Format Summary
If you've ever seen an auction in a movie or in real life, this draft format works in a similar fashion with teams frantically bidding against each other to claim the highest bid before the timer expires.
Before bidding can begin, an eligible player must be nominated from the Undrafted Players Pool.
Drafty engineers have developed 5 unique nomination formats that can be employed for any auction draft.
When a nominated player comes up for auction, the team who nominated them automatically claims the opening bid.
Then the timer starts and bidding commences without regard for any turn or sequence; it is a free-for-all, it is chaotic, and it is awesome.
Any new bid that occurs with less than 10 seconds remaining will reset the timer back to 10 seconds, a threshold that the commissioner can adjust in the Draft Settings.
When time expires, the high bidder wins and the active player is added to their roster.
In a Live Auction Draft, teams are given several buttons they can use to strategically participate in bidding.
Some of these buttons are exclusive to Drafty, so practicing in a mock draft is highly recommended to gain familiarity.
The Min Bid button will raise the current bid by the minimum amount in order to claim the high bid. The default bid increment is $1 and can be changed by the commissioner in the Draft Settings.
The Auto Bid button will toggle on and off a bidding AI which monitors the current bid, compares it against the team owner's defined target bid, and automatically places a Min Bid as needed to maintain high bidder status.
The Flash Bid button places a new bid for the amount manually entered as the target bid.
The Match Bid button will overtake the high bidder without incrementing the current bid. This button can only be used by the team who nominated the active player; it is turned off by default and the commissioner can enable it in the Draft Settings.
Every bid is verified against eligibility rules to ensure it is valid.
Drafty is the most customizable draft platform on the planet so most rules can be adjusted to accommodate your league's traditions and preferences.
A typical 12-team redraft league with 15 players on each team can expect a Live Auction Draft to last about 2 and a half to 3 hours; actual draft times will vary.
Our mission at Drafty is to innovate online draft rooms and make draft day the best day of the year.
If you have any questions just leave a comment or you can open a Live Auction Mock Draft to give this format a go. For tech support, please use the help panel in-draft for fastest response time.
FAQs
Common questions about this format will be posted here so don't hesitate to ask!