Standard Fantasy Football Rules

Like most league rules the Flood official standard fantasy rules are a living document. We highly recommend that before you start any season you download these rules so that your league’s copy does not change. To really makes these rules you’re own copy and paste, replace the blanks, 5 underscores with the correct info for your league! This version was last updated on 5/21/2022.

The following can be used directly as is, simply by replacing names and a few other details. All are noted in italics. It also offers a starting point for your own set of rules, please modify however works best for your league.

The standard fantasy rule set is meant for regular redraft leagues, though with a few additional sections and a little customization these rules also work for other formats. In time we’ll add versions keeper, dynasty and best ball formats.

Standard Fantasy Football League Rules Contents

1 – Leadership and Who to Contact

2 – Entry, Fees and Prizes

3 – Rosters, Scoring and Settings

4 – The Draft

5 – Transactions

6 – Manager Responsibilities

7 – Enforcement of Rules

8 – Voting and Rule Changes

9 – Commissioner Powers

Addendum – Dynasty and Keeper Modifications

1. Leadership and Who to Contact

Your commissioner is: _____

Email: _____

Phone #: _____

Your co-commissioner is: _____

Email: _____

Phone #: _____

Your treasurer is: _____

Email: _____

Phone #: _____

All questions and concerns should be directed to the commissioner except for the following situations.

• Commissioner is unavailable, in which case contact the co-commissioner.
• The question or concerns is very time sensitive, in which case contact both the commissioner and co-commissioner.
• The query is very money specific, e.g. a problem delivering buy-in to the treasurer. In which case contact the treasurer.

The league officers are here to help! Please contact us any time with questions big and small. See part 10 for what the commissioner (or co-commissioner in his place) can do within the rules.

2. Entry, Fees and Prizes

Joining

The league is composed of a series of managers. Managers are invited to join the league by the commissioner. If managers resign or if the league votes to expand, the commissioner will decide on additional members, though may ask for referrals and opinions from all managers.

Fees

All fees must be paid 48 hours prior to the start of the league’s fantasy draft, unless special arrangements are made by the commissioner or treasurer. In allowing such arrangements, the commissioner or treasurer takes personal responsibility for those fees should they go unpaid.

Buy In: $_____

Money deposited into the prize pool to be won by managers as described in the prizes section below.

League Fees: $_____

Fees that go to the administration of the league.

Prizes

All money collected for buy ins, but not for league fees, go into the prize pool which will be distributed as follows:

League Champion 60%: $_____

Runner Up 30%: $_____

Third Place 10%: $_____

Prizes will be distributed electronically by the treasurer within one week of the completion of the fantasy football season.

3. Rosters, Scoring and Settings

Please review on platform as those setting are ultimately what govern the mechanics of the league. It is the responsibility of all managers to review, understand and communicate any concerns or questions before the draft. If you cannot locate the settings or see an issue please contact the league commissioner ASAP.

Initial rules are determined by the commissioner then may be amended by vote as described in the section below. Our league is played digitally, and apps and sites change from time to time. If such a change impacts these settings the commissioner will not intervene outsides of extremely compelling circumstances.

4. The Draft

Format

In the inaugural year, draft order will be determined at random and every other year in order will be determined by reverse rankings from the previous year in snaked fashion.

Understanding ranks: For teams not making the playoffs their final season standings determine their order, with the last ranked team getting the first overall pick, the second to last ranked team getting the second overall pick and so on. For teams making the playoffs their draft order is determined by rank at the end of the playoffs. The league champion receives the last overall pick, the runner up the second to last overall pick and so on.

Understanding snaked draft: Each round the order teams draft in is switched, so the first two rounds would look as follows in a 12 team league. RD1 A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L RD2 L, K, J, I, H, G, F, E, D, C, B, A.

Attendance

Managers are expected to make every effort to attend the live draft and the commissioner will make every effort to accommodate schedules. The next best option is setting a sophisticated custom draft order. Pure auto draft is a last resort and may result in expulsion if it occurs multiple years in a row or without good reason.

Trading During the Draft

Trading officially opens when the first manager is on the clock. The commissioner may allow clock pausing to discuss trades within reason and consistently if the league platform easily allows it.

