Fantasy Football Dynasty/Keeper Orphan Guide

What is an Orphan?

It's simply a team in a multi-year league that has been abandoned by its owner. A sad state of affairs. These unwanted teams need new homes, and we help place them in homes to keep the leagues alive.

A multi-year league is a league that remains intact, with the same teams, from year to year. Some examples of multi-year leagues where orphan teams may crop up:

Dynasty Leagues
Keeper Leagues
Salary Cap Leagues
Contract Leagues
Legacy Leagues

So a team becomes orphaned in these leagues when it is not renewed by the renewal deadline. For DataForce Fantasy Football, that deadline arrives sometime in May, so much of May and early June are spent finding new homes for orphans.

Why Buy Orphans?

It's fun and it's cheap. Rarely is an orphan team sold at full value (meaning, the value of its deposit), so buying orphans rather than joining new leagues saves you money. You avoid paying a deposit for these leagues, you pay only the purchase price. Plus, of course, you must pay the entry fee for the new year.

It's also fun to try to take over a dropped team and make something out of it. Orphan buyers love the challenge of finding hidden gems on teams that performed poorly, and often the "gems" are not sleepers but early draft picks in the upcoming draft.

Occasionally you can also find a team which is stacked with talent, but the owner simply cannot continue with the league.

Buying orphans is practical for another reason: The deposit on the team becomes yours. See below.

Where does the Money Go That I Spend on Orphans?

First, it doesn't go to DataForce! All orphan sales are from one owner to another, with a minor exception listed below. Here are all of the possibilities where the orphan revenue can go:

In most cases, the team was abandoned this year. The purchase price goes into the pocket of the prior owner.
If this league is being acquired this year from another site, then the teams have no deposits. They also have no one to give the money to. So, when you buy an orphan in such a league, the price you pay automatically becomes the deposit amount. When you see odd deposits amounts on teams, like $17 or $23, you can be sure that they were purchased at the time the league was revived from another site.
Sometimes a league will have one or more teams run by shills. This can happen when an owner abandons his team mid-season, or is removed from the league for consistent rules violations, or if an orphan simply couldn't sell. In these cases, the purchase price goes to the person who ran the team as a shill.

What Happens to the Deposit when I Buy an Orphan?

All multi-year leagues require you to pay a deposit when you join a brand new league. In new leagues, the deposit is always equal to the entry fee of the league. To join a brand new $100 dynasty league, you'll pay $200, including a $100 deposit. These deposits are not refundable until the league is discontinued. At that time, the deposits are paid back to whoever currently owns the teams. So when orphans are bought and sold, the deposit remains with the team to give the team value.

There are two instances where a deposit on a team may be less than it's purchase price:

Sometimes we acquire already-running leagues from another source, and when we do, we do not charge deposits. When orphan teams are sold to fill these grandfathered leagues, the price paid becomes the deposit.
Once in a great while, DataForce dips into the deposit to be able to drastically reduce the price of an orphan that just won't sell. For example, we may pull $50 from the deposit to decrease the orphan price $50 on the marketplace. But this is rare; we really prefer keeping the deposit intact, as this helps keep the league alive, so we're willing to first take a reasonable loss on orphan sales.

When and Where Can I Buy Orphans?

Buy them here on DataForce Fantasy Football, anytime prior to early June.

DataForce sells orphans in two ways: On this page, for a set price, and also on our Orphan Auction page. Teams can be abandoned at any time prior to the renewal deadline (usually mid-May) so if you're in the market for a new team, it pays to keep an eye on this page.

Immediately following the renewal deadline, DataForce places all orphan teams up for bid in our annual auction. This is a blind bidding auction, and the bids are revealed a week later to determine the winners.

How is the Orphan Price Determined?

Initially, the price can be set by the selling owner. In fact, if you know you're not going to renew a team, it's best to drop it early in the year and set a price on it so that buyers can see it here.

After the renewal deadline passes, all marketplace prices are removed and the teams go on auction. But after the auction ends, teams which did not receive a bid return to this marketplace page. This time, we set a price, and we set it relatively low so that it will sell. We set the price based on an evaluation of the players currently on the team, without digging deeply into available draft picks or auction money, so bargains can often be found.

Finally, if it looks like the teams still will not sell, we do an orphan giveaway, in which all remaining teams go on sale for just $1.

