I started playing fantasy football around 2004. At the time, I wasn’t much of a NFL fan. In fact, hockey was my only sport. I had won my hockey league three years in a row and was convinced to try something new. Knowing next to nothing about football, I picked up a magazine just in time for my first fantasy football draft. There is no way I could have known then just how much fantasy football would shape my life. I certainly never thought I would make a living because of it.
Back to my first draft.. I was picking middle of the pack somewhere. Seventh or eighth if I recall. Looking at my trusty magazine, the next best available player was Michael Vick. Pre-controversy, Vick had a major injury the year prior but came back late in the season with some record breaking performances. He was expected to do great things. To me, he was just an unknown athlete playing a sport that I barely understood.
A few weeks later, a shipment of NFL t-shirts showed up at the office. One of our colleagues had sent them to us. I was confused as someone threw an Atlanta Falcons t-shirt at me. My confusion was answered with “I assume you’re a Falcons fan since you drafted Vick”. Well, I wasn’t at that point but you have to pick a team someway, so that is how I became a die-hard fan of the Red, White and Black.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, needless to say, I got really in to football. So much that I went from watching ~100 regular season NHL games a year to zero. I only watch playoffs and even then, rarely when my beloved Flyers aren’t playing. I got serious about our fantasy football league and loved the routine of doing weekly research, waivers, trades and getting together on Sunday’s to see how it all plays out.
In 2011, I got really serious and spent considerable time researching various league formats. I drafted by-laws for a dynasty league that I planned to start in 2012. Unfortunately, when 2012 rolled around, I was beginning to consider starting Open Gaming Solutions and running a start-up didn’t jive with spending untold hours on creating an experimental fantasy football league. Sadly, this project has yet to get off the ground.
Recently, I had a discussion about dynasty leagues and the old by-laws came up. I managed to find them on an old google drive and decided to post them here. Perhaps someone else can use it as inspiration to create their own high commitment league.
F&F Big League
League By-Laws
DRAFT – December, 2011
1.0 League Information
The league will contain two (2) divisions each containing six (6) franchises. Owners of Deep End teams will have first right of refusal for the original 2012 franchises. Additional clubs will be granted to individuals approved by 2/3rds of the current ownership. This league uses a Head to Head format with a large prize designated to top point getter.
2.0 Entry Fee
2.1 The entry fee for a franchise is $200 per year the franchise plays.
2.2 Fees
2.2.1 Fees are due prior to the rookie draft each year or when a trade is made involving future year draft picks.
2.2.2 If a fee is unpaid at the time of the rookie draft, the franchise will be forfeited until a new owner is found.
2.2.3 If a trade is made involving future draft picks, the team trading the picks must immediately pay 50% of the entry fee for each year’s pick before the trade will be approved.
3.0 Rosters
3.1 Rosters will consist of 22 active spots, 2 Injured Reserve (IR) spots and 3 Practice (Taxi) spots.
3.2 Starting lineups consist of 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1PK and 1DEF.
3.3 Active Rosters
3.3.1 Every player on a team’s active roster must have an assigned contract.
3.4 Injured Reserve
3.4.1 A player can be placed on injured reserve (IR) if their team has placed them on their IR list, Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list or if the player is suspended.
3.4.2 A player on the IR list does not count towards a franchise’s salary cap.
3.4.3 A player on the IR list must be moved back to the active roster once they have played a game in the NFL.
3.5 Practice (Taxi) Squad
3.5.1 A franchise can maintain up to three (3) players on a practice squad.
3.5.2 Only players with less than 8 NFL games experience (regular or post season) can be on the practice squad.
3.5.3 Players on the practice squad do not count towards the franchise salary cap.
3.5.4 A player can be promoted from the practice squad to the active roster at any time as long as the move does not exceed the active roster limit. A player can be demoted back to the practice squad as long as they have played less than eight (8) NFL regular season or playoff games.
4.0 Drafts
4.1 Initial Draft
4.1.1 The initial F&F Big League draft will take place in August or September, 2012 and include all free agents and rookies for the 2012 season. There are three phases to the draft. The Auction Draft, Nominated Bidding and the Serpentine Draft.
