This is the official rulebook of the Carolina Fantasy Football League. It should be read by all league members. Members should also either print out a copy of this rule book or download a copy in one of its various formats from the league website.
The idea behind fantasy football is that you have the opportunity to draft players from the NFL to play on your own team. For this reason, it is called "fantasy" football, because you build your dream team and compete against everyone else's dream team. In addition, throughout the season you will have the opportunity to draft, release, and acquire players for your team (see respective sections of rules).
Your team will score points based on the individual performances of your players (see Scoring). The resulting total score of all of your players on your "starting lineup" will be compared to the total score of the team you have met in head-to-head competition for the current week. The team with the highest score will win the match and a win-loss record for each team will be kept throughout the season. At the end of the season, the teams with the highest records will move on to play in the league playoffs for the championship (see Tournament Qualifications).
Once all of the team's have been designated to owners, the league will be divided into divisions. The league will be made up of 14 teams. The composition of the divisions will be determined by random placement by the commissioner. The divisions will use simple geographic designations for titles (i.e., North, South, etc.).
A. Overview
The draft gives team owners the chance to choose players that they want on their team. The draft will be conducted live in the CFFL chatroom on Saturday, July 18th (and July 19th if necessary). The draft will begin promptly at 12 Noon Eastern Time and continue until 6pm. Hopefully, we can complete the entire draft in this time frame. If not, it will be continued on Sunday, July 19th at 1pm and will continue until its completion. If on July 18th it appears that the draft may be able to be completed in 30 minutes to one hour after 6pm, we will continue as long as every owner is able and willing.
B. Draft Order
Draft order for the first season will be determined by a random draw. The first round of the draft will follow the outcome of the draw, and each successive round will follow an order that is an inverted form of the previous round.
C. The Draft
All team owners will be expected to be present for the league's draft in the CFFL chatroom at the URL: http://members.xoom.com/jnk/chat.html (also available via a link on our homepage at http://members.xoom.com/jnk/). If a team can not be present for the draft at the specified date, they should contact the commissioner via email (jnk721@sprynet.com) as soon as possible. We will try to reschedule the draft for another day that is convenient for everyone. If a date can not be scheduled for everyone, then the commissioner will allow owners to either let the commissioner draft players for them, or let another owner draft players for them. (They must notify the commissioner in advance. If you need me to draft for you, please email me as soon as possible for me to explain to you what information I will need).
Before the draft begins, a roll call will be conducted at 12 Noon to see who is present. If a team is not present at 12 Noon on the date of the draft, and they have not informed the commissioner that they will be absent and made arrangements accordingly, we will not wait for that owner to show up. It is your responsibility to show up on time. The draft will begin promptly at 12 Noon, not 12:05, not 12:10. If an owner does not show up on time, their turn in the draft will be skipped for as long as they are not present. They will not be given the opportunity to make extra draft picks to make up for their lost picks, rather they will be left with empty slots on their roster. (They will have the opportunity to acquire players to fill their rosters before the season during the preseason weeks as discussed in the Acquisitions, Waivers, and Trades section). NOTE: If you are late for the draft, please make sure that you notify me immediately when you enter the chat room that you have arrived or I may not realize it when your turn comes back up and inadvertantly skip you again.
The draft will begin shortly thereafter. During the draft, each team and team owner's name will be called on their turn. They will then have exactly 3 minutes to respond with the name and position of a player they want to draft onto their team. If a team does not respond within three minutes, they will be skipped and the next team will be called. As with a team who does not show up or does not show up on time, a team that does not make a pick within the time limit will not get to make any extra picks, and will have to wait until after the draft during the preseason weeks leading up to the beginning of the season to acquire enough players to complete their roster.
Please do not talk while the draft is going on, it can becoming distracting when 14 people start to chatter at the same time, not to mention the fact that it will clutter the chat room with unnecessary text. After every 2nd round we will have a short break where everyone will be able to chat for a few minutes and ask any questions they may have. Everyone is encouraged to come to the chat room before the draft begins and to stay after the end of the draft to talk to one another.
NOTE: The league website has some excellent information for you to use to prepare yourself for the draft, including lists of all returning NFL players, links to information regarding players drafted by the NFL in this year's draft, and worksheets that will help you to get yourself organized in preparation for the draft. You are strongly encouraged to use these resources before the draft as you are expected to be fully prepared for the draft on draft day. If you are not prepared, it will show up when you are unable to meet the three minute time limit per pick.
