Rules

Article I. Overview

Section 1.01 Purpose

(a) The Stiffarm Fantasy Football League (SFFL) is a means by which we can use our love of the sport of football to humiliate ourselves and/or our friends. It also provides us a way in which we feel as if we are somehow involved in the actual running of the day to day business operations of an NFL type entity. The rules which follow will set the parameters under which the SFFL will operate.

Article II. Fees / Prizes

Section 2.01 Entry Fees

(a) Each coach will be required to pay a yearly entry fee to participate in the SFFL. Entry fees will be due at the draft but may be paid at any point beforehand. The amount will be announced at least thirty days prior to the draft.

Section 2.02 Prizes

(a) Three-fourths of the total fee money will be allocated to prizes. Divisional winners will receive their entry fee back. The runner-up from the Championship game will receive one-sixth of the total fee money and the winner of the championship game will receive one-third of the total fee money.

Section 2.03 Non prize money

(a) All non prize money will be used for trophies, draft supplies, domain renewal & any other operational costs. Any balance remaining will be noted (whether negative or positive) and carried over to the following year.

Article III. Coaches / Teams

Section 3.01 Number of teams

(a) The league will be composed of twelve teams and, consequently, twelve coaches.

Section 3.02 Entry to and right to play in the league

(a) All coaches from the previous year will have first option to remain in the league.

(b) A coach exiting the league relinquishes the rights to his team name and helmet. If neither team name nor helmet is taken upon a coach's return to the league, he may then reclaim those as his own.

(d) The commissioner reserves the right, under extenuating circumstances, to not allow a coach back into the league.

(e) In the event there are multiple new coaches, a random draw will be held to determine which vacated spot will be taken by each of those coaches.

Section 3.03 Team history

(a) All records, awards and history will follow a coach and not a team. Any incoming coach will not inherit any team history from an outgoing coach under any circumstances.

Section 3.04 Team branding

(a) Team names and helmets must be chosen uniquely of any currently registered in the league. This includes choosing a blank one and creating your own logo to put on it.

(b) The commissioner reserves the right to refuse any team name and/or helmet at his discretion.

Article IV. League Structure

Section 4.01 Division alignment

(a) The league will be divided into three divisions of four teams each.

(b) Divisions will remain static from year to year.

Article V. Draft

Section 5.01 Draft order

(a) Draft order will be determined by random draw each year.

Section 5.02 Draft Date

(a) The draft date will be determined with the most attendance in mind.

Section 5.03 Draft Trades

(a) Coaches may trade entire draft positions.

(b) Partial draft trades must go through the same process as player trades (See Article X).

Section 5.04 Default Draft Procedures

(a) A default draft sheet will be provided by the commissioner. This sheet will be used to draft for coaches who are not able to draft in person or online and have not submitted their own draft sheet. Every attempt will be made to ensure the default draft sheet conforms to a typical draft sheet.

(b) A complete starting lineup as defined in Article VIII will be drafted prior to any backups being drafted.

(b) Once a complete lineup has been drafted, seven backups consisting of one player from every position and one flex player will be drafted. The flex player will be chosen from the QB, RB and WR positions and may be drafted before one or more of the non-flex positions (TE, K, Def).

(c) As a penalty to use the default draft sheet , the first available player which would be drafted will always be skipped and the second available player will be taken instead.

Section 5.05 Draft Procedures

(a) The draft will be held in a serpentine manner with the even numbered rounds going backwards.

(b) Each coach will have two minutes per pick per round to make a selection. Any coach with multiple uninterrupted picks will be given a total of two minutes per pick, and may make those picks at any point. Notification will be given when thirty seconds remain and again when ten seconds remain. If a coach fails to make a pick in the allotted time, he will be passed over until the next pick has been made. He will then be given an additional fifteen seconds to pick. This process will repeat until the passed coach makes a pick at which point the draft will resume as normal. If the coach picking after a passed coach has multiple picks, then his time will be suspended upon his first pick to allow the passed coach his fifteen seconds to choose. That coach's time will resume when the passed coach chooses or is passed again.

Article VI. Schedule

Section 6.01 Regular Season

(a) The SFFL regular season will consist of the first fourteen weeks of the NFL season. Each team will play four home non-divisional games, four away non-divisional games and then will play one home game and one away game against all other teams in its division.