4.1.2 Auction Draft: The first 15 rounds of the draft will be in a poker auction format where an auctioneer will call out each player’s name in turn. Open bidding begins by the franchise with the first “draft pick” and is succeeded by each franchise in turn in a serpentine order.
4.1.3 If a franchise does not bid on a player, they are unable to place a bid on that player in any subsequent bidding round and is therefore ineligible to draft that player.
4.1.4 A bidding round consists each franchise having one chance to bid on a player.
4.1.5 Bidding continues until a round completes with no further bids. At which time, the franchise with the highest bid has drafted the player. The winning bid amount will now count towards the franchise’s salary cap.
4.1.6 The bidding order will be determined by the franchise owners. The commissioner will randomly choose draft choices. The franchise with the highest choice gets to choose when they will draft. The second choice chooses second and so on until all twelve draft spots are chosen.
4.1.7 Nominated Bidding: After round 15, if any player is not called out for auction that is desired to be openly bid on by a franchise owner, each owner in turn can suggest a player to be auctioned. This will use the same draft order as the bidding. This will continue until no new names are brought forth.
4.1.8 Serpentine Draft: After the nominated bidding is complete, a traditional serpentine draft takes place until all rosters have 25 players. Players drafted in the serpentine bidding process are each given a value of $1. The bidding will use the same draft order as the auction, however any franchise with a greater number of players will not participate in the serpentine draft until the number of players on each team is even.
4.2 Rookie and Free Agent Drafts
4.2.1 A rookie draft and free agent auction draft will take place each year prior to the opening kick-off.
4.2.2 All rookies are available in this draft. Contract values are assigned as denoted in section 7.
4.2.3 The rookie draft will contain 3 rounds. A two minute timer will be in effect.
4.2.4 A Free Agent poker auction draft follows the rookie draft where all free agents and un-drafted rookies are available. This draft follows the same format as the initial draft with the Auction lasting 3 rounds followed by Nominated Bidding. There is no serpentine draft component of the free agent draft.
4.2.5 The draft order for the rookie and free agent drafts are determined by the winning percentages of the prior season (Worst to Best). Tie breakers are total points, then Head to Head record. The rookie draft is in a standard format and the auction draft in a serpentine order.
5.0 Player Moves
5.1 Waivers
5.1.1 Waivers will use a blind bidding process where blind bidding is in effect from kick-off of the first weekly game to 7AM Pacific time on the following Wednesday.
5.1.2 Players are available first come, first serve until kick-off of the first game the following week.
5.1.3 Waivers end at kick-off on week 17.
5.1.4 All players picked up from waivers must be assigned a contract by posting on the league message board the name of the player picked up and the length of the contract assigned prior to their first game.
5.2 Player Drops
5.2.1 If a player under contract is dropped, they immediately become a free agent and available in the next blind waiver bid. A dropped player must go through a blind waiver bid and can not be picked up during the first come, first serve FA period.
5.2.2 If a player under contract is dropped in the off season, they are available in the next free agent draft.
5.2.3 A dropped player under contract will free up the salary cap space for the franchise that dropped the player. However, there is a penalty of 50% of the contract value assessed to the franchise’s salary cap for that year.
5.2.4 A player who retires and their age plus remaining contract is 35 or less, will not count towards the salary cap.
5.2.5 If a player retires and is dropped by the franchise and the player “un-retires” prior to the start of the season, the original owner may free up roster space and have the retired player back under the contract they had when they were dropped. This is known as the “Favre” rule.
5.3 Trades
5.3.1 Trades are allowed and encouraged. All trades must be approved by the commissioner. Only trades with clear evidence of collusion will be rejected. It is not the commissioner’s place to assess trades for any other reason.
5.3.2 Trades between franchises must ensure that each franchise involved remains under the salary cap. All contracts remain with the players involved in the trade.
5.3.3 Trades can involve players and draft picks up to two years in the future. Note that 50% of the franchise future league dues are payable upon completion of a trade involving a future draft pick.
5.3.4 Off season trades can begin the day after the Superbowl. Off season trades will not be approved by the commissioner until the following years dues are paid.
5.3.5 The trade deadline is the kick-off of week 11.
6.0 Schedule and Scoring
6.1 Schedule
6.1.1 A thirteen (13) week regular season will take place with each team playing their divisional opponents twice each and three (3) opponents from outside the division.