Orphan Buyer's Guide

How much should you spend on an orphan?

How much should you ask when listing one for sale?

Orphans are handled differently at Apex than at most fantasy sports sites. Apex does not make money on their sale, nor do we set the price. These teams are for sale by owner, so they could be over- or under-priced.

Consequently, you're on your own to determine whether a purchase is worth the asking price.

So What's a Fair Price?

The bar for estimating a team's value is the deposit price you would have to pay in a start-up league. For example, if you join a new Amateur dynasty league, the deposit will be $60; a new Rookie league will be $110; a Veteran league will be $160, and so on. Compare your purchase first to this amount.

Think of buying an orphan as buying a team "used." A markdown for used goods is to be expected. The question to ask yourself is this: Will you be getting a better or worse team than what you can draft yourself in a start-up league?

If "better", you may be justified in paying the full price of $60 for an Amateur team, $110 for a Rookie team, etc. or even more. We've seen teams sell for over double the normal deposit! But most orphans are of lesser quality (or they perhaps wouldn't be for sale), so a more typical offer is less than half the deposit. $30 for a $60 team, and so on.

A team with little chance of winning this year or next should be acquired as a fun project for improvement, and you may be able to get the team for $1 by late May!

Prices for teams will decrease as the year goes on. Owners should be motivated to sell and if your team isn't selling at the original listing price it should be decreased. For teams that don't sell, they will be auctioned at the beginning of May. Any remaining teams will be decreased in price until sold. If you're looking for a bargain, keep an eye on the marketplace as summer approaches.

Remember that you must also pay this year's entry fee when buying an orphan! For example, when buying a team in a Amateur league, you'll also pay $70 plus a small regulatory fee to play this year with your new team.

There are a lot of teams here. How can I easily sort through them?

We've made it very easy to sort through orphans that you can bid on - we highly recommend watching this short video for details on sorting through and bidding on teams!

In short, there are multiple ways to sort through teams:

Use the rectangle "toggle box" at the top of the page to view teams of certain price points and lineup types. You can choose any combination!
Select an option in the "Order Teams By:" drop-down menu to show teams that you've bid on ("My Bid"), most recent/newest orphans at the top ("Listing Date"), or by league name.
Use the "Find With" field to show all teams with your selected player or pick. You can even add a second player ("Add a player") to show teams with both or either player (select "and" or "or").

Our recommendation: place a preliminary bid on any teams you may be interested in. Then you can sort by "My Bid" or reload the Auction page to show all teams that you've bid on at the top. You can then edit or delete any bids accordingly throughout the week! Remember to click "SAVE BID" after any bidding additions or edits.

You can always email us at [email protected] with any questions or issues.

Other Considerations

There are a number of issues to be considered when purchasing or making an offer:

Of course, the quality and remaining usefulness of the players (click the ROST button).
Note the Deposit Held column, showing the deposit on the team. This is usually the same as the entry fee, but not always! Deposits are used to offset the cost of decreasing the price of an orphan to sell it. This deposit amount is also returned to the current owner if the league disbands, so it is always a bit risky to offer more than the deposit.
Be sure to check the draft picks available this year (click the PICKS button). Teams with early draft picks are worth more, and teams with missing draft picks (particularly in round one) are worth less.
You may want to view the league rosters (click MFL button) to see the league that you will be competing in.
Finally, double-check the Lineup column to ensure the league parameters match exactly what you want.

Buy Keeper/Dynasty Orphans

Commissioner for contests on this page: Apex Fantasy Football. All contests in this lobby conform to the ruleset and prize payouts specifically prepared for games managed by Apex.

The following teams are currently unowned. You may purchase these teams immediately by making payment.

You do not pay a deposit when buying a team in this manner. The deposit has already been made for you by the prior owner.

You can click the ROST button to see team rosters, view the team's draft picks by clicking PICKS, and view the entire league on MyFantasyLeague by clicking the MFL button. We recommend examining current-year draft picks before deciding on a purchase.

You’ll notice the tiered pricing of the teams below. These prices are based on a ranking system we developed that accounts for roster value, age curve, top-100 player count, and draft-pick assets. This makes the pricing more transparent and helps orphan purchasers find what kind of teams they’re looking for.

Want to view all available orphans and the above data in a sortable, easy-to-use Google Sheet? Click here!