Why not separate the current single day Auction event into three distinct and shorter more easily manageable phases.
The first phase would be to resolve the RFAs. This event could be held in-person or online with others who are interested in obtaining or defending RFAs participating only or not at all as team circumstances dictate.
The second phase would be the rookie draft, which could feasibly be conducted over email, as many Leagues already do now. This allows for teams with no picks to pay no attention to this phase if it doesn’t apply, just like the RFA phase. The added advantage being that we could argue for the next several years about making the rookie draft the second phase of the new QFL off-season instead of the third as all compensatory rookie picks will have changed hands by the end of phase 1.
The third phase would be the UFA Auction and would still be the main event to attend in person but would be much shorter and easier to fit in your schedule if it was pretty well assured to only last 2 hours.
Each phase could even be hosted by its own city if we wanted to but the main idea being to make the UFA auction easier to administer online but there is no reason RFAs and rookies cant be resolved over email if given enough lead time. Post your thoughts in comments area.
Shades