Let's say it's a 12 team league.

1.
Would you all prefer 1 conference of 12 where everyone plays everyone once, or two divisions of 6 where you play the teams within your division 3x each, and the guys in the other division 1x. Trying to think which way has more benefits.

2.
If you prefer divisions, how would you format your playoffs? In a 12-team league, assuming 6 make it in and not 8, do you simply do top 3 in each div, or 2 division winners followed by the next best 4 overall records, or what? Does playoff crossover of divisions occur in the 1st round or not until the finals?

3.
If you prefer one big conference of 12, do you like the setup where top 6 make the playoffs with top 2 receiving a bye first round, or do you prefer 8 make the playoffs and 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc.?


Thanks for the feedback everyone!

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Roster:
C - Stamkos, Bergeron, M.Koivu, Stepan
W - Malkin(C/W), Benn(C/W), Backes(C/W), Iginla, Vanek, Voracek, J.Staal(C/W), Hemsky, Saad
D - Yandle, Goligoski
G - Lundqvist, Smith, Dubnyk, Khudobin
IR - Karlsson, Martin

12 teams h-to-h partial keeper league. Daily line-up changes.
End of the year u keep 1C, 2W, 2D, 1G
Categories: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, FW, W, GAA, SV%, SHO
Lineup: 2C, 4W, 4D, 2G, 5Bench, 2IR

I prefer having one big conference of 12 where the top six make it and seeds 1&2 receive byes. It rewards those two teams for having stellar seasons and doesn't allow the chance for the 8th place team to catch a hot streak and win the title.

Your question also asks If we like division's where you play teams within your division more than everyone else. I would love this feature, but I'm not sure if it's available on any of the providers. I'm in a divisional pool on both Yahoo and CBS and our schedule is completely random.

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12 team H2H Keeper
G,A,PP,PIM,SOG
W,GAA,SV%,SO
C:Giroux,Zberg,Marleau,Kadri
LW:Ovi,Neal,Pach,Benn
RW:Perry,MSL,Wheeler
D:Yandle,Subban,Edler,OEL
G: Lundqvist,Miller,MAF

12 Team H2H
R,2b,3b,HR,RBI,AVG,SB,BB,K,E
W,L,SV,HLD,K,ERA,WHIP
C:Buck
1B:Santana
2B:Kipnis
3B:Zimmer
SS:Tulo
LF:Marte
CF:McCutch
RF:Pence
Util:Ozuna
SP:Cain,Moore,Latos,Kennedy,Ryu,Guthrie
RP:Henderson,Rivera,League,Gregerson,Herrera
DL:Hart,Anderson,Bailey

If it is Yahoo!, you can go two divisions of six... where the final playoff seeding is by overall rank. In other words, it's really one big conference... it just looks like two divisions.

The standard Yahoo! H2H season is 22 weeks, so you'll get 2 match-ups x 11 opponents regardless of whether you go conference or division.

I did this in the Dobber Fantasy Football league this year... and gave the divisions funny names.
I think I called them:
All-Canadian Lion Lickers (which was all the Ontario guys that liked the Lions), and
Super Bowl Losers (since there were some Broncos, Bills, and Dolphins fans)

In my friends hockey pool, I was able to split the guys by the men's league hockey team they'd played on in the past. In previous years, there was 6 Americans & 6 Canadians, so I did it that way.

Summary:
Run it where the playoff rank is just based on overall standings.
Create two divisions for a "fun factor"... find something that divides the group into 6 & 6... just for shits & giggles.

Thanks for the feedback! I agree - I also prefer 6 making it in over 8. The commish has the ability to alter the schedule, so if he wanted to alter it in a way that teams play certain teams more than others, I believe he can.



Thanks Pengwin! Ya, since I was in the football pool (6th Round Gems --- then later, It's Tebow Time lol) I remember the fun of two divisions. If my pool decides on two divisions, I was thinking of doing two divisions and grouping the guys based on what high school they went to. We have 5 guys who went to 1 high school, and 5 who went to another, then two outliers who would be randomly assigned to a division.

Do you really think that using two divisions playing everyone once is the way to go? Or, for rivalry purposes, would it better if you play each person within your division 3X, and one cross-division matchup? That would total 21 weeks. Also, preferably, I'd like to make it so that crossing over doesn't occur until the finals just so technically each division will be represented in the finals. Do you know if it's possible for the commish to alter playoff matchups on yahoo?

__________________
Roster:
C - Stamkos, Bergeron, M.Koivu, Stepan
W - Malkin(C/W), Benn(C/W), Backes(C/W), Iginla, Vanek, Voracek, J.Staal(C/W), Hemsky, Saad
D - Yandle, Goligoski
G - Lundqvist, Smith, Dubnyk, Khudobin
IR - Karlsson, Martin

12 teams h-to-h partial keeper league. Daily line-up changes.
End of the year u keep 1C, 2W, 2D, 1G
Categories: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, FW, W, GAA, SV%, SHO
Lineup: 2C, 4W, 4D, 2G, 5Bench, 2IR