I thought the Commissioners and rules folks might enjoy this article, based on my league's crown jewel - its rules:
"Fantasy Football Rules to Keep Your League Together"
"Fantasy Football Rules to Keep Your League Together"
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Rules for Keeping League Intact (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter sdurity
- Start date
ChromeWeasel
Footballguy
We do that. Any owner can propose a rule or scoring change in the offseason. We vote on new rules at the draft. It takes 2/3 majority of the league to pass a new rule.
Cut and paste of the whole would be a copyright violation. Here's the link you might be able to cut and paste into your browser: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8186613/fantasy_football_rules_to_keep_your.html?cat=14
Shane Falco
Footballguy
there wasn't much there really despite appearing to be 3 pages longPretty obvious headers but no real "meat" or detailHave official written rulesGet money up frontHave a rules committeeoh and Know your purpose
I did include a link to our complete rules, if anyone needs a template for starting (or fixing) a league.
SWC
Bromigo
you should make rules that give you more points for scores on trick plays and gaget plays especially where linemen throw td passes or rush about 50 yards for a score on a triple reverse handoff play or anything involving a statue of Liberty play which is probably my favorite trick play of all time unfortunately most online scoring systems are well behind the curve on this scoring system model
nysportsfan
Footballguy
Not missing much, it's stuff that's good, but repeated here many times.
stugnut
Footballguy
The referenced article leaves a lot to be desired (other than forcing unnecessary page hits by spreading the meager info over way too many pages). Below are my hard fought lessons in the Life as a Commish.
As a commish, the most important "rule" you can enforce to keep your league together is to remove all situations that require a judgment call on the part of the commish. You never want to be in a position where you have to make a call that is going to piss off the losing party. Not ever. Instead, make sure your rules cover those possibly ambiguous situations. Nothing will make owners leave your league faster than a situation that requires a commish to have to make a decision that is going to piss off an owner because YOU DIDN’T COVER YOUR #### IN THE RULES.
Playoffs - make sure you cover all possible tying scenarios, both intradivision and interdivision. And include EXAMPLES and how the tie breakers are enforced. If you do not include examples with team division records, team head-to-head results, etc, don’t even bother. You are screwed before you even give your decision. You need to be able to point to your rules, in 100% if the cases, and be able to say, “It’s in the rules”.
Strange Plays - what do your rules say when a QB throws a pass to himself and then runs it in for the TD? Does he get receiving yardage? Was he charged for an interception? Did he get interception points? How about, a QB throws an interception to a linebacker. While returning the interception the LB is hit and fumbles the ball. A WR picks it up and runs for a TD. How are you going to score that? How about a fake or broken field goal attempt that results in a TD? You need to have EXAMPLES of these plays in your rules and how they are scored on both sides of the ball. Do your written rules supersede MFL/CBS/Yahoo scoring? You should consider including a catch-all like, "If a play happens that is not specifically covered in the rules, the scoring outcome will be decided by using the intent of our rules as a guide. Intent will be determined by a committee of the commish, the co-commish, and God. Or something. The same applies for any typos that may exist in the rules or scoring setup".
Hurricanes/Tornados/Terrorism- how will you score a player that has their game cancelled or rescheduled because of the above? What is the cutoff for those points counting if the game is rescheduled 1, 2, or 4 weeks out?
What if it’s week 13 and you won’t know the results until your playoffs have started? It better be in your rules or people are going to be pissed.
Trades - what happens if a team accepts a trade by email but not on the league site? When is a trade deemed accepted? Make it easy on yourself and advise your owners to conduct all trade discussions by email/phone, but only deem a trade as legal when actually accepted by your league software. Done.
Entry Fee - what is the cutoff date for the entry fee? What is the consequence for teams that do not pay by that deadline? If you, the commish, want to make sure teams pay on time, be sure to actively maintain a Waiting List and be sure you let your owners know that there are other teams that are looking to join your league. Every team in my league must pay their dues 6 weeks before draft day. If they do not, with no exceptions, I will assume any non-paying owners do not want back in the league and I start calling teams on the wait list. It only took me one time of me kicking out a 6 year veteran owner (since rejoined) to hammer that one home. I have had zero problems since.
Draft - what do you do if an owner selects the wrong “Steve Smith”, and it isn’t discovered until 3 picks later? How about it isn’t discovered until after the draft? That’s an easy one, if it’s in your rules.
