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I.                   Player Draft

 

A.                 Location:  Friday, August 22, 2002 at Palatine Hills Golf Course in Palatine IL, beginning at 7:00 PM and ending approximately 11:00 PM.  We may adjourn afterwards to the Oak Alley Saloon for further discussions.

 

B.                 Team Representation:  No team will be permitted to draft for or represent another unless prior arrangements are made with the commissioner.  Any team not represented at the draft will forfeit their franchise spot in the SFFL.  Also, team names will remain the same from the prior year, but if a team chooses to change their name there will be a $25 charge (which goes towards the league pot).  Entirely new teams/owners replacing existing teams are exempt from this charge.

C.                 Draft Order:

¨         The draft order will typically be selected at the “Think Tank”, which takes place two weeks prior to the draft.  Draft order is picked in “NBA Lottery” fashion, with the prior years worst team getting twelve (12) chances put in a hat, the second worst team getting eleven (11) chances, and so on.  These team chances will be pulled from the hat in order of 1-12 for the draft. The Conferences will be picked randomly during round seven, with each team drawing American, National or Federal. 

¨         The draft will consist of FIFTEEN (15) rounds.  The draft itself will be done in “serpentine order” (i.e. 1-12, then the #12 in the draft order takes the 13^th pick, #11 in draft takes the next pick, etc).

 

¨         Players may be chosen in any order with the team consisting of players as follows:

 

                                *You can draft a combination of 5 WR & TE, though minimum of one (1) TE is mandatory.
     ** See Rule III A for further explanation – “Draft +1 Rule” in effect for 2003 season

 

¨         No two teams can draft the same player.

 

¨         Any position\player\defensive team may be drafted during any of the 15 rounds.

 

¨         Trades of draft picks that occurred during the prior season will be noted on the draft board by the commissioner before the draft begins.  Affected teams will also be notified.

 

¨         Teams must field enough required position starters per week but are not required to keep the same number of drafted players per position during the season.

 

¨         In order to expedite the draft process, a time limit will be enforced.  Each franchise will be allotted TWO (2) MINUTES to make their selections (four (4) minutes will be allotted for the franchise owners with consecutive “reverse order” picks).  Enforcement will be done by “peer pressure” of other teams.

 

¨         A 15-20 minute break will be taken after the 7^th round to regroup and re-hang the draft board.

 

II.                Communications and Game Rules

 

A.                 The official reporting source will be the FLM Software (www.flm.com).  Though usually identified and corrected by FLM, in the case of a discrepancy in scoring, the franchise owner(s) must provide the commissioner with two (2) other backup sources to correct errors.

 

B.                 SFFL Official Website address:  http://HuskerFan1.tripod.com, which remains the same as the prior few years.  All league update information will be posted here consistently, including preliminary game results information.  This site can also be reached through a link on my homepage, www.mcgonigal.org. 
***SFFL official e-mail address:  SFFL1997@AOL.COM (same as past seven years).
***Bryan’s home phone number:  847-277-1660.   Work phone number:  847-949-2298. 

All updates will be done via the website (or e-mails if there are problems posting updates to the site).   Lineups should be e-mailed to the above e-mail address.  Only in special circumstances will they be accepted by either voice message or phone conversation. 

 

C.                 Importat Information on WEEKLY LINEUP submissions:

¨         Player trades or transactions request MUST be submitted by Thursday at 9:00 PM.  If the franchise owner does not submit the request before this time, they will not be allowed. 

¨         TRADES-ONLY “Second Chance” must be submitted by SATURDAY at 8:00 AM.  If the franchise owner does not submit the request before this time, they will not be allowed.

¨         Final weekly lineups must be submitted no later than Sunday by 7:00 AM CST.  If the franchise owner does not submit any lineup by this time, the team will consist of the previous weeks lineup regardless of individual player status (players no longer on the teams roster will be replaced with a total of 0 points).

 

¨         The Commissioner will organize the weeks roster and distribute via web postings (or e-mail if necessary) no later than 9:00 AM on Sunday.  If the site is not updated, check your e-mail. 

 

¨         The only exception that will be allowed to the above deadlines will be “special weeks” (Thursday night & Saturday games, vacations, etc.).  The Commissioner will notify the league of these dates in advance and the amended deadlines for that week.

