These are all excellent points here and def things that make up a good league. Ive ran one since madden 12, and when i say that , i mean we have never stopped since then. We dont take breaks , we dont take time off. Sure all of our 32 owners dont make it all year, but most make it to about april or may when the weather starts being nice and they have alot to do outside with family then. Even then we hold at about 16-20 owners all year long. Having good owners is a big part as well. If your thinking of starting a new league. Let me tell you first hand, its going to be a struggle at first. Mainly because you will find yourself getting alot of unsim players , claiming to be sim , only for you to find out they arent for a while. You will have to weed them out and hopes to find more sim players to fill in. Its a common thing that happens, dont let it deter you , just stay vigilant and handle players who cant follow rules. Give them a chance to improve, it not , cut them loose.Good owners is the only real base a good league can stand upon.
One thing , that i as a commish have seen, if i had to pick 1 most important trait for a good CFM online , is Communication between owners. Nothing will kill a league faster than poor communication causing the league to be held up an extra day . Its really frustrating to the rest of the owners in the league who are communicating well and quickly. We finally set up a system for this in our league. We have a 3 day advance period. However , everyone must post scheduled times in our shoutbox within 24 hours of last advance , or they will face a possible sim. This really gives guys incentive to make sure they are keeping up to date and communicating. If one owner texts another and gets no response in 24 hours, the one who sent out text, gets to play cpu. Again , incentive. Its 2015, i see no excuse a set time cant be set within 24 hours time period.
On another note, the commish being fair, is a must as well. We actually have a "rules committee" that is set up of 5 guys , our owners voted to have in that role. They overlook all video of infractions and vote on punishment . Everyone is subject to the same rules. Also we take surveys thruout the seasons , to see if owners want new rules added, some removed, issues they may see in sliders, etc . Taking owners feedback , really helps shape the league to please the majority of owners and try to keep things as fair as possible.
Those two things, are some of the most important parts of a healthy CFM . Although i totally agree with all the things i quoted above. Daddyleagues is a great place for hosting leagues . I wouldnt host mine any other place. They have done a great job there to be run by basically 1 person that already has a full time job . Having forums, chat, stats , place to post stories and videos from games, a place that shows live games currently in progress right on site, spending xp ( a much better system than even EAs cfm website) , checking salaries, rosters , etc, the site really brings alot to leagues imo.