BOBCATS4EVER LEAGUE OFFICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pre-Draft Trades Taking League by Storm
Commissioner Wary of Leaks to Media
Minor Controversies Addressed with Authority
BEACON FALLS, Conn. — In the wake of an extraordinarily busy two-day span in the Bobcats4Ever Fantasy Football League, Commissioner Kyle Brennan has a series of announcements and reminders to owners as the 2015 Bobcats4Ever Draft approaches Sunday.
TRADES
As voted upon at the inaugural owners’ meeting in January, the league is allowing draft-day trades of picks and keepers for the first time. This new capability has caused much of the excitement of the past few days.
“There’s no doubt that this was a good decision by ownership,” Brennan said. “Anything that heightens excitement for our season before the draft is good for our league, our clubs, our business partners and our fans.”
Only the players designated as keepers early Thursday morning are eligible to have their rights traded. Trades must be balanced, with an equal number of assets going each way. Draft picks for 2016 are in play, and multiple teams may be involved in a trade. Owners are invited to ask the league office for an updated list of its own draft picks at any point. Trades can be agreed to in principle and sent to the league office for verification until an adjusted deadline of Saturday at 11:59 p.m. The league office will close for business Sunday from 1-7 a.m.
“I decided to adjust the in-principle trade deadline and close the office for a couple of reasons,” Brennan said. “First, we expect an astoundingly heavy volume of transactions, so we wanted to give our Technological Operations Unit Council Headquarters (TOUCH) enough time to adjust our draft programming with all the pending trades. Also, there’s a local food truck convention that our staff would like to attend overnight and I wasn’t going to say no.”
Once a trade is sent in writing to the league office, it will be considered pending the Saturday night deadline, at which time it will become officially proposed and cannot be taken off the table by any owner involved. Owners wishing to withdraw any trade sent to the league office must submit their withdrawal in writing to the Commissioner before Saturday at 11:59 p.m. At midnight, the league office will release a complete list of transactions and the new draft order.
Any trade sent to the league office Sunday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. will not be considered in-principle and cannot be withdrawn. Ownership will be able to submit vetoes in writing to the league office from 7 a.m. until 8:15 p.m. Sunday. Six vetoes are needed for nullification.
While the league office is not able to comment specifically on any pending transactions until Sunday, Brennan is pleased with the volume of talks passing through his channels.
“This is just superb,” Brennan said. “I know some owners have a small idea of the scope of what’s going on, but when the official list of trades is released at midnight Sunday morning, the popular phrase in the Facebook group chat will probably be ‘hahahaha holy shit.’”
DRAFT
The 2015 Bobcats4Ever Fantasy Football League Draft will be held Sunday at 9:30 p.m. via the Yahoo! Fantasy Football live draft application. Owners will be able to join the draft room at 9:15 p.m. The official draft chat will be held within the draft application.
Keepers will not be officially slotted in the draft order until 8:15 p.m., although they may be temporarily slotted prior to that time by TOUCH to ensure a smooth draft process. Keeper selections will be slotted in the lowest available pick within the designated round.
All undrafted players will become free agents immediately following the draft.
The Bobcats4Ever Fantasy Football League has been pleased with its working relationship with New York Post fantasy sports beat writer Caleb Gindl. Gindl recently created a Twitter handle (@CalebGindl) and has been reporting league news leading up to the draft.
Several of Gindl’s reports have come with anonymous sources leaking information about pending transactions, prompting the league to issue a notice to its clubs.
“I respect the job Mr. Gindl is doing and cannot fault him for doing his job,” Brennan said. “I ask that our owners think twice before leaking what could be sensitive information about our soft trade window. The last thing I want to see is an owner misleading Mr. Gindl and having him post erroneous information. Mr. Gindl may look like an avid chess player, but he is not a pawn to be used in draft scheming.”
YAHOO! FANTASY SPORTS
On Thursday afternoon, Mealz on Wheelz owner Ted Sellers — the league’s newest member — sent out an email to ownership, the league office and the league’s media partners concerning projections for Sunday’s draft.
Sellers’ list of the top 50 available players came from ESPN, rather than the Bobcats4Ever Fantasy Football League’s longtime partner, Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. MIII-LES … YOU SUCK! owner Jamie Palatini expressed dismay in Sellers’ use of ESPN, prompting Sellers to respond: “ESPN is better than (Y)ahoo … if you dont (sic) like it dont (sic) look at it.”
“The league office strongly condemns the comments made by Mr. Sellers,” Brennan said. “This league is completely satisfied with its relationship with Yahoo! Fantasy Sports and considers the internet mogul the world’s best fantasy sports website. Further damaging remarks made by any owner against Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, or any of our partners, could result in disciplinary action being taken by the league.”
ROLE MODELS
The Bobcats4Ever Fantasy Football League may be young, but it is quickly becoming a standard for which other leagues strive to meet.
Earlier this summer, Deacon Blues owner Miles McQuiggan asked the league office for a copy of its keeper rules.
“He must have been lonely and looking for conversation that day, because those rules are clearly posted on our website,” Brennan said. “Dolt.”
On Thursday, Leapin’ Chancellors owner Alex Birsh engaged in a short conversation with Brennan about lending the league’s constitution to another league. Birsh asked for “permission to share it with a friend at work who is looking to shore up some of his league’s own rules. (I) didn’t want to share unless I went through the proper channel.”
Brennan granted permission without a second thought.
“I’m very proud that our owners realize that we have an extraordinarily well crafted league and documentation to support it,” Brennan said. “Most of our ownership realizes this is clearly the top league going and is proud of that fact. It’s unfortunate that not all owners feel that way.”
HISTORY
As a reminder to owners, media and fans, the Bobcats4Ever Fantasy Football League website — which can be accessed at b4effl.kylebrennan.net — recently launched a new record book, complete with leaders from the league’s first two seasons.
“I’m not sure if everyone knows about this section of our website,” Brennan said. “For example, a message in the league email thread sent by Fear Boners owner Marc Schwartz seemed to suggest that the Fear Boners have been the league’s best team over the past two years, but if he’d simply checked the history section of our website, he would notice that the Fear Boners have not won either of our two league championships.”
Indeed, Palatini and Small-Town Americans owner Kyle Brennan are the only men to win the Bobcats4Ever Fantasy Football League championship.
— B4EFFL —