

• There's nothing stopping you from sabotaging your opponents. If you know that someone really wants a player, why not hike up the price? Make them use up more of their allowance than they would like, leaving you to get your guy in the next auction!

• Don't boredom bid! It's easy to get FOMO in an auction and bid for players you don't really want. This might contradict my previous tip a little, but again it's all about balance!

Once the Auction draft is over, the league will likely run similar to a re-draft league; with waivers, trades and fixtures decided by points scoring

If you want to take part in our Auction leagues they are filling up fast. Visit our Fantasy Football page now to register for any of our leagues in 2025!