| |  | | | | | | Draft | | The draft will consist of 14 rounds for all league sizes. Draft order will be determined randomly prior to draft day throught the use of an online "dice roll" or similar application. Once the draft order is established, trades may be made of draft picks. It is not a requirement that all parties the trade end up with exactly 14 picks. Teams with more than 14 picks must drop a player from their roster prior the the line-up deadline for week #1. Teams with fewer than 14 picks may use the free agent acquisition process to fill out their roster at any time during the season.
Of the 14 players drafted by each team, 8 are designated as starters and 6 are reserves each week of the season. The starting 8 consist of the following:
- 1 Quarterback
- 2 Running Backs
- 2 Wide Receivers
- 1 Tight End
- 1 Kicker
- 1 Special Teams/Defense
The 6 reserves can be from any position.
The draft will be held on Wednesday, September 5th at 8:00 p.m. at the commissioner's residence. Address information and a map are available when you login to the website from the "Control Panel" screen. The draft will begin promptly at the time shown and any owners arriving late will forfeit any missed picks until the end of the draft.
During the draft, each owner will have a maximum of 2 minutes to make a selection (no waiting period will apply for owners who are not present at the time of his/her pick). If the owner is unable to make a selection in this amount of time, the next owner will be allowed to make his/her selection. The first owner will not be allowed to make the missed pick until the end of the draft. Any owner unable to attend the draft must send a representative (which can not be another team owner) in his/her place. |
| | Player's BFFL Position | | | A player's BFFL position will be determined by his regular playing position in the NFL. In the event that a player regularly plays more than one position, he will be assigned to a BFFL position by the commissioner with the assistance of the owners of the league based on the player's listed position from a variety of sources. |
| | Scoring | | Fantasy points will be awarded as follows:
| Rushing TD | 6
| | Receiving TD | 6
| | Offensive Fumble Recovery TD | 6 | **
| | Pass Reception (WR and TE only) | 1
| | Passing TD | 3
| | Field Goal | 3
| | Extra Point | 1
| | INT thrown over 1 | -3
| | Rushing Conversion | 2
| | Receiving Conversion | 2
| | Passing Conversion | 1
| | Full 10 yards rushing | 1 | *
| | Full 10 yards receiving | 1 | *
| | Full 20 yards passing | 1 | *
| | Special Teams TD (ST/D) | 6
| | Defense TD (ST/D) | 6
| | Interception Made (ST/D) | 3
| | Safety (ST/D) | 2
| | Sack of QB (ST/D) | 1
|
* - The yardage statistics do not carry-over from week to week. For example, if a RB has 25 yards in week 1 and 5 yards in week 2, he will receive 2 points in week 1 and 0 points in week 2 (total is 30 yards = 2 points not 3 points). In addition, each category is considered separately when determining points. For example, 9 yards rushing and 8 yards receiving is still 0 points.
** - an Offensive Fumble Recovery TD is scored for the player that is credited with the touchdown whenever a ball is fumbled and the original offensive team scores a touchdown. This is the case even if possession changes during the play for any reason. The team that originally began the play on offense is deemed to be the offensive team until the conclusion of the play.
Also, players can score negative points for categories shown and/or in total. For example, if a player has -12 yards rushing that is -1 point for that category. |
| | Insurance | | | When you turn in your lineup, you may designate a position as your "insurance position" and then name one of your bench players at that position as your "insurance player." If one of the starters at that position scores 9 points or less (and is the lowest scorer at that position), the insurance player’s score will automatically be substituted into your active score. This is the case even if the insurance player scored less than your active player (that’s the risk). This option is only available for one position per week and can be used in the playoffs. This option will cost $1 per use to be contributed to the league kitty. If you do not have at least $1 in your account with the league treasurer when you attempt to use insurance, your insurance player will be made inactive for the week. |
| | Starters/Reserves | | The line-up deadline each week will be 5 minutes prior to kickoff of the first NFL game of the week. The starting 8 for each team will remain the same until action is taken by the team owner. Changes to/from starting status must be handled as follows:
Any team owner wishing to make a change in his active personnel for the following week, must login to the league website and make the necessary adjustments prior to the lineup deadlines as described above. Please note, if you had a player in the previous week whose score was superseded by an insurance player, the originally active player will be defaulted to active for the following week and the insurance player will be defaulted to insurance again unless you make a change as outlined above.
