I attached a link to the league bylaws page of the keeper league I'm starting up this year.
It's 11 pages long if printed out. This is a 12 team Keep 6 league. The rules that might be useful are the Goverance Section and the Trading Section. I specified structure for handling common problems in keeper/dynasty leagues...owner's suspected of tanking to gain better draft position, bad trades, not entering in a valid lineup, etc. I copied and pasted the "Goverance Section" below the link.
http://football9.myfantasyleague.com/2007/...=15998&O=26
GOVERANCE
Tanking Rule
If any owner suspects that another owner tanked a game on purpose in order to gain a more favorable draft position the following year or to help out a fellow owner, the following action will be taken.
(1) A 3 owner committee will be assigned to settle the dispute.
(2) The committee will be assigned by the commissioner.
(3) The committee will be comprised of owners that are NOT involved in the game in which tanking is suspected.
(4) The owner in question of tanking will provide justification for starting the roster he did to the committee.
(5) The committee will be selected by last name alphabetical order (A-Z). The first dispute would be settled by the 3 owners with last name starting closest to the letter “A” for the first committee. Example- Troy Anderson, Mike Ahern, etc. would be on the 1st committee unless they were involved in the game in question.
The 2nd dispute would be settled by the next 3 owners in the alphabet so that the 3 owner committee rotates so that everyone is placed on a committee an equal amount of times. The commissioner is included in this rotation.
If a team is owned by 2 owners then the owner with the Last name with the letter closest to A will be used in the committee rotation but both owners from that team must agree and vote together – a split choice by co-owner teams will not be accepted.
(6) If the committee unanimously agrees that tanking occurred then the owner that tanked will automatically lose their 1st round pick for the upcoming draft. If they own another owner’s 1st round pick…then they would lose that pick. If they traded their own 1st round pick & own no other 1st round picks, then they will lose their 2nd round pick for the next year coupled with 1 of their starters. They would be allowed to keep only 5 players and would draft their 22nd player after the last pick of the last round.
Bad Trade or Collusion Rule
(1) If an owner believes a trade was made in collusion (2 owners trying to stack a team) or a trade was made that is so unfair that it will unbalance the league he should bring it to the attention of the commissioner and additionally post on the message board the reasons for feeling the trade meets collusion or the bad trade rule.
(2) The commissioner will assemble a 3 owner committee to investigate the matter. The process will be identical as it is under the TANKING rule above. If the committee feels collusion occurred, the tanking penalty will incur for both teams and the trade will be reversed. Additionally, both owners may be banned from the league and new owners would be secured.
(3) If the committee feels that no collusion existed, just one owner taking advantage of another owner to the extent that the trade unbalanced the league then the trade will be reversed.
(4) The bad trade rule is a slippery slope. Somewhat unbalanced trades should be allowed to go through if the owners can justify the trade such as an owner rebuilding by trading away a stud or two for youth and multiple draft picks. A trade CANNOT be voided simply because it makes the very good teams that much better. An owner has the right to manage his team in the fashion he desires even if others do not agree.
(5) The Veto Happy Owner Rule will be put into place to discourage owners that keep trying to veto trades simply because they feel it makes a team "too good". Organizing a committee to vote on the issue will often hold up the games that week.
Veto Happy Owner Rule
(1) Any owner that constantly brings trades that don't appear to be unbalanced or stink of collusion to vote to try to veto them simply because he doesn't like the trade or feels the trade will help out one of his opponents too much will be penalized.
(2) If any one owner brings 3 trades to vote during a fantasy season (draft day - trading deadline of that season) that the 3-person committee all decide are fair enough to be allowed to stand and are not overturned then that owner will incur the veto happy owner penalty which is the same penalty that is listed under the "tanking section" - loss of 1st round pick, etc.
Lazy Owner Penalty Rule
If an owner doesn’t field a starting roster for 3 of the 13 regular season weeks a penalty will be incurred. The three strike rule will be applied in one of the 3 ways.
(1) Starting a player that is injured and it was announced before kickoff. The penalty will only occur if the owner had another player on the bench that was not on a bye week and could have been started in place of the injured player.
(2) Starting a player that is on a bye week when the owner could have started a player at the same position that was on that owner’s bench.
(3) Going 2 weeks without a healthy player at a position that prevents an owner from fielding a starting lineup will incur a strike. Example: You have 2 QB’s and one is injured. On Wednesday your only healthy QB pulls a hamstring in practice and is placed on the IR. The owner can field a lineup without a QB that week with no penalty. However, if the owner doesn’t trade for a QB the next week and doesn’t field a starting lineup for 2 straight weeks….one strike will occur & a strike will occur every subsequent week until that owner makes a trade that allows him to field a starting lineup. If an owner has used up all 10 of the trades and cannot fix their roster then the league will vote on how to resolve the issue.
(4) The commissioner will track strikes against owners for the Lazy Owner Penalty Rule and all infractions will be posted in a thread each year on the message board. Another owner can bring an infraction to the attention of the commissioner to record. It is not only the commissioner’s duty to monitor and notice owner’s entering in uncompetitive or incomplete lineups.
(5) If an owner receives 3 strikes against them during a season the penalty will be the same as the penalty imposed under the tanking section of the rules (loss of 1st round pick, etc.).
Voting Anonymity
If you are on a committee or vote for a rule change you must post your vote on the message board with your name. There is NO voting anonymity. That way there will be no question about who voted for what.
Pleading Ignorance Every owner is expected to know the rules, especially those that pertain to roster requirements and penalties for making their roster illegal. Read the league rules thoroughly and ask for clarification of any rule before the season starts. Most of us are in multiple leagues with very different rules. It can be easy to forget the differences in rules between leagues. Ignorance is not a valid excuse.
Rule Changes
All rules are subject to change. In order for a rule to change, 75% of the owners (9 of 12) must agree. Example would be if the league decided to expand to 14 teams or the league wanted to expand or reduce the number of keepers, etc.
Owner Tragedy
If an owner is hospitalized or is unable to manage his team due to health/personal issues the following action will occur.
(1) If he is able he can delegate anyone he wishes to run his team for him while he is unable to do so.
(2) If he is unable to delegate someone, the commissioner will contact his closest family member (wife,brother,etc.) and ask if they would like to delegate someone to run the owner's team for him. The same will take place if the owner passes.
(3) If the family is unable to be reached or doesn't want anything to do with fantasy football, or it would be inappropriate to approach the family about something so trivial as fantasy football during a family crisis, then the commissioner will appoint a different owner each week to select the sick/deceased owner's lineup for him. The owner selected will have the most to gain by the sick/deceased owner's team winning that game.
(4) If the owner is unable to return to managing his team due to terminal illness then the league will look into replacing the owner in the offseason.
New Owner Change Rules
(1) If an owner no longer wishes to play and wants to give his team to a friend, this will be allowed only after the rest of the league owners agree to the admission of the new owner. A 75% of the league must agree to this new owner (9 of 12 owners approve).
(2) If an owner drops out and does not find a replacement owner that is suitable, the league will vote on worth of the team in order to charge the new potential owner more or less to take over the management of the team. If the team really sucks, we may want to give the owner a reduction in the initial year’s entry fee in order to sell the team. If the team is stacked, we may want to require the new owner to pay extra if he is getting a player with multiple fantasy studs.
Issues Not Covered In The Rules
If an issue comes up that is not spelled out in the rules then a league wide vote will be taken and a majority vote will decide the issue. If there is a dead lock then the commissioner’s vote will be the tie-breaker.