
My thoughts were a little bit different. You set up a ranking system and each person has to submit. From there the top 6 teams get into the playoffs and we do it NFL playoff style. Top 2 teams get a bye and the last 4 in have to play wild card games. Each manager can just submit a vote, no discussion necessary.
Then for the bottom teams you can randomly set up a few matches where it's simply just a discussion thread. We can argue over who you think would win and why. It's not a consolation bracket because no teams move on, it's just there to discuss the matchup and how you think it would go down. Also the discussion threads can keep the board active because they can be talked about while we have another draft going down to keep things moving.
This keeps everyone involved. Less voting rounds so keep things moving. Discussions threads for analysis. And keeps managers who didn't make the playoffs involved enough to participate and not get bummed for not making the playoffs.
TL..DR
-Rank teams and have playoffs NFL Style
-Non-playoff teams randomly matched up for discussion threads
-Less voting rounds and speedier finish
I love this, my only issue is... "Non-playoff teams randomly matched up for discussion threads" I just don't think this would be very successful, I don't believe people will want to talk about games between teams that didn't make the playoffs and if one of us misses the playoffs 2,3,4 times in a row I think frustration will set in. Otherwise I like the idea of less voting for sure!!