A Discussion On The Pause Time For Draft Champions Leagues

[Greg Ambrosius]

Despite this stupid lockout, I think we have a chance to set another record for the Draft Champions National Championship. And there's no doubt that we'll set a record for the NFBC $50s Draft Champions leagues. The draft 'n hold format is very popular and for the most part drafts flow pretty well.

However, that doesn't mean we can't improve the format even more. And I think it's worth a discussion to try and do that.

Right now, there are more 2-Hour DCs than 4-Hour DCs, and thankfully there are no more 8-HOUR DCs!!! Drafts are getting done quicker and that allows people to actually enjoy them more and maybe even do more of them.

But maybe it's time to tweak the overnight pause time. Right now we have the draft pausing between 2 am and 8 am to allow everyone at least a few hours of sleep. It seemed like the right time frame, but it still makes it hard for East Coast drafters at night and for West Coast drafters in the morning.

I don't have the data, but it does seem like people still make some picks during the pause, so my question to everyone now is:

Should we expand the pause time? Would a pause of 1 pm to 9 am ET allow more people to play in the 2-Hour format and still make picks if they are on pause? Or would the 2 extra pause hours slow down drafts to the point of no return?

So choices are:

1. Keep Pause at 2 am to 8 am ET
2. Expand Pause to 1 am to 9 am ET
3. Expand Pause to 1 am to 8 am ET
4. Other suggestions

I'm curious about this for 2023 NFBC and maybe even 2022 NFFC. I've heard feedback on different scenarios, so chime in and we'll take down the data and decide for next year. If we can improve this format at all we will. And this seems like an area that maybe could be improved.

What do you think? All answers are welcome.

[Gekko]

Would love to play the 2 hour DCs; however staying up until midnight during the week isn’t something I’ll be doing.

I would play in 2 hour DCs if the clock paused at midnight ET. That way, when the 1 hour clock kicks in in the later rounds, 11pm is the latest I would need to stay up

[Philippe27]

Would love to play the 2 hour DCs; however staying up until midnight during the week isn’t something I’ll be doing.

I would play in 2 hour DCs if the clock paused at midnight ET. That way, when the 1 hour clock kicks in in the later rounds, 11pm is the latest I would need to stay up

I agree with Mark here. As an East Coaster I think Midnight would be ideal, 1 AM would be okay.

I still see a lot of picks being made early in the morning when the clock is paused so I don't think drafts would slow down. I think a lot of quick drafters would be able to move to 2 hour drafts instead of 4 hour drafts or 1 hour drafts instead of 2 hours and it would have a positive impact overall.

[cfolson]

You can't just cater to the East Coast, though. I get put on the clock at 5am and time out on both 1 hour and 2 hour clocks. Everybody has to use auto draft sometimes.

[Rickerbocker]

1am to 9am clock freeze seems right to me. It may add one day total onto the entire time to do a 2 hour draft. The benefit for both "coasters" would outweigh the extra day, at least in my opinion.

[Philly High Hopes]

Somewhat in line with Mark and Phil, my suggestion would be to pause from 12:00 midnight to 9:00 a.m. (ET). At the very least have the pause from 1:00 a.m to 9:00 a.m (ET). This helps both the east coast drafters at bed time and west coast drafters in the morning. I don't think you would lose a significant number of picks during the extended overnight pause.

[JohnP]

I would like to see the pause time expanded as well - at least for the 2 hr and 1 hr draft types. I think in general you get a "quicker" group that signs up for these two types and length of the drafts really aren't an issue. I don't think the extra hour or two on either end causes much extra total time. Additionally, seems like some folks don't even know they can still pick during the dead time. Also....a refresher on the multi round auto-queue would be good. Thanks for considering.

[COZ]

Yes, definitely need 8 hour pause, the only question for me is which times are best, which is worthy of further discussion. 12:00 AM - 8:00 AM EST seems like a happy medium but whatever accommodates the majority and the 3 time zones best but I definitely feel 8 hour pause is necessary.

[JohnP]

Yes, definitely need 8 hour pause, the only question is which times are best and is subject to discussion. 12:00 AM - 8:00 AM EST seems like a happy medium but whatever accommodates the majority and the 3 time zones best but I definitely feel 8 hour pause is necessary.

Phew....thought you were going to suggest the 3 hour CAS (Cosley Afternoon Siesta)

[mdecav]

I am in the "Other Suggestions" bucket, and it would be a choice per each drafter. For each drafter, they have an 8-hour pause window but they get to choose what time: 11pm-7am EST, 12am-8am EST, 1am-9am EST, 2am-10am EST, 3am-11am EST. This accommodates East Coasters and West Coasters evenly.

Once an owner makes a setting for the draft, it doesn't change once the draft starts. When an owner is due up and it is during their pause time, the clock shows how much time is left in red so other owners know when the clock is still in pause time. When an owner is up and its not during their freeze time, the clock is white as it normally is during the daytime.

[Philippe27]

I don't know what's possible with the system but here's another suggestion. Set it so that no matter the timer, someone can go to sleep at 11 PM ET and wake up at 7 AM PT.

For example for a 2 hour DC the clock would pause at 1 AM ET until 8 AM ET for the first 30 rounds and once we reach round 31 then it would be Midnight ET to 9 AM ET. The pause times could be written in the draft room right beside the clock.

[COZ]

I don't know what's possible with the system but here's another suggestion. Set it so that no matter the timer, someone can go to sleep at 11 PM ET and wake up at 7 AM PT.

For example for a 2 hour DC the clock would pause at 1 AM ET until 8 AM ET for the first 30 rounds and once we reach round 31 then it would be Midnight ET to 9 AM ET. The pause times could be written in the draft room right beside the clock.

This. Brilliant idea...surprised I didn't think of it myself.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I appreciate the feedback from everyone and keep the ideas coming. I haven't seen anyone fall on the sword over MUST having the 6 hour pause time and we aren't willing to fall on that sword, either. However, we don't want these 50-round drafts to add days to each one, so we will look at this more closely before making a change in 2023.

I think it's something we will address in football when we get back from the live events because last year in football there were fewer people who did the 2-Hour and 1-Hour DCs than the 4-Hour DCs in the NFFC mainly because of the short pause window. Maybe we can test the 8-hour pause in football first since those drafts are only 34 rounds with 12 teams, not 50 rounds with 15 teams.

Thanks for the feedback. If it makes this format better, we'll make the change. Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming.