The Rules

These are the BDFFL Rules that I could come up with off the top of my head. Please send email to nate@natescape.com to let the commish know any overlooked or incorrect rules you can think of. I intend this to be a dynamic document, and look forward to everyone's suggestions.

The Draft

Schedule The draft will be held at noonish somewhere in Massachusetts sometime before the season begins, preferrably as late in the pre-season as possible. Nate will consult with franchise owners and pick a date.

Bidding Bucks In the FFLEM, every team has 1900 Bidding Bucks (BBs) to keep their players and draft their teams. In the AWFFL, they have 1800 BBs. Teams don't have to use all their BBS, but there is no advantage to saving the BBs for later (they don't carry over or anything).

Keepers (franchise players) Each team is allowed to keep up to three players, plus a rookie (see below). Players cost exactly what they scored during the prior season's weeks 1-17.
Example: If Brett Favre scored 376 pts the previous season, he would cost 376 to keep.
Rookies
Rookies may be kept as a fourth keeper in their second season. To be eligible, the rookie must be drafted and never placed on the waiver wire. The player can be traded. They cost the regular full keeper cost.
Please note: All keepers cost at least 10 bbs.

The Auction Once the keepers have been announced, we commence bidding on the rest of the players until our rosters are full.
Bidding happens using the following procedure:

Based on the prior season's Dynamite Bowl Tourney seeding, the lowest-ranked team throws out the first name. Followed by the second worst, etc. After the #1 ranked team (the last guy to throw out a name) throws out a name, it goes back to #12 (the first guy) - non-serpentine.
The team proceeds to announce a name of a player and a numerical bid on that player in bbs. The minimum bid is 10 bbs.
Teams bid on that player, auction style (saying their bids freely).
The auctioneer does the "Going once ..." thing.
That player then goes on the roster of whomever bid the most bbs'.
Bidding continues in this fashion until all FFLEM teams have 19 players and all AWFFL teams have 17 players.
Note: All FFLEM and AWFFL teams must finish the draft with 19 and 17 players, respectively.
Note: Franchises can draft any current or past NFL player (like Barry Sanders). They CANNOT draft any college players.

Do-It-Yourself Democracy
(how to change a rule) During the OFF-SEASON, the commish will set up a rules forum in the Huddle. Owners may propose rules up until the rules meeting. Rules may NOT be proposed after the rules meeting.
Voting
We will try to organize a rules meeting at least a week before the first draft (but usually at least a couple of weeks). For those who cannot make it to the draft, proxy voting is allowed.
Please note: If we have voted on a rule before, it requires 2/3 majority to be changed. If the rule has not been voted on before (if it's new or was one of those commish-made-it-up-on-the-spot-then-ran-it-by-some-owners rules), it requires a simple majority to pass.

New owners/abandoned teams The commish talks to everyone following the season to see if they're in for the following season. You can drop out later if you want, but please try to give the commish as much notice as possible if you aren't going to own your team next season (or are even thinking about not owning your team) so that you don't create a pain in the rear for the commish and other owners.
If a team is given up, the commish chooses a new owner. All teams are free to suggest new owners, but the commish chooses the owner. That new owner gets all players, records, and other stuff from the previous team.
In the event that a team becomes ownerless mid-season, the commish takes over and starts the highest ranked non-bye week players at every position, regardless of injury. Until a new owner is found, the roster is barred from all trades and free-agent pickups.

During the season

Starting team Every team must submit a starting roster consisting of: 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 3 wide receivers, 1 tight end, 1 kicker, and 1 defense/special teams unit.

Scoring The scoring system is detailed in another file.
If there is an error in the scoring (hey, nobody's perfect), let the commish know and he'll look into it. You have until kickoff of the following week to protest a score. Occasionally, the NFL changes scores after the fact, and we will change the stats to whatever the NFL changes them to.

Scheduling The regular season is 13 games long. During that strech, everyone plays their division opponents twice (6 games) and 7 of the 8 other teams. The schedule is randomly drawn up by the computer.

Divisions Each league (the FFLEM and AWFFL) consists of 12 teams placed in 3 divisions of 4 teams each. The divisions do not change from season to season.

