Once again it is the time of the year where fantasy football begins to enter people’s minds. It’s been long enough since Week 16/17 epic championship wins or terrible losses. The winners have long spent the cash they have won and the reality of the losers’ tattoos has already set in. Now everyone has their eyes set on one goal — winning it all.

But where would all this excitement be without fantasy football commissioners. They are the true unsung heroes of the fantasy football seasons. They’re the ones who have to put up with all the trash talking, accusations of corruption and team owners who have just given up.

Here are some tips on how to be a better league manager in case you ever feel too much pressure in this serious sport of fantasy football.

First of all, the importance of creating a championship, or end goal, for the league to work toward can not be overstated. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a reward that someone can win. It can be a punishment that someone would want to avoid (or some mix of the two).

Cash is always a great motivator but once a team starts to do poorly, owners will start to lose interest. This is where the punishment part comes in. If a person has the determination to not come in last place, they are more likely to be engaged the entire season.

Depending on your cup of tea, some good punishments include paying for second places buy-in, a punishment of the winner’s choosing or my personal favorite, the last place person has to retake the ACT with high schoolers.

The second most important thing a commissioner needs to do is have trade approvals set to commissioner approval as opposed to league voting. Now, this is where it can appear to be an opportunity for a commish to be corrupt. But if the league was smart in choosing the commish, this will benefit the entire league when it comes to trades.

When it comes to a league vote for trade approval, it takes time. Everyone needs to respond to the trade — or at least enough to approve or veto it. It’s entirely possible for a week to start and lineups to lock without the trade going through.

People may also veto just because they are playing one of the teams in the trade, just to mess with them. By switching the trading approval to commish vote, teams can shoot the commish a quick text and have him approve the trade almost immediately. That way everyone is happy.

Last but certainly not least of importance for a commissioner: the draft. The draft is what makes the early-season fun. People love practicing for the draft, but there are three important keys to have a fun draft.

The first is picking a good draft date. Picking a date that works for everyone is not enough. You also want to pick a date that is as close as possible to Week 1. Preseason injuries are not uncommon, so you want to see everyone you drafted play at least one game. Next, it should be online. Online drafts make it easiest for everyone. You don’t need to have everyone in one place, and people can even draft from their phones if they need to. Lastly, you should make clear what kind of draft you are doing well before the start time.

Nothing is worse than finding out some kind of curveball right before the draft starts. As long as everyone knows what kind of league it is, when the draft it is and what type of draft it is, you should be good.

Hopefully, you will win your league this year and if you don’t, you should at least get a better score on the ACT than you did in high school.

By Jack Dunn | Campus News Editor