Even being one second late will make your submission invalid. The time that governs is the website-server time, which is shown at the bottom of every page of the website. In case of technical problems with the website, you may e-mail or phone your lineup to the commissioner. If you will be unable to make changes to your lineup for a week due to being out of town or without access to the league website, you should attempt to make other arrangements by giving your username and password to the site to someone else (other than another owner) so that they can make the necessary adjustments. The commissioner will not make these changes for you except in the case of an emergency (in which case the commissioner will need your username and password as well).
Changes not made in a manner outlined in this section will be invalid. The commissioner will not be responsible for late, lost, or misdirected messages or slow connections to the league website that prevent you from properly entering a lineup. |
| | Trades | | | The trading deadline each week will be 48 hours prior to kickoff of the first NFL game of the week. Trades will be free and unlimited in number this season. Trades may involve as many players and/or other fantasy teams (in the same conference) as you wish. The season trading deadline will be 48 hours prior to the start of week #10 NFL games. In order for a trade to be valid, all owners involved must contact the commissioner prior to the trade deadline for that week. Teams may start any player(s) picked up in a trade that week assuming the commissioner was properly notified. In the unlikely event that the commissioner feels a trade is not in the best interest of the league, it will not be allowed. |
| | Free Agents | | There will be two free agent acquisition periods every week through week #14. After week #14, no free agency will be available. Additionally, 2 roster spots will be added to each team's roster once the week #13 rosters are posted (for a total of 16 players) and those two roster spots can be filled using the normal bidding rules during the final free agency periods leading up to week #14, the first week of the BFFL Playoffs. The first deadline each week will be Wednesday at 9:00pm and the second will be 30 minutes prior to kickoff of the first NFL game of the week (as defined by the start of the first telecast as shown on nfl.com). Injured and/or underperforming players can be dropped from your line-up at any time during the season. An available player can then be picked-up from the players who are not owned by another team in your conference. Players dropped in the first bidding period of the week are not eligible to be picked up in the second bidding period of the same week.
During the first acquisition period of the week, free agency will be performed through blind bidding using the system on the league website to ensure secrecy of bids. The minimum bid is $1.00 and all bids must be evenly divisible by 25¢. If no competing bid is received by the deadline, the transaction is complete. If a higher competing bid is received, the team owner with the higher bid receives the player and the losing bidder’s team retains the player it tried to drop. In the event of a tie, the bid received earliest as recorded by the league website will be declared the winning bid.
During the second acquisition period of the week (which begins immediately upon the posting of the bids from the first deadline in weeks where it is appropriate), free agency will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Using an online system similar to the bidding system, you will select a player to pick-up and a player to drop. Once you submit your choices, the new player will immediately be added to your team in place of the dropped player. If you make a mistake, you will still be charged the appropriate player pick-up fee since it will be impossible to determine the validity of any claims of error. The fee for each acquisition made this way will be $1.50 and players dropped during this period will not be made available until the first bidding period of the following week begins.
Clarification: you may only declare one player to be dropped for each player you are attempting to acquire. Also, you may only declare a player to be dropped for one bid per bidding period. For example, you may no longer place three bids dropping the same played where the 2nd and 3rd bids are conditioned on the first bid being unsuccessful. Please choose your bid amount accordingly.
Players successfully acquired via the acquisition process are eligible to be activated for that week. The acquired player's initial status will be made inactive by default in all cases, even if the acquired player is the only player at a given position on your roster. It is the responsibility of each owner to make any necessary lineup changes required by the acquisition and dropping of players via this process. Please be sure to see the Fantasy Prizes section for important information regarding deposits with the league treasurer or your bids may be declared invalid due to lack of funds. |
| | Regular Season | | Conference placement will be determined by a separate random drawing as described in the draft section above.