Lineups – Ah, this one causes the third most problems in the life as a commish. What happens if your league site is “down” and an owner cannot submit a lineup? How about if an owner says, “I know that I pulled player X and put in player Y, but for some reason it isn’t showing that?” And that would have put that owner into the playoffs and without, he’s in in the toilet bowl. If your rules do not cover that, it’s going to be a #####fest. Again, make it easy on yourself and put this in the rules; “It is the owners responsibility to determine whether or not a lineup that has been submitted is legal. In addition, the owner should verify that all lineup changes are accurate by checking the lineup after submittal. It is solely the owners responsibility to confirm that all lineup changes have been correctly accepted by the league software”. Done.
If an owner cannot submit a lineup because the league site is down, he needs to phone both the commish and his opponent with his lineup changes before the time that lineup changes are due. If he calls the commish and not his opponent? It didn’t happen. Period. Because, “It’s in the rules”. And as the good commish that you are, you sent a league-wide email before the start of the season with everyone’s cell phone number.
When is your lineup deadline? If you say, “Gametime”, who determines when gametime is? Make it easy on yourself and say “gametime” is solely determined by your league software. If a gametime, because of terrorism, is changed because it was preempted by President Stark letting you know that all games will begin when Pluto comes into alignment with Mars, well, your #### is covered, because “It’s in the rules”.
Player position – what would your league do if an owner drafted a rookie “WR” that actually started playing as a “TE”? Who determines a player’s position? Is it NFL.com? Is it your league software? Be sure you can say, “It’s in the rules” when you kick that “TE” back to a “WR”. But just be sure that it is not YOUR responsibility to monitor this. Because you do have a deadline when these types of scoring and player position changes can be brought to your attention after all. Because “It’s in the rules”.
Scoring change – what do you do when a scoring change gives a QB an extra 5 yards in passing yardage that he didn’t have when your league software finalized on Tuesday morning? How much does it hurt when that stat change puts a new team into the playoffs and kicks another team out and you did not have this spelled out EXACTLY in the rules? Does it matter when this info is released? When is your cutoff for making scoring changes? Is it kickoff of the next weeks games? Is it at 10 days, 14 days, when playoffs start? It better be in the rules. And, what source will you use for scoring changes? Is it your league software? Is it the NFL Gamebook? What happens if your “official” scoring source changes the stats before your deadline, but it isn’t brought to your attention until after the deadline? What if the owner that wants the change is your best friend and he tells his opponent, your brother in law, that he notified you, the commish, by phone of the scoring change before the deadline but you have no way to prove that. Ouch. Yeah, it better be in the rules. If you have a forum, make that the “official” means of league communications as that will have a timestamp. If not, it has to go out league-wide by email. If it didn’t happen by either of those two methods, it didn’t happen at all. And you specified exactly that in the rules.
Also, who is responsible for noticing the stat change? Guess what, it’s not responsibility of the commish. It is the owners responsibility and it must be 1) brought to your attention by the league deadline, and 2) via the league determined means of communications, and 3) if either of those condition are not met, by even a minute, it didn’t happen. Period. Because you hang your hat on the rules. Just like the NFL.
Waivers – what will you do when an owner accidently drops, oh, let’s say, Ned Stark of the Rams when he swears he dropped David Boston, and that he would NEVER drop the #4 WR in the NFL, and another team picks up #4 Ned Stark and promptly trades him to another team, and you don’t hear about it until midway through the morning Sunday games. Ugh. That’s a tough situation you are in. Or not. It’s actually easy, because, “It’s in the rules”. Make it easy on yourself and put this in your rules, “All transactions committed on the web site by an owner are final. There will be no “taking back” of incorrectly dropped players or incorrect bid amounts. The responsibility is on the owner to verify all transactions both before and after submittal.” Make it the idiot owners problem and not yours.
