While a noble and honest service such as ours should help you determine a fair solution to any problem you encounter this season, there is only one true way to ensure the seamless operation of a fantasy sports league: By creating a Fantasy Constitution, gaining your league members approval prior to Week 1 and distributing a copy to each league member. It is much more difficult to argue with previously agreed upon rules that have been set down on paper.
Alas, who has the time to engage in such a tedious task, in this day in age?
Well, we do… at least we’ve laid the groundwork for you. Below you will find a skeleton of our own Fantasy League Constitution. Why not a completed version you ask?
As much as we would love to accomodate everyone there are simply too many variations in terms of league members, statistical categories, scoring, free agency, etc.
Someday, hopefully soon, we will enter a brave new world where all fantasy football leagues operate under the same rules (see our favorite sports jounalist the Sports Guy’s article on this topic by clicking here). At that point, we can create one standard League Constitution that will not require any work on your part, but for now… well… ah… lay off us, its free.
If you choose, feel free to use the following as a guide in creating your personalized League Constitution. Simply highlight the text below, copy it and paste it into a word document. Then you can change anything you want based on your current league rules. Our league is a keeper league so if you don’t have one, just delete the whole section. It may seem like a lot of work now but it may be worth the headaches of dealing with unhappy league members without established rules.
Sample Fantasy Football Constitution
I. Governing Body
A. At the beginning of each season, a commissioner will be appointed by the Senior League Committee (SLC).
B. During the season, the commissioner will be responsible to efficiently run the day-to-day operations of the CPFL and will be required to interpret the appropriate course of action based on the terms outlined in the CPFL Constitution and by (Fantasy Football Service Used).
C. The commissioner does not have autonomous rule over the league and may be removed from office through a unanimous vote by the SLC.
D. The SLC will be comprised of the senior league members (determined by seniority).
E. The SLC must include at least 5 members.
F. New members will be admitted to the SLC in pairs as to insure an odd number of members for voting purposes.
** If you elect to operate your league under a democracy you can substitute a majority vote where the SLC is mentioned hereto forward.
II. League Members
A. There will be __ league members for each season, no more, no less.
B. All interested members from the previous season have the right to retain their franchise as long as they have not been banned by the senior league committee (SLC).
C. Bannings will be instituted by the SLC based on a majority vote and must be upheld for a minimum of 2 seasons.
D. Bannings will be issued as a result of franchise negligence, failure to pay league fees in a timely manner and/or for reasons currently beyond comprehension but for which, at said time, the SLC deems banning appropriate through majority vote.
III. League Setup
A. League Fees
1. will equal the decided upon entry fee for the league plus fees associated with league setup and activation.
2. will be due by the Friday after the opening Sunday of regular season play.
3. Failure to pay league fees will result in league banning.
B. Rosters
1. each team will have __ rosters spots (example: 2QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1FLEX, 1TE, 1K, 1DEF, 4 Bench Spots)
2. each team will have 1 Injured Reserve Spot. To use IR, a team will be allowed to drop the player from their current roster and pick him up anytime after 4 weeks from the drop date. Only 1 IR spot is allowed per team at a given time. Franchises that inadvertently pick up another franchises IR’ed player will not be automatically entitled to re-aquire their dropped player. That player will go back in the free agent pool and will be subject to the standard waiver rules.
C. Scoring – will be decided by the SLC prior to draft day and will be posted on the League Settings page.
D. Divisions – The __-team league will be divided into two __-team divisions according to the odd vs.even number format of the draft. For example, division 1 will have teams #2,#4, #6, #8, and #10.
IV. Draft
A. Draft Process
1. The draft order will be determined by the final standings of the previous season. The 1st place team of the previous season will have the last pick, the 2nd place team will have the next to last pick, the 3rd place team will have the third to last pick, and the 4th place team will have the 4th to last pick. The remaining __ positions will be determined through a random drawing to take place at least 2 weeks prior to draft day.
2. The random drawing must be performed in the presence of at least 3 league members.
3. Any league member can request and will be granted live phone time during the selection process.
4. The actual drawing cannot be performed by a league member. (Assuming of course any of you have any other friends/significant others)
5. Once the draft order is determined, the draft order will be in “snake” format (1st pick in round 1, has last pick in round 2, and so forth).
6. The draft date will be determined by the SLC and must take place within two weeks of the opening game.
7. The draft will be performed online or in person based on a majority vote.
8. The draft will be __ rounds.
B. Keepers
1. Eligible keepers must be drafted, after the second round and must have been on the retaining team’s roster at the conclusion of last season. Traded players that were originally drafted after round 2 by one team, may be kept by the acquiring team.
2. Each franchise can keep a maximum of two players from the previous year’s roster, but is not required to keeper any players.
3. The first keeper will take the place of the franchise’s 3rd round pick in the current year’s draft.
4. The second keeper will take the place of the franchise’s 4th round pick in the current year’s draft.
5. A player can be be kept for a maximum of 3 seasons, including the the season in which the player was drafted.
6. Any new franchise has the option to “adopt” an existing and unclaimed franchise’s roster and retain eligible keepers for the new season.
7. Keepers must be officially announced 48 hours before the schedule draft time.
8. Any revisions to the keeper rule will not apply retroactively to players currently in “keeper” status.
V. Post Draft Period (Before First Game)
A. Free Agent pickups, trades and other roster transactions will not be allowed until after the week 1 auction.
B. A franchise is not obligated to draft a specific number of, or any for that matter, players at each position. However, at the conclusion the draft, roster transaction will not be allowed until after week 1. Therefore, it is recommended, but not mandatory, that each franchise fills their starting lineup to completion during the draft. Otherwise, they will have to play week 1 without a full lineup.
