THE EASTERN STATES FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE

THE EASTERN STATES FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE

OFFICIAL RULES FOR 2008

Section 1 – League Administration

Commissioner (Jeff Rogers). The Commissioner shall have the responsibilities of organizing the league, communicating rules, collecting fees, providing weekly updates, and distributing winnings. The Commissioner may participate in the league, but is under oath not to use his position to benefit his or any other team.
The Fantasy Board of Governors (Ted Sidoriak, Roger Johnson, Frank Perlmutter, Jim Sullivan, Chris Bowen). The Fantasy Board of Governors shall rule by three-fifths vote on any problems that may arise with the interpretation of the official rules. The Board may also add, amend, or repeal any rules during the season or in between seasons by a three-fifths vote. Board members shall act in “the best interest of the ESFFL” when asked to take action.
Vice Commissioner (Ted Sidoriak). The Vice Commissioner is the senior member of the Fantasy Board of Governors. The Vice Commissioner shall assume duties of the Commissioner should he resign or be impeached, until a new Commissioner is named. Should the Commissioner not be able to fulfill his duties on a temporary basis (such as an injury or illness) the Vice Commissioner would assume the duties of the Commissioner during the temporary period of absence of the Commissioner.
Administrative Assistant (Cindy Rogers). The ESFFL Administrative Assistant works in conjunction with the Commissioner in handling the administrative duties of the league. The Administrative Assistant is a Commissioner appointed position.
Secretary of Divisional Alignment (Frank Perlmutter). The Secretary of Divisional Alignment teams with the Commissioner to determine how ESFFL teams are grouped into conferences and divisions. Every attempt will be made to preserve competitive play while maintaining certain past practices of placing co-workers and friends in similar divisions and placing natural rivals (husband-wife, brother-brother, father-son, etc.) in opposing conferences. The Secretary of Divisional Alignment is a Fantasy Board appointed position.
Impeachment or Resignation of the Commissioner. The Commissioner may be impeached via a ¾ majority vote of all ESFFL members. The Vice Commissioner shall preside over the impeachment process. The new Commissioner shall be named through a nomination and subsequent vote. The Vice Commissioner shall preside over this process. Should the Commissioner resign his position, a similar nomination and voting process led by the Vice Commissioner would take place.
Impeachment or Resignation of a Governor. Any governor may be impeached via a ¾ majority vote of all ESFFL members. The Commissioner shall preside over the impeachment process. The new governor shall be named through nomination and subsequent vote. The Commissioner shall preside over this process. The new governor will assume the position of lowest seniority. Should a governor resign his position, a similar process shall be enacted to fill the vacancy.

Section 2 – Franchise Establishment, Roster Selection, & Team Scoring

League Dues

1. The league entry fee is 50 beanos. Of this, 35 beanos will go directly to the final pot, 10 beanos will go to offset league administrative costs, including the automated scoring system, and 5 beanos will be a proviso for Free Agent Additions (See Section 2 Line H).

2. Each franchise shall be named for that owner’s original or current hometown, or county, state, etc. The owner shall also select a unique nickname for his team. The team name and nickname shall not include any obscenities or otherwise lewd or questionable connotations.

B. League Membership

1. League membership shall be capped at 30 teams.

2. Membership priority shall be given first to returning members, as long as their dues are received on time, and then to new members in order of submission of the first half of their league entry fee.

C. Roster Selection

1. Returning Teams

a. Returning teams will participate in a one round “Player Re-distribution Draft” prior to the start of the season.

1) The draft will take place during the month of July and/or August.

2) The draft order will be determined by regular season record from the prior season.

a) The draft order will be “worst to first” with the team finishing in the lowest position drafting first, and the team finishing in the highest position drafting last.

b) The standard tie-breakers (see Section 5 Line C) will be used to determine draft position.

3) The Commissioner will publish the draft order, and administer the draft.

a) Each team will be given a specific date and time to report their selection to the Commissioner.

b) Teams may give the Commissioner a “proxy list” should they not be available on their given date and time.

c) Teams missing their deadline will fall back in the draft order, but will be allowed to draft at anytime following.

d) Teams not yet paying the first half of their league entry fee will be skipped in the draft order until their debt is paid.

4) Only players appearing on the previous season’s Final Free Agent / Non-Free Agent List are eligible for the draft. Rookies are not eligible for the draft. A player may only be drafted by one team.

5) The drafted player is added to the team’s final roster and is eligible to become one of that team’s Reserved Players.