Each conference will subsequently have divisions of four teams each divisional opponents twice (five teams each in a 10-team league) with teams randomly assigned except in a 14-team league, which will operate without divisions.
In a 12 or 24-team league, each team will play divisional opponents twice and 7 of the eight other teams in its conference once for a total of 13 games corresponding to the first 13 NFL weeks. In an 8 or 16-team league, each team will play all other teams in its conference twice except for one team to be played only once for a total of 13 regular-season games. In a 14-team league, each team will play every other team once for a total of 13 regular-season games. In a 10-team league, each team will play divisional opponents twice and each team from the other division once.
If a game ends in a tie, it will go in the books as a tie. In computing the standings, a point system similar to that used in hockey will be used. A win is worth two points and a tie is worth one. A loss is worth zero points. Therefore, a team that finishes 10-4-0 will have 20 points while a team that is 9-2-2 will also have 20 points. For the purpose of determining playoff seeding, these teams are considered equals and more tiebreakers must be used to split them apart. |
| | Playoffs | | In an 8-team or 10-team league, a special playoff format will be used. The top six teams (with seeds #1 and #2 reserved for division winners) will advance to the Fantasy Bowl to begin in week #14. The division winners receive byes that week (in an 8-team league so do the bottom two teams, which are sent to the toilet bowl). In week #15, the lowest remaining seed plays the #1 seed and the other wild-card winner plays the #2 seed while the losing teams from round #1 of the Fantasy Bowl move on to the Toilet Bowl where they will be seeded similarly to face the remaining seeds.
For a 12-team league, 6 teams will participate in the Fantasy Bowl and 6 teams in the Toilet Bowl. For a 14-team league, 6 teams will advance to the Fantasy Bowl and 8 to the Toilet Bowl with the top two divisional winners (in a 12-team league) or the top two seeds overall (in a 14-team league) receiving a first-round bye (no byes in Toilet Bowl in a 14-team league). Teams will be reseeded after the first round so that the the top seed plays the lowest remaining seed (and so on). For this purpose, "lowest" refers to the seed furthest away from #1.
For any other league-size, the following rules apply. A total of eight teams (four from each conference) will advance to the Fantasy Bowl Playoffs following the regular season and will be seeded #1 - #4 by conference. The next 8 teams will go to the Toilet Bowl and will also be seeded according to conference. Teams from opposing conferences will not meet until the final game in each tournament. The top seeds (two teams for a 16-team league and three for a 12 or 24-team league) in each conference will be the division winners and the remaining seed(s) will be determined based on win/loss record of the remaining teams in each conference (or the remaining teams in the league for an 8 or 12-team league). In a 14-team league, the teams will be seeded strictly according to the standings without regard to divisional alignment. Ties will be broken based on the following:
To break ties between two teams:
- Number of Wins
- Head-to-Head win/loss record
- Head-to-Head active points scored
- Head-to-Head total points scored
- Total active points scored against all teams
- Total points against all teams
- Active points scored in week #14
- Active points in each prior week until the tie is broken
To break ties between more than two teams (the following methods will be used even once two teams are left after the application of a given tie-breaker):
- Number of Wins
- Head-to-Head sweep (applies only if one team has defeated each of the others in every meeting of the season or if one club has lost to each of the others in every meeting of the season)
- Total active points scored against all teams (not just the teams involved in the tie)
- Total points against all teams (not just the teams involved in the tie)
- Active points scored in week #14
- Active points in each prior week until the tie is broken
Remember, the only inter-conference games will be the Fantasy Bowl and Toilet Bowl in leagues with 16 or more teams. Teams play within their conference until that point. In the event that a quarterfinal or semifinal playoff game ends in a tie, the high seed will be declared the winner (e.g. seed #1 would win over seed #4). If a championship (Fantasy or Toilet Bowl) game ends in a tie, co-champions will be declared and the game will remain a tie. |
| | League Statistics | | All owners are urged to have adequate access to the internet in order to stay fully apprised of league news, scores, transactions, etc. With multiple deadlines occuring for bids and lineups during the week, this takes on increased importance.
