[EricH]

The deadline is the day before the first draft.

As for picking randomly assigned teams...

In order to allow random teams to be picked after being assigned, the fact that it was a random pick needs to be noted. Sometimes, the next team on a player's list is also the next team on the random list, or the player requests a random pick. Either of the latter two cases would naturally bar the team from being picked again, as the second is effectively saying, "my list from here on is the random list". If truly random picks are designated with an "R" or something, it would make tracking that easier. It would also allow for tracking who has not made a pick that particular day.

As for dealing with a mad rush, that's going to happen anyway.

Here are my suggestions:

After a draft concludes, a 24-hour wait (until the next day's drafts end) is imposed before any changes can be made in that draft. During that time, random picks may be confirmed by the player, and errors are checked for. Trades posted during that time are counted as provisional; i.e., assuming that nobody confirms random teams. After the hold expires, all provisional trades are confirmed. Confirming a random team counts as making a pick, with the provision that simply confirming some X random alliances (>= 5) is dealt with the same as missing 5 drafts.

In the case of someone being booted, there is a hold imposed until the beginning of the next day's draft(s). This allows the runners to clean up the drafts involved, and all other players to plan for what teams they want. As soon as the next day's drafts officially begin at 7 EST (or other designated time), it's first-come-first-served. PMs may be sent to proxies if a player will not be online at the time of the draft beginning; if the proxy can get there before the other players, so much the better.

Just some suggestions.