6) It is legal for a team to draft a player already on their final roster for the purpose of “protecting” that player from other teams.

b. Following the Player Re-distribution Draft, each returning team may reserve up to 4 players from their previous season’s final roster (team defenses not included).

c. Once all returning teams have selected their reserved players, the Commissioner will generate a Reserved Players List.

d. For their Initial Rosters, returning teams may not select any reserved players other than their own.

e. Returning teams will complete their Initial Roster by choosing players not included on the Reserved Players List.

f. Teams are under no obligation to include their reserved players on their initial roster. However, if they do not include reserved players on their initial roster, the only way a team can get that player back is if that player becomes a Free Agent during the season.

2. Teams of new owners

a. Creation of an expansion franchise

1) An expansion team may select up to 3 players from the Reserved Players List.

2) Expansion teams will complete their Initial Roster by choosing players not included on the Reserved Players List.

b. Returning owners

1) A returning owner may not “dump” his previous season’s roster in favor of creating an expansion team unless he either pays double the entry fee, or sits out play for one year.

2) A returning owner from a previous season may re-enter the league as an expansion team. The expansion team must have a new name and will be treated by the league as a new franchise.

D. Roster Size and Stipulations

1. Each team’s roster must be comprised of exactly 16 players / team defenses.

2. Of the 16 players which comprise the roster, each team must carry at least 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 DEF.

3. The remaining 8 players may be of any combination of positions.

4. The sum of all 16 players which comprise the roster must fit under a salary cap of $35,000,000.

5. Initial Roster selection should be done in secrecy.

6. Free Agents may be added after the first week of the season (see section 2 Line H for an explanation of the Free Agent process). For each Free Agent player added, one player must be dropped, thus maintaining 16 players on the roster at all times.

E. Submission of Initial Roster

1. Initial Rosters are due to the Commissioner no later than 1 PM ET, 7 days prior to the start of the NFL season.

2. Should a team be late in submitting their initial roster, they will be fined according to the following schedule:

a) Up to 1 hour late = 1 beano

b) 1 to 2 hours late = 2 beanos

c) 2 to 4 hours late = 3 beanos

d) 4 to 24 hours late = 4 beanos

e) 24 to 28 hours late = 5 beanos

f) 28-48 hours late = 10 beanos

3. At the discretion of the Commissioner, teams submitting their roster on time, but with errors, will not be subject to fines or other sanctions provided they make the appropriate corrections in a timely manner and are not viewed to be taking advantage of the rules.

4. If a team which has paid their initial dues has yet to submit their roster 48 hours after the deadline, their roster will be completed by another member of the league as appointed by the Commissioner. The team selecting the roster must be a team from the opposite conference, and must not be scheduled to play the offending team during the regular season.

a) If more than one team is interested in temporarily managing the offending team, the commissioner will grant other ESFFL owners, which meet the above criteria, control of the team on a week by week basis based on the order in which they express interest.

b) The offending owner will have until the Wednesday following Week 3 to reclaim control of their team by submitting the entirety of their accrued debt to the league including the remainder of their entry fee, their fine for late submission, and the cost of any free agent moves incurred to that point.

c) Should the offending team not submit their accrued debt by the Wednesday following Week 3, they will forfeit their initial 25 beano entry fee to the final pot and will be officially exonerated from the league. The team will continue to be controlled on a rotating basis by interested and eligible league members as appointed by the Commissioner. Any debt or winnings of the team in this situation will be deducted or added to the final pot.

5. Once all rosters have been received and approved, the Commissioner will email the league membership at large to inform all teams of this status.

6. From the time this email announcement is made, all teams who submitted their rosters on time will have 24 hours to make any changes to their initial roster.

7. All rules which govern the formation of initial rosters remain in effect at all times.

8. Initial Rosters will not be published until the end of the 24 hour change period.

F. Player Salaries

1. Player salaries for the season are determined by the Commissioner prior to the season.

2. The salaries of all players not included on any Initial Roster (and thus appear on the Week 2 Free Agent List) will be decreased by 15% prior to Week 2.

3. The salary minimum is $650,000. Any player not listed on the Player Salaries List is $650,000. No player’s salary will drop below $650,000, regardless of the 15% reduction.

G. Team Scoring

1. There is no “starting team” or “active player list”. Each player on the 16 player roster is capable of scoring points for the team.

2. In a given week, the team’s score is the sum of the top scoring QB, 2 top RB, 2 top WR, top TE, top K, and top DEF from the 16 player roster.

H. Free Agent Additions

1. After all initial rosters have been submitted, the Commissioner will provide a list of all Free Agent players / team DEF. The list will be updated weekly and posted on the league’s website. The list of Free Agents / Non Free Agents will be posted by Tuesday for the upcoming week.