A. Roster Makeup
Team rosters will be made up of 17 players. No more players than 17 will be allowed on a single team at a time. You will be able to have less than 17 players on your team at any one time although this is not recommended. The general layout of your roster should be:
Note that you are not required to follow this layout. Use it as a general rule of thumb for how you should form your roster. You must enough players of each position on your roster, however, to fulfill the requirements of the starting lineup as explained below.
B. Starting Lineup
From the roster of each team a starting lineup must be made up of the following:
It is from these players, that your week's score will be determined. Points will be assigned based on each individual player's performance for the week (see the Scoring section). The aggregate score of you starting lineup will be used as your score against that week's opponent. If your starting lineup's score is higher than your opponent's starting lineup, you win the match.
There are no exceptions to this starting lineup. If you do not have enough players on your roster to meet the requirements for the starting lineup, you must either make some trades or acquisitions very quickly, or you must forfeit for the week.
C. Submitting Starting Lineup/Deadline
All owners must submit their starting lineup for the following Sunday's (and Monday's) games by 5pm on the preceding Friday. For weeks where the NFL has scheduled games to be played on a Thursday (weeks 7, 13, and 14), lineups will be due by 5pm on the preceding Wednesday. For weeks where games have been scheduled on a Saturday (weeks 16 and 17), lineups will be due by 5pm on the preceeding Thursday. Starting lineups should be posted on the website within 24 hours after the deadline.
You must submit your starting lineup using the league's website (for which you will need a password; ask the commissioner for more info). Starting lineups will not be accepted by email. Each team will be expected to submit a starting lineup even if they do not intend to make any changes. If a team fails to submit a starting lineup, the previous week's lineup will be used. Even if there are players on that team's lineup that are unavailable (out for injury or his NFL team has a bye week), no changes will be made by the commissioner. Those players will simply score 0 points.
A. Defining Terms
B. General Rules
2. All trade, acquisition, and trade proposals must be sent to the commissioner by 9pm on Wednesdays in order for them to take effect before the next week's games. If proposals are not sent in by this time, they will not be processed, and will have to be re-submitted the following week.
3. For any week where games will be played on a Thursday or Saturday time constraints will not allow for any trades, acquisitions, or waivers to be processed. Any submissions during this time will need to be re-submitted the following week.
4. Trades will be processed on a first come first serve basis. Acquisitions and waivers will be processed in reverse order of the current week's league standings (in the event of teams having the same record, overall season point total will serve as tie breaker, another tie will result in a flip of the coin).
5. Because of the order in which acquisitions will be processed, you may not be able to acquire the player you want even though you know he was a free agent when you sent in your proposal because a team higher in the priority list may have already picked him. You will find that the form on the website has space for making multiple selections, such that you can release a player only if a player you want is still available. This form also gives you space to specify several free agents for which you would be willing to give up your current player in order of preference. If none of your choices are available, your current player will not be dropped.
6. Once you trade or waive a player from your team, you will not be able to re-acquire that player through any means for at least two weeks.
7. Once an NFL player has been placed on injury reserve, you may ask the commissioner to place that player on the CFFL injury reserve. This will remove the player from your roster, freeing up space for you to acquire a new player to fill his place while he is injured. While he is injured, no other team may acquire him, and once he has been taken off of the NFL injury list, you will have the option of bringing him back onto your roster or cutting him from your team. Note that if you decide to bring him back onto your roster and you have 17 players already on it, you will need to drop one to make room.
8. You may not trade a player that you have placed on injury reserve while he is on injury reserve.
9. When a player comes off of the NFL injury reserve you can not keep him on the CFFL injury reserve list. You must either bring him back onto your roster or drop him from your team.
10. You may not trade a player who is coming out of injury reserve unless you have made room for him on your roster again and then trade him away because to do so would put the incoming player in an injury reserve position who is not injured (Remember that you can not acquire a player who is currently injured by any means, so any player you receive through such a trade would have to be healthy at the time and thus can not fill the injury reserve spot).
11. You can not acquire a player while he is on the NFL injured reserve list.
12. You may not declare a player as injured who is not actually injured for the purpose of freeing a position on your roster.
13. If you trade away more players than you acquire, you will not be eligible for special consideration to fill your roster. The previously stated rules for priority in acquisition will still apply.
