I. Table of Contents
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II
Teams and League Makeup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .III
League Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV
The Draft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .V
Rosters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI
Transactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .VII
Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VIII
Tie-Breaker Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX
The Playoffs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .X
Miscellaneous Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XI
II. Introduction
This is the official rulebook of the Carolina Fantasy Football League for the 2000 season. It should be read by all league members. Members should also print out a copy of this rule book for future reference.
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. You build your dream team and compete against everyone else's. In addition, throughout the season you will have the opportunity to draft, release, and acquire players for your team.
Your team will score points based on the individual performances of you players in their NFL games. The resulting total score of the players on your "starting lineup" will be compared to that of the team you have met in head-to-head matchup. 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 regular season, the teams with the highest records will move on to play in the league playoffs for the championship.
III. Teams and League Makeup
The CFFL will be made up of 12 teams making up three divisions. Teams will not change divisions unless it becomes necessary to realign the league due to expansion in the future.
B. Ownership of Teams
Ownership of team franchises will be granted by the league commissioner. The franchise will be granted at his discretion based on the application submitted by the prospective team owner. Team owners have the right to return year-to-year without filling out a new application as long as they remain in good standing with the league.
C. Changing of Ownership
When a new owner takes over a team previously held by another, the owner has the right to rename the team and select a new team logo (except during the middle of a season). The new owner will also keep the same players that were on the roster of the team held by the previous owner and will take over all administrative powers of the team. The draft positioning of the team under a new owner, however, will change. A team with a new owner will be shifted to the back of the drafting order for the upcoming draft (A team taken over mid-season does not apply to this rule).
IV. League Schedule
The regular season will be made up of 14 games spanning the first 14 games of the NFL regular season. Each team will play their three divisional rivals twice during the regular season and will play all of the remaining eight teams in the league once.
B. Post-Season
The post season will begin in the 15th week of the NFL regular season and will continue through the 17th week. Week 15 will serve as the quaterfinal round, 16 as the semifinals, and 17 as the championship week.
C. Home/Away Games
Each team will play 7 home and 7 away games over the course of the season. In division play one of each of the two meetings with each divisional rival will be a home game and one will be an away game. Home teams will be given a "home field advantage" bonus of 3 points per home game.
V. The Draft
The order of the league draft will be the reverse of the final standings after the playoffs of the previous season. (The league champion will pick last, tourney runner-up next to last, final four members ninth and tenth, etc.)
The draft will follow this order during odd numbered rounds, and will reverse the order during even numbered rounds.
Here is the order for the 2000 CFFL Draft:
b. Exceptions
The order of the draft will change if a current owner decides not to return for the 2000 season. In the event that a team receives a new owner, that team will lose its predetermined draft position and will be moved to the back of the line. In the event that there is more than one team with a new owner, the teams will be arranged at the back of the line in order of the previous year's standings.
B. Owner Prescence
The prescence of every owner will be required for the draft. The commissioner WILL NOT draft for owners who are unable to attend the league draft. All owners will be expected and required to work with the commissioner to determine a time where every owner can be present for the draft. If an owner does not show up for the draft, they will not have any players drafted for them and will have to wait until the beginning of the regular season to pick up free agents. Failure to attend the draft is also an offense which may lead to an owner's expulsion from the league.
C. Time, Date, and Place
The draft will be conducted in the CFFL Chat Room (available through a link on the league homepage). The date and time of the draft will be announced at a date closer to draft time to all owners.
D. Conducting the Draft
The draft will begin promptly at the time specified by the league commissioner. Not five minutes later, not 10 minutes later. Be there on time or risk losing a draft pick (or more). The league commissioner will be present in the chat room somewhere around 30 minutes before the beginning of the draft to answer any last minute questions.
Once the draft begins, there will be no talking by the owners. There are not even to be any "private messages" sent while the draft is underway. Talking during the draft causes confusion and clutters the chat text area, therefore, no talking, period.
The Commissioner will call on each team on their turn to draft. Once called, the team will have 60 seconds and no more to give their pick. Owners are expected to pay attention during the entire draft, keeping up with who is already picked and being prepared to make picks quickly on their next turn. No leniency will be given with time limits. Timing will begin as soon as the Commissioner announces a team's name.
