Fanball ceases operations

[Tig]

anyone have a site to recommend for hosting a league? Id rather not have to resort to paying the outrageous price that comes with CBS.

[Captain Hook]

anyone have a site to recommend for hosting a league? Id rather not have to resort to paying the outrageous price that comes with CBS.

I am assuming you are talking about baseball.....so

The one thing you have to take into consideration is what ALL your league members want from a host site. When TQ stopped hosting leagues some years ago, my twenty+ year old keeper league needed to find a new place and I thought sportsline was not worth the price, so we went to Rotowire, which is less than half the price, and certainly IMO fine for most leagues - the guys in my league pitched a fit because it didn't have all the stats, maneuverability, good looks, etc that cbs did, so we switched.

It also depends on whether you have contracts and want that information ON the site and whether it is valuable to your league to retain history.

Just saying, it is not a simple choice and I would explore all the recommended options

[Tig]

yes, sorry. I am talking about baseball leagues.

the league was with TQStats originally and we loved it. Hated it when fanball took over, but for the price and to keeps things simple, we just stuck with em.

Our league is 12 team 7x7 auction keeper with weekly FAAB. Our categories are the standard 5x5 with "trebles" {doubles+triples} & OBS for hitters. Pitchers categories are Quality Starts+Complete Games+ShutOuts & K/9, so it does need to be customizable.

I heard that 2 of the guys from TQstats had started a new site, onroto.com. Did that pan out? Has anyone used it?

[Todd Zola]

I have used onroto and it is fine. It does not have the bells and whistles as some of the others, but it certainly gets the job done.

CBS is really good if you want to use their in-house draft or auction software, as the rosters are loaded automatically. With onroto, the commish has to load them.

Another cheap but useful option is customstat.com, with even fewer bels and whistles, but nots and bolts does the job.

[Captain Hook]

TOUT used onroto.com last year so Todd, Rob, Lawr, Brian, and I all used it and it works fine - I am not sure how customizable it is for keeper leagues since TOUT is redraft and that may be what you want to find out.

[Captain Hook]

This was posted today on the message board at FootballGuys.....so obviously referencing football leagues but they might well extend it to baseball leagues

Attention any Fanball users:

RealTime Fantasy Sports is offering to transfer your league to RTSports, plus give you the rest of this season and next season for free if you switch your league from Fanball to us. I know you were told that you have until the end of June, but we feel the sooner you can move your league(s) before they are lost, the better. We will help you move your league, its history, teams, rules, etc. to RTSports so that you can enjoy the rest of this season and next year without missing a thing. If you have any questions about this or our service in general feel free to contact us at 636-447-1170 or by e-mail at support@rtsports.com.

Thank you for your consideration and we hope to serve you in the future.

RealTime Fantasy Sports Inc.

[viper]

I play in four local league and OnRoto is used for each league. The Commissioner had some small issues the first year but last season he felt things were fine. I'm not sure how they handle "unusual" league formats. Ours do not have any unusual quirks. Their live scoring and live standings stayed very real-time last season. Maybe someone who was a commissioner can give better details but from a regular participants point of view, it's fine.

For me the bigger Fanball issue is what is happening with the NFBC. I was not planning to participate in the Main Event or Satellite Leagues this year but I am interested in how the demise of Fanball will impact the NFBC. The Liberty statement on Fanball mentioned several games specifically but, notable in it's absence, was any mention of the NFBC. The NFBC board is waiting for some definitive statement on the 2011 season.

[Todd Zola]

I'd like to keep this thread focused on alternate commissioner services. We can talk about the NFBC in another thread if desired.

OnRoto can handle most any league quirk. You may have to get creative, but there will be a work-around for just about anything you can dream up. For instance, I am in a private league that allows one of your UT to be a pitcher OR hitter and OnRoto can accommodate that easily.

The support is top-notch as well.

[alleyoops]

I've also run leagues using Onroto the last couple of years. It is superb, and if you were happy with TQStats, you will love Onroto. It is essentially the old TQ with a makeover. Scott (one of the TQStats principals and now Onroto main guy) is super, and responds very quickly to emails for support. They're highly configurable and affordable ($99 I think).

[viper]

Following up on Todd's remarks, one of my NL-only leagues allows you to optionally add an additional players, hitter or pitcher, during September. On-Roto handles that. Since this league, like all my current leagues, has no bench, we end up with some teams having 23 stat-counting players and others with 24. Not every team adds a player because there is a $5 transaction charge and teams out of the running typically choose not to spend money foolishly.

[AllstonRockCity]

On-roto; the guys that run it will work with you on a much more personal level than any other site I have ever seen. (for hosting a league anyway. those guys at Mastersball are pretty good too)

[themather]

I play in a league that used TQStats for years successfully, and like many, unsuccessfully did not enjoy the Fanball experience. I believe we're moving to OnRoto this year, especially given their history. Fanstar.com is another site we've found that looks pretty, though none of us have used it, and let's be honest, Fanball looked pretty too but ran very poorly. So yeah, we're probably going OnRoto this year as well.

EDIT: I should also add we're a 20 team dynasty auction league that does have some custom needs like contracts and minor leaguers and we've been assured OnRoto can handle that. We're also head to head with 16 stat categories and that doesn't seem to be a problem either.

[CubFan]

When TQStats ran into some problems several years ago during their transition we switched to onroto (based on recommendations from this site) and have been quite happy. We're returning for a 3rd year.

[Rob Leibowitz]

I used onroto for tout last year and for my local keeper year the past two. It's not the most pretty of sites, but in many ways its the easiest and most functional to use. I think its fantastic for the commissioner with the ease of handling weekly transactions -takes me a minute or so each week, especially now that trades are automated too. I will continue to use it this upcoming season.