14. Results of trades, acquisitions, and waivers will be posted as soon as possible following the deadline. Hopefully, by 11pm on Thursdays so that teams can see the changes in their teams' roster before setting their starting lineups. If the changes are not posted by then, please be patient!!
15. There are no limits to the number of trades, acquisitions, or waivers you can make in a week.
16. Once a team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, they are no longer eligible to make trades with other teams!!
17. In the same spirit, waivers of players by teams that are mathematically eliminated from the tournament will be highly scrutinized by the commissioner, and he has the right to keep a team from releasing a player if he believes it is an attempt to circumvent Rule #16.
18. No trades will be allowed between any team after Week 13 (next to last week of the regular season) of the season and continuing through the end of the season, including the tournament.
19. Rule #17 will also apply to Rule #18 once it takes effect so that team owners will not be able to circumvent the intent behind the rule.
Offensive Scoring
Touchdowns
All touchdowns by players as a result of either passing, rushing, receiving, or returning punts or kickoffs will score 6 Points.
Yardage
Points scored from yardage are based on each individual's performance during their respective games. You do not combine the yardage of all your players to score points.
0 - 24 Yards = 0 Points
25 - 49 Yards = 1 Point
50 - 74 Yards = 2 Points
75 - 99 Yards = 3 Points
etc.
1 Point will be scored for every 10 rushing yards beginning at 10 yards.
0 - 9 Yards = 0 Points
10 - 19 Yards = 1 Point
20 - 29 Yards = 2 Points
30 - 39 Yards = 3 Points
etc.
1 Point will be scored for every 15 receiving yards
beginning at 15 yards.
0 - 14 Yards = 0 Points
15 - 29 Yards = 1 Point
30 - 44 Yards = 2 Points
45 - 59 Yards = 3 Points
etc.
Miscellaneous Offensive Scoring
Completions
Carries
Catches
Quarterback Interceptions
Fumbles
Defensive Scoring
Defensive Touchdowns
All touchdowns by players as a result of either kick or punt returns, interceptions, or fumbles will score 6 Points.
Yards Allowed
Yards Allowed is the total yards allowed by a defensive team (both rushing and receiving yards).
Scoring as follows:
0 - 150 Yards = 12 Points 151 - 200 Yards = 8 Points 200 - 250 Yards = 6 Points 251 - 280 Yards = 4 Points 281 - 300 Yards = 2 Points 301 - 330 Yards = 1 Point 331 - 400 Yards = 0 Points 401 - 430 Yards = -1 Points 431 - 450 Yards = -2 Points 451 - 480 Yards = -4 Points 481 - 530 Yards = -6 Points 531 - 580 Yards = -8 Points 581 - 1000 Yards = -20 PointsReturn Yards Allowed
Return Yards include both punt and kickoff return yards allowed by a defense.
Points for return yards allowed given as follows:
0 - 19 Yards = 5 Points 20 - 39 Yards = 4 Points 40 - 59 Yards = 3 Points 60 - 79 Yards = 2 Points 80 - 99 Yards = 1 Point 100 - 129 Yards = 0 Points 130 - 149 Yards = -1 Points 150 - 169 Yards = -2 Points 170 - 189 Yards = -3 Points 190 - 209 Yards = -4 Points 210 - 229 Yards = -5 Points 230 - 279 Yards = -8 Points 280 - 500 Yards = -12 Points
Points Allowed
0 Pts Allowed = 7 Points 1 - 6 Pts = 4 Points 7 - 10 Pts = 1 Point 11 - 21 Pts = 0 Points 22 - 28 Pts = -1 Points 29 - 35 Pts = -3 Points 36 - 42 Pts = -5 Points 43 - 49 Pts = -7 Points 50 - 100 Pts = -14 Points
Point Differential
-100 - -50 Pts = -14 Points -49 - -43 Pts = -7 Points -42 - -35 Pts = -5 Points -34 - -28 Pts = -3 Points -27 - -21 Pts = -2 Points -20 - -7 Pts = -1 Points -6 - 9 Pts = 0 Points 10 - 17 Pts = 1 Point 18 - 24 Pts = 3 Points 25 - 35 Pts = 5 Points 36 - 42 Pts = 7 Points 43 - 49 Pts = 9 Points 50 - 100 Pts = 18 Points
Miscellaneous Defensive Scoring
1 Point for each Quarterback Sack
1 Point for each Interception
1 Point for each Fumble
1 Point for each Blocked Field Goal
1 Point for each Blocked Extra Point
2 Points for each Safety
Field Goal and Point-After-Touchdown Scoring
Any 2 Point Conversion made by a player passing, rushing, or receiving will score 2 points for the player.