If an owner does not make a pick within the time limit, they will be skipped and will have to fill the empty position on their roster from free agents at the beginning of the regular season.
When making your pick be sure to give all of the following information: Player Name, Position, NFL Team.
VI. Rosters
A complete team roster is made up of 17 players. The only minimum requirements of a roster is the ability to fulfill the starting lineup requirements (see below). Therefore, a team can have as many as 17 players, but as few as 9.
B. Starting Lineups
Starting lineups consist of 9 players. All teams must submit lineups that follow these guidelines: 1 Quaterback (QB), 2 Runningbacks (RB), 1 Place Kicker (K), 1 Defensive Team (DF), and 4 players in any combination of Wide Receivers (WR) and Tight Ends (TE) as long as there is at least one of each in the lineup.
Violations of starting lineup requirements will result in an automatic forfeit for a team for the given week. If a transaction during the course of a week results in a team's lineup failing to meet lineup requirements, an owner must submit a new lineup prior to the week's lineup deadline in order to avoid forfeiting the week's game.
All owners must submit their starting lineups for the following week's games 3 hours prior to the beginning of the first game of the week. This is usually 9am EST Sunday mornings.
Lineups submitted after the deadline will not be counted, nor will they be used as the team's lineup for the following week. Lineups for the upcoming week's game may not be submitted prior to two hours after the conclusion of the NFL games for the prior week.
Each team will be expected to submit a starting lineup every week. If you fail to submit a starting lineup, the previous week's lineup will be used. However, if you fail to submit a starting lineup for 3 consecutive weeks (even if you plan to make no changes), the commissioner has the right to declare your game a forfeit (see "Owner Participation" section in Part IX below for more consequences).
Starting lineups will be accepted only by the forms provided on the league website. Lineups may not be submitted by email except in the most dire situations (i.e., web server is down).
C. Multi-Position Players
When a team drafts a player who plays multiple positions, they must declare what position that player will fill. After which, that player will remain associated with that position for the remainder of the season even if acquired by another team.
D. Player Retirement
Any player who goes into retirement, or declared retired by the league commissioner may not be drafted or acquired through any other means by a CFFL team. If a retiring player is currently being held by a team, it may keep the player, but can not place him on injury reserve. If the team drops the player at any time, it may not re-acquire that player, nor may any other team.
E. Injury Reserve
Each team will have two injury reserve positions on their rosters. These positions can be filled by players who have been declared as I/R, or Out by the official NFL injury report (unlikely and probable do not count). To move a player to injury reserve, the owner must notify the commissioner via email. Once a player is on injury reserve, the team may acquire a free agent to fill his position on the main roster (in accordance with acquisition rules).
A player may remain on injury reserve until such time as they are no longer listed as I/R or out on the NFL injury list. At that time, the team must either cut the player, or move him back on to the main roster. If the main roster is already at its limit of 17 players, a player on the roster must be cut to make room for the player coming off injury reserve.
A team may move a player off injury reserve at any time; even if the player is still listed as I/R or out on the NFL injury list. If a team moves a player off I/R prior to the transaction deadline(s) for a given week, it may trade that player or use him in a drop/add transaction during the current week.
F. Retaining Players from Season-to-Season
The CFFL is a keeper league, meaning that teams keep players from season to season. Teams will be asked by the Commissioner during the offseason to choose four (4) players to keep for the next season. This will be done after teams without owners are found new owners, but prior to the league draft. As discussed above, teams will be allowed to trade retained players for draft picks.
In addition to selecting four players to retain for the next season, each team will be allowed to select two additional players from their previous season's roster to serve as "alternates" to their four keepers. That is to say, should one of the four players they select for retention retires sometime between the deadline of submitting which players are to be kept for the next season and 48 hours prior to the league draft, the owner can select one of the two "alternates" to take his place. However, owners can not simply switch players between the original four picks and the alternate pool. One of the four main selections must actually retire before an owner can use one of the two alternates. If an owner does not have to use an alternate or does not need to use either alternate, the players will be released from their team on the deadline for pre-draft trading, and will return to the pool of free-agents (draftable players) just like all the other players not selected as keepers. Alternate keepers can not be traded in pre-draft trading.