 

D.                 SCORING - the winning team in head-to-head competition is determined by the team with the most points after the end of the football week.  The following point scoring system will be used throughout the season:

                               

 

               

 

 

 

*Penalty is assigned regardless of how scoring was done

 

¨         Every week it will be necessary for each team to select one of their non-starting (bench) players to act as the TIEBREAKER PLAYER.  In the event of a point TIE, the total points of this Tiebreaker Player will be used to determine the winner (higher total wins).  If there is still a tie, the HOME TEAM will be the winner of that game.  The home team will be noted on the weekly schedule.   If a tiebreaker player is not assigned, that team will be given a 0 (no points) to determine the outcome of a tie.

 

 

III.             TRADES & TRANSACTIONS

A.                 Players may be added and dropped from franchises throughout the season.  All trade/transaction requests are done by e-mailing the commissioner on or before the designated due date.  Note that franchise rosters must always be at 15 players after all weekly trades/transactions (the commissioner will enforce this rule).

¨         “Draft +1 Rule” – at each position, a team may not have on their roster at any time more than one player greater than the number of players DRAFTED at that position, i.e., three (3) QBs maximum per roster.  See rule IC (draft) for numbers per position.  This rule went into effect by league vote at the 2003 draft.

B.                 Once a player has been dropped, he becomes a free agent and is eligible to be picked up by another franchise.  The player that is dropped is “frozen” for one week (no player can be dropped and added in the same week).  If two or more teams attempt to pick up the same player, the Commissioner will determine who gets that player with the roll of dice, with the following guidelines:

 

¨         Player transactions are sorted & eligible based on level of choice, i.e., a team submitting a player as their “first choice” supercedes all “second choice” or lower requests (this is what will be forever referred to as the “Holmes-Holcombe” rule on free agent transactions).

¨         Two dice will be used for all teams who at the time of the roll off are ranked 1-4 by point total.  Additionally, three dice will be used for teams ranked 5-8, and four dice will be used for teams ranked 9-12; the best two dice are used for the totals.  This rule (enacted in 2000 & modified in 2003) gives lower ranked teams a slight advantage for transactions.

¨         The high roll acquires the player, the losing roll(s) will be permitted to acquire another player (once again determined by level of choice).  All dice roll ties will require another roll-off until there is a high roll.  This will be done until all requests are processed.

¨         Participating franchise owners will be notified by the commissioner as to the outcome of the transaction requests no later than 7:00 AM on Friday morning.  Trade-only “Second Chance” requests that are due Saturdays @ 8:00 AM will be processed and posted no later than noon on that same day.

¨         NOTE:  Once an attempt is made to acquire a player, the franchise is committed to roll for settlement if there is more than one franchise interested.

 

C.                 A $3.00 per player fee will be charged for player transactions.  All teams that participate in a "roll off" as described above forfeit the $3.00 transaction fee.  If the losing franchise(s) wish to do another transaction, there will be another $3.00 transaction fee. Unlimited transactions are permitted.  Teams with player requests that are ineligible due to the “Holmes-Holcombe” rule will NOT be charged the $3.00 fee.

D.                 Fees for MULTIPLE drops (i.e., using two or more players on one team as potential drops to pick up one player) will increase by $1 per extra player, cumulative.  For example, dropping three players to try and pick up one:  $3 + $4 + $5 = $12.  

E.                 Teams may trade players to and from each other through the Commissioner for a fee of $3.00 per player per team.  Only the acquired player through trades will be billed to the (receiving) team.  Unlimited players may be traded.  All trade requests are subject to approval by the Commissioner.

F.                  To avoid “repetitive trades” to & from the same teams, a traded player must remain on the new team for a minimum of two games (two weeks), or one week & then dropped from the roster.

G.                 Trades for future draft picks:  teams will be allowed to trade players with other teams for future draft picks.  All records of draft pick trades will be logged by the commissioner and appear on the website.  Note that no team will be permitted to have more or less than 15 draft picks come draft day, so it will usually be necessary for teams trading draft picks to do so on a 1-1 basis.  The commissioner will enforce this rule.

 

H.                No trades are permitted after week #13. 

I.                   No player can be used in a position that differs from his draft day status.  The commissioner will not allow this to happen, so no fines will need to be assessed.   

 

J.                  All transactions will be published on the website once completed.   It will be the responsibility of the team owners to check the website for updates.