Nothing will cause your owners to leave your league faster than a commish who hasn't done their job and dotted the "I's" and crossed the "T's" and has to scramble to make a decision mid-season that is going to piss off one or more owners. You need to let all owners know UPFRONT that the rules govern EVERYTHING in your league. EVERYTHING, from A to Z. The rules are not determined by friendships, not by loyalties, not by what “common sense” says you should do. No. The rules are determined solely by what you have put in writing. Period. And in order to make that stick you need to make that point early and often, and also to have rules that back that up. Because you, as the commish, need to be able to hang your hat on the rules and be able to address all possible questions and complaints with the following; "It's in the rules". After all, that’s why you get the big bucks
As a commish, the most important "rule" you can enforce to keep your league together is to remove all situations that require a judgment call on the part of the commish. You never want to be in a position where you have to make a call that is going to piss off the losing party. Not ever. Instead, make sure your rules cover those possibly ambiguous situations. Nothing will make owners leave your league faster than a situation that requires a commish to have to make a decision that is going to piss off an owner because YOU DIDN’T COVER YOUR #### IN THE RULES.
Playoffs - make sure you cover all possible tying scenarios, both intradivision and interdivision. And include EXAMPLES and how the tie breakers are enforced. If you do not include examples with team division records, team head-to-head results, etc, don’t even bother. You are screwed before you even give your decision. You need to be able to point to your rules, in 100% if the cases, and be able to say, “It’s in the rules”.
Strange Plays - what do your rules say when a QB throws a pass to himself and then runs it in for the TD? Does he get receiving yardage? Was he charged for an interception? Did he get interception points? How about, a QB throws an interception to a linebacker. While returning the interception the LB is hit and fumbles the ball. A WR picks it up and runs for a TD. How are you going to score that? How about a fake or broken field goal attempt that results in a TD? You need to have EXAMPLES of these plays in your rules and how they are scored on both sides of the ball. Do your written rules supersede MFL/CBS/Yahoo scoring? You should consider including a catch-all like, "If a play happens that is not specifically covered in the rules, the scoring outcome will be decided by using the intent of our rules as a guide. Intent will be determined by a committee of the commish, the co-commish, and God. Or something. The same applies for any typos that may exist in the rules or scoring setup".
Hurricanes/Tornados/Terrorism- how will you score a player that has their game cancelled or rescheduled because of the above? What is the cutoff for those points counting if the game is rescheduled 1, 2, or 4 weeks out?
What if it’s week 13 and you won’t know the results until your playoffs have started? It better be in your rules or people are going to be pissed.
Trades - what happens if a team accepts a trade by email but not on the league site? When is a trade deemed accepted? Make it easy on yourself and advise your owners to conduct all trade discussions by email/phone, but only deem a trade as legal when actually accepted by your league software. Done.
Entry Fee - what is the cutoff date for the entry fee? What is the consequence for teams that do not pay by that deadline? If you, the commish, want to make sure teams pay on time, be sure to actively maintain a Waiting List and be sure you let your owners know that there are other teams that are looking to join your league. Every team in my league must pay their dues 6 weeks before draft day. If they do not, with no exceptions, I will assume any non-paying owners do not want back in the league and I start calling teams on the wait list. It only took me one time of me kicking out a 6 year veteran owner (since rejoined) to hammer that one home. I have had zero problems since.
Draft - what do you do if an owner selects the wrong “Steve Smith”, and it isn’t discovered until 3 picks later? How about it isn’t discovered until after the draft? That’s an easy one, if it’s in your rules.
Lineups – Ah, this one causes the third most problems in the life as a commish. What happens if your league site is “down” and an owner cannot submit a lineup? How about if an owner says, “I know that I pulled player X and put in player Y, but for some reason it isn’t showing that?” And that would have put that owner into the playoffs and without, he’s in in the toilet bowl. If your rules do not cover that, it’s going to be a #####fest. Again, make it easy on yourself and put this in the rules; “It is the owners responsibility to determine whether or not a lineup that has been submitted is legal. In addition, the owner should verify that all lineup changes are accurate by checking the lineup after submittal. It is solely the owners responsibility to confirm that all lineup changes have been correctly accepted by the league software”. Done.
If an owner cannot submit a lineup because the league site is down, he needs to phone both the commish and his opponent with his lineup changes before the time that lineup changes are due. If he calls the commish and not his opponent? It didn’t happen. Period. Because, “It’s in the rules”. And as the good commish that you are, you sent a league-wide email before the start of the season with everyone’s cell phone number.
When is your lineup deadline? If you say, “Gametime”, who determines when gametime is? Make it easy on yourself and say “gametime” is solely determined by your league software. If a gametime, because of terrorism, is changed because it was preempted by President Stark letting you know that all games will begin when Pluto comes into alignment with Mars, well, your #### is covered, because “It’s in the rules”.
