Preface:
Our goal is to have a fair and competitive league consisting of the most recent champions from the following dynasty football leagues:
- Eskimo Brothers Football League
- BigRoddy’s Football League
- Best of the Best
- Small School Glory
This document is to put in place the basic framework for the league, and to set out expectations for league members as well as the commissioner.
League Configuration:
The Champions League (TCL) will be hosted on MyFantasyLeague.com.
The TCL will consist of twelve (12) franchises.
This is a Dynasty league, so all players will be kept until the owner involves that player in a transaction (trade or drop) or they are acquired in a dispersal draft.
Eligibility
To be initially eligible for The Champions League you must have won a championship in one of the aforementioned Dynasty Football leagues. If there are not 12 eligible champions available and interested, we will invite any teams that most recently finished the season in the number 1 playoff seed (but didn’t win the championship).
Eligibility is non-transferable. If a champion declines an invite to the league, the eligibility is not passed to the runner up.
Invitations to The Champions League are one-time invitations. They can not be put on hold for a season. Invitations will be open for a 2 week period after the TCL Championship Game.
Franchise owners must retain the franchise in the league that gained them eligibility. If they leave the feeder league, they will forfeit their franchise in the Champions League.
Order of Eligibility
At the end of each season a new Order of Eligibility will be calculated based on who has won a championship more recently. Within each season the order of eligibility will be as follows:
- The Champions League champion
- EBFL Champion
- BRFL Champion
- Best of Best Champion
- SSG Champion
Franchise Change of Ownership
There is the possibility of a change of Franchise ownership each off-season, as new champions are crowned.
The owner that is lowest on the Order of Eligibility loses their Franchise if a new Champion accepts the invite.
If there is only one franchise changing ownership, the new owner will take over the franchise as is.
If there are multiple franchises changing hands at one time, the new owners will hold a dispersal draft of the available assets (players and draft picks) for the open franchises. A random number generator will decide the order of the draft, and it will be a serpentine format.
Annual Fees
The annual fees will be due to the Commissioner, Rick Scott, no later than the 1st of February. No transaction or other league activity will be allowed until fees are paid.
League fees will be $100 per season plus $7 per season to pay for use of MyFantasyLeague website (I’ll pay the difference if it’s more due to exchange). With twelve (12) franchises, payout will be $1200.
For the inaugural season, entry fees are due by March 1st.
Awards/Payout
Weekly Top Finish – $25 x 14 – $350
1st Place Regular Season – $125
2nd Place Regular Season – $75
3rd to 6th Place Regular Season – $25 x 4 – $100
Highest Single Week Score – Player (Offense) – $25
Highest Single Week Score – Player (Defense) – $25
1st Round Survivors – $25 x 2 – $50
2nd Round Survivors – $75 x 2 – $150
Champion – $300
Divisions
There will be no divisions in the Champions League.
Roster
Each owner will carry a maximum of 55 players on their active roster throughout the year. There is no minimum roster requirement.
Each franchise will have a developmental squad which may hold up to 5 players.
Starting Lineups:
All starting lineups will consist of the following:
1 Quarterback
1 Running Backs
2 Wide Receivers
1 Tight End
1 Offensive SuperFlex (QB/RB/WR/TE)
3 Offensive Flex (RB/WR/TE)
2 Defensive Linemen
3 Linebackers
3 Defensive Backs
1 Defensive Flex
Players are locked in at the kick-off of their game. An owner may change the starting lineup status for a player whose game has not yet started.
The starting lineup may not include any players on bye week or players listed as out or inactive according to the league’s final injury report on game day.
Any illegal line ups will be dealt with via escalating penalties – including forfeiture of draft picks and/or expulsion from the league.
Penalties: 25 points added to potential point total for draft position for each week infraction.
Schedule:
The regular season will last from Week 1 of the NFL season until Week 13 (this may change when the NFL goes to a 17 game season) of the NFL season.
In the regular season, each week is played for points position (so you’re basically playing every team, every week). The team that scores the highest in a week earns 11 points, with the 2nd highest 10 and so on down to the lowest scoring team which earns 0 points. (Think of it kind of like rotisserie in baseball, but instead of scoring categories, it’s weeks).