Technical Issues

The commissioner and co-commissioner will make every effort to ensure a smooth digital draft however IT problems happen. It is far from ideal but in a worst-case scenario all managers should be ready to submit their picks verbally without any interface. Have your cheat sheet ready or beware.

Decorum

Banter is encouraged, but intentional targeted efforts to derail other managers, slow the pace unnecessarily or take the fun out of what many people see as best part of fantasy football will be penalized.

5. Transactions

The Wire

Waivers: Like all other setting the waiver wire process may be understood through our league management platform. Players are added to the waiver window either when they are cut or after they play for a predetermined amount of time. Managers may then enter a claim for any player with the manager with the highest priority being awarded the player in question. Priority starts in reverse order of round one of the draft, but every won player moves the winning manager to the end of the priority list.

Free Agent: Are players that are outside of the waiver period. They may be added by any manager on a first come first served basis, but churning, the process of adding and dropping players to make them unavailable to others, is not allowed.

Trading

The opportunity to trade begins with the start of the draft and ends at the trade deadline. Only the commissioner (or co-commissioner if necessary) may veto an accepted trade and will only do so in extremely unbalanced situations or in the case of a rare and earnest mistake. Any manager may request a trade be reviewed for fairness during the waiting period. However, the commissioner will not override the review period for fairness to all managers.

Trades may be reversed if one of the involved parties makes an earnest and understandable mistake. E.g. Marshawn Lynch is swapped out for Paxton Lynch in a trade. While it’s up to each manager to ensure they are not being swindled, angle shooting will not be tolerated. To have any hope of a trade reversal for a mistake, the requesting manager must contact the commissioner and counter party ASAP, meaning minutes to hours (not days) depending on circumstances.

Dropping Players

At no point should managers drop more players than necessary, especially once out of contention. Clearing space for upcoming waiver acquisitions is fine, but rosters should remain mostly full to avoid the appearance of collusion.

Limitations

There are no limitations on the number or timing acquisitions other than trade deadline and no churning already mentioned. Managers are invited to work to field their best team through the entire season whether in contention or not. However, toward the end of the playoffs, teams who are out should take care that waiver acquisitions do not constitute collusions. E.g. “Finalist A’s QB just went down, and Finalist A knocked me out of the playoffs, so I’ll attempt to acquire the 3 best QBs currently on the wire.

6. Manager Responsibilities

Good Sportsmanship: Managers should stay engaged, play to win but always remember fantasy football is a game and should also foster a fun environment (or at least not detract from one).  Trash talking, showboating and good-natured banter are all part of it, but do not make things personal and if asked to stop please do.

Active Participation: Managers are expected to stay engaged during the standard fantasy seasons and to make an effort to participate in the annual draft and all league decisions. This includes starting a full and arguable best lineup every week, whether in or out of contention.

Resigning: Things happen, managers wishing to leave the league should communicate that to the commissioner as soon as possible. Resigning midseason forfeits the managers buy-in unless 90% of the league votes to return it.

Collusion: Collusion is strictly forbidden. The act and process of working counter to the rules and spirit of fair play to create an undue advantage. There are four common types of collusion that occur in fantasy football, though there are others.

• Combining forces: Two or more teams engage in unfair trades or other roster changes to the benefit of one team only, making that team more competitive.
• Player Sharing: Swapping players to cover bye-weeks or for other reasons. Trading the same player back and forth is suspicious but not always against the rules.
• Outside incentives: Using outside money, goods, services, favors etc. to influence outcomes, usually trades, within the league.
• Spite moves: Taking unfair action to specifically hurt another team or undermine the league. A common example is making moves to benefit a fantasy team playing a bitter rival in hopes of influencing the outcome of that game.

Tanking: Tanking occurs when a team intentionally loses a game or drops players to alter the competitive balance of the league. This is prohibited for all reasons, managers should start their arguable best line ups and look to retain and acquire the most competitive possible roster.

Churning: Churning occurs when a team adds and drops players on waivers for the sole purpose of making them unavailable to other teams, which is prohibited.

Replacement

Out of Season: The commissioner will invite new managers as they deem appropriate as described in

In Season: The commissioner will make a good faith effort to replace the resigning or removed manager with a new player. If the departing manager is refunded their buy in, the replacement will be expected to buy in. If no replacement can be found, the commissioner will set the abandoned team’s line up each week based on projected points including making common sense acquisitions from waivers or free agency to account for bi-weeks and player outages.

7. Rule Enforcement

Commissioner will make roster or other team changes proactively and retroactively in a best attempt to fairly and consistently right any wrong that occurred due to a rule violation.

Penalties are voted on by the league but presented by the commissioner for consideration. Minor, innocent and inconsequential rule violations are generally handled by a warning, while major infractions are penalized more directly. Penalties work as follows.

Commissioner Warning

The commissioner or co-commissioner explain the violation to the offender and help them to clear up any misunderstanding to avoid future violations.

Loss of Draft Pick

For serious or repeat infractions the commissioner will ask the league to vote on whether the offender should lose a draft pick the in the following year’s draft. A majority, excluding the commissioner, of affirmative votes is required to apply this penalty (e.g. in a 12 team league, there are 11 non commissioner teams, so conviction requires 6 yes votes). Pick lost is the middle one, rounded up if there are even number or rounds. Rounded down if that pick has already been traded or lost by penalty.

League Expulsion

For egregious or habitual offenses a manager can be expelled from the league. Expulsion requires a majority excluding the commissioner. Expulsion without refund, if relevant, requires a 90% conviction vote excluding the commissioner and the manager in violation.

Should a manager be expelled or resign before realizing penalties, those penalties do not carry over to the replacement manager.

8. Voting and Changes

For voting on manager sanctions and penalties please see the enforcement section.

Purpose

In general, the league is the commissioner’s game, it is not meant to be a pure democratic institution. Therefore the commissioner or co-commissioner in his place must bring a change up for vote; there is no other mechanism by which the rules may change. Members are allowed and encouraged to suggest changes to the commissioner for consideration as to whether they should be brought to a vote. Of course, the commissioner not taking popular feedback is likely to lead to the demise of the league.

Out of Season Changes

Any rule may be amended or added out of season before buy-ins and fees for the start of the next season are received. A simple majority, where the commissioner breaks any ties, is all that is required to do so. The spirit of the process is that, as funds have not yet been collected, any manager may refuse to participate should they feel strongly enough against the change.

In Season Changes

Changes once funds are received and the season is underway are avoided and are only likely to be presented by the commissioner to correct a mistake in league setup, to address extenuating circumstances or due to extreme popularity with most managers. Buy-in is already collected, changing the rules is tantamount to changing the wager. In any case a midseason rule change requires a 90% affirmative vote from all members to pass.

9. Commissioner Power

The commissioner with the assistance of the co-commissioner and treasurer are responsible for the fair, fun and efficient operation of the fantasy football league. The commissioner is the owner of the league but must take no special privileges and always act in the best interest of running a fair game and longevity of the league. While the commissioner enjoys a great deal of power, suggestions and assistance identifying needs and issues from managers is always appreciated.

Specific Responsibilities and Powers

• Initial league setup within the fantasy platform.
• Administration of on going operational needs, with help of co-commissioner.
• Appointing the co-commissioner and treasurer.
• Setting date, time and potentially location for draft and other meetings.
• With the treasurer’s help insuring that all managers provide sufficient funds.
• Best judgement corrective action for broken rules, mistakes, and technical issues.
• Determining rule changes for vote and calling the vote.
• Determining if a rule violation should result in a punishment and calling a vote as appropriate.
• Sole veto power over trades. Co-commissioner serves this role for trades involving the commissioner, the treasure serves this role for a trade between the commissioner and co-commissioner.’
• Replacing departing managers.
• General assistance for all managers with rules, fantasy platform and anything else related to the league.

Co-Commissioner

In normal times the co-commissioner serves as an advisor to the commissioner. They may also implement changes as explicitly directed by the commissioner. In terms of the fantasy platform itself the co-commissioner as commissioners’ access to fully assist the commissioner and to avoid any lockouts should the commissioner need to step a way on short notice.

Transfer of Commissioner Powers

At any time, the commissioner may grant all powers to the co-commissioner for a semi-defined period. The co-commissioner will assume duties if the commissioner is unreachable for 48 hours and there is a real need to reach them. In either case, the co-commissioner is then temporarily the commissioner. If that happens, all mangers are informed through the most appropriate method for the league.