Playoffs The playoffs run from weeks 14 thru 16. The three division winners earn playoff berths, with the three best non-division-winners also making the playoffs as wild-cards.
Ranking
The #1-#3 seeds are given to the division winners. #3 thru #6 are determined by record, with the first tiebreaker being total points. The second tiebreaker has never been used, but I think it's division record (it's in the software).
Scheduling
The #1 and #2 seeds get 1st round byes. The 1st round features the following matchups: #3 vs #6 and #4 vs #5. The second round features #1 vs the 4/5 winner and #2 vs the 3/6 winner. The winners of those two matchups battle for the championship in week 16.
Both leagues reseed after week 14. This means the top seed faces the lowest seed.
Playoff ties are broken by determining which team has the most potential points (the best potential starting lineup), then bench points. During the season, ties count as ties.

Procedural rules

Free agents Each team may pick up as many free agents per week as they wish. Free agents are picked up in two stages:
1. Teams call or email the commish with their pickups (and drops) by noon on Saturday (EST). Alternate pickups are allowed. (examples: You can grab player A or B or C, while dropping player X from your roster; You can grab A and B, and either C, D, or E, while dropping X and Y. Et cetera. Basically, you can give the commish any number of variables.) I go team-by-team, so put in for the player you want most and/or think will be most popular first...
If two or more teams put in for the same player, the lower-ranked team (record, then points) gets them (hence, teams often put in for alternate players). The commish then updates the site with the new rosters and a list of transactions.
2. From noon Saturday to the first game on Sunday (usually 1:00 EST) teams can grab players on a 1st-come, 1st-served basis. They can grab any player not already on a roster, except those just released in the first free-agent stage. It's probably best to call the commish with a late one (rather than email), because he might be away and can check voice mail but not email.
Please note: There are occasionally Thursday or Saturday games. If you want to pick up or drop any player on any pre-Sunday team, you must notify the commish before that early game's kickoff. Make sure you also tell him at that time of any changes that FA pickup or drop might have on your starting roster. The commish will then lump in those FA moves with the first stage of Saturday's free-agent add/drop.
Free agents pickups can be made from week 2 thru week 13. In other words you can make pickups starting with week 2 and ending at 1:00 on the Sunday of week 13.

Trades Any team can trade anything (except non-ffl things like cash, sex, indentured servitude). You can trade picks, future considerations, players, bbs, whatever!
The procedure is both owners must email or phone the commish to tell him of the trade.
Trading deadlines: Both leagues have an end-of the regular season trade deadline (no trades after kickoff of the early Sunday games of our final regular-season week).
Bogus trades:
If teams try to pull a fast one (a bad team helps their buddy by trading good players for bad ones), any owner in that league can file a protest with the commish. The commish then tells that league's Judge (FFLEM's judge - Will, AWFFL's judge - Matt), who then makes a ruling. If the judge rules that there was foul play, those players are traded back. If either team started any of the players, those points are removed from that game's score. This rule has never been enacted and hopefully never will.
Please note: Bad trades don't count on this rule. Teams can rip each other off and there have been some one-sided trades. BUT, players cannot knowingly trade injured players without notifying the other party in the trade. (No trading Fred Taylor after he suffers his inevitable season-ending injury without making sure the other owner knows he's out.) This is a friendly league. Let's keep it that way.

Starting lineup Starting lineups have to be into the commish before gametime on Sunday (usually 1:00 EST) or before gametime on a Thursday or Saturday game (see three paragraphs below for details). They can be emailed, called in, or sent in online. If you're emailing and it's close to gametime, you might want to try the online form, as that gets to the commish immediately and has an accurate timestamp.
You can always change your lineup until the 1st game starts on Sunday (unless those players started in an earlier game).
Lineups are assumed to be the same as the prior week in case of an early matchup or if you forget to submit a lineup.
Note: All lineup changes involving any Thursday or Saturday games must be submitted before that game's kickoff. This includes benching or starting players (in other words, make sure you know if a player of yours is playing in an early game and decide if you want to start them or not - no removing a player you forgot you had started the previous week).