(b) During the regular season, there will be no tie breaker in the event of a tie. Those games will be recorded as ties.

(c) An attempt will be made by the commissioner to schedule divisional games with as little impact as possible with regards to bye weeks. It may not be practicle to avoid divisional games on bye weeks altogether, but those weeks will be minimized as much as possible.

Section 6.02 Playoffs

(a) The teams with the best overall record in each division will be considered their divisional champion and will advance into the playoffs. Ties will be broken by best division record, head-to-head record, total points scored, most recent weekly score and random draw.

(b) The team with the best overall record which did not win its division will be considered the wildcard entry into the playoffs. Ties will be broken by total points scored, most recent weekly score and random draw.

(c) The three divisional winners will be seeded one, two or three. Seeding will be determined by overall record, total points scored, most recent weekly score and random draw. The wildcard entry will be seeded four.

(d) The one seed will host the four seed and the two seed will host the three seed in the first playoff week. The two winners from those games will face each other in the championship game the following week.

(e) The higher seed will be considered the home team in the first playoff week. Ties in the first playoff week will be broken by home field advantage.

(f) There will be no home team for the championship game. Ties in the championship game will be broken by head-to-head record, head-to-head points scored, overall record, overall points scored and random draw.

Section 6.03 Irregularities

(a) Any game rescheduled by the NFL to a week other than the week it was originally scheduled will count for the week in which it was moved to. Every effort will be made to allow for roster changes for all coaches if at all possible.

Article VII. Scoring

Section 7.01 Procedures

(a) A team's score for a given week will be the sum of the scores of the starting players listed for that week. Points will be calculated out to two decimal places.

(b) Player's scores will be determined using a performance based scoring method.

(c) Any errors in scoring must be brought to the commissioner's attention in order to be corrected. The commissioner must be notified before 8pm on the first Wednesday after a week ends. All scores become official once this deadline is reached.

Section 7.02 Scoring

(a) All individual players (quarterbacks, running backs, wide recievers, tight ends and kickers) will score as follows

(i) Passing Yards - 1 point each 20 yards

(ii) Rushing and Receiving Yards - 1 point each 10 yards

(iii) Passing Touchdowns - 4 points each

(iv) Rushing and Receiving Touchdowns - 6 points each

(v) Receptions - 1 point each

(vi) Interceptions - (-1) point each

(vii) Passing, Rushing and Receiving Two Point Conversions - 2 points each

(viii) Field Goals Made - 3 points each

(ix) Extra Points Made - 1 point each

(b) Team Defenses/Special Teams

(i) Defensive/Special Teams Touchdowns - 6 points each

(ii) Interceptions and Fumble Recoveries - 2 points each

(iii) Safeties - 2 points each

(iv) Sacks - 1 point each

(v) Points Allowed

Shutout (0 Points Allowed) - 5

2 to 6 Points Allowed - 3

7 to 13 Points Allowed - 1

14 Points and Higher Allowed - 0

(vi) Yards Allowed

0 to 199 Yards Allowed - 5

200 to 249 Yards Allowed - 3

250 to 299 Yards Allowed - 1

300 Yards or Higher Allowed - 0

Article VIII. Rosters

Section 8.01 Roster allocations

(a) No coach's roster may have in excess of 16 players. For the purpose of the SFFL, a team defense is considered one player. A coach may hold less than sixteen players at his discretion.

(b) Each roster will only consist of quarterbacks, running backs, fullbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, kickers & team defenses. A player is only eligible for the position he is listed at on his NFL team's roster except fullbacks, which are considered running backs in the SFFL.

(c) Starting lineups will consist of no more than one quarterback, no more than two running backs, no more than three wide receivers, no more than one kicker, no more than one tight end & and no more than one team defense.

Section 8.02 Roster submissions

(a) Players will be unlocked to move between the starting lineup and the bench up until the beginning of that individual player's game for the current week.

(b) If there is no starting lineup set before the week one deadline, then we will make the starting lineup in the order the players were drafted. After week one, starting lineups will be carried over to the following week by default.

Article IX. Waivers

Section 9.01 Waiver claims

(a) Teams will be allowed to claim any player on an NFL roster who is not currently part of any SFFL roster and plays one of the allowed positions.

(b) We will be in free agency from the end of the draft until the first game of week 1.

(i) Immediately when a player is dropped from any SFFL roster

(ii) Immediately when an NFL game involving the NFL team a player plays for begins

(iii) Immediately once the Sunday 1:00 pm games begin

(d) Waiver requests will be cleared each Wednesday at 8:00 pm.

(e) Waiver priority will be given in reverse order of power rankings.

Article X. Power Ranking

Section 10.01 Determination

(a) Teams will earn one point each week for every team they are able to outscore (e.g. Lowest scoring team will get zero and highest scoring team will get eleven.

(b) Any number of teams tied on score for a given week will be treated as if they did not outscore each other.

Section 10.02 Hall of Fame

(a) Any team with a season ending power ranking score of 112 or higher will gain entry to the SFFL Hall of Fame.

Article XI. Trades

Section 11.01 Procedures

(a) Any coach may initiate a trade with any other coach or coaches. Any number of players may be involved in a trade. The number of players being traded do not necessarily have to be the same (e.g. you can trade one player for two).

(b) Once coaches agree upon the players involved in the trade, one of the coaches involved will email the commissioner a trade proposal. The commissioner will verify the trade with all coaches involved.

(d) All coaches then have 24 hours to review the trade and object, via email, to the commissioner. A coach can object to a trade for any reason.

(e) Either coach involved in the trade may cancel the trade at any time before it becomes official.

(f) If two or more objections are not received by the commissioner after the review period, the trade will go into effect immediately or, if any of the players involved in the trade have been locked for the week, immediately after the end of the current week's games.

(g) If two or more objections are received before the end of the 24 hour review period, the trade will be postponed until 72 hours after the trade was proposed. Votes will be collected from all coaches concerning the trade. If six or more coaches vote to not allow the trade, it will be cancelled. There will be no assumptions that a coach who objected to the trade is voting to disallow the trade and any coaches who have not voted by this time will be considered to have abstained from voting. If there are not six votes to cancel the trade, then the trade will go into effect immediately after the review period or, if any of the players involved in the trade have been locked for the week, immediately after the end of the current week's games.

Article XII. Random Draws

Section 12.01 Procedures

(a) The method for all random draws will be determined by the commissioner.

(b) All draws will be conducted by the commissioner in such a way as to leave no doubt about their randomness.

Article XIII. Disputes

Section 13.01 Resolution

(a) From time to time, disputes will arise which are not covered specifically by the rules set forth. If this happens, the commissioner will make every reasonable attempt to resolve the dispute in a manner which will please all involved parties. There will be situations where this will not be possible however. In such cases, and depending upon the circumstances, the commissioner may or may not call for a league wide vote to help resolve the issue.

(b) If a vote ends in a tie, the vote of the coach or coaches added in the most recent year will be disregarded. This procedure will be repeated as long as a tied vote remains. If a tie remains after only original coaches have voted, the commissioner's vote will decide the outcome.

(c) If an issue involves the commissioner, the assistant commissioner will work to resolve the issue and determine if a vote needs to be called for.

Article XIV. Collusion

Section 14.01 Collusion

(a) If collusion (or any other form of cheating) is suspected, the commissioner will launch an investigation which could lead to punishment, up to and including permanent banishment from the league, of any coaches involved.

Article XV. Rules Amendments

Section 15.01 Procedures

(a) Coaches are encouraged to offer rule suggestions any time. No rule changes will be made between the draft and the championship game. Any proposed changes will be considered by the commissioner and, at his discretion, will either be implemented or proposed for a vote by the other coaches.

Article XVI. Force Majeure

Section 16.01 Rules

(a) All rules are subject to change without notice if an event happens which precludes the league from being run in a manner which complies with those rules. These changes will be done with all teams in mind and with as much fairness as is afforded to us.

Article XVII. Governance

Section 17.01 Commissioner

(a) The league commissioner is a static position.

Section 17.02 Assistant Commissioner

(b) The assistant commissioner is a voted upon position. This vote must be called for and seconded in order to take place, otherwise the assistant commissioner will remain the same from year to year. A vote to replace the assistant commissioner may only take place between seasons.