How It All Works
A franchise fee of $20 is due at the draft, along with $6 to pay for the $69.95 yearly myfantasyleague.com hosting fee (the extra $0.17 per owner will go into the kitty for an extra $2 to be awarded with end-of-season winnings). The money will be placed in the kitty, which, when combined with fees for free agent signings, is awarded at the end of the season to:
- 50 percent to the season points winner (overall champion)
- 20 percent to the Tech Bowl winner
- 20 percent to second place overall
- 10 percent to third place overall
Also awarded are weekly money winners. The team with the highest point total for each week will receive 5 cents per point from each opponent that finishes below it for the week. For example, Team A scores 70 points. Team B finishes with 65. Team C scores 50. Team B owes Team A 25 cents (5 cents x 5 points). Team C owes Team A $1. The commissioner will compile each week's scores and post the winning team and its winnings. Each team's profit/loss status will be updated weekly on the Web site. Weekly winners will be awarded through Week 17.
All profits/losses will be settled after the season ends.
The Draft
The player draft is conducted in reverse order of the previous year's finish in the points standings, with any new franchises picking after the incumbents. Draft order is reversed in even rounds. Each owner has 2 minutes to make a selection. Failure to pick within 2 minutes results in the offending owner being severely heckled and skipped and returned to after the next pick has been completed.
The draft will last a maximum of 16 rounds. There is no minimum or maximum limit on the number of players drafted per position. Available positions are as follows: QB, RB, WR, TE, K and team defense.
Rosters and Lineups
Active rosters will consist of a maximum 16 total players/defense(s). Each team will also have a 1-player "injured reserve" slot. Once a player is placed on injured reserve, he cannot be started, released or traded for a 28-day "freeze" period. After the 28-day freeze period is over, the player can be released, traded, returned to the active roster or returned to injured reserve for another 28-day period. Any player whose term expires and whose owner has not made an acceptable transaction will automatically have his status on injured reserve renewed for another 28-day period.
Before Week 1, owners will turn in a starting lineup consisting of 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 2 wide receivers, 1 tight end, 1 wild card (additional RB, WR or TE), 1 kicker and 1 defense. Starting lineups must be submitted by 1 p.m. Sunday. On weeks with Thursday or Saturday games, owners must submit their starters for those games before kickoff of that day's first game. Players you wish to start in usual-time Sunday or Monday games can be submitted up to 1 p.m. Sunday.
Scoring
Teams will accumulate points based on their starting lineup's performance that week. The following scoring chart available at www.geocities.com/jsking98/scoring_chart.html will be used to determine each player's production.
Punts or kickoffs returned for touchdowns will be scored as a run. Yardage accumulated on punt or kickoff returns, or fumble recoveries or interceptions, do not count. A player who returns a fumble or interception for a touchdown will have their score counted as a run (fumble recovery) or catch (interception). Fumble recoveries in the end zone (zero yards) will be scored the same as a 1-yard touchdown run.
The Season
The first 12 weeks of the NFL regular season will be TFFL's regular season. Weeks 13-16 will serve as the league's 4-round playoffs, while Week 17 will be free of Head-2-Head matchups.
The regular season will work this way: From Weeks 1-12, teams will play scheduled Head-2-Head matchups, with the winner receiving a 5-point bonus. For example, Team A is matched with Team B for Week 2. Team A defeats Team B 95 points to 70 points, so Team A will be awarded an extra 5 points for the win, for a 100-point total. The 5-point win bonus is only recorded in the standings and does not figure into weekly winnings.
Teams play all other teams once from Weeks 1-11. In Week 12, teams with odd-numbered rankings will play a "bonus" regular-season game against the team ranked below it in the standings. The team in first place will play the team in second, third place will play fourth place, etc.
