I heavenly done Open Leagues so far but I would really like to join a new progressive league. If I am understanding correctly I think a lot are private and therefore I would need to be invited. As a result my post here is to ask if a commissioner of one progressive league would be willing to invite me to join. (feel free to site mail if that is preferable to replying to the post on the forum here

Or if anyone can point me in the direction of a progressive league which I can join that would also be great; or possibly let me know a good person to specifically ask about such a league, etc. I looked at the classifieds but I don' think I saw any public leagues

Thank you

Check out the Progressive Theme League Classified forum. There's always leagues looking for a new owner.

Yes - the progressive theme league forum is the place to go. I've got one league looking for an owner if you're interested! But read the description of each league carefully and ask questions since it's a new thing to you.

Posted by mattedesa on 7/6/2025 4:44:00 PM (view original):
Yes - the progressive theme league forum is the place to go. I've got one league looking for an owner if you're interested! But read the description of each league carefully and ask questions since it's a new thing to you.

just read the thread regarding your league and sent a note. Thanks to those who replied to tell me about the Prog theme fourm. I was able to find the fourm without any trouble (which for me was surprising) in fact right now im going through old the previous years of the fourm to find threads on the Board from years past with useful information.
There have been multiple users on the site kind enough to help me out with friendly advice and feedback, but as I don't want to annoy others with constant nagging questions, I started digging to see what I could learn on my own. So many old threads out there contain so many gold nuggets of useful information. I have been sponging up knowledge on so many topics lately. I've learned so much in the last 2 weeks that the games almost seems a completely different game than it was when I first signed up 4 months ago.

Cheers all! sorry the TLDR ramble

Many...probably most...progressives advertise their openings in that forum. But not all. I run a league (the NWP-RE) in which most of our very few openings across 28 seasons have been filled by word-of-mouth recommendations from current owners. There are a few reasons for this, but paramount is that the structure of the league is significantly more complicated than most progressives, and I only want experienced high-quality owners to join.

I'll offer a couple of recommendations to you as a new progressive player. What follows is just my opinion, so please take it as such.
-- Get things in on time. Keeper lists, draft picks, entering your team in a new season, etc. Nothing frustrates me more as a progressive commissioner than having to chase people down to get stuff done. Being a commissioner takes a lot of time, especially if you care about doing a good job at it, and I consider it very unfair to me and to the other owners if someone consistently is unable to meet deadlines. We're all busy - jobs, families, lives outside of WIS. But if you can't commit to meeting deadlines, then progressives probably aren't for you.
-- It's your responsibility to read and know the rules. Most progressives have a league constitution or similar document. Make sure you read it thoroughly and understand it. And do not assume that the way one league does things will be the same in other leagues. Things like rules about trading, how the draft order is determined, what constitutes "tanking" and what the consequences are...all of those vary from league to league.
-- Speaking of tanking...don't do it. Most of us define tanking as "deliberately managing your team in ways that make you less likely to win." And it's unfortunately not uncommon to see it in progressives, especially ones that use some sort of reverse-order-of-finish draft. There are gray areas, but experienced progressive owners know all the tricks, and know how to spot them when they are tried. Note that I do not consider "having a bad team" to be tanking. It's very standard practice when you're rebuilding to trade away guys with current value for draft picks or guys with future value, much as in real MLB. Having a team with 50-win talent is not tanking. Managing a team with 50-win talent to a 30-win season because you didn't put any effort in, or deliberately sabotaged them...that IS tanking.
-- When you join a progressive, you are making a commitment to the commissioner and the other owners. Don't drop out just because you have a lousy team, or a rules decision didn't go your way. And it's generally good form to give the commissioner advance notice of your intention to leave. Dropping out right before the draft is about to start is really uncool.

Posted by contrarian23 on 7/6/2025 10:23:00 PM (view original):
Many...probably most...progressives advertise their openings in that forum. But not all. I run a league (the NWP-RE) in which most of our very few openings across 28 seasons have been filled by word-of-mouth recommendations from current owners. There are a few reasons for this, but paramount is that the structure of the league is significantly more complicated than most progressives, and I only want experienced high-quality owners to join.

I'll offer a couple of recommendations to you as a new progressive player. What follows is just my opinion, so please take it as such.
-- Get things in on time. Keeper lists, draft picks, entering your team in a new season, etc. Nothing frustrates me more as a progressive commissioner than having to chase people down to get stuff done. Being a commissioner takes a lot of time, especially if you care about doing a good job at it, and I consider it very unfair to me and to the other owners if someone consistently is unable to meet deadlines. We're all busy - jobs, families, lives outside of WIS. But if you can't commit to meeting deadlines, then progressives probably aren't for you.
-- It's your responsibility to read and know the rules. Most progressives have a league constitution or similar document. Make sure you read it thoroughly and understand it. And do not assume that the way one league does things will be the same in other leagues. Things like rules about trading, how the draft order is determined, what constitutes "tanking" and what the consequences are...all of those vary from league to league.
-- Speaking of tanking...don't do it. Most of us define tanking as "deliberately managing your team in ways that make you less likely to win." And it's unfortunately not uncommon to see it in progressives, especially ones that use some sort of reverse-order-of-finish draft. There are gray areas, but experienced progressive owners know all the tricks, and know how to spot them when they are tried. Note that I do not consider "having a bad team" to be tanking. It's very standard practice when you're rebuilding to trade away guys with current value for draft picks or guys with future value, much as in real MLB. Having a team with 50-win talent is not tanking. Managing a team with 50-win talent to a 30-win season because you didn't put any effort in, or deliberately sabotaged them...that IS tanking.
-- When you join a progressive, you are making a commitment to the commissioner and the other owners. Don't drop out just because you have a lousy team, or a rules decision didn't go your way. And it's generally good form to give the commissioner advance notice of your intention to leave. Dropping out right before the draft is about to start is really uncool.

Thanks contrarian23! While experienced at losing quite well, I do not do tanking, not per se. I play in a few dynasty and most do not reward tanking.

"And it's unfortunately not uncommon to see it in progressives, especially ones that use some sort of reverse-order-of-finish draft"
I am commissioner of a dynasty BB league and we actually had to institute a rule a few years back to make the #1 pick a random draw between the bottom 6 (non-playoff) teams because of intentional tanking (and it made sense to tank in some case when there was an incentive to do so. People don't tend to do (negative) things unless there is something in it for them. So we had to remove the incentive)

Thanks again for taking the time to make this post. I have read a lot of your material since I've joined this site (including your advice for newbies thread. I'''m on my 12th team but I still read specific thread before/during creating a new time. And I usually learn something new every time through. I have had some fun digging through all the threads on the forum. Trying to go back through all the underfeeds of pages to find the interesting threads. I am only 60-70 pages in so far so I tons more to research. But there is so much useful information out there if you can find the right threads.

Cheers.