Rules

The Entry Fee is $50. This will be due no later than July 15th of every season, no exceptions! We will be using Fanball to run the league for at least the next 3 years. We dropped $150 and went Platinum. At $50.00 per year the site easily met expectations. It really wasnt that much different than CBS anyway. We will keep an eye on it and if anything changes will apprise you of the situation.

Pass Yards - 0.25	Touchdown - 25	FG (1-29) - 6
Completion - 0.5	2 PT Conversion - 5	FG (30-39) - 12
Rush Yards - 0.5	Interception - -10	FG (40-49) - 15
Rush - 1	Fumble Loss - -10	FG (50-59) - 18
Rec Yards - 1	P. A. T. - 2	FG (60+) - 25
Reception - 2	Missed P.A.T. - -2	Missed FG - -6

This scoring system is designed make the best players in the NFL, the best fantasy players. To accomplish this, yards accumulated are given equal if not more importance than touchdowns. Point values are weighted to create parity amongst the top players at each position (not including tight end and kicker). The goal is to have quarterbacks, running backs and receivers produce approximately the same amount of points. However, as a result, multidimensional players tend to be the most valuable. Please notice that defensive and special teams statistics are not recorded. Scores are calculated to two decimal points, so ties are very rare. However, in the event of a tie, it will be broken by stats in the following order: starting QB points, then starting K points, and if for some reason its still tied total points for the entire roster.

The league is comprised of 12 teams, divided into 3 divisions of 4. The regular season schedule consists of each team playing the teams in their division twice, and the rest of the teams in the league once. That means there are a total of 14 games, 6 of them in the division. There is a two-week playoff consisting of 4 teams. The winner from each division and one wildcard advance to the playoffs. The team with the best record will play the wildcard team, and the other two division winners will play each other. The winners of those two games play in the fantasy bowl for the championship. In the event of a tie for divisional title, divisional record will be the first tiebreaker, followed by head-to-head record, and then Total Points scored. In the event of a tie for the wildcard, head-to-head, Total Points scored, and then divisional record will be used to break the tie. We do not use week 17 for obvious reasons.

Each team is required to start 7 players for each week. This lineup must consist of one quarterback, one running back, one receiver, one tight end, and one kicker. The last two starting spots can be used on any combination of running backs, receivers, and tightends.

During the season, teams are required to have a minimum of 7 players on their active roster, and a maximum of 16. Rosters are built through the draft, free agency, trades, and waiver claims. During the off-season teams can hold a max of 20 players. But will have to trim down to 16 by the designated date.

Each team has one roster spot that is reserved for seriously injured players. This spot does not count towards your active roster limit of 16 players. When a player is placed on the IR, the team he is on is only responsible for paying ½ of his salary. If a team places a contracted player on the IR, they will only be responsible for ¾ of the players salary for the year. Once a player is put on the IR, he cant be moved to the active roster of the same team until the following season. Players placed on the IR can still be released, but cant be resigned by the same team.

The combined salaries for all the players on a teams roster cant exceed $60 million. The salary cap is in effect from the start of free agency through the Super Bowl. Salary cap space can be included in trades in the form of teams keeping cap to allow both teams to meet the cap restrictions.

The draft consists of 7 rounds. The worst team in the league picks first, and the winner picks last. The draft pool is comprised of all the rookies and players not on any fantasy roster before the draft. The salary of veteran players in the draft is based on their performance the previous season (see Salary Table). While the salary of rookies is determined by when they are selected in both the NFL draft and our draft (see Salary Table). Teams have the option of contracting players selected in the first round. Three year or more veterans can receive contracts for as long as 4 years, while rookies and second year players can receive contracts for up to 3 years. Due to geographical and scheduling conflicts, we will not get together for the draft. This means that the draft will be done on Fanballs message board. We will set aside a couple of weeks in August before the start of the season to complete the draft. Teams can participate in as much of the draft as they want or need to. Teams are not required to use all of their draft picks. Every team has the option of submitting a draft board or cheat sheet to the commissioner and having their draft completed automatically. This can be done at any point during the draft. So if you want to draft your 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd picks, you can still submit a list to have the commissioner complete your draft.

Trading is not only allowed, its encouraged. There are no fees for trading. Players, draft picks, and even wives and children can be traded. The trade deadline is week 10 of the season. Trading resumes after the Super Bowl. All trades are subject to commissioners approval. (Though the commish has NEVER vetoed a deal). This is designed to prevent any unfair or dishonest transactions. Once a team pays for the coming years entry fee they are able to trade the following years draft picks. So after you are paid for the 2004 season you can trade your 2005 draft picks.