If an owner fails to submit a list of keeper players by the deadline set by the league commissioner, all the players on that team will be dropped. The team will still, however, only receive the same number of draft picks as every other, and will be forced to acquire the remaining needed players through free-agent acquisition after the draft.
VII. Transactions
2. Once you trade away a player, you may not reacquire that player through any means for at least three weeks (for example: let's say you trade away a player in week 1, you will not be allowed to bring that player back on your roster until at least week 4. A week is defined as beginning on the day following the previous week's last game and ending after the conclusion of the current week's last game.)
3. You may not trade a player you have placed on CFFL injury reserve. You may, however, remove the player (granted your main roster is not full) from I/R and then trade him away.
4. There are no limits to the number of trades you may make in a week.
5. To make a trade, all of the owners involved in a trade must email the league commissioner prior to the deadline (see below) advising him of the proposed trade. An email from only one owner will not be accepted.
6. Once both teams submit their proposals, a trade agreement can not be rescinded.
7. If one owner sends a confirmation message to the commissioner prior to the deadline, and the other sends one after the deadline, the trade will be processed the following week (the trade can not be rescinded once confirmed by the second owner). Owners may, however, in their confirmation message to the commissioner reserve the right to rescind their confirmation if the other owner fails to submit one by the deadline.
8. Uneven trades are allowed except when the trade will cause a violation of roster and/or starting lineup requirements.
9. To trade draft picks, the owners must declare which round(s)'s draft picks are involved in the trade.
10. Once a team's season is over they may no longer make trade requests (at least not until the official "pre-season for the next year begins).
11. The commissioner may reject a trade deal at any time and for any reason.
B. Trading for Draft Picks & Pre-Draft Trading
Trading for draft picks will be allowed ONLY after all the teams have declared which players they will keep for the next season. Trading prior to the draft may be uneven. However, no extra rounds will be added to the draft to enable teams to pick up extra players. Teams who have fewer than 17 players after the draft as a result of uneven pre-draft trading must wait until the first transaction period begins.
Teams who make trades that give them more draft picks than necessary to fill their roster during the draft can, of course, use those extra draft picks to make other uneven trades. However, if they keep the extra draft picks, they will only be allowed to draft until they have completed a roster of 17 players, but if they should, for any reason, be skipped in a round of the draft, they can use one of those extra draft picks to compensate.
Trades made during the pre-draft trading period must be given to the commissioner by 5pm on the seventh day prior to the league draft. Trades after this date will not be accepted.
2. A team may trade picks from the 2001 draft. Teams may make trades involving 2001 draft picks in both the 2000 season's pre-season and regular season periods.
3. No team may trade away more than a total of four picks from their pool of draft choices for the 2001 draft. Alternatively, no team, as a result of trading 2001 draft picks, may have fewer than nine remaining picks for the 2001 draft (meaning you can remain within the limit of four tradable picks if you receive other team's 2001 draft picks as a result of a trade).
4. No team may trade away more than two of their first four rounds of picks for the 2001 draft. Unlike Rule 3 above, you may not get around this restriction by receiving other team's 2001 draft picks from the first four or other rounds.
5. If you receive future draft picks from another team as a result of a trade, you may use those picks to make additional trades assuming you remain within the terms of rules 3 and 4 above.
6. If a league owner does not return to the league next season, the replacement owner is bound to the terms of any trade made during the previous season involving future draft picks as if he had made the trade deal himself.
7. Trades involving "future" draft picks can only utilize picks from the 2001 season.
C. Acquisitions/Waivers
2. Acquisition/waiver requests may not be submitted prior to 2 hours after the NFL's final game for a week. Requests sent after a week's deadline (as outlined in Section "C" below) will not be held for the next week's processing. Requests sent before the allowed time (as described above) will not be accepted and will be trashed. Furthermore, the commissioner is not obligated to inform the owner of these violations.
2. Once you waive away a player, you may not reacquire that player through any means for at least three weeks (for example: let's say you trade away a player in week 1, you will not be allowed to bring that player back on your roster until at least week 4. A week is defined as beginning on the day following the previous week's last game and ending after the conclusion of the current week's last game.)
