The baseball season is in full swing and many people across the country are venturing to websites to join fantasy baseball leagues. Many satellite TV providers offer specials this time of year with packages that allow you to view multiple games per night. If all your friends are all joining individual leagues, why not start up your own? Here are a few tips to assist you on your quest to creating a fantasy league that will have your friends clamoring to join come next season.

* Preparation

The people participating in your league should be dedicated and must be trustworthy enough to play out an entire season, even if their team turns out to have a losing record. The key to making your group last is to set up an entry fee. Most leagues either choose to have a straightforward fee of around $50.00, or offer a large cash payout at the end of the season to incentivize players. Setting this entry fee will keep everyone in your league interested in the big payout at the end of season.

* Leadership

Your league must vote on choosing a commissioner. This person needs to set the bar when it comes to fairness, trustworthiness and honesty in regard to the rules and regulations of the league. The commissioner will be in charge of all trades, fee collections and prize payouts at the end of the year. They will also be in charge of any disputes between rival teams while also setting rule changes at any point during the season, so choose wisely.

* Set the rules

Once all the teams have gathered and a commissioner is set in stone, the league must sit down and come up with a set of rules that each team will abide by. These rules need to be agreed upon by all in the league and any changes to these rules needs to be agreed upon by the majority. This will also be the time where each team will agree on the scoring that will be taking place during competition. There are options that allow league participants to face off against each other in head-to-head stat battles or a total point accumulation for each team.

* Where to play

In today’s world, most leagues will find that setting up their teams online is the way to go for tracking. Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline offer great systems for stat viewing and head-to-head live tracking that will keep your league engaged each day while trying to take your teams to the championship. Most of these sites conveniently offer these services for free.

Once you’ve got your league in place, find a spot to hold your weekly get-togethers, break out a few bags of chips and go to town. Most teams choose a location with a specifically MLB satellite TV channels as well as a comfortable, large seating area, such as someone’s rec room. Keep score and award points and remember, above all else, to have fun. Creating your own league is sure to make this baseball season more exciting and engaging than ever before.