The first part is the Auction Period. Each franchise is allotted $50.00 of waiver bucks at the beginning of each season. Fifty dollars is all a team gets for the entire year. This is NOT a tradable commodity. Once your bucks are gone you can no longer participate in waiver claims. The auction opens Monday immediately following the completion of MNF and it closes each Tuesday at 11:59 PM. An owner submits his waiver request to the claims section on the left of our fanball league homepage. It is a blind bid system so simply type the players name and your high bid by him. Then submit it. It stays dark and un-viewable until Tuesday at 11:59PM. Not even the commish can see the claims. At 12:00 AM on each Wednesday the high bidders are awarded their players and the standard waiver period begins. This period does NOT affect your priority status with the standard claim period. If you win an auction for a player you do not fall to the bottom of our waiver priority. In the event of a tie between two or more blind bidding players, all involved will send a second blind bid (has to be higher than original) to the designated commissioner. This second time cents will be used with dollars to avoid a second possible tie. The highest bidder wins the player and loses the second bids waiver bucks.

All players not on a roster at the start of the regular season are made available through the waiver wire. Teams are billed $1 (waiver bucks, not real money anymore) for each player they sign off of waivers. There is NO real money charge for standard claims anymore. But if you run out of waiver bucks you can no longer make claims period. The waiver wire is closed until after the end of week 1. The Standard Waiver Wire opens each week at 12:00 AM Wednesday, and closes Friday at 11:59 PM. Teams wanting to sign players off of waivers for a given week must submit a claim for that player before the wire closes. To submit claims simply e-mail the designated commish with your intensions. Be sure NOT to use fanballs claim section for this anymore for that is used only for the auction claims. If multiple teams submit claims for the player, that player will be awarded to the team at the top of the waiver list. The order of the waiver list is obtained from last seasons records. The worst team in the league is on top, while the best team is last. However, every time a team obtains a player in this fashion, they go to the end of the waiver list. If a team doesnt have an available roster spot or salary cap, they must specify who they want to release when they submit their waiver claim. If this is not done, that waiver claim will be ignored. Teams are allowed to submit backup options with their waiver claims in case they dont get the player they want. After week 3, the salary of all players not currently on a roster drops by $.5M and will continue to do so until the players salary has been cut in half. At no point will a players salary ever reach less than half his actual value. No more league minimum reduction at a certain part of our season. This will also apply to players cut by other teams. When said player is cut his cost will be at actual value based on his previous year. His salary will reduce by $.5m each week starting the week after he is released. He will also be paid no less than half his actual value. All players signed through waivers after week 12, will not cost a $1 and cant be carried over for the next season.

At the end of the season teams have to decide which players they want to keep on their roster for the following season. Teams must pay a ½ million dollar roster bonus for every player, not under contract, that is retained from the previous season. Teams are allowed to place a franchise tag on one player to protect that player from free agency. Placing a franchise tag on a player requires an additional 1½ million dollar bonus (Total of +$2m). Teams are able to use a transition tag on a player as well. This tag requires an additional ½ million (Total of +$1m) and guarantees a 1^st round pick as compensation if player is lost. **Teams will not be required to make roster cuts of any kind until a month prior to our annual draft (which will be TBA).**

Example 1: According to the salary table, Chad Johnson is worth $4M. If I want to keep him on my roster for next season, his salary will be $4.5M. (+$.5m)

Example 2: According to the salary table, Ricky Williams is worth $10M. If I want to keep him on my roster and place my franchise tag on him to protect him from free agency, then his salary for next season will be $12M. (+$2m)

Example 3: According to the salary table, Domanick Davis is worth $3.5M. If I want to keep him on my roster and place my transition tag on him to guarantee a 1^st round pick from him if I lose him in free agency, then his salary for next season will be $4.5M. (+1m)

Franchise Tag Each team has one franchise tag that may be placed on a free-agent eligible player. The tag will add $2m to the players actual value but will prevent him from entering free agency. He is no longer a biddable player.

Transition Tag Each team also has a transition tag. This tag may also be placed on any free-agency eligible player. $1m is added to their actual value. They ARE still free agents and CAN be bid on. But the tag guarantees a 1^st round pick as compensation. If and when a team loses their transition player they will receive a first round pick from the bidding team.

General Free Agents All players not contracted or tagged fall into this category. These players are all biddable and do not carry a draft pick guarantee as compensation. The compensation will be performance based according to the player in questions season that year. Basically you wont know what your getting until the season is over.

