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href="#fb3_img_img_fd859f82-1cc5-5a56-ab7d-69f8042718dc.png" alt="Tip"/> If you're not joining a private league with friends and family, but want to enjoy the rush of competing, then you might want to try Best Ball Contests or play Daily Fantasy Football. Committing to a public league for a full season can sometimes be a bore if the other coaches are not social or give up early in the season. I'll explain more on how Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) work in Part 4, but it's really suited for online solo play, no rivals needed!

      Entering the public domain: Anyone can play

      A public league is just that — public. Anyone can play in the league, just like anyone can play in the public park. You don’t need to know anyone in the league, and a public league is great for beginners. All the main service providers in Part 4 offer public leagues, including Yahoo!, ESPN, NFL.com and CBS Sports. Joining a public league is a great way to learn the fantasy game and meet new people without having to worry about the judgment of friends.

In a public league, you can experiment with different draft plans (see Chapters 8 and 9) and team management decisions (see Chapter 10) without peer pressure; heck, you can sign all your favorite players from one team and not be flamed by your cousin John. I’ve even met some cool coaches in public leagues, and we’ve formed our own private leagues the following season.

      Free public leagues

      Free public leagues are a way to play fantasy football without having to shell out a dime. Anyone can sign up online and create a team. The draft and the gameplay are the same, but the coaches tend to be strangers. If you’re new to fantasy football, a free public league is a good place to start playing or just to play casually. In fact, most fantasy players first got hooked on fantasy football in a free public league due to the casual style and ease of use. If you want to practice, doing it in a free, public league also makes sense.

      

Despite how easy and fun it is to play in free public leagues, the coaches may not play out the season because they’re not tied to the leagues by their friends or their money. When coaches don’t pay to play and don’t know the rest of the coaches, they’re more likely to get bored and quit. Leagues may be decided by these no-shows. If you’re eager to chat and talk smack, but not many of the coaches want to rant football with you, you may soon realize that this league is a bad fit for you. Furthermore, most free public leagues don’t have a commissioner (although some do allow one of its coaches to act as commissioner). Not having a commissioner means having to live with default settings, public trade votes, and obnoxious coaches. An acting commish/coach can be reasoned with when there are disputes and can help make a league run more smoothly.

      Anyone can sign up for a free public league. Just surf to the fantasy pages of the league provider and click fantasy football. Either you’ll be randomly assigned to a public league or you can choose from a list of public leagues based on league size and the time of the league’s live or auto draft.

      Pay public leagues

      Pay public leagues are similar to free public leagues, with the exception that you have to pay money to play. (No surprises there, right?) The amount you pay depends on the league. Often, when fantasy coaches grow tired of dominating their free public league, they seek out a public pay league to feed the need for competition.

      

When you pay to play, you’re in essence paying for access to different features including expert advice, real-time scoring during games, a draft kit with team previews and player rankings, depending on the site. (Make sure you read the league default settings and the site’s rules before you make your payment to know what you’re getting for your money.) By committing your hard-earned dollars to fantasy football, you give yourself the incentive to prepare for the draft and play out the season, no matter what happens. The other coaches will feel the same way, and the competition will be better because of it.

      So how do you sign up for a pay public league, and how much money will you spend? After reviewing your options, just follow the provider’s links to their payment options from their fantasy football main page. Your monetary commitment depends on your personal budget and what you’re willing to spend. There are contests in various formats for just about any budget range, the draw being higher payouts proportional to your entry fees. DFS leagues are primarily pay public leagues but can also be customized with private league settings.

      

Despite all the benefits of playing in a public pay league, it does have some of the same drawbacks as a free public league. (Check out the previous section.)

      Joining the private sector: An invitation required

A private league isn’t as secretive or exclusive as it sounds. Fantasy coaches are invited to play by another fantasy player in the league (often by the commissioner). So when Joe from Accounting invites you to join his league with his buds, Joe is the commissioner and you’re in essence joining a private league. The league’s website provider doesn’t randomly group fantasy players together like in a public league, and the commissioner customizes the rules and setup.

      

The only way you can play in a private league is if someone invites you (or you set up your own private league). Private leagues tend to be more good-naturedly competitive and more fun than public leagues, and they’re a great bonding tool. In fact, a private league is where fantasy football was meant to be played. Your league name and team names can be inside jokes that all the coaches are in on. You’ll probably see or talk to the other coaches in your league regularly, so now you’ll have even more to talk about.

      Most sites require a private league to have a commissioner to run the show. The commissioner runs the league by collecting the dues (if applicable), setting the league rules, reviewing trades, and so on. The commish also plays in the leagues. A good commish can help his or her league flourish for years, but a bad commish may discourage coaches from signing up next season. Either way, the buck stops with the commish, so when you have questions or complaints, you’ll be heard quickly. (For more on the commish’s role, see the “Starting Your Own League: You Want to Be a Commissioner?” section later in this chapter.)

      As with public leagues, private leagues offer both free and pay varieties. The following sections break them down.

      Free private leagues

      A free private league means there are no league dues to be paid, but you still need an invite to join. The commissioner can customize the rules and scoring settings and select a draft time.

      

Just like in free public leagues, when coaches don’t have any money invested in playing, they may not be as dedicated to the game. Even if you know all the coaches in a free private league, someone will probably quit before the season is over, I promise. Quitting is less likely in a private league, but consider yourself warned.

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