3. Acquisition and waiver requests will be processed in the following manner:
b. The commissioner will process a maximum of two requests per team in reverse order of league standings at a time (in case of a tie in records, overall points will be used as a tie-break). After the commissioner goes through the entire order, he will begin a second round of processing, again in reverse order of league standings). This process will continue until all requests have been exhausted.
c. If a team makes multiple requests, the commissioner will line up a team's requests in the order in which they were received and will process the earliest received requests first.
d. The order of processing transactions during the pre-season will be exactly the same as during the draft.
4. Acquisition and/or waiver requests will only be accepted using the forms provided on the league website. At no time will they be accepted by an email by the owner.
5. There is no limit to the number of acquisition and/or waiver requests you may make in a week.
6. Once an acquisition and/or waiver request is made it can not be rescinded or replaced by another request (be sure to make wise decisions the first time).
7. Once a team's season is over they may no longer make acquisition or waiver requests.
D. Deadlines
For weeks where the NFL has scheduled games for Sundays and Mondays only, the deadline for submitting trade proposals and acquisition/waiver requests is 12 Noon EST on the Friday preceeding the week's games.
For weeks where the NFL has scheduled the earliest games for Saturdays, the deadline for submitting trade proposals and acquisition/waiver requests is 12 Noon EST on the Thursday preceeding the week's games.
For weeks where the NFL has scheduled the earliest games for Fridays, the deadline for submitting trade proposals and acquisition/waiver requests is 12 Noon EST on the Wednesday preceeding the week's games.
For weeks where the NFL has scheduled the earliest games for Thursdays, the deadline for submitting trade proposals and acquisition/waiver requests is 12 Noon EST on the Tuesday preceeding the week's games.
Should there be games scheduled earlier than a Thursday (i.e., on a Wednesday) no trade or acquisition/waiver requests will be processed.
VIII. Scoring
The home team of each game will be given a 3 point bonus.
B. Offensive Scoring
2. Passing Yardage will earn 1 point for every 25 yards starting at 25 yards.
3. Rushing Yardage will earn 1 point for every 10 yards starting at 10 yards.
4. Receiving Yardage will earn 1 point for every 8 yards starting at 10 yards.
5. Completions: 1 point for every 4 completions starting with the 4th.
6. Carries: 1 point for every 7 carries starting with the 7th.
7. Receptions: 1 point for every 2 receptions starting with the first.
8. There will be a three (3) point deduction for every thrown interception.
9. There will be a three (3) point deduction for every fumble.
C. Defensive Scoring
2. Yards Allowed (rushing and passing combined)
0 - 150 Yards = 15 Points
151 - 175 Yards = 12
176 - 200 Yards = 10
201 - 225 Yards = 8
226 - 250 Yards = 6
251 - 275 Yards = 4
276 - 300 Yards = 2
301 - 325 Yards = 1
326 - 400 Yards = 0
401 - 425 Yards = -1
426 - 450 Yards = -2
451 - 475 Yards = -4
476 - 500 Yards = -6
501 - 525 Yards = -8
526 - 550 Yards = -10
551 - 575 Yards = -12
576 - 1000 Yards = -20
3. Points Allowed
0 Pts Allowed = 9 Points
1 - 3 Points = 6
4 - 6 Points = 3
7 - 10 Points = 1
11 - 17 Points = 0
18 - 21 Points = -1
22 - 24 Points = -2
25 - 28 Points = -3
29 - 35 Points = -5
36 - 42 Points = -7
43 - 48 Points = -9
49 - 60 Points = -12
61 - 72 Points = -15
73 - 144 Points = -30
4. 1 Point will be scored for each quaterback sack.
5. 3 Points will be scored for each interception.
6. 3 Points will be scored for each fumble recovered.
7. 3 Points will be scored for each blocked field goal.
8. 1 Point will be scored for each blocked extra point.
9. 2 Points will be scored for each safety.
D. Field Goal and Point-After-Touchdown Scoring
2. A successful Extra Point Field Goal will score 1 point.
3. A missed Extra Point attempt will cost a player 2 point.
4. Field goals will be scored as follows:
1 - 30 Yards = 3 Points
31 - 45 Yards = 4
46 - 55 Yards = 6
56 - 70 Yards = 8
71 - 100 Yards = 15
5. Missed field goals will be scored as follows:
1 - 10 Yards = -4 Points
11 - 30 Yards = -3
31 - 45 Yards = -2
46 - 55 Yards = -1
56 - 100 Yards = 0
IX. Tie-Breaker Rules
During the regular season, no tie-breaker method will be used to determine winners in the event of a tie. In the event a team ends a game in a tie, the tie game will reflect as one-half of a win and one-half of a loss.
