Has there been any discussion about the form of the initial draft? I promised before that I'd argue about the rules a little. Anyone who's been involved in starting a progressive with me probably knows that I prefer an ABBABAB format for initial drafts, as opposed to a straight snake draft. The reason for this is simple: it is such a huge advantage to have one of the first couple picks because the talent dropoff from 1 to 12 is much, much greater than the dropoff from 13 to 24. That means that the supposed equalizer of a snake draft, while certainly better than a straight 1-12 format, still doesn't make things "equal." I would be shocked if any sane person would trade #1 for #12 in an ABAB format in this case. Not only is 1/24 superior to 12/13, you also add in a 3rd player in the top 25 picks. I think the ideal for an opening draft should be to create a scenario where each pick is theoretically equally advantageous, instead of one where #1 is the pick everyone wants. I still think most people would take #1, but a choice between 1/24/36 and 12/13/25 is a lot closer than 1/24/25 and 12/13/36.
Now - because these are 12-team drafts, rather than 24, I think ABAB is not too bad - everyone will have plenty of good players no matter what. The cap also means that clever drafters will be able to beat careless ones no matter which pick each has. But I would still prefer to do it ABBABABABABA (to show all 12 rounds - it's just the straight snake except w/ the order repeated between 2nd and 3rd round). However, I am also perfectly happy to submit to the league's preference (and honestly, I see no reason each conference couldn't choose independently which style draft it prefers).