2. Free Agent additions may not be made prior to Week 1.

3. Following the completion of Week 1 games, teams may replace players on their roster with Free Agents (only as listed on the current week’s Free Agent List).

4. Team owners must notify the Commissioner of their Free Agent moves before the start of the upcoming week’s first game, or before Saturday Noon ET, whichever comes first, for their free agents to be eligible for play that week.

5. Teams should notify the Commissioner by email to the following address:
[email protected]. After receiving the request, the Commissioner will acknowledge receipt of the Free Agent move via a return email. If an owner does not receive acknowledgement by 8 AM Sunday, they should contact the Commissioner.

6. Free Agent moves received after Noon ET Saturday or after the start of that week’s first game will not be processed unless there is an extremely extenuating circumstance.

7. The team’s roster must remain at 16 players / team defenses and within the salary cap after all Free Agent moves.

8. Costs are assessed weekly for Free Agent moves. Within a given week, the first move will cost 1 beano, the second 2 beanos, the third 4 beanos, the fourth 8 beanos, the fifth 12 beanos, the sixth 16 beanos, the seventh 20 beanos, and the eighth 25 beanos.

9. No more than 8 Free Agent moves are allowed in any given week.

10. Free Agent moves may be made prior to Week 2, and prior to any week thereafter until a team is eliminated from the playoffs.

Section 3 – Player Scoring

A. Points will be awarded to players based upon the following system:

Offensive Players

Touchdown 6 points

Touchdown pass 3 points

2 pt conversion 2 points

2 pt conv. pass 1 point

Field Goal 3 points

Field Goal 50+ 4 points

PAT 1 point

Rushing (every 25 yd) 1 point

Reception 1 point

Receiving (every 25 yd) 1 point

Passing (every 50 yd) 1 point

Completions (every 4 comp) 1 point

Interception 2- points

Team Defense

Defensive TD 6 points

Safety 2 points

Turnover 2 points

Sack 1 point

0 points allowed 10 points

3-9 points allowed 8 points

10-16 points allowed 6 points

17-23 points allowed 4 points

24-30 points allowed 2 points

Win/Loss 1/1- points

An automated scoring system may be used. In the case of a dispute, USA Today box scores as posted on the Internet will be the official source for resolving the dispute.
Touchdowns scored on special teams will count (for individual players only). Return yardage will not.
A blocked punt of field goal will not count as a turnover. A touchdown scored off a blocked punt or field goal will count as a defensive touchdown. A punt return or kick return will not. The difference is whether or not the ball crosses the line of scrimmage.
Defensive touchdowns will not count as individual player touchdowns.
Touchdowns given up by your defense’s offense will not count against you.
Results become official at the start of the games two week’s after the game in question, except for the last week of the season and in the playoffs. During the last week of the season and during the playoffs, results become official at the end of the day prior to the first game for that following week. If there is a question about scoring, please contact the Commissioner as soon as possible.

Section 4 – Playing Schedule

A. The league title is known as the Johnson Cup and the playoffs leading up to the championship, known as the Fantasy Bowl, are referred to as the Johnson Cup Playoffs.

B. The league will be based on head-to-head competition. Division and possibly conference play will be incorporated with division winners and potentially wild-card entries reaching the Johnson Cup Playoffs.

C. The number of teams qualifying for the Johnson Cup Playoffs will be between 36% and 50% of the membership. The actual number of teams making the playoffs and the playoff format are at the Commissioner’s discretion and will be announced prior to the start of the season.

D. The regular season will consist of 12 to 13 weeks, based on the size of the league and number of playoff rounds.

E. Based on the size of the league, there may be bye weeks and/or “triple threat” games.

1. Points scored during a bye week will count toward that team’s season point total.

2. A triple threat game is a game in which 3 teams compete against each other with each team completing 2 games in a week.
Example: A vs. B, A vs. C, B vs. C
If each team finishes with a unique point total (that is, no ties) one team will finish the week with a 2-0 record, one 0-2, and one 1-1.

3. In a triple threat game, only the total points scored will be added to each team’s season point total (not double the total points).

F. The Johnson Cup playoffs will be played in Weeks 13 through 15 or in Weeks 14 through 15 based on the length of the regular season.

G. The Fantasy Bowl will be played in halves. The first half is Week 16 and the second half is Week 17.

H. All teams not qualifying for the Johnson Cup Playoffs will compete in the Consolation Playoffs.

I. Should enough teams compete in the league to have 2 separate conferences; an All-Star game will be held during Weeks 16 & 17 of the NFL Season.