TCL Playoffs:
Playoffs begin in Week 14 (for now) of the NFL season, and finish with Week 16 (for now) of the NFL season.
All playoff positions will be set by All-Play record.
The playoffs will include the top six (6) franchises in the league with the top two (2) earning Week 14 Byes.
In weeks 14 and 15 the 2 lowest scoring franchises of the 4 playing will be eliminated from contention.
With only 2 teams remaining in Week 16, it will be a head to head for the Championship.
Tie Breakers:
During the regular season, any ties will be counted as a tie.
A tie in the playoffs will be broken by the following:
1. Combined score of 2 highest scoring bench players
In the event of a tie for a playoff position, the following tie breakers will be used:
- Total Points Scored
Start-up Draft
The initial start-up draft will begin on March 19th and will be a 60 round draft with a serpentine format so the franchise with the first pick in the first round picks last in the 2nd around, and all even numbered rounds.
Start-up draft picks may be traded prior to and during the draft. There doesn’t have to be an even number of start up draft picks traded.
The draft order will be set by a random number generator. Determination of this draft order will be done by the Commissioner in the presence (virtual or otherwise) of at least two other owners and recorded for those unable to be in attendance.
The start-up draft will use a 6 hour clock for each pick. The draft clock will be turned off at midnight, and begin again at 7am.
Trades
All trades must be submitted through the league website, and are automatically approved.
The trade deadline will be the kick-off of the first game of Week 12 of the NFL season.
Off-season trading is allowed once franchises have been transitioned and all entry fees are paid.
We will have a league imposed moratorium on trades when we move to a new season on MFL. Basically it just prevents any trades from happening on the old season, and not being reflected on the new season site.
If an owner thinks a deal is unfair, he has 48 hours to bring that to the attention of the Commissioner. The Commissioner will then make a decision regarding the validity of the trade. The only reason a Commissioner will veto a trade is suspected collusion. If that happens, both managers will be removed from this league and any others I manage as well.
Once a player has been traded to a franchise, his former franchise may not acquire through trade, that same player for at least three (3) weeks (in season only). This is basically to prevent teams from trading players back and forth to cover byes.
All trades must satisfy roster limits. Teams will have some time to move appropriate players to TS if necessary. Sometimes multi-team deals will require a team to go over their limit temporarily (since the site doesn’t handle 3 team deals). Run these through the Commish prior to making the deals, and he’ll assist if necessary.
Waivers/Free Agency
In season waivers will be decided using a blind bidding system.
Each franchise starts each season with $1000 bidding bucks.
All players will go on waivers once their game has started for the week.
If a player is dropped accidentally, that owner has one hour to contact the Commissioner in order to reverse the transaction. The Commissioner will use best judgement to resolve this situation. If the player’s game (or a promoted/added player’s game as a result) has started prior to receiving notification, the request will be denied.
Waivers will remain closed during the rookie draft. Franchises will still be able to drop players to remain within roster and contract limits during this time.
There will be no waiver claims from the end of the season, until the week of the NFL season rollover (i.e. when NFL Free Agency begins), with the first waiver processing occurring the following Wednesday.
During the off-season, all ties in blind bidding will be broken by earliest bid (if you change your bid, obviously the bid time changes to reflect that). During the season ties are broken by performance, with worst teams getting preference.
MFL does not give the option to eliminate rookies from off-season bidding, so there will be penalties for attempting to add a player with Rookie designation prior to the CL Rookie Draft. The first offense will be a forfeiture of $100BB. The second offense will cost you $250BB. The 3rd offense will have your BB$ emptied (so you wont be able to sign any players other than FCFS), and a $10 fine. In all instances, the player will be returned to the player pool, and any player dropped to sign that player will also be forfeited.
Rookie Draft
The rookie draft will be 5 rounds in length, and non-serpentine (owner of the first pick, picks first in each round).
The draft will begin within 1 week after the completion of the NFL draft, with the date each year being determined prior to the NFL draft. The Champions League rookie draft will begin prior to any of the feeder league rookie drafts
Any rookie that has been drafted and/or signed by an NFL franchise is eligible to be drafted. The player must have rookie designation on MFL in order to be eligible.
