With preseason play in full swing, millions of NFL fans across the country are preparing for the most important event in the fantasy football season: draft day.
Could the 2025-26 NFL season finally be the year you win your league? Maybe you’re going for a repeat, or threepeat, and hoping your friends will label you ‘the Jordan of fantasy football’. Or perhaps you’re just praying you don’t finish rock bottom and you can avoid the flop allegations.
Great fantasy managers have spent weeks fine-tuning their research and strategies, while commissioners have faced the tougher challenge of wrangling a league full of friends who can play nice with each other — or maybe your commissioner is a chaos merchant and gathered a group of people together anticipating your draft party will evolve into a street brawl.
If bitter rivalries are brewing and trash-talk is flying, it’s probably time to start planning your league’s launch event.
Pick the perfect date
There are dozens of dates you could hold your draft party; there is one that stands out above the rest.
While you can draft earlier – or later – Labor Day weekend, beginning August 29, is widely considered the ideal time to hold your draft.
Most people have the Monday off and, by then, the preseason is over. Training camp standouts are likely on your radar and you’re no longer guessing which rookies will get game time.
You can also dodge drafting any star players who suffer last-minute injuries before the regular season kicks off on September 4 with the Dallas Cowboys playing the Philadelphia Eagles.
You don’t want to be the manager who was somehow fortunate enough to draft both Josh Allen and Saquon Barkley only for both of them to miss the first few games of the season with niggling strains that tank your prospects of winning early.
Sweat the small stuff
A good draft party is all about the details. Stocking TOO much of those strong beers risks everyone being plastered and if your food game is too plentiful all the managers could be falling asleep on the job before business is taken care of.
Of course, it’s important to have the staples: setting up a fantasy board, handing out team-branded merchandise to opposing fans just to anger them, preparing an assortment of stadium-favorite snacks (not at stadium prices) and filling those coolers with a selection of beverages that would be fit for a tailgate party.
Adding in themed dress code — Travis Kelce’s worst looks? — a stadium playlist or a commissioner intro video can help a party avoid feeling mundane. An original, well-thought-out launch event sets the tone for the upcoming season.
Set perks (and punishments)
It’s time to raise the stakes.
Bragging rights might suffice for some but adding in perks and punishments can add an extra layer of excitement and accountability to your league.
The manager who drafts the best team could receive a straightforward league fee refund or, for the flashier managers, a personalized championship trophy that’s passed down to each season’s victor like a legacy prize.
The lowest-ranking drafters might have to don a Tom Brady Patriots jersey or deliver a public apology video on Instagram.
You can even add punishments for the party itself — first person to mention Taylor Swift has to provide an a cappella rendition of ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’.
Appoint a vibes commissioner
You’ve worked hard to pull the league together and lock in the draft date. Now might be the time to delegate.
The role of vibes commissioner is simple: Keep the atmosphere fun, draft managers engaged and dedicated to the cause, and help execute your carefully crafted plans. You don’t want to plan the perfect party only for the reality to be a group of people who barely know each other constantly eyeing the exit door.
From announcing picks to dishing out themed snacks, a good vibes commissioner sets the tone early and also does lots of the leg work for you.
Start the draft with new season energy and there’s a greater chance people will be talking about your league deep into the season, rather than checking out entirely by Week 6.
These people drank all your beer, ate all your hot dogs and stole Jalen Hurts from you, the least they could do is treat your league with the respect it deserves.