During the playoffs, in the event of a tie, the tie will be broken by using the aggregate score of each teams non-starting portion of their respective rosters.
B. For Divisional Titles
In the event of a tie for a divisional title (and hence an automatic berth to the tournament), the following procedures will be used:
NOTE: In the event that a coin toss is necessary, both teams will share the divisional championship, but the coin toss will determine who wins the automatic berth into the playoffs.
C. League Standings (Regular Season)
During the regular season the league standings are used to determine who will be able to select free agents first. In the event of equal records, overall points scored then a coin toss will be used.
D. League Standings (Wild-Cards)
In the event of a tie to determine a playoff wild-card, or positioning in the playoffs, the following procedure will be used:
E. Multiple Team Ties
In the event of multiple teams tying, the commissioner will try to narrow the field using the above tie-breaker rules to as few as two teams. In any event, the commissioner will try to at least eliminate one or two teams before using tie-breakers further down in the list.
In all tie-breaker situations, the commissioner has the responsibility to clarify the reasoning behind the decision if asked.
X. The Playoffs
The playoffs will be made up of 8 teams. Three positions in the playoffs will be given to each division's champion. A divisional championship is given to the team with the best overall record in its respective division.
The remaining five spots are wild-cards. They will be given to the teams with the top five regular season records not including the divisional champions.
In case of a tie for a playoff berth, tie-breaker rules will apply (described above).
B. Seeding
The seeding of the playoffs will be determined by overall regular season record. Divisional champions will be given no preference in seeding. In the event of a tie for a particular seeding, tie-breaker rules will be applied (described above).
C. Format of the playoffs
QF: #1 vs. #8; #4 vs. #5; #3 vs. #6; #2 vs. #7
SF: 1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winner; 3/6 winner vs. 2/7 winner
F: 1/8 vs. 4/5 winner vs. 3/6 vs. 2/7 winner
XI. Miscellaneous Rules
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 linupes for your team even if you do not plan on changing the lineup. If the commissioner hears absolutely nothing from an owner for 3 consecutive weeks without prior explanation, he has the right to enforce penalties such as (but not limited to) game forfeiture or expulsion from the league.
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.
C. Expulsion of a Team
In the event that a team owner intentionally breaks the rules set forth in this document, or plays the game in a spirit inconsistent in the manner in which the league was founded, 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 in writing via email to reconsider within 24 hours of the original decision 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.
It is the responsibility of team owners to review their team's scores each week for errors. This is especially true during the first week or two of the season when there may be bugs in the league's scoring system.
All appeals for reviewing possible errors made in scoring must be submitted to the league commissioner within 72 hours of that particular week's results being posted on the web. No appeals will be accepted after that time, nor will any change be made to any team's score that resulted from such an error.
E. Rule Re-Evaluation
From time to time, a situation may arise in which the rules, as written, may lend themselves to harming the position of a team in a way for which they were not meant to do when written. If such a situation arises, the league commissioner has the right to re-evaluate the league rules to determine whether the situation at hand is such that the intent of the rules when they were written can not be upheld because the literal interpretation would lend itself to the contrary. If so, the commissioner can forego the rules, as written, in favor of the rules intent.
If the commissioner comes to such a decision, he must inform the other league owners by email; explaining the situation, the decision to forego the rule in question, and the reasoning for making such a decision. League owners who believe that the situation in question does not warrant a reevaluation of the league rules must inform the commissioner within 24 hours. If three (3) league owners independently send a message to the commissioner stating that they do not believe the rule should be forgone, the commissioner's decision will be overruled. If not, the commissioner's decision will be final.
F. Rulebook Defeciencies
If in the course of the season loopholes are found in the league rules which would allow for actions to be taken by league owners inconsistent with the spirit of the league rulebook and of fantasy football in general, the commissioner has the right to edit said rules.
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