Dynasty Warriors- League Charter
Version 1.1
August 2011
Official Season 1 Charter
I. League Format
This league is an ten (10) team salary cap league with player contracts. Owners retain each player until such a time as the player is released or his contract expires. Player values are determined by pre-season and regular season bidding as well as a set rookie contract scale. The salary cap will be set at $250. There will be an entry fee of $5 per owner, per year.
II. League Year
The following is a schedule of events for the league year:
2 Weeks after the Super Bowl-
- League Year officially begins at 8AM EST Monday.
- Commissioner supplies list of taggable players and their costs.
- Commissioner supplies list of holdouts.
-New salary cap goes into effect.
- Roster changes and tag designations may be made.
4 Weeks after the Super Bowl-
- All teams must be in compliance with salary cap by 8AM Monday.
- Holdouts must be resolved or dropped
- Bidding on tagged players (3 days)
Same week, 8AM Thursday-
- Owners have opportunity to match bids on tagged players (2 days)
Same week, 8AM Saturday-
- Deadline for owners to match bids on tagged players. New rosters released as soon as possible.
- Trades may occur from this point forward
Immediately after NFL Rookie Draft-
- League Rookie Draft begins
1 Week after end of League Rookie Draft ends-
- Rookie contracts due
August 15-
- Deadline for final roster moves before Free Agent Auction
- Restricted Free Agent status due
Between August 15:1 Week prior to the NFL Regular Season-
- Live Free-Agent Auction
1 Week after the Free-Agent Auction-
- Free agent contract lengths due
NFL Week 1-
- Season begins
NFL Week 10-
- Trade Deadline
NFL Week 15-
- Playoffs: Round 1
NFL Week 16-
- Championship Game
NFL Week 17: 2 Weeks Following Super Bowl-
- Rule changes
III. Player Contracts
A) Basic Contracts
Player contracts run 1-5 years, at the owner’s choosing. Contracts always follow the same format: Year 1 they are at the base value. Each successive year they will receive a 10% raise rounded up to the nearest quarter.
Releasing a player from his contract before the contract has expired leaves a signing bonus penalty of 20% of the contract value in each future year (rounded up to the nearest quarter) If the player was on your roster for a week of the current season, they do not take a cap hit for the current season.
B) Tags
Each offseason you will be able to use one of both the Franchise tag and the Transition tag on players who are coming up for free agency. In addition to those tags each manager may also designate one other player to be a restricted free agent. The tag designations must be made two weeks after the league year officially starts. The commissioner will supply each manager with a list of players that may have various tags and designations placed on them, along with the cost of doing so, by the time the new season has started. If a successful bid on either a franchise or transition tag player puts you over the salary cap, you will have 48 hours to come into compliance with the salary cap by dropping players (you will not be able to make a trade to get under the cap). Failure to do so, will result in losing your bid on the tagged player.
i. Franchise Tag
During the offseason, a team may choose to retain one of its free agent players by using an available franchise tag. If the team chooses to do so, the player signs a 3-5 year agreement with the player at the terms listed below.
Year 1: When you franchise a player, you’ll pay either the franchise tender salary, which is the average of the elite-paid players at his position (top 5 QBs, TEs, Ks, DSTs, top 10 RBs top 15 WRs), or his previous year salary plus 20%, whichever is higher.
Year 2 and beyond: Follow the same rules for raises as mentioned in III.A.
If someone outbids the salary that is placed on that player (to successfully outbid, not only does the base year need to be worth more, but the contract must be at least as long as originally offered), the current owner will have the option to match the bid. If the current owner does not match the bid the new owner must compensate the current owner with a 1-5, 1st round pick in the next rookie draft. If the team had a 6-10 1st round pick, they must also give up their 2nd round pick. If the manager who outbids does not have the appropriate picks in the current draft, they must compensate the current owner with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick. As many picks as possible must be for the upcoming draft. Any that cannot be compensated from the upcoming draft will come from the following year.
ii. Transition Tag
This is also a 3-5 year deal. The base salary will be the average of the second tier starters at the position (the 6-10 highest paid QBs, TEs, Ks, DSTs, 11-20 RBs, 16-30 WRs). If someone outbids the base salary that is placed on a transition player, the current owner will have a chance to match. If the current owner does not match the bid, then the new owner must compensate the original owner with their 2nd round pick in the next rookie draft. Players who have traded away their 2nd round pick will have to give up their 1st round pick (in the current draft if they have it; if not, in the following year) .
You may not place a transition tag on players who either 1) finished in the top half of starters at his position or 2) would receive more than the transition tag amount if given a 20% raise from their previous salary. Players in these categories may only have the franchise tag placed on them, not the transition tag.
C) Restricted Free Agents
Each offseason, owners can designate one soon-to-be free agent to be a Restricted Free Agent. The player will be released to the free agent pool, but if this player is bid upon at the free agent auction, the team holding the RFA’s rights can match the highest auction bid for that player and retain his services. Upon the conclusion of bidding, the RFA rights-holder must immediately declare his intention to match the auction price. The rights-holder may not violate any rules (such as salary cap or roster restrictions) in retaining the RFA. If the player is not bid upon at the free agent auction, the RFA rights-holder relinquishes any rights to the player.
