Re: $$$ Leagues - Prize Money Distribution
So you personally are paying all the cash for prizes, WHY? That seems really unfair and unnecessary to me, if you want to have a cash league with a buy-in and payout that's great but seems like it should be a buy-in from all GMs. Anyways, to answer your question, my league has 12 teams, and a $100 buy-in, we have 3 divisions (use ESPN). The $1200 is distributed as follows:
Regular Season Division Champs - $100
Regular Season League Champ- $200 more ($300 total with division money)
Playoffs 2nd Place - $200
Playoffs Champ- $500
This is a good balance between having small prizes for a good regular season and then a decent chunk for the Playoffs Champ. I've seen some leagues that award all kinds of smaller prizes throughout the year ($10 here, $20 there). Personally I dislike the idea because what ends up happening is the big prizes (regular season champ, playoffs champ) get reduced, I'd rather have a few big payouts then a bunch of smaller ones. I'm not sure I'd get excited over a $10 prize for winning a week.
As far getting a group of competitive/motivated GMs I don't think money is enough to motivate an otherwise disinterested GM. I play fantasy hockey because it's fun, I enjoy competition, and I like to win. If you're looking for a competitive league it's way more important to get people who are internally motivated to win than simply people looking to score cash IMO. And while I think it's far too generous of you to "donate" $350 to the prize pool, by the same token that's about $10/week that's being won, if I was interested in money their are easier ways to earn $250 over 7 months.
12 team H-2-H 1 year league, daily roster changes, 3 goalie start minimum/week
2xC, 2xRW, 2xLW, 4xD, 3xUtil, 2xG, 5 Bench
G, A, P, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, SVs
C: C. Keller, C. Mittelstadt, B. Nelson, R. Strome,
LW: K. Connor, B. Tkachuk, J. Gaudreau, J. Marchessault, E. Rodrigues, A. Lafreniere
RW: K. Fiala, J. Bratt, T. Jeannot V. Arvidsson
D: R. Josi, J. Trouba, E. Gustafsson,
G: L. Thompson, F. Gustavsson, V. Vanecek
NO IR