Player position – what would your league do if an owner drafted a rookie “WR” that actually started playing as a “TE”? Who determines a player’s position? Is it NFL.com? Is it your league software? Be sure you can say, “It’s in the rules” when you kick that “TE” back to a “WR”. But just be sure that it is not YOUR responsibility to monitor this. Because you do have a deadline when these types of scoring and player position changes can be brought to your attention after all. Because “It’s in the rules”.
Scoring change – what do you do when a scoring change gives a QB an extra 5 yards in passing yardage that he didn’t have when your league software finalized on Tuesday morning? How much does it hurt when that stat change puts a new team into the playoffs and kicks another team out and you did not have this spelled out EXACTLY in the rules? Does it matter when this info is released? When is your cutoff for making scoring changes? Is it kickoff of the next weeks games? Is it at 10 days, 14 days, when playoffs start? It better be in the rules. And, what source will you use for scoring changes? Is it your league software? Is it the NFL Gamebook? What happens if your “official” scoring source changes the stats before your deadline, but it isn’t brought to your attention until after the deadline? What if the owner that wants the change is your best friend and he tells his opponent, your brother in law, that he notified you, the commish, by phone of the scoring change before the deadline but you have no way to prove that. Ouch. Yeah, it better be in the rules. If you have a forum, make that the “official” means of league communications as that will have a timestamp. If not, it has to go out league-wide by email. If it didn’t happen by either of those two methods, it didn’t happen at all. And you specified exactly that in the rules.
Also, who is responsible for noticing the stat change? Guess what, it’s not responsibility of the commish. It is the owners responsibility and it must be 1) brought to your attention by the league deadline, and 2) via the league determined means of communications, and 3) if either of those condition are not met, by even a minute, it didn’t happen. Period. Because you hang your hat on the rules. Just like the NFL.
Waivers – what will you do when an owner accidently drops, oh, let’s say, Ned Stark of the Rams when he swears he dropped David Boston, and that he would NEVER drop the #4 WR in the NFL, and another team picks up #4 Ned Stark and promptly trades him to another team, and you don’t hear about it until midway through the morning Sunday games. Ugh. That’s a tough situation you are in. Or not. It’s actually easy, because, “It’s in the rules”. Make it easy on yourself and put this in your rules, “All transactions committed on the web site by an owner are final. There will be no “taking back” of incorrectly dropped players or incorrect bid amounts. The responsibility is on the owner to verify all transactions both before and after submittal.” Make it the idiot owners problem and not yours.
Nothing will cause your owners to leave your league faster than a commish who hasn't done their job and dotted the "I's" and crossed the "T's" and has to scramble to make a decision mid-season that is going to piss off one or more owners. You need to let all owners know UPFRONT that the rules govern EVERYTHING in your league. EVERYTHING, from A to Z. The rules are not determined by friendships, not by loyalties, not by what “common sense” says you should do. No. The rules are determined solely by what you have put in writing. Period. And in order to make that stick you need to make that point early and often, and also to have rules that back that up. Because you, as the commish, need to be able to hang your hat on the rules and be able to address all possible questions and complaints with the following; "It's in the rules". After all, that’s why you get the big bucks
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Some good points here, I agree. Our league spreads the load with a Rules Committee so that the Commissioner doesn't take all the brunt of things. They handle any situations which have not yet made into the rules or face "interpretation problems." Over 17 seasons, we have learned that the written rules will never cover every scenario, even if it is a massive volume. We focus on the intent of the rules and add exceptions/clarifications as the years go by. But our rules are only about 7 pages long. We rarely have rules issues any more. We just try new things from year to year that might need some clarification.The "referenced article" (mine) is targeted at a less FFL-saavy audience. It is for those getting started or just a couple years in. Football Guys creates an overwhelming amount of solid material. But not everyone is here, yet, or is ready for that heavy of a load. And Yahoo decides on the text per page. They do prefer shorter, tighter, and focused. But thanks for checking it out and providing feedback. I have more articles planned. I am learning and honing my craft.
Ignoratio Elenchi
Footballguy
Serious question: How much do you get paid per click? I'm curious if these types of things are ever worth the effort (I'm guessing not).
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