An OOTP online league is a single save file that moves between the commissioner and the managers. The commissioner sims, publishes the league file, managers download it, play their week, and send their teams back.
All of that movement happens over FTP. OOTP has no API and no built-in hosting, so the one genuine prerequisite is a file server.
What you need
- An FTP server on port 21 with passive mode
- Three directories on it, in the places OOTP expects
- A web URL where managers can download the league file
- A quick-start code for each manager
That is the entire technical footprint.
1. The FTP server
Your options, roughly:
| Option | Cost | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Shared web hosting | ~$3–10/mo | Works, but you configure cPanel, FTP accounts, and permissions yourself |
| Your own VPS | ~$5+/mo | Full control; you are now a sysadmin running vsftpd |
| Purpose-built OOTP hosting | from $5/mo | Folders and accounts pre-configured |
| Free file hosts | $0 | Almost never support FTP on port 21; usually a dead end |
Whatever you choose, it must offer FTP or FTPS on port 21. Many hosts advertise SFTP as their secure option — that is a different protocol on port 22 and OOTP cannot use it.
Dropbox and Google Drive do not work for the automated loop. OOTP transfers over FTP only. You can share files by hand, but managers lose in-game download and export, which is most of the value.
2. The folder structure
Create these on the server:
| Folder | Holds |
|---|---|
/leaguefile | The league file managers download |
/reports/html | Generated HTML reports for your league site |
/exports | Team files managers upload |
Permissions matter. Managers need to read /leaguefile and write to
/exports. They should not be able to write to /leaguefile — a manager
overwriting the league file mid-week is a bad afternoon.
3. Configure OOTP
In Game Settings → Online League → Online League Settings, enter your host, port 21, username, password, and the directory paths above.
Set FTP Mode to "Passive; Standard FTP" on League File Download and Team File Transfer. Managers inherit this mode and cannot do TLS, so choosing a TLS option here breaks their exports.
Then replace OOTP's yourdomain.com placeholder in the League File URL
with the real web URL. Managers cannot download the league file until you do.
Full detail: OOTP online league FTP settings.
4. Add your managers
In Add/Edit Human Managers, add each manager and assign their team. Select
each one and click Create quick-start email to generate their code, which
OOTP writes to quickstart_N.txt in your league's import_export folder.
Send that code to the manager. They paste it into Online League Quick Start and OOTP does the rest — no FTP settings on their end.
If the button seems to do nothing, here is why.
5. Run the league
Each cycle:
- Sim the week
- Upload the league file
- Create and upload reports
- Managers download, play, and export
- Import all teams from server
- Sim again
Steps 2 and 3 are separate actions and both are required — see the post-sim checklist.
Skipping the setup
SimHosts provisions all of this in about two minutes: an isolated FTP account per league, the three directories already created with the right permissions, a subdomain for your league file and reports, and a connection tester that runs the exact connection OOTP will make. From $5/month — see plans.