The rookie draft will use a 6 hour clock for each pick. The draft clock will be turned off at midnight, and begin again at 7am.
An owner may use all or none of their picks. Once an owner has decided not to use any further picks, please notify the Commissioner so those picks can be skipped in a timely manner.
If an owner misses his pick, that owner should contact the Commissioner with his pick as soon as possible, and/or post the pick on the message board for all to see. Any picks made in the interim by other franchises are ineligible to be picked. The timestamp on any email/post will be considered official.
Once the final pick in the draft has been made, no other picks can be made or traded, even if picks have been missed.
Trading of draft picks will be allowed up to one (1) seasons in advance.
The order for the rookie draft will be determined as follows:
1. Lowest Potential Points of non-playoff teams
2. 2nd Lowest Potential Points of non-playoff teams
3. 3rd Lowest Potential Points of non-playoff teams
4. 4th Lowest Potential Points of non-playoff teams
5. 5th Lowest Potential Points of non-playoff teams
6. 6th Lowest Potential Points of non-playoff teams
7. Lower Potential Points of 1st round losers
8. Higher Potential Points of 1st round losers
9. Lower Potential Points of semi-finalists
10. Higher Potential Points of semi-finalists
11. League Runner-up
12. Champion
*Potential Points are calculated for the regular season only
Development Squad
Instead of assigning rookies directly to the roster, owners may choose to place the rookie on the franchise’s development squad.
The development squad can hold up to five (5) players in total.
Only rookies may be assigned to your development squad. Undrafted free agents may be assigned to your squad, but they must be designated by MFL as rookies.
Any rookies added after the listed deadline must go on the active roster, with the exception of a trade for a player on another franchise’s taxi squad.
A player may be activated to the active roster from the development squad at any time, but they must fit within your active roster.
Players may stay on a development squad for up to two seasons. They must be added to your active roster, or dropped at the end of their 2nd season in the league.
Players on the active roster may not be moved back to the development squad once activated.
Players on the development squad may be traded. The owner receiving the player has to decide whether to put them on the active roster or their development squad (if a spot is available).
In the initial season, you will be able to put 2nd year players on your development squad (as players are allowed to be on it for 2 seasons, and there was no prior league season). They will have to be added to your active roster or released at the end of that season. They don’t get 2 years on the development squad, as rookies are eligible for.
Owner Activity
All owners are expected to be active year round.
Owners should check into the site at least once every week during the off-season.
Owners should check in at least once every three (3) days during the regular season.
Owners should check in at least once a day during the rookie and start up drafts.
Owners should vote in each poll initiated by the Commissioner on the league website
Owners should participate in league discussion through email or the league message board.
Owners should respond to all trade offers in a timely manner. Any trade offers that go without response for one week’s time should be reported to the Commissioner.
Owners should select the option to receive an email notification of trade offers.
Please post in the official “Away from Site” thread if you will be away for a period of time that exceeds rules mentioned above. As long as you have posted prior to being away, you will not be considered in violation of the rules.
Owners will receive a warning if it becomes a problem. After the official warning, the owner will lose a 4th rd draft pick for the next violation, and a 2nd rd draft pick for the next violation. The third strike in a season is expulsion from the league.
If an owner is removed from the league for any violation of league rules or by his own choice, the Commissioner will take charge of the franchise until a replacement owner can be found and approved.
The Commissioner will not perform any transactions on behalf of the abandoned franchise and the line up will be entered based on projections for the week.
Tanking
Tanking in any form will not be tolerated in this league.
Starting lineups should be submitted as complete and in the best interest of the franchise.
If an owner is accused of not submitting arguably their best lineup, the Commissioner will make a ruling.
If an owner is guilty of tanking, he will be removed from the league immediately.
Commissioner
The Commissioner will act in the best interest of the league at all times.
The Commissioner accepts the following responsibilities:
Interpret and enforce rules.
Settle all disputes between owners.
The Commissioner will not retain a franchise in the league if they aren’t currently eligible.
Rule Changes
Rule changes are at the sole discretion of the commissioner. The commissioner will take recommendations and invite open dialogue regarding rule changes.
The commissioner will not change any rules in season.