"Why should we switch from a snake draft to an auction?"

We’ll start this off with a topic that’s fairly simple and straightforward, especially for more experienced readers: auction or snake drafting. This is intended to help you convince others in your league that auction drafting is the superior format most of the time – just link your league to this post.
Around this time, people are scheduling their draft dates and nailing down any disputed rules for the year. One question is the style of draft that you do. There are two styles of drafting: snake and auction.
I get it - a snake draft is the most familiar. It's safe. People might feel like they will suddenly botch their entire draft and fantasy football season if they step outside of their safe circle. There would be something to say for that if an auction weren't fairly intuitive, but at the end of the day, an auction is, in my opinion, the best format for fantasy football leagues generally, especially when the players are a bit experienced.

RULES
A snake draft is the most familiar. Teams take turns picking who they want for their team. In the second round (and all even rounds), the teams select players in reverse order from the first round. (e.g., the first team in a 10-team league to select in the draft would have the first pick, then the 20th at the end of round 2, then the 21st at the beginning of round 3).
An auction draft is a bit different. Everyone has a “budget” (by default, $200 on ESPN leagues). An owner nominates a player for at least $1. Anyone can bid on that player until no one will outbid, then the player goes to the highest bidder. Repeat until rosters are full.

PROS AND CONS
A snake draft has a number of advantages over an auction draft that are definitely worth considering:

• It’s very easy to understand.
• Teams who have to autodraft aren’t completely screwed…mostly.
• It’s a bit faster, generally.

Auction drafts, in comparison, have several advantages over snake drafts:

• Order doesn’t really matter.
• Everybody has an equal shot at every player. (More on the first two bullets below)
• It’s more strategically deep – you have a bit more flexibility in how much weight you want to give certain positions when drafting.
• You aren’t subject to runs on a position. (More on this below)
• It’s more exciting – everyone is engaged in the heat of the moment as long as they have money to spend.

Order and equal shot: Oh, random ordering says you pick 8th in a snake draft? Guess you have zero chance at Jamaal Charles, AD, Shady, etc. Purely random chance. In an auction, you have the same opportunity to get these players as anyone else, regardless of what random order you started in. Think they are worth over 1/3 of your team? You are free to bid 70 (if you’re a crazy person, that is) on them. Whatever you think they are worth, you can value them at that level, and so can everyone else. This is the selling point for me.
Runs on a position: So, you draft 1st. You take Jamaal Charles. The next 18 picks include 6 QBs. Do you take Brady/Ryan/Romo so you’re not stuck with someone horrible (the answer to this is generally no, but we don’t need to go into the particulars for this post). It’s annoying at best – and it can’t happen in an auction. If you value the QB position and want to avoid a run, you’re free to spend whatever you think a player is worth.

I very rarely hear someone prefer a snake draft who has experienced both kinds of drafts. It’s a fairer format, as long as no one is autodrafting (do. not. let. anyone. autodraft. in an auction. ever. Their team will be barely functional at best). If people are brand-new to fantasy football, it’s worth considering doing a snake draft for simplicity’s sake, but auctions aren’t really that much more complicated. That said, anyone who hasn’t done an auction draft before should do a mock draft before the real thing so they understand the format and get a feel for their budget.

Best of luck, and hopefully there are a few more auction converts this year. Cheers for draft fairness!