1. The All-Star teams will be “managed” by the owner of each conference final losing team. Should either of those owners opt out, team owners in order of finish (except for the Fantasy Bowl and Consolation Bowl participants) will be asked until a replacement is found.

2. Each manager will select 16 players among those on his or her conference’s combined Week 15 rosters.

3. There is no salary cap for the All-Star teams.

4. Scoring will be the same as during the regular season.

Section 5 – League Standings & Updates

A. Weekly updates will be provided via the league’s website, by the automated scoring program, and/or the Commissioner.

B. If there is a tie during weekly competition, it will appear in the standings as a tie.

C. A tie in the regular season final standings will be broken according to the following hierarchy:

1. Total points scored season

2. Head-to-Head record

3. Total points scored in head-to-head games (within division tie-break only)

4. Record within division (within division tie-break only)

5. Record within conference

6. Total points scored within division (within division tie-break only)

7. Total points scored within conference.

8. Fewest wins previous season.

9. paper-scissors-rock

D. A team with 1 more win, 1 more loss, and 2 fewer ties beats a team with 1 less win, 1 less loss, and 2 more ties (regardless of points).

E. If there is a tie in a playoff game, it will be broken by subtracting the points from each team’s highest salaried player and re-adding the points.

1. If the above process does not break the tie, the points from each team’s second highest salaried players are subtracted, and so on down the list of salaries until the tie is broken.

2. In a tie in a 2 half game such as the Fantasy Bowl, the points from the highest salaried player in each week will be subtracted in order to break the tie.

Section 6 – Dues & Fees Collection

A. The 50 beano league entry fee will be collected in 2 installments.

1. The deadline for the first installment of 25 beanos will be the start of the Player Re-distribution Draft.

a. Returning teams will not be eligible to make their selection in the draft until the Commissioner receives the first installment of their entry fee.

b. Receipt of the first installment ensures a teams place in the league. If a returning team owner is late in making the first installment, their spot in the league may be given to a new member.

c. The first installment of the entry fee for expansion teams will be due approximately one week prior to the start of the season. However, priority for entry into the league will be based on when the Commissioner receives this first installment of 25 beanos.

2. The deadline for the second installment of 25 beanos will be the first Sunday of the season.

a. Should a team be late in submitting their dues, the Commissioner reserves the right to assess the team a one point per beano due penalty on that team’s score the following week.

b. Should a team still not submit their dues after the completion of Week 3’s game, the team will be taken over by the league. Should a substitute owner willing to pay the unpaid dues be found, that owner is eligible to take over the team.

B. Teams are allowed to incur free agent fees above and beyond the initial 5 beano proviso.

1. A Maximum Allowable Balance (MAB) will be calculated for each team. If a team’s free agent fees owed surpass his MAB, that team will be ineligible to make further free agent moves until at least 20 beanos are received by the Commissioner from that team.

2. Each team owner is allowed to carry an MAB of 10 beanos. A returning owner is allotted an additional 5 beanos for each season of participation prior to the current season. A team which has clinched a playoff spot, or a playoff win, will have their clinched winnings added to their MAB as well.

Section 7 – The Finer Points

A. Keep bye weeks in mind when selecting your roster. Having too many players with the same bye week can adversely affect your team that week.

B. The Fantasy Bowl Champion will receive 50% of the final pot. The remainder of the pot will be divided among the Johnson Cup Playoff Participants, the Consolation Champion, and the conference members of the All-Star Game Champion. The exact distribution will be decided at the discretion of the Commissioner.

C. There is no trading allowed.

D. The position a player is listed at on the original salary list is the only position you can play that player at during the season, even if they play other positions on the field. Players not listed on the original salary sheet can be played at the position they most frequently play. Once the determination of their position is made by the Commissioner that is the only position they can be played at for the remainder of the season.

E. It is illegal and unethical to knowingly bend or break any rules to your team’s advantage.

F. The (Ladies &) Gentleman’s Rule: It is expected that all league members will put forth a reasonable effort to win all their games regardless of their position in the standings.

1. It is not unethical to add injured or other no-playing players for the purposes of having them on your final roster, as long as you have adequate healthy and playing players at their position to comply with rule 7F above.

2. No player currently in high school or playing football for the NCAA is eligible for ESFFL rosters.

3. It is unethical to “throw” games to aid another league member.

G. The intent of the league is to provide a fun and entertaining means of competition among fellow football fans. Friendly banter is encouraged as long as members maintain a respect for their fellow competitors and the league.