 

 

IV.              Fees (with exception of entry fee, all will be collected at end of season)

 

A.                 $150.00 Franchise fee per team – payable on DRAFT DAY.

B.                 Team name changes ($25.00).

C.                 Weekly losers pay $10.00 per loss for regular season games & “Second Chance” postseason bracket

D.                 Playoff losers & Toilet Bowl loser pay $25.00 per loss.  Also note that playoff WINNERS are awarded $10 per win per game (new rule as of 2003).

 

E.                 “Free Agent” player transactions (including losing attempts) are $3.00 each.  Note that this number increases by $1 cumulative per extra player used in multiple player drops for transaction pickups.

 

F.                  Trades between teams are $3.00 per player involved, paid by the team who acquires the player.

G.                 Points scored vs. points against:  Each team pays/receives $.25 per point according to regular season and playoff/tournament point totals.

H.                “KICK IN THE DICK”: for all sixteen weeks of the season, a weekly fine of $10.00 will be assessed to the team with the lowest total point output for that week.  In the event of a tie, both (or all related) teams will be fined.  These funds will not be added to the league pot; $80.00 will go towards the year-end party and $80.00 goes to the ‘Toilet Bowl” winner.

I.                   Weekly Efficiency and Power Rankings Penalties:  for all sixteen weeks of the season, on a WEEKLY basis, the team with the worst Efficiency Rating for that week will be fined $5.00 and the team with the worst Power Ranking for that week will be fined $5.00.  $75.00 of the funds will go towards the year-end party, and $85.00 will go towards the league pot.

 

V.                 Schedule and Playoffs

 

A.                 The league will be split into three (3) divisions of four (4) teams each.  A 13-game regular season will be played.  Teams will be RANDOMLY placed in each division at the draft.

 

B.                 The first thirteen (13) weeks of the NFL is our regular season; each team will play the other three teams in its division TWICE and seven of the eight teams in the other two divisions ONCE.  Each team will play 6-7 “home” games and 6-7 “away” games.  The full season schedule will be randomly determined after the draft and distributed via the website when ready.

 

C.                 Weeks 14, 15, and 16 of the NFL will be our playoff tournament, with the SFFL Superbowl in week 16.  Eight (8) teams will qualify for the playoffs:

 

¨         The three (3) conference winners – and these teams are the automatic #1, #2 & #3 playoff seedings.

¨         The three (3) second place conference teams.

¨         Two (2) wildcard teams.

¨         Conference/playoff rankings are based on the following Tiebreaker model (in this order):

(1)                 Best win-loss record.

(2)                 Head to head competition (most wins)

(3)                 Best conference record.

(4)                 Most points scored during the regular season.

(5)                 Least points allowed during the regular season (team giving up the least points wins).

(6)                 Coin flip. 

 

¨         The playoffs are “NBA Conference” style:  In the first round, the #1 seed plays the #8 seed & #4 plays #5 in the upper bracket; #2 plays #7 & #3 plays #6 in the lower bracket.  Second round, the two upper bracket winners play & the two lower bracket winners play. 

¨         After each round the teams will be re-seeded and made “home” team based on the division winner and tie-breaker model.  The Superbowl home team will be determined with a coin toss by the commissioner.

¨         All games during the three weeks of playoffs are subject to the following modified fees:  each team will pay $25 per loss, and will earn $10 for each win.  Also, all teams are subject to the weekly penalties associated with low power ranking, low efficiency, and “Kick in the Dick”.

¨         “SECOND CHANCE” BRACKET:  teams ranked 9-12 at the end of the season will also participate in their own playoffs to determine final league rankings.  The setup will be similar to the standard playoff bracket with the following exceptions:

a)                   Four games total including the “Toilet Bowl”

b)                   In week #14, #9 plays #12 & #10 plays #11  Winning two teams play in week #15.

c)                   The team that wins this tournament retains #9 ranking and earns $50.

d)                   Teams losing in week #14 (thus 11^th & 12^th overall) earn a week #17 berth in the Toilet Bowl.

e)                   Losing teams in Week 14 & 15 owe the standard season $10 charge per loss.

f)                    All teams (with the exception of the week #17 game) are subject to the weekly penalties associated with low power ranking, low efficiency, and “Kick in the Dick”.

¨         Week #17 will feature one game, the “TOILET BOWL”, which includes the #11 and #12 ranked teams by finish in the “Second Chance” bracket.

a)                   The winner will receive ½ of the Kick in the Dick funds, or $80, and finish #11 overall.

b)                   The loser owes the $25 playoff loss charge and is officially considered the league’s worst team. 

c)                   Under the “Russ Fyfe” rule enacted in 2000, the losing team will also be required make the draft board for the following season.  Russ or the commissioner will supply paper at the year-end party.

