Can I import my ESPN league into League Tycoon?

Yes. League Tycoon has a built-in ESPN import. A public ESPN league imports from its league link alone. A private league also needs the espn_s2 and SWID cookies from a member account, which the wizard walks you through. The import brings over rosters, settings and scoring, future draft picks, team logos, and your past seasons.

Will my ESPN league history come over?

In most cases, yes. League Tycoon imports up to 20 past seasons and rebuilds them as browsable seasons with standings, weekly matchups and lineups, playoff brackets, and final standings, plus a Hall of Fame with all-time standings, head-to-head records, trophies, and high scores. ESPN history from 2018 forward is generally reachable, and older seasons usually need the cookies from a member account. One exception: leagues that have been reactivated onto ESPN's newer platform can lose API access to their own past seasons. The import preview tells you that before you commit to anything.

Where do I find my espn_s2 and SWID cookies?

They are cookies your browser already holds once you are signed in to ESPN Fantasy on a desktop browser. Open your browser's developer tools, look at the cookies stored for espn.com, and copy the values named espn_s2 and SWID. The import wizard shows the steps for your browser. You only need them for private leagues, and only once.

Why do dynasty leagues leave ESPN?

ESPN is built primarily for redraft. Dynasty leagues on ESPN generally work around missing pieces: no true multi-year contract support, limited future pick trading, no dynasty-native draft formats like slow auctions, and no built-in compensatory picks or draft lottery. League Tycoon was built for dynasty from day one, so those are core features rather than workarounds.

Is League Tycoon free?

Standard dynasty leagues are completely free with zero ads and zero sportsbook clutter. Contract dynasty, which adds salary caps and multi-year contracts, is a paid tier at $11.99 per team per year.

What if some of my league mates do not want to move?

Import the league first and share the invite link. Once people can open the app and see their own roster, their own team logo, and their league's past champions already sitting there, the conversation changes from an abstract proposal into something they can look at.

Guide

Switch from ESPN to League Tycoon

ESPN is where a lot of dynasty leagues started, usually because everyone already had an account. It is a redraft platform first, and dynasty leagues on it tend to accumulate a list of things they handle in a group chat instead of in the app. If your league has outgrown that, League Tycoon is built for dynasty specifically, and it can import your ESPN league instead of making you rebuild it.

Built-in import

You do not have to rebuild your ESPN league by hand

League Tycoon imports ESPN leagues directly. Paste your league link. Public leagues need nothing else, and private leagues also ask for the espn_s2 and SWID cookies from a member account. The import brings over your rosters, league settings and scoring, future draft picks, team logos, contracts where the source has them, and up to 20 seasons of league history. Past seasons come back as real seasons you can browse week by week, with standings, matchup lineups, playoff brackets, and final standings.

One honest caveat: ESPN leagues that have been reactivated onto ESPN's newer platform can lose API access to their own past seasons. The import preview checks for this and tells you what history is reachable before anything is created.

How league import works

Why dynasty leagues leave ESPN

ESPN does redraft well. Dynasty is a different sport, and the gaps show up in the same places for almost every league.

✓Dynasty is not the design target
Multi-year rosters, rookie drafts, and long-horizon pick trading are the center of dynasty. On a redraft-first platform they are the edges.
✓No true contract or salary cap support
Leagues that want salaries and multi-year deals end up running them in a spreadsheet next to the app, which means the commissioner becomes the database.
✓Draft formats built for a live evening
Getting twelve adults into the same four-hour window gets harder every year. League Tycoon runs slow auction drafts with 20+ players on the block at once, over days or weeks.
✓No compensatory picks or draft lottery
Two of the most requested dynasty governance tools are built into League Tycoon rather than tracked by hand.
✓A busy, ad-heavy experience
League Tycoon has zero ads and zero sportsbook clutter. The app is your league and nothing else.

What you gain on League Tycoon

Slow auction drafts

Auction 20+ players simultaneously over days or weeks, with proxy bidding and anti-sniping timers. Nobody misses the draft because of a work trip.

Trade auctions

Post a trade and let the rest of the league counter-bid on the players involved. Market price in the open instead of three DMs and a veto argument.

Compensatory picks

Losing a starter in free agency generates compensation automatically, with no spreadsheet in the loop.

Draft lottery

Configurable lottery formats that keep bottom teams playing out the season instead of tanking for the top pick.

League history and Hall of Fame

All-time standings, head-to-head records, a trophy case, and all-time high scores, populated by the import rather than typed in by hand.

Contract dynasty

Salary caps, multi-year contracts, franchise tags, RFA tenders, rookie contracts, and dead money, all enforced by the platform.

Step-by-step migration guide

With the import doing the heavy lifting, the commissioner's job is mostly reviewing and inviting.

1. Grab your ESPN league link

Open your league on ESPN and copy the URL. That link contains the league ID the import needs. If the league is private, the wizard also walks you through copying your espn_s2 and SWID cookies.

2. Run the import

In League Tycoon, open Tools, choose Import League, pick ESPN, and paste the link. Choose standard dynasty or contract dynasty, and choose how many past seasons to bring over.

3. Review the preview before anything is created

You see every team, roster counts, how many players matched, a summary of the scoring and roster settings being mapped, and anything that will not carry over. Nothing is created until you approve it.

4. Work the post-import checklist

The league opens with a short list of items worth a human decision: any unmatched players, scoring rules to confirm, playoff and waiver settings to review. Each item links directly to the screen that resolves it.

5. Invite your league mates

Share the invite link. Each league mate claims their own team from a list, so the commissioner is not assigning twelve people by hand.

6. Set up your next draft and go

Schedule your rookie draft or try a slow auction. Your league is live, with its history already in place.

Moving an ESPN league to contracts

ESPN does not track salaries or contract lengths, so there is nothing on that side to bring across. That does not stop you from becoming a contract dynasty league. When you import into a contract league, League Tycoon generates a starting contract structure across the imported rosters, and you tune it from there.

If your league would rather price its own rosters, a contract bidding draft lets the league set the salaries itself.