A Extra Point Field Goal will score a player 1 Point.
A missed extra point will cost a player a 1 Point Deduction.
Field Goals will be scored as follows:
1 - 45 Yards Out = 3 Points 46 - 55 Yards Out = 4 Points 56 - 100 Yards Out = 5 Points
A. General Information
The playoffs will consist of eight league teams competing in head-to-head, single elimination competition.
The champion of each division will earn an automatic bid into the playoffs. A division championship will be determined by the record that a team has against all other teams in its division. The team with the highest record against divisional foes will receive the automatic bid. In the event of a tie, tie breaker procedures will be used as described below.
The remaining five positions in the playoffs will be wild-card positions based on overall team record. In the event of a tie for the final position or a tie for a particular seed in the tournament, tie breaker procedures will be used as described below.
Seeding in the tournament will be based on overall record, with no preference given to divisional champions. In the event of a tie for a particular seed, tie breaker methods will be used as described below.
B. Tie Breaker Rules
C. Format of the playoffs:
| #1 seed vs. #8 seed --| | |||
| | | -- 1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winner --| | ||
| #4 seed vs. #5 seed --| | | | ||
| | | |||
| | | -- 1/8 vs 4/5 winner vs. 3/6 vs 2/7 winner | | | |
| #3 seed vs. #6 seed --| | | | ||
| | | -- 3/6 winner vs. 2/7 winner --| | ||
| #2 seed vs. #7 seed --| |
The playoffs will be played during the 15th, 16th, and 17th weeks of the NFL regular season. Scoring will proceed exactly as in the regular season, the winner of each match will advance while the loser is eliminated.
A. Participation of Owners
Owner participation is a must in order for the season to be successful. Owners will be expected to actively participate in the league. You must submit starting lineups for your team even if you do not plan on changing the lineup. If the commissioner hears absolutely nothing from an owner for more than 3 consecutive weeks without prior explanation, he has the right to terminate your ownership of a team for the season. You will be sent a warning message if you have not been participating for 2 consecutive weeks.
B. The Commissioner
The commissioner is responsible for both managing the league and the league's website. This takes a great deal of time to accomplish, and due to the short time frame between games, pressure is added by the need to stick to deadlines. For this reason, please be patient when you submit starting lineups, waiver, trade, and acquisition requests, or ask questions via email.
These rules may turn out to be inadequate in their scope. If it becomes absolutely necessary, the commissioner has the right to review and edit the rules mid-season.
All decisions by the commissioner are final and non-negotiable. (see Appeals section below for exceptions).
C. Expulsion of a Team
In the event that a team owner(s) intentionally break the rules set forth in this document, habitually breaks the rules, or plays the game in a spirit inconsistent in the manner in which the league was formed, the commissioner has the right to terminate ownership of a team.
D. Appeals
Teams may find it necessary to make an appeal of a decision made by the commissioner. In the event that an owner believes that the commissioner has made the wrong decision, an owner may submit a request to reconsider in writing via email within 24 hours explaining why he/she believes the commissioner's decision was wrong. If an appeal is not made within this time, it will not be considered and the original decision will stand. You may only make one appeal on a decision, so make sure you make your argument as detailed as possible the first time.
E. The Rules Evaluation Committee
The Rules Evaluation Committee will be set up at the end of the season to review the past season's rules for possible areas of improvement.
The committee will be made up of 5 team owners from the previous season that intend to return for the next season. The commissioner will not serve on the rules committee. The committee will be made up of the previous season's league champion, along with the owners of the teams with the two worst records from the previous season and the owners of the two best teams based on regular season records other than the league champion. In the event that the owner of one of these specified teams does not plan to return next season, or chooses not to particpate on the committee, a replacement will be chosen at random from the teams that do plan to return next season.
The committee will work together to find weaknesses in the league's rules that need to be improved for next season. They should also come up with ways to improve the league through the implementation of new features (i.e., league expansion, the creation of keeper league rules, etc.) . They should submit their final recommendation to the commissioner within four weeks after the end of the season for review.
The commissioner is not obliged to accept any of these proposals, but may very well accept them all. The commissioner may also make his own changes in the rules without consulting the committee. The committee only serves as a way to get feedback from the owners and to see how the league can be improved for next season.
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