Stats The commish will try to get all stats on the web site sometime Tuesday.

Home ~ FFLEM ~ AWFFL ~ The Huddle ~ Archive

The Draft
Schedule	The draft will be held at noonish somewhere in Massachusetts sometime before the season begins, preferrably as late in the pre-season as possible. Nate will consult with franchise owners and pick a date.
Bidding Bucks	In the FFLEM, every team has 1900 Bidding Bucks (BBs) to keep their players and draft their teams. In the AWFFL, they have 1800 BBs. Teams don't have to use all their BBS, but there is no advantage to saving the BBs for later (they don't carry over or anything).
Keepers (franchise players)	Each team is allowed to keep up to three players, plus a rookie (see below). Players cost exactly what they scored during the prior season's weeks 1-17. Example: If Brett Favre scored 376 pts the previous season, he would cost 376 to keep. Rookies Rookies may be kept as a fourth keeper in their second season. To be eligible, the rookie must be drafted and never placed on the waiver wire. The player can be traded. They cost the regular full keeper cost. Please note: All keepers cost at least 10 bbs.
The Auction	Once the keepers have been announced, we commence bidding on the rest of the players until our rosters are full. Bidding happens using the following procedure: Based on the prior season's Dynamite Bowl Tourney seeding, the lowest-ranked team throws out the first name. Followed by the second worst, etc. After the #1 ranked team (the last guy to throw out a name) throws out a name, it goes back to #12 (the first guy) - non-serpentine. The team proceeds to announce a name of a player and a numerical bid on that player in bbs. The minimum bid is 10 bbs. Teams bid on that player, auction style (saying their bids freely). The auctioneer does the "Going once ..." thing. That player then goes on the roster of whomever bid the most bbs'. Bidding continues in this fashion until all FFLEM teams have 19 players and all AWFFL teams have 17 players. Note: All FFLEM and AWFFL teams must finish the draft with 19 and 17 players, respectively. Note: Franchises can draft any current or past NFL player (like Barry Sanders). They CANNOT draft any college players.
Do-It-Yourself Democracy (how to change a rule)	During the OFF-SEASON, the commish will set up a rules forum in the Huddle. Owners may propose rules up until the rules meeting. Rules may NOT be proposed after the rules meeting. Voting We will try to organize a rules meeting at least a week before the first draft (but usually at least a couple of weeks). For those who cannot make it to the draft, proxy voting is allowed. Please note: If we have voted on a rule before, it requires 2/3 majority to be changed. If the rule has not been voted on before (if it's new or was one of those commish-made-it-up-on-the-spot-then-ran-it-by-some-owners rules), it requires a simple majority to pass.
New owners/abandoned teams	The commish talks to everyone following the season to see if they're in for the following season. You can drop out later if you want, but please try to give the commish as much notice as possible if you aren't going to own your team next season (or are even thinking about not owning your team) so that you don't create a pain in the rear for the commish and other owners. If a team is given up, the commish chooses a new owner. All teams are free to suggest new owners, but the commish chooses the owner. That new owner gets all players, records, and other stuff from the previous team. In the event that a team becomes ownerless mid-season, the commish takes over and starts the highest ranked non-bye week players at every position, regardless of injury. Until a new owner is found, the roster is barred from all trades and free-agent pickups.
During the season
Starting team	Every team must submit a starting roster consisting of: 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 3 wide receivers, 1 tight end, 1 kicker, and 1 defense/special teams unit.
Scoring	The scoring system is detailed in another file. If there is an error in the scoring (hey, nobody's perfect), let the commish know and he'll look into it. You have until kickoff of the following week to protest a score. Occasionally, the NFL changes scores after the fact, and we will change the stats to whatever the NFL changes them to.
Scheduling	The regular season is 13 games long. During that strech, everyone plays their division opponents twice (6 games) and 7 of the 8 other teams. The schedule is randomly drawn up by the computer.
Divisions	Each league (the FFLEM and AWFFL) consists of 12 teams placed in 3 divisions of 4 teams each. The divisions do not change from season to season.