All players on active rosters that are not under contract or tagged are eligible for free agency. Free agency begins on a Monday and lasts for a full week. It will take place during an undetermined time before the draft. The minimum bid for a player is his current salary plus a ½ million dollar increase. All bids must be placed in ½ million dollar increments. Contracts can be for a maximum of 4 years. Each year added to a contract is essentially worth a ½ million dollars more per year than an offer of the same amount of money. [($5M, 4yrs) = ($5.25M, 3yrs) = ($4.5M, 2yrs) = ($2.75M, 1yr)] All bids for a player must be posted on the fanball message board. Once a player is bid on, a 24 hour clock begins. If nobody else bids on that player for 24 hours the winning bid is submitted to the franchise that owns the player and they have 24 hours to match the offer. On the last day of free agency, all franchises with bids still on the clock must submit their final offers to the commissioner. The commissioner will then notify the league of the winning bids, and the process will continue normally. Only two players from one roster can receive new contracts. It doesnt matter if any of the players change teams. This means that if a team fields bids on 3 of its players, matches the 1^st and 2^nd bids, the 3^rd bid is voided, and the rest of the players on that franchise are untouchable. Each team is allowed just one chance at a free agent. Once a bid is made that is it for the bidding team. Retracting the bid is allowed but WILL count as your teams one chance. In the future we can discuss allowing two bidding opportunities but for now we will stick with a one shot system. Teams are compensated a 1^st round pick for any transition free agents lost. The team owing the compensation has the choice of offering their current 1^st round pick instead of their pick the following season. In the event a team has multiple picks, they must award their original pick; if they do not have their original they can give up the worst pick. The team owed the compensation, has the right to refuse the offer of the current 1^st round pick, and wait for next years. Teams without a 1^st round pick, in one of the two immediate years following drafts, are not allowed to bid on transition free agent players.

All players lost without tags are considered performance picks and are based on said players following years stats (2004 FA compensation will be based on their 2004 performances). Due to the unknown round of compensation, there will be a backup system in plan. As follows: TEAMS WITHOUT A 1^ST ROUND PICK CAN STILL BID ON NON-TRANSITIONED FREE AGENTS. In the event the team giving compensation does NOT have the pick that is required, they will compensate the first pick they have that year (discluding 1^st Round selections) and will also compensate the originally required pick the following season. For example: Siam bids and wins FA Marc Bulger from Kingsford. Bulger goes on to have a $6m season. That means the 2005 compensation for Bulger will be a 2^nd round selection. But Siam does not have a first or second round pick. So they compensate their 3^rd round in 2005 and 2^nd rounder in 2006 to make up for it. The team being compensated will have the option of taking an end of round selection (basically the 13^th pick of that round) that immediate year rather than waiting for the next year pick. In doing so the 2005 2^nd round pick would just be forfeited and voided from selection.

Tightends
$5m =	1^st Round Pick
$3m - $4.5m =	2^nd Round Pick
$2m - $2.5m	3^rd Round Pick
< $2m	4^th Round Pick

QBs RBs WRs
$7m and Higher =	1^st Round Pick
$5m - $6.5m =	2^nd Round Pick
$3m - $4.5m =	3^rd Round Pick
< $3m =	4^th Round Pick

Each year, every team has the option to extend the contract of one of the players on their team. When a players contract is extended, his salary is recalculated according to his performance the previous season. To extend the players contract, the team must pay the higher of the players old salary or his current value plus a 25% increase, and a one time bonus of $1 million. This is designed so that teams are able to prevent their star players from hitting free agency. If a player didnt play in 8 games, then his current value will be calculated from the last season he did; if no such season exists, then the contract cant be extended. Contracts cant be extended beyond 4 years. Contracts must be extended before the start of week five of our season.

Example: William Greens current contract is at $4M, but this season he was only worth $2.5M. To extend him, I have to pay the higher value plus a 25% raise and a one time bonus of $1M. His new salary after being extended is now $5M, but his cap number for this year is $6M.

In an attempt to eliminate long-term massive savings on low contracted players we have installed a holdout clause. A player thats contractual value fails to equal ¾ or more of said players actual value two years in a row* will hold out for ¾ of the average of that players actual values in the two holdout worthy years. This will apply the year immediately following the 2nd holdout worthy season. There is also an injury void-able year. If said player has holdout worthy years in year one and three of his contract but failed to reach that point in year two due to injury, years one and three will be used and player will holdout for the 4th year of contract (if there is one). For example: Santana Moss is contracted for $2m. The first two years of his contract his actual values are $6m and $7m. Because his contracted value fails to reach ¾ of the average of the first two years ($6.5m) a holdout will take place for year three. His new contractual value will be $4.25m for the remaining year or two of his contract. We will also round up to the nearest $1/4m.

Each franchise has the option to choose how to pay a players contract. Teams are required to pay their contracted players the total value of the contract over the length of the contract. The amount teams pay each year is up to the team. That means that a team can overpay the average salary one year, or they can defer money to create cap space. Teams can do whatever they want, as long as they dont exceed the salary cap in any given year. However, there are severe penalties if a team cant pay a players deferred salary without going over the cap. If this happens the team will lose the player in question, 2 1^st round picks, and be accessed a $5M cap penalty for 5 seasons. That player is off limits and will not be available until the next seasons draft. The salary disbursement for contracted players must be decided before week five of our season.

Example: A player has a contract of $10M, 4yrs. The total value of the contract is $40M. A team can pay that player $12M, $10M, $10M, and $8M. You can decide to pay a lump sum of $20M one year and $5M the rest of the years. You can divide the total salary up any way you want, as long as you dont go over the cap to pay the player in any season.

10/05/2004 Tuesday) End of Week 4, Contract extensions, contracted players salary disbursement and Contract Buyouts must be finalized

Tightends

QBs RBs WRs