Sign up
To sign up for a live draft, visit the group directory and create a new live draft group or join an existing one.

Live draft groups must be full before they are turned into a league. If a live draft group is not full, the league will be converted into a single list group and run automatically.

Participating in a Live Draft
When the Live Draft begins, each owner takes a turn to make his/her draft selection. After the first pick of the first owner, each of the owners will have 2 minutes to make their selection for each round. The order of the draft will follow a "ladder" type of draft (the order for Round 1 would be: 1,2,3, ...10; Round 2 would be: 10, 9, 8, ...1; Round 3 would be 1, 2, 3, ...10; etc.). The Live Draft will last for 16 rounds and will take three to four hours to finish.

If an owner fails to make their selection within the 2 minute period, and has no pending claims (see below), the owner's draft list is used for executing all picks and the team's auto-pilot status (see below) will be set to "On". If you are unable to attend any part of the live draft for any reason, then the live draft engine uses your draft list rankings to make the picks for you while you are away.

Pending Draft Claims
In a process similar to fantasy game Free Agency, live drafters may submit draft claims for upcoming rounds of the Live Draft; you do this by choosing a position (QB, RB, etc.), selecting the player you want, and then clicking the Draft Player button. You can repeat these steps as many times as you like and each player that you select will be queued up as a pending draft claim for you. When it's your turn to select a player, and a Draft Claim has previously been submitted, your first Draft Claim (in which the player is still available) is immediately processed (the player will be drafted onto your team). This capability makes it less necessary for each owner to be online for each and every round of a lengthy Live Draft.

Auto-pilot Status
When your auto-pilot status is set to "On", the live draft engine makes your team's picks using your draft list as its guide. Specifically, the live draft engine picks the top ranked player on your draft list who is still available at the time of your pick, while making sure that you meet the roster position requirements by the end of the draft. All picks for that team are made immediately until the team owner sets their auto-pilot status to "Off", at which point they will again have the standard 2 minutes to make their selections. If your team has its auto-pilot status set to "On" and you have draft claims pending, the live draft engine processes draft claims first. The draft list is used as a last resort.

Java and HTML differences
As a participant in the live draft, you have two interface options: Java or HTML. Both have certain advantages. If you are on an older browser and cannot run java applications, you will need to use the HTML draft. Like selecting free agents in the middle of the season, drafting players through HTML is easy. Through the HTML interface, you can do everything that can be done in the Java applet. If your browser is capable of running Java applets, you may prefer to use the Java version of the live draft. The counter updates automatically and no reloading is necessary to see roster changes.

When you enter the League Draft Warroom, you will initially start in HTML. You may choose to use the Java applet at any time. If you find you are having technical difficulties with the Java version, the HTML interface is always a viable backup.

Roster requirements by position for the Live Draft (HTML or Java)
A live draft allows for greater flexibility in when the various players are drafted, although it still has strict limits on how many players can be taken at a particular position. These restrictions are necessary to ensure each team can field a valid roster. These requirements are delineated below for each position:

Each team must select at least 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 Kicker, and 1 Defense. This is the minimum number to fill a valid roster.

Each team may select as many as 3 QBs, 5 RBs, 6 WRs, 2 TEs, 2 Kickers, and 2 Defenses.