How to run your first draft
Pick a board, invite your league, draft it live. Five minutes end to end — and a section at the bottom on how to test the whole thing before draft night.
What you need to do
Everything below assumes one thing only: an account that can create drafts. Everyone you invite plays free.
Get a board to draft from
Every draft needs a pool of things to pick — players, teams, films, whatever you are drafting. We call that a template, and choosing one is required before you can create a draft.
You have two ways to get one, and the first takes about ten seconds.
- Use a built-in template. Open Templates and pick one — ⚾ Baseball Legends is the easiest way to see a full draft work end to end, because everyone recognises the names and nothing in it goes stale.
- Build your own. New template lets you name it, pick a category, and add as many custom rating columns as you like. Then upload a CSV of your list.
Worth knowing: Built-in templates are shared, not consumed. Drafting from one never alters it, and any number of leagues can use the same template at the same time.
Uploading your own list (CSV)
This is the part people get stuck on, so here it is precisely. Once you have created a template, open it and use the Import items (CSV) card.
Do not build the file from scratch. Press Download template on that card and you get a CSV already shaped correctly for the rating columns you defined — fill in the rows and upload it back.
- Columns: name (or first name + last name), rank, position, team, plus one column for each rating column you added.
- Only name really matters. Leave rank, position and team blank if they mean nothing for your list — a movie draft is one column of titles.
- A header row is optional. After you pick the file you get a preview where you can remap every column by hand, so a spreadsheet with the columns in the wrong order is fine.
- Limits: 5 MB and 50,000 rows per file. Large files finish in the background. A draft room loads up to 5,000 items.
- CSV only. In Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, use File → Export / Save As → CSV.
Worth knowing: A template with zero items will still let you create and start a draft — and then there is nothing to pick. Check the item count on the template before draft night.
Create the draft
From your dashboard, choose New draft, pick your template, and set the format. You can change any of this right up until you start.
- Draft — everyone picks in turn. Choose Snake (order reverses each round) or Standard (same order every round).
- Auction — every manager gets a budget and bids for each item as it is nominated.
- Hybrid — auction the top N items, then draft the rest in the usual way.
- Set the roster size, the clock, and for auctions the budget, minimum bid increment and anti-snipe extension.
Turning on anonymous bidding
Anonymous bids hide who is bidding while the auction is live. Everyone sees the current price and that somebody holds it — they just do not see who. It removes the read on your rivals and stops bidding wars that are really about ego.
It is a single checkbox labelled Anonymous bids on the draft settings form. It only appears when the format is Auction or Hybrid, because there are no bids in a plain draft.
- Bidders see High bidder: Hidden instead of a name, for the whole auction.
- You, as commissioner, still see who is bidding — someone has to be able to settle a dispute.
- Identities are hidden everywhere, not just on screen: the live feed and the API both withhold them, so nobody can read the answer out of the network tab.
Worth knowing: Set this before you start. Draft settings lock the moment the draft leaves the lobby, so anonymity cannot be switched on or off mid-auction.
Invite your league
Creating the draft drops you in the lobby. The Invite & share card holds your join link — copy it and send it to your league however you normally talk to them.
We do not email your league for you. The link is yours to send by text, email, WhatsApp, Discord, wherever. Nothing is sent automatically, so if you paste the link nowhere, nobody arrives.
- Anyone drafting needs a free account. The link walks them through it and drops them straight into your lobby.
- Your league never pays. Your licence covers the draft; invited players play free, however many join.
- Spectators need no account at all. Turn on public spectating and anyone with the watch link can follow along — there is an OBS-ready ticker for streams too.
- Already have friends on LiveDraft-It? Invite friends adds them to the roster directly, but it still does not message them, so send the link as well.
Set the order and start
Set the draft order by hand or randomise it, let everyone mark themselves ready, and press Start draft. From there the draft runs itself on a shared, server-authoritative clock — everyone sees the same countdown, and anyone who drops reconnects to the current state.
- Only the commissioner can start it.
- You need at least 2 people on the roster. Ready is advisory — it helps you see who is actually at their screen, but it does not block the start.
- Scheduling a start time is a note to your league, not an alarm. Nothing starts on its own; you press the button.
- Anyone who misses their turn is auto-picked, so one person stuck in traffic cannot stall the room.
How to test it first
Worth doing, and worth being straight with you about: there is no solo practice mode yet. A draft needs at least two people on the roster, and every seat has to be a real account, so you cannot run a dry run entirely by yourself.
The two-minute version most commissioners use:
- Create a throwaway draft from ⚾ Baseball Legends — never test on the real one.
- Open a private/incognito window and register a second free account there. Second accounts cost nothing.
- Paste your join link into that window and join as the second manager.
- Start it, make a few picks or bids, and watch both windows. If you are testing an auction, this is where you confirm anonymous bids look right from a player’s side.
- Delete the test draft. Your real one is untouched.
Worth knowing: A practice mode with placeholder seats is on the list precisely so this step stops being necessary.
Common questions
Do I need a spreadsheet to use this?
No. Pick a built-in template and you never touch a CSV. You only need one if you are drafting your own list — and then the Download template button on the import card gives you a correctly-shaped file to fill in.
Why can’t I create a draft without picking a template?
A draft is a race to claim things from a pool, so the pool has to exist first. Pick any built-in template if you just want to see how it works — you can create the real one later, and duplicating a finished draft carries the settings and roster across.
Does everyone in my league have to pay?
No. One licence, held by whoever creates the draft, covers everything. Everyone you invite plays free forever, however many people join, and spectators do not even need an account.
Does LiveDraft-It email my league the invite?
No — you copy the join link from the lobby and send it yourself. That is deliberate for now: you know which group chat your league actually reads. Nothing is sent on your behalf.
Can I run a draft where nobody sees who is bidding?
Yes. Tick Anonymous bids when you create an Auction or Hybrid draft. Bidders see the price and that someone holds it, never who. You keep seeing identities as commissioner, and the setting locks once the draft starts — so set it in the lobby.
What happens if someone loses connection mid-draft?
They reconnect to the live state — board, clock, roster and chat history all resync automatically. The clock is kept by the server, not their browser, so a dropout does not desync the room. If their turn passes while they are gone, auto-pick covers it.
Can I change the settings after I start?
No. Format, budget, roster size and anonymity all lock once the draft leaves the lobby, so the rules cannot move under the players mid-draft. Everything is editable right up to the moment you press start.
How many people can draft at once?
Minimum two. There is no upper limit that a real league will reach — invite the whole group.
Talk to a human
This is a small operation, which means the person who built it reads the support inbox. Email support@livedraftit.com and say what you were trying to do — screenshots welcome.
Ready to build one? Browse templates or create your own.
Draft anything. Draft it live.
Synced clocks, live bidding, chat and auto-pick for everyone you invite.