6.1.2 Divisions will not change unless league expansion occurs or unless a rule change is voted in the off season by 2/3rds of franchise owners.
6.2 Playoffs
6.2.1 The two division winners are (AFC and NFC) are given a first round bye in the playoffs. The next 2 teams in each division are awarded wildcard spots and player each other in week 14.
6.2.2 In week 15, the winner of the NFC wildcard game plays the NFC #1 seed (NFC Championship). The winner of the AFC wildcard game plays the AFC #1 seed (AFC Championship).
6.2.3 In week 16, the winner of the NFC plays the winner of the AFC for the league championship. The loser of the NFC Championship plays the loser of the AFC Championship to determine 3rd place and 4th place.
6.2.4 Ties will be broken as follows: If, at the end of the regular season, two or more clubs in the same division finish with identical won-lost-tied percentages, the following steps will be taken until a champion is determined.
Two Clubs 1. Winning percentage 2. Head 2 head record 3. Division record 4. Strength of schedule, (most points against) 5. Total Points 6. Victory Points 7. All Play Record 8. coin flip
Three or More Clubs (Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated during any step, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of the two-club format). 1. Winning percentage 2. Head 2 head record (total wins between the teams tied) 3. Division record 4. Strength of schedule, (most points against) 5. Total points 6. Victory Points 7. All Play Record 8. coin flip
6.3 Scoring
6.3.1 World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) scoring will be used to two decimal places.
Offensive Scoring
| Event | Range (Low-High) | Points |
| Number of Passing TDs | 1-10 | 4 points each |
| Passing Yards | 1-999 | 0.05 points each |
| Pass Interceptions Thrown | 1-10 | -1 point each |
| Passing 2 Pointers | 1-10 | 2 points each |
| Number of Rushing TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Rushing Yards | 1-999 | 0.1 points each |
| Rushing 2 Pointers | 1-10 | 2 points each |
| Number of Receiving TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Receiving Yards | 1-999 | 0.1 points each |
| Receptions | 1-99 | 1 point each |
| Receiving 2 Pointers | 1-10 | 2 points each |
| Length of Field Goal Made | 1-30 | 3 |
| Length of Field Goal Made | 31-99 | 0.1 points each |
| Extra Points | 1-20 | 1 point each |
Defensive Scoring and Special Teams
| Event | Range (Low-High) | Points |
| Number of Punt Return TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Number of Kickoff Return TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Number of Defensive Fumble Recovery TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Fumble Recoveries (from Opponent) | 1-99 | 2 points each |
| Number of Interception Return TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Interceptions Caught | 1-99 | 2 points each |
| Number of Blocked Field Goal TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Number of Missed Field Goal Return TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Number of Blocked Punt TDs | 1-10 | 6 points each |
| Sacked a QB | 0-99 | 1 point each |
| Safeties | 1-10 | 2 points each |
| Total Points Allowed | 0-0 | 5 |
| Total Points Allowed | 1-5 | 2 |
| Total Points Allowed | 6-10 | 1 |
| Total Points Allowed | 11-99 | 0 |
7.0 Contracts and Salary Caps
7.1 Contracts
7.1.1 All players on the active roster must have a contract assigned.
7.1.2 When a player is acquired, they can be assigned a contract from one (1) to four (4) years. No player can have a contract for more than four years.
7.1.3 Players acquired during the initial draft must be assigned a contract within one week. No player additions or drops can occur until all initial contracts are set. If an owner does not establish their contracts within one week, all of their player’s contracts will be set to one (1) year.
7.1.4 Players acquired at the initial draft auction, the free agent auction or from waivers contracts are valued at the acquiring price.
7.1.5 Players picked up during the first come, first serve phase of waivers are valued at $1.
7.1.6 Rookies can be assigned to the Practice Squad without a contract. If a rookie is immediately assigned to the Active Roster, they are assigned the following values: Rookie players drafted in round 1 of the Rookie and Free Agent draft are automatically given a value of $4, Round 2 they are given a value of $3, Round 3, $2 and in Round 4, $1.
7.1.7 If a rookie is promoted from the practice squad to the Active Roster in his first or second year on the Practice Squad, they can be assigned a multi-year contract. If they are promoted in their third year on the Practice Squad, they can only be given a one year contract. Rookie’s promoted in their first year on the practice squad are given a value of $3. In their second year, they are given a value of $2 and in their third year, a value of $1.
