At the present time, our First Year Player Draft (FYPD) has a 12 hour clock for the 1st Round. Then, in Rounds 2-10, it goes to an 8 hour clock. Since there is no clock stoppage during the night, there are many times when someone gets a draft clock that expires during the wee hours of the night. This often places the person On the Clock in a precarious position because their turn comes up at a time when they are probably sleeping.
I realize that there is no sure fire remedy, because with 30 GMs living in different time zones, Eastern Time deadlines literally fall at different times. I live on the West Coast in Goleta, CA, and there is a 3 hour difference between ET and PT, so I can give auto picks to teams whose clocks expire In the early morning hours. I have resigned myself, as the Draft Moderator, to having irregular sleeping habits during the draft to make sure it keeps going. I willingly do this and I am not mentioning it to gain sympathy. I believe that in order to run an effective draft, PMs must go out in a timely manner and the Draft Board has to be updated regularly.
There are times, particularly after GMs start opting out of the draft, where things move swiftly. There we?re two instances when this happened during the 2021 draft, and in both cases I was able to accommodate the parties involved because it didn?t really affect the flow or integrity of the draft.
All that said, I propose going to a 12 hour clock for the entire draft. Clock expirations lead to a team being placed on Autopick and that essentially safeguards the draft from dragging on. During our recent draft, teams were on Autopick at their request, and often times, for those who were given an Autopick as the result of a clock expiation, I gave them another opportunity to make their own picks in the next round before placing them on Autopick. With that, any team on Autopick can always request to be taken off Autopick and placed back in the draft rotation.
A 12 hour clock will not really extend the draft that much. Many of you, once receiving a PM that you are On the Clock, jump onboard and post your pick. In recent years, by the 5th Round, the participating teams shrink in number and the draft moves rather quickly.
Please post your thoughts on whether we should go to a 12 hour clock for the entire FYPD. If 7 other GMs voice their support, then I will put the proposal up as a referendum for a league wide vote.