 

VI.              Financial Contribution & Distribution Summary
Note – per the 1997 request of all league participants, the franchise fee for the Commissioner’s team has been waived.  However, all other fees for this team do apply.

A.                 League Pool Calculation – the following funds go directly into the league pot:

 

¨         Each franchise pays a $150.00 fee:  $150.00 X 11 Franchises = $1650.00

¨         Weekly losers pay $10.00:  $10.00 X 6 per week X 13 weeks + $235 for playoff weeks*  = $1015.00
*playoff week losers & Toilet Bowl losers pay $25, Second chance bracket losers pays $10

 

¨         $85.00 additional from the Efficiency Ratings & Power Rankings penalties.

¨         Player transactions are $3.00 each (+$1 cumulative for every additional player in multiple drop situations).  Player trades are $3.00 per player, paid by the team who owns the player before the trade.

 

 

 

 

 

B.                 Monetary Distributions

 

¨         Minimum total pool, excluding trade/transaction fees, is $2,375.00 ($2750 - $375 for efficiency/rankings, “Second Tier” and 3^rd place playoffs, and league program costs).  This will be distributed as follows:

 

                                                AWARD                                    PCT                  Minimum Payout

SFFL Superbowl Champion                20%                        $475.00  

SFFL Superbowl Runner up               8%                          $190.00

Overall total points winner                 15%                        $356.25

Runner up total points winner           8%                          $190.00

Third Place total points winner          4%                          $95.00

1st Place, each Conference                 10% ea                   $237.50 ea ($712.50 total)

2nd Place, each Conference               4% ea                     $95.00 ea ($285.00 total)

Wildcard teams (2 total)                      1.5% ea                  $35.62 ea ($71.25 total)

Efficiency Ratings champion             $100 from league pot before % is determined

Power Rankings champion                 $100 from league pot before % is determined

Ninth Place overall in League            $50 total from league pot before % is determined

Third Place overall in League             $85 total from league pot before % is determined

 

¨         Tracking of points scored vs. points against will be kept throughout the season; teams are charged or credited accordingly at $.25 per point.  These funds are separate from the league pool and payout %.

¨         Point Totals, Efficiency Ratings and Power Rankings will be paid out according to finish during the 13-game REGULAR SEASON (i.e., playoffs don’t count for these final rankings).  However, the penalties for poor performance in these categories as outlined in section  IV H & IV I are still in effect through week #16.

¨         Team with either a starting 15th round draft choice or rookie to score the most points in the first week per SFL rules will pay out $70.00, second place will pay out $40, third place will pay out $10 (12 teams @ $10.00 per team) from the other league teams.  In the case of multiple 15th round winners, the final total prize will be divided equally.  ALL teams participate in this payout regardless of their decision to start or bench their #15 pick or a rookie.  If starting both a 15^th rounder and a rookie, the ONE player to be used must be declared.

 

¨         Teams will be informed approximately one week in advance of the year-end wrap-up party of monies earned or owed.  All additional fees other than the League Entry Fee (which was paid at the beginning of the season) will be paid at the party.  The party will be set for sometime after our Superbowl, usually early January to coincide with the NFL playoffs.  This will be at Splinters Sports Club, and the commissioner will notify everyone of this date.  Distributions will be made only after all fees have been paid to the league. 

¨         The league will put forth $155.00 towards the year-end party ($80 from the “Kick in the Dick” funds and $75 from the Efficiency & Power Rankings penalties).  Everyone at the party will be responsible for a reasonable share of the remaining costs; this is a league function and no exceptions will be made.  Typically we will collect an equal amount of $$ up front from everyone and then collect/give back any additional funds once the bill is finalized (usually after game 1 of the NFL playoff games that day).  A cutoff time/cost of this party will be set on that day by league consensus and commissioner approval.

 

 

VII.           SPECIAL RULES AND CLARIFICATIONS

A.                 The franchise player rule was voted down at the 2002 league draft and will cease to exist in the 2003 season.

During the season there may be questions regarding rule interpretations.  Every effort will be made to resolve all disputes with consideration as to what is the most fair and reasonable for the LEAGUE.

ALL FINAL DECISIONS will be made by the Commissioner.