Westside Football Follies — Rules Overview (assuming 14 teams)
Sep. 1, 2023
- The Stuff That Doesn’t Need to be Said:
By participating in this league, you agree to compete with an attitude of fairness, fun, and sportsmanship. Collusion or any attempt to circumvent these rules is unacceptable. The commissioner reserves the right to make any ruling or adjustment he thinks is necessary to maintain the letter and spirit of these rules. He also vows to make the overall welfare of the league his highest priority. Any errors or omissions in this Rules Overview are inadvertent.
- Weekly lineup:
Each week, you field a starting roster of 9 active players, comprised of:
1 Team QB
1 Team K
1 DEF played to win or lose
2 Running Backs
2 Receivers
2 Flex Players (either RB’s or REC’s)
Notes: There is no special category for Tight Ends. They are lumped into the category of Receivers along with the “regular” wide receivers. All position players are either a RB or REC when drafted and cannot change status during the season.
- Auction/Draft:
On Draft Day, you will draft 13 slots. By the end of the 13 rounds, you must have a full lineup consisting of the 9 slots mentioned above. Your 4-slot reserve roster can be comprised of any 4 additional players/teams without regard to positional restrictions.
The first two rounds of the draft are done by a “real money” auction as explained forthwith.
The draft order for the first round is established by a series of 14 consecutive auctions. You are bidding real money (no limit) and so can spend as much or as little as you deem fit.
The bidding begins with all 14 teams “alive” as the auctioneer opens the bidding for the first pick. No player is mentioned; everyone is bidding to have the first pick. When a team finally wins this bid, they announce who they are taking and they have the “1-hole.” Next, the remaining 13 teams are alive for bidding for the second pick. When one team wins this auction, they announce who they are taking in the second position. These auctions continue until each team has a player. The 14th team must “bid” $1 to have the last pick.
The drafting positions established by this first round of auctions will be the pick order for all the odd-numbered rounds of the subsequent draft.
The second-round bidding then commences in auction format just like the first round. It is an independent bidding round. All 14 teams are alive again for the first pick of this second round. As before, when each team wins a bid, they name the player they are taking. This continues until every team has a second player.
The remaining 11 rounds are now drafted in a “conventional up and back “serpentine” draft in the order established by the first round.
- Trading
None.
- Free-Agents
There is no free-agency period between draft day and the first week of NFL games. You must live with who you draft for the first week. Starting in the second week, there is free-agent bidding twice a week on each Wednesday and Saturday throughout the season.
Free-agent bidding is done by an online “blind-bidding” auction on the website of our Stat Service. You are bidding real money in this process, There is a $10 minimum bid for any free-agent, no maximum.
For week 2, you must drop someone for each player that you pick up.
In anticipation of the NFL byes, there is a one-slot roster expansion in Week 4. (The NFL byes this season begin in Week 5). That is, you may pick someone up without dropping anyone. So, during the weeks of the NFL byes, your reserve roster can expand to 5 slots. When the bye weeks are over, everyone must drop one player/team to get down to the original 4 reserves.
Details of using our bidding system will be sent out before Week 2 bidding.
Notes: All bids must be made using the online bid system. No phone or email bidding. The commissioner btw cannot see or access the bids made by the other teams.
We will be using RTSports as our host site.
- Competitions
You are simultaneously competing for monetary prizes in two distinct year-long contests: Performance (overall points based) and Head-to-Head (weekly match-ups with another team).
A) Performance: This is a simply a points-based contest running cumulatively throughout the season. The scoring algorithm is weighted heavily towards long-distance scoring plays as follows:
Passing TD’s: 1 point (1-20 yards); 2 points (21-40), 3 points (41-60), 4 points (61-80), 5 points (81+)
Rushing TD’s: 1 point (1-2 yards); 2 points (3-5), 3 points (6-10), 4 points (15-25), 5 points (26-50), 6 points (51+)
Receiving TD’s: 2 points (1-15 yards), 3 points (16-30), 4 points (31-45), 5 points (46-60), 6 points (61+)
Field Goals: 1 point (1-40 yards), 2 points (41-50), 3 points (51+) ==> This is a change from years previous
Defensive/Special Team: TD is 3 points (any distance), Safety is 2 points, Shutout 4 points, 2 points for 2-6 pts allowed, 1 point for 7-10 pts allowed; Sacks (1 pt for 3 sacks, 2 points for 4-6 sacks, 3 points for 7+ sacks), Interceptions (1 point for 2 INT, 2 points for 3 -4 INT, 3 points for 5+ INT), 2 points for a defensive score when other team attempts a 2-point conversion, 1 point for a successful two-point conversion.
Passing Bonuses: 1 point (250-299 yards), 2 points (300-349), 3 points (350-399), 4 points (400+)
Rushing/Receiving Combined Yardage Bonuses Per Player: 1 point (75-124 yards), 2 points (125-174), 3 points (175-199), 4 points (200+)
Each week, you get a team score which accumulates during the season. There is a (usually substantial!) monetary prize as explained later for the team with the highest score each week as well as overall prizes for the top finishers for the whole season.
B: Head-to-Head: Each week, you are also pitted against another team in a weekly H2H match. The winner of each game is determined by a “simple” scoring system mirroring that of an actual NFL game, namely:
6 points for any TD rush, TD catch, or DEF TD. (QB, RB, REC, or DEF)
4 points for a TD pass (QB, RB, or REC)
3 points for a FG (Team K)
2 points for a Safety (DEF)
2 points for a successful 2-point conversion (or returning defensive 2-point conversion)
1 point for a kicked extra point (Team K)
Our fantasy “regular season” takes place during the first 14 NFL weeks when you will be paired once against every other team. The top 8 teams in H2H qualifying will make our playoffs which run from weeks 15-17. See prize structure below.
- Prize Structure and Entry Fees
Weekly Performance Prizes. The discretionary prize pool is funded by the voluntary auction expenses and free-agent bidding. At the end of the season, this prize pool is divided into 18 equal amounts which go to the 18 weekly winners of our Performance competition.
Overall Performance Prizes: There are prizes for the top 5 overall finishers.
Head-to-Head Prizes. The H2H regular season is divided into two halves, with the first half comprised of the first 7 weeks, and the second half the next 7 weeks. Teams are divided into two conferences, our “NFC” and “AFC.” Eight teams make our playoffs which are the first half winners and second half winners in each conference along with 4 “wildcard” teams. These 8 teams are seeded into a 3-week playoff structure using the H2H scoring which runs from Weeks 15-17. There is a prize for each team making the playoffs as well as the overall finishers.
Complete prize distributions and details on playoff structure will be published during the season.
- Stat Service Considerations
Most notably, the interpretation of Team QB, Team DEF, and Team K will be done by the RT Sports software. Note this is not necessarily straightforward as there are several possible weird scenarios which seem to crop up every year (2 QB’s on the field at the same time, kicker throws a pass, position player plays QB, etc. etc.) So however they interpret such plays will be the determining factor (barring any obvious errors which they will correct anyway).
- Good luck during the season! Any questions or comments, give me a holler.
Your commissioner, —Phil