Playoffs	The playoffs run from weeks 14 thru 16. The three division winners earn playoff berths, with the three best non-division-winners also making the playoffs as wild-cards. Ranking The #1-#3 seeds are given to the division winners. #3 thru #6 are determined by record, with the first tiebreaker being total points. The second tiebreaker has never been used, but I think it's division record (it's in the software). Scheduling The #1 and #2 seeds get 1st round byes. The 1st round features the following matchups: #3 vs #6 and #4 vs #5. The second round features #1 vs the 4/5 winner and #2 vs the 3/6 winner. The winners of those two matchups battle for the championship in week 16. Both leagues reseed after week 14. This means the top seed faces the lowest seed. Playoff ties are broken by determining which team has the most potential points (the best potential starting lineup), then bench points. During the season, ties count as ties.
Procedural rules
Free agents	Each team may pick up as many free agents per week as they wish. Free agents are picked up in two stages: 1. Teams call or email the commish with their pickups (and drops) by noon on Saturday (EST). Alternate pickups are allowed. (examples: You can grab player A or B or C, while dropping player X from your roster; You can grab A and B, and either C, D, or E, while dropping X and Y. Et cetera. Basically, you can give the commish any number of variables.) I go team-by-team, so put in for the player you want most and/or think will be most popular first... If two or more teams put in for the same player, the lower-ranked team (record, then points) gets them (hence, teams often put in for alternate players). The commish then updates the site with the new rosters and a list of transactions. 2. From noon Saturday to the first game on Sunday (usually 1:00 EST) teams can grab players on a 1st-come, 1st-served basis. They can grab any player not already on a roster, except those just released in the first free-agent stage. It's probably best to call the commish with a late one (rather than email), because he might be away and can check voice mail but not email. Please note: There are occasionally Thursday or Saturday games. If you want to pick up or drop any player on any pre-Sunday team, you must notify the commish before that early game's kickoff. Make sure you also tell him at that time of any changes that FA pickup or drop might have on your starting roster. The commish will then lump in those FA moves with the first stage of Saturday's free-agent add/drop. Free agents pickups can be made from week 2 thru week 13. In other words you can make pickups starting with week 2 and ending at 1:00 on the Sunday of week 13.
Trades	Any team can trade anything (except non-ffl things like cash, sex, indentured servitude). You can trade picks, future considerations, players, bbs, whatever! The procedure is both owners must email or phone the commish to tell him of the trade. Trading deadlines: Both leagues have an end-of the regular season trade deadline (no trades after kickoff of the early Sunday games of our final regular-season week). Bogus trades: If teams try to pull a fast one (a bad team helps their buddy by trading good players for bad ones), any owner in that league can file a protest with the commish. The commish then tells that league's Judge (FFLEM's judge - Will, AWFFL's judge - Matt), who then makes a ruling. If the judge rules that there was foul play, those players are traded back. If either team started any of the players, those points are removed from that game's score. This rule has never been enacted and hopefully never will. Please note: Bad trades don't count on this rule. Teams can rip each other off and there have been some one-sided trades. BUT, players cannot knowingly trade injured players without notifying the other party in the trade. (No trading Fred Taylor after he suffers his inevitable season-ending injury without making sure the other owner knows he's out.) This is a friendly league. Let's keep it that way.
Starting lineup	Starting lineups have to be into the commish before gametime on Sunday (usually 1:00 EST) or before gametime on a Thursday or Saturday game (see three paragraphs below for details). They can be emailed, called in, or sent in online. If you're emailing and it's close to gametime, you might want to try the online form, as that gets to the commish immediately and has an accurate timestamp. You can always change your lineup until the 1st game starts on Sunday (unless those players started in an earlier game). Lineups are assumed to be the same as the prior week in case of an early matchup or if you forget to submit a lineup. Note: All lineup changes involving any Thursday or Saturday games must be submitted before that game's kickoff. This includes benching or starting players (in other words, make sure you know if a player of yours is playing in an early game and decide if you want to start them or not - no removing a player you forgot you had started the previous week).
Stats	The commish will try to get all stats on the web site sometime Tuesday.