C. Players that become deactivated, injured or retired after the draft, but before week 1 must be retained and not replaced by said franchise until after the conclusion of week 1 action. Tough shit.
VI. Auction
The CPFL auction will be scheduled for the week after the completion of the final week 1 game and will be set depending on franchise owners’ schedules. During the auction, any franchise owner may start bidding on any non-drafted player. The auction will be conducted by the commissioner. Anyone can make a bid and there is no maximum bid. There is no limit to how many players a franchise bids on. Each new bid must be at least $1 higher than the previous bid. When no other players are brought up to bid, the auction is over.
At the conclusion of the auction, there will be a brief “free agent free-for-all”. Franchise owners will have the remainder of the week (until kickoff of the first week 2 game) to make as many pickups as they want without waiver restrictions. At the start of the week 2, no more free agent pickups will be allowed until the waiver policy has been instituted.
VII. Waivers
FAAB stands for Free Agent Acquisition Budget. Every add/drop is granted via a blind bidding system that is processed automatically. Each time an owner has an add/drop processed they will be placed at the bottom of the FAAB order. If there is a tie for a player, the FAAB order is used; the owner that is higher in the list will receive the player and be moved to the bottom.
You can also select the Commissioner FAAB approval process. Free agents are still picked up via a blind bidding system, but it is processed by the commissioner not automatically. The Commissioner will go to the Transactions Request page to process the winning bids.
If you select to use either of the two available FAAB options, each owner will go to the Transactions add-drop page and select the players to be added and dropped then a bid is entered. The team with the highest bid for that player will be awarded the player and the bid value subtracted from their budget.
Example:
Team #1 as listed in the FAAB order inputs a request for three players:
Player “a” bid of $15
Player “b” bid of $10
Player “c” bid of $10
Team # 8 as listed in the FAAB order inputs a request for three players:
Player “b” bid of $5
Player “a” bid of $25
Player “c” bid of $10
The system would look at Team #1 and look at the first player on his bid list (in this case, Player A). The system would then search through every bid submitted for Player A. The team with the highest bid for Player A would win that player. In this two team example, team 8 would be awarded Player A.
Since Team # 1 did not acquire the first player on his list (Player A), the FAAB system next references Team #1’s second listed player (Player B). In the example above, Team #1 wins Player B.
The system now references the first requested player for the next team in the FAAB order.
VIII. Trades
A. Trades will be allowed from the end of the auction until the trading deadline as outlined on the your league settings page.
B. Each franchise owner has the right to vote against any trade if they believe it to be unfair.
C. If a trade is overturned, the franchises involved in the trade have the right to request a roll call of who voted against the trade. Those franchises that voted against the trade will then be required to state the reasoning behind their vote within two days. At this point, a discussion period of up to one week is to take place during which the validity of the trade will be reviewed. At the conclusion of the review period or when both sides feel they have stated their case, a second vote will take place. Each franchise owner (except for those involved in the trade) will be required to vote again. Votes not submitted within two days or votes from vetoing members who failed to supply an explanation of their veto in the time required will be assumed as votes “for” the trade. A majority decision is necessary to win the vote. In the event of a tie, the league commissioner will actively seek out a “fantasy expert” on a major sports website and submit the specifics of the trade in question. This “expert” will be the tiebreaker. In the event, that an expert’s opinion cannot be acquired within one week of the tallying of the second vote, the commissioner will decide the fate of the trade. If allowed, said trade will then be “pushed through” by the commissioner so that the trade will be reflected in their next day’s roster. Pushed through trades will not be retroactive to previous games.
D. Offseason trades involving draft picks and keepers are allowed as long as they do not receive majority objection from the current league members at that time of the trade.
IX. Regular Season
A. The season schedule will be generated automatically by your league service based on the divisions.
B. All franchises are responsible to make sure their lineups are updated before kickoff of the first game of the week. No exceptions will be made.
C. In the event of a computer failure prior to the start of a given week’s games, a franchise owner must contact the commissioner prior to kickoff of the first game and inform of him of the situation and the subsequent lineup change(s). If the commissioner receives the lineup change(s) in a timely manner, the change(s) will be made. The commissioner must then post notification of the manual lineup change(s) on the message board and/or contact the opposing franchise owner via phone/email within one hour of the start of the first game of said week.
D. The regular season will end after the completion of week 14.
X. Playoffs
A. The two-round playoffs will take place during weeks 15 and 16.
B. The first place team in each divisions will be ranked and seeded #1 and #2 respectively for the four-team championship playoff.
C. Seeding is based on regular season records and the subsequent tiebreakers outlined by Yahoo Sports and are generated automatically by your league serrvice. Playoff seedings are not debatable.
D. The remaining two wild card playoff berths will be filled by the two teams with the best records after the divisional champs. Ties will be decided according to the tiebreakers rules outlined by your league service.
E. The two losers of the first round playoff games will keep score during week 16 to decide the 3rd and 4th place finishes.
XI. Payouts
Payouts for the pot will be made as follows:
1st Place – 55%
2nd Place – 25%
3rd Place – 10% – money back
Total Points – 10% – money back
In addition to payout, the league champ will receive the prized _______ trophy to be used in an appropriate manner until the conclusion of the following season
XII. Amendments
A. All amendments proposed by league members must receive majority approval from the SLC prior to the start of the season.
B. All amendments proposed during the season will be reviewed at the end of the current season and not be made applicable to the current season.
C. All amendments to the CPFL constitution will be named according to the league member who caused or identified the problem.
Fantasy Football Disputes 