D) Holdouts
By the start of the new league year, the commissioner will analyze fantasy stats and salaries to determine if there are any holdouts. Any player whose end-of-year stats place him in the top half of starters at his positions (i.e. 1-4 for QBs, 1-8 RBs and 1-12 WRs, etc.) is subject to examination as a possible holdout candidate. If one of these players is making less than 1/2 of the franchise tender salary, he is deemed to be a “holdout” player. Holdout players will demand a Year 1 salary equal to 90% of the franchise salary. If the owner chooses to retain the services of the player at his new price, he must offer at least a 3 year deal and up to 5 years.
Owners who choose not to pay the player at his new demand, can release the player to the free agent pool with no cap hit imposed. In that event, the owner cannot designate the player as a franchise player, transition player or restricted free agent.
E) Renegotiation
Players may only be renegotiated the offseason before they enter the final season of their contract. They must be renegotiated after the free agent auction and before the beginning of the regular season. They may only renegotiate if they have played at least 3 seasons in the NFL. There will be 2 levels of renegotiation. The higher level is 80% of the franchise number, the lower level is 80% of the transition level. You may only renegotiate at the lower level if the player has not been in the top half of starters at his position for the last three years. If this is not the case he must renegotiate at the higher level. His current salary must also be such that a 20% raise would be less than or equal to this lower level, otherwise the higher level must be used. If a manager chooses, they may renegotiate at the higher level, even if the player is eligible for the lower level. Players who have been in the top half of starters at their position will be renegotiated at the higher of a 20% raise or the higher renegotiation level. The renegotiation provides an immediate raise for the player. It is not an extension. The deal is a minimum of 3 years, max. of 5.
IV) Auctions & Drafts
A) Tag Auction
4 Weeks after the Super Bowl, the commissioner will release a list of tagged players and their costs. Other players may submit bids via email for any tagged players. Bid contracts must be greater in base salary and at least as long in length as the tag contract. Players will have 3 days to submit these bids. After the highest bids have been declared, owners will have 2 days to match the offers and retain their player.
B) Rookie Draft
The Rookie Draft will start immediately after the NFL draft ends, and will be conducted via e-mail. There will be three rounds. The draft order will be reverse order of final standings, except that the playoff champion automatically has the 8th pick. The draft order remains the same in all three rounds. All rookies have a set base contract depending on their draft position. The values for the rookies can be found on the league blog under the title “Rookie Salaries”.
Within a week after the Rookie Draft ends, managers will be required to submit their contracts (the length of them) for the rookies they drafted. Any rookie, who does not receive a contract, whether drafted or not, will enter the free agent pool. To sign rookies, some teams may have to make additional roster cuts to free up cap room.
C) Free Agent Auction
Each year as close to the new season as possible (after August 15), there will be a live free agent auction. About a week before the free agent auction is to take place, managers will be required to submit any final player drops they would like to make to free up cap and roster room for the auction, at this time all rosters must be down to the roster maximum of 25. This is also the deadline for declaring who your Restricted Free Agent will be. The auction will proceed 1-8, 1-8 in the same order as the Rookie Draft. Managers will bring players up to bid at a minimum of .25. The highest bid will win the player. Each successive bid must increase the previous bid by at least .25. Managers may not bid on players if they do not have the roster room to place the player on their roster. You also cannot place a bid that would force you over the salary cap. Players cannot be traded or cut during the auction. The auction will end when each team has passed on their turn to bring a player up to bid. Once you pass, you may continue to bid on other players (if you have the cap and roster room to do so), but you will not be given another opportunity to bring a player up to bid. You may not pass up your turn to bid until your roster has reached the minimum requirement of 23 players, and you must maintain enough cap room at all time to place the minimum .25 on a player to get your roster up to 23.
After the auction, any remaining unspent salary cap money is retained by the team and can be applied toward future use, such as renegotiating expiring contracts or bidding on in-season free agents. A week after the auction will be the deadline for turning in the lengths of the contracts for the players signed during the auction. Certain players acquired from the free agent auction will have minimum years to be signed to. If the player went for over the transition price and up to the franchise price at their position, there is a 2 year minimum, if they went for over the franchise price there is a 3 year minimum, with a 5 year maximum in both cases.
D) In-Season Free Agents
Free agents are available from the end of the free agent auction to the end of the season.
Free agent transactions during the season are handled two ways. From the time a player's game starts each week until 11:59 A.M. EST of the Wednesday following that week of play, a player is considered frozen in waivers. After all games have been started, all players are frozen (including those players on byes). This means you may not use the host website to add and drop players during this period. To claim a player after he has been frozen a manager must submit a blind bid via email for that player, by the Wednesday 11:59 A.M. EST deadline. The commissioner will process all the bids submitted on Wednesday.
Players are awarded to the team with the highest total contