Run a draft

A league gets its players one of two ways. With pre-made rosters, the default, each team brings its own players. With a draft, players sign up for the draft and teams pick them on draft night.

Switch it on

When you start a league, choose Draft under How do teams form?. For a league you already run, open Front Office → More → Use a draft, choose your settings and select Save and use a draft. Players already on a roster keep their spots.

You can switch until the season starts. A season with pre-made rosters starts when you publish its schedule, so switch before that. Once a season uses a draft, it keeps it until the season ends.

What it costs

The live draft comes with going live, so a draft league goes live before draft night, and its games start after the draft. Practice drafts are free, up to 2 rounds. A league with pre-made rosters can count its first 3 games in private before it pays; a draft league plays no games before its draft.

Invite available players

Share the League link from Front Office → Invites. Everyone who joins with it signs up for the draft, and teams draft from the available players. Give each team a captain with its claim link so someone can pick for it. A captain who plays joins their own roster when they claim the team, and counts toward it.

Team player links stay off in a draft league until the draft is over, so every other player signs up for the draft. After the draft, a team below the roster minimum can fill up with its player link.

The Draft night checklist

Draft setup opens with a Draft night checklist: your settings, enough available players for the planned picks, every team reaching the roster minimum, captains, the order, going live, Draft TV and Discord, then starting the draft and starting the season. Each step has one action, and the league page shows captains the start time and their pick numbers.

The pick clock

Choose Live draft for one sitting: 2 minutes a pick is the default. Choose Slow draft to run it over a few days with hours a pick. A slow draft's clock stops during quiet hours, 11 PM to 9 AM unless you change them, and teams can still pick then.

When the clock runs out, your When the clock expires setting decides what happens. With auto-pick, OVRWire checks the team's pick list first, then ratings from last season's stats. For players without enough games for a rating, it uses your own player ranking, then who joined first. Tied ratings also go by who joined first. It skips players the team can't take. The captain sees what was picked and why. After 2 missed clocks in a row, auto-pick stays on for the team's later picks, and the captain can switch it off.

The order

Choose a random draw or set the order yourself. Lottery and reverse standings aren't available yet. In Draft setup, select Lock in the order, then Show the order to everyone when your league is ready. Locking can't be undone, and the team list stays as it is for the season. Everyone gets a Fair-draw code that proves nobody changed the order. Third-round reversal repeats round 2's order in round 3, then flips each round.

Practice for free

In Draft setup, choose Run a free practice draft. The commissioner starts it and shares a members-only link with the teams. It uses your draft settings and the current available players, for up to 2 rounds. Nothing in a practice draft counts: rosters and results don't change, and it expires after seven days.

Draft night

On draft night, open the Draft room and select Start draft. Starting can't be undone. Captains make their picks in the room, and the league page shows who's on the clock.

Staff can pause the draft. While it's paused, Undo last pick makes the latest pick's player available again, and Correct a pick swaps the player on one pick and leaves every other pick alone. A correction needs a reason, and captains see it. A commissioner can pick for any team; when that team's captain is on the clock, OVRWire asks first, and the board and Draft TV show the pick as By commissioner.

Review, then start the season

After the last pick the draft waits for you: the season doesn't start yet. Check the board, undo or correct a pick if you need to, and look for teams below the roster minimum. Then select Start the season. Picks can't be undone after that.

On the big screen

In the Draft room, choose TV mode for a board made for a TV, with the team on the clock and every pick so far. Draft TV is watch-only. It's a public screen, so players who hide their name show as "Hidden player". If your league is private, create a private TV link in Draft setup so a TV that isn't signed in can show the board before you go live.