Any disputed point totals must be brought to the commissioner's attention before NFL play begins for the week following the alleged miscalculation. To avoid the chance that errors will not be caught, it is suggested that each team owner calculate his/her score and that of his/her opponent to compare to the online scores. This is especially true for playoff games. All decisions by the commissioner are final. Scores are updated throughout the weekend so please check them often to spot errors as early as possible. |
| | Prize Money | | All team owners, except the commissioner and treasurer, will pay a league fee of $55. This fee is due at the draft or your team will not accumulate points until it is paid. Of this fee, $50 will go to the league kitty and $5 will be deposited in the owner's account to be used for free agent moves and insurance as desired. The commissioner will be exempt from contributing to the league kitty (i.e. the commissioner must still deposit money to make transactions) to compensate him for the cost of supplies and time needed to run the league. The treasurer will pay only half the league fee ($25 + $5 for kitty) for his/her contribution to the league. This will result in an initial kitty that will increase by way of the money contributed for player transactions (trades, insurance, etc.).
If you attempt to make a transaction during the season that will overdraw your account, the transaction will be void. Money may be added to your account at any time during the season by sending it to the League Treasurer. Information on remaining balances will be provided by the Treasurer on the league website.
The prize money will be divided as follows after the regular season. Please note that Division Winners qualify only for that prize and not the additional amount awarded to other fantasy bowl teams:
| 24-TEAM LEAGUE | | 16-TEAM LEAGUE
| | DIVISION WINNERS (6) | $40 | | DIVISION WINNERS (4) | $40
| | FANTASY BOWL TEAMS (2) | $35 | | FANTASY BOWL TEAMS (4) | $35
| | TOILET BOWL TEAMS (8) | $10 | |
| | TOTAL: | $390 | | TOTAL: | $300
| |
| | 14-TEAM LEAGUE | | 10-TEAM LEAGUE
| | #1 FANTASY BOWL SEED (1) | $40 | | DIVISION WINNERS (2) | $40
| | #2 FANTASY BOWL SEED (1) | $30
| | OTHER FANTASY BOWL TEAMS (4) | $20
| | TOTAL: | $150 | | TOTAL: | $80
| |
| | 12-TEAM LEAGUE | | 8-TEAM LEAGUE
| | DIVISION WINNERS (3) | $40 | | DIVISION WINNERS (2) | $40
| |
| | TOTAL: | $120 | | TOTAL: | $80
|
The remaining pot will be divided as follows:
| Fantasy Bowl Champ | 50%
| | Runner Up | 25%
| | 3rd Place | 10%
| | Toilet Bowl Champ | 10%
| | Week #17 Challenge Winner | 5%
| |
| | Week #17 Challenge | | | Because the NFL plays 17 regular-season weeks and the BFFL season, including playoffs, will be over after week #16, we will have a winner-takes-all competition in week #17. Each owner will submit a valid lineup consisting of players on their roster as of the last week they were active in the BFFL (i.e. no acquisitions may be made for the purposes of the Week #17 Challenge). The owner that scores the most points according to the regular league scoring rules will win the Week #17 Challenge and the prize money assocated with doing so. In case of a tie, prize money will be split amongst all teams involved in the tie. Insurance may be used subject to the normal charge and rules associated with such use. |
| | Team Names | | | Any team name which has not been previously used (by another owner) is acceptable as long as it does not exceed 25 characters in length (to allow for proper display of standings, etc. in the newsletter). You may use the same name as last year or choose a new name. Either way, you must submit your team name to the commissioner on or before draft day.
|
|
| |