Head-2-Head records at the conclusion of Week 12 will determine seedings for the four-round playoffs, which begin in Week 13. The teams with the four best records (with overall points serving as the tie-breaker) will receive a first-round bye. First-round matchups will be: #5 vs. #12, #6 vs. #11, #7 vs. #10, and #8 vs. #9. Second-round matchups will be: #1 vs. #8-9 winner, #2 vs. #7-10 winner, #3 vs. #6-11 winner, and #4 vs. #5-12 winner. Playoff seed Nos. 1, 4 and 5 will compete in the upper half of the bracket, and seed Nos. 2 and 3 will compete in the lower half. The Tech Bowl will pit semifinal winners. The 5-point bonus system will not be in use during the playoffs.
In the event of a tie at the end of Week 12, the team with the most overall points will get the higher seed in the playoffs. If they have the same overall points, the team winning the regular-season series between the two teams will get the higher seed. If they split that, we'll determine position by higher point total in Week 12, then Week 11 (if tied in most recent week), then so on.
In the event of a tie in a playoffs game, the total number of touchdowns (including defensive) scored by each team's starters will be used as a tiebreaker. If each team has scored the same number of touchdowns, total team yardage will be used as the secondary tiebreaker. Qualifying yardage is as follows: for QBs, passing and rushing; for RBs, WRs and TEs, rushing and receiving.
Transactions
Rosters are frozen at 1 p.m. Sunday and will remain frozen until 8 a.m. the following Tuesday. All transactions must be submitted between 8 a.m. Tuesday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Trades are permitted until 1 p.m. Sunday prior to the start of Week 13's games. Players can only be waived or signed after that period. Trades are for players only, and may not involve draft picks for the next season, cash, beads, trinkets or beaver pelts. Teams may trade draft picks during the two weeks leading up to the draft date.
Free agents (players not on a TFFL roster) may be claimed off waivers and signed through a "waiver round" system that begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Three rounds of waiver claims will be conducted leading up to the week's games. Teams with the lowest position in the point standings receive the highest priority in each round (i.e., 12th place has the first pick, 11th place has the second pick, etc.), and the order of teams does not change by round. During each waiver round, teams may submit claims on as many free agents as they wish, however only one player will be awarded per team. Waiver round periods are as follows:
Round 1: 8 a.m. Tuesday through 8 p.m. Tuesday
Round 2: 8 p.m. Tuesday through 8 p.m. Wednesday
Round 3: 8 p.m. Wednesday through 8 p.m. Thursday
First come, first served selection of free agents begins at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Free agent signings will cost 25 cents each. There is no limit on the number of free agents that may be signed per team or per week.
In the event of a tie in the standings, the team with the worse record will receive the earlier pickup time. If said teams are still tied, the team with the lower ranking in the previous week's standings will receive the earlier pickup time. In the event of a tie in Week 1, the team with the worse ranking at the end of the previous season will receive the earlier pickup time.
Any player released from a team's roster is immediately available to all teams, subject to the aforementioned waiver rules.
The Commissioner
A league commissioner shall be elected by a majority vote of the owners to a one-year term at the conclusion of each season. A TFFL commissioner shall keep all records and statistics and stuff so we'll know who wins what, and shall also compile other types of information as directed by a majority vote of the owners, and shall make this information available via the Internet. The commissioner shall be empowered to arbitrate disputes, provide interpretations and make league rulings ONLY in the event such differences cannot be decided by a majority vote of the owners. As compensation, the commissioner's $20 entry fee will be waived.
Rule Changes
A listing of suggested rule changes will be made available on the league Web site throughout the season. Owners may submit ideas and comments about existing suggestions at any time. The Commish will conduct offseason voting on each suggestion. Any suggestion needs more than 50 percent approval of the league's returning owners to pass (that's six votes for 10 returnees, five votes for nine returnees, etc.). All returning owners are required to vote unless all issues have been decided before they submit their ballot.
Owners can also make rules changes suggestions effective for the coming season at the draft, provided all owners have a chance to vote (including new/expansion teams) and the rule change would not affect draft preparation (something like a change in scoring criteria). Rule changes that have been suggested and turned down in the previous offseason's balloting are not eligible.