7.1.8 Teams are able to have at any time, up to two (2) players designated as franchise players. A player designated as a franchise player may have their contract extended for up to four (4) more years. The player continues to be designated as a franchise player for as long as they play for the team which designated it under the same contract. All franchise tags must be assigned by May 31st each year. The new contract length must be posted to the league message board at this time.
7.1.9 All contracts expire on May 31 on their respective years.
7.1.10 Player salaries escalate at a rate of 15% per year. Salaries will escalate on June 1st of each calendar year. Each franchise will then have one (1) week grace period to get under the salary cap by way of trade or contract expiration.
7.1.11 Contracts are granted to players by posting on the league message board the player’s name and contract years granted. This is the case for all drafts, waivers and franchise tags.
7.1.12 Reconciliation: If a rookie player finishes in the top 10 for their position, they are automatically granted a bonus by having their salary double. Any player that finishes in the top 10 of their position two years in a row, must make at least the average of the top 10 players. If their current salary does not reflect this, it will be bumped to the minimum.
7.2 Salary Caps
7.2.1 The salary cap is set at $120 per franchise. Salaries must be in increments of $0.50 starting at $1.
7.2.2 The cap has been set at this amount because it mimics the NFL cap of $120 Million thus somewhat providing a benchmark for player values and secondly that the average team’s top 23 players make approximately $85 Million which leaves room for Team Defenses and Waiver acquisitions.
7.2.3 At the commissioner’s behest, the salary cap may be under consideration during each off-season and subject to a league vote. 2/3rds of franchise owners must approve any change to the salary cap.
8.0 Prizes
8.1 Prizes will be awarded as follows:
League Dues = $200 x 12 = $2,400
Site & Trophy – $100.00
Survivor Winner – $100.00
1st Place (35%) – $770.00
2nd Place (20%) – $440.00
3rd Place (15%) – $330.00
4th Place (10%) – $220.00
Most Points (not winning) (20%) – $440.00
————-
$0
9.0 Other
9.1 Rule Changes
9.1.1 Rules should all be covered off on the MyFantasyLeague.com league site or within these by-laws. Where a rule is not covered, the commissioner will make a determination one time and the rule will be addressed in the off season at the annual council of owners. By-laws can not be changed mid season.
9.1.2 Each year, the commissioner at their sole discretion may bring forward rule changes to be put to a league vote. Any change to the league rules must have the support of 2/3rd of the owners. Votes will take place at the annual council of owners and may be issued via proxy if unable to attend. Proposed rule changes should be brought forward during the off season.
9.1.3 An owner may sell or give his franchise to another interested party as long as the price is reasonable and the new owner is approved by a majority of the league ownership council.
9.1.4 Purposefully making your team uncompetitive due to negligence, disinterest or if out of the playoff hunt is considered tanking. The first infraction will receive a warning, the second loss of draft picks and third, removal from the league.
9.1.5 The league is meant to be fair and above all fun. Smack talk is encouraged as long as it is legal.
9.2 Expansion
9.2.1 The league may only expand if 2/3rds of the council of owners support it. In the case of expansion, the expansion teams will conduct a 20 person draft from all free agents and rostered players not designated with a franchise tag. No team can lose more than two (2) players to any one team. The expansion teams will also draft first in the Rookie draft, their order being determined randomly.
9.3 Leaving the League
9.3.1 Intentions to quit the league should be given no later than June 1st to allow the league enough time to find a suitable replacement owner.
9.4 Important Dates
August – Council of Owners Meeting
August/September 2012 – Initial Live Draft (25 Rounds!)
One week after inital draft – Contracts must be set
September – Week1 (Waivers Begin)
Week 11 Kick-Off – Trade Deadline
Week 14 – Playoffs Start
Week 15 – Playoffs Semi-Finals
Week 16 – League Championship
Week 17 Kick-Off – Waivers End
Day after Superbowl – Trades open
May 31st – Franchise Tags/Contract Extensions/Current Contracts Expire
June 1st – Contracts increase by 15%
June 8th – Franchises must be under salary cap
August/September – Rookie Draft and Free Agent Auction
One week after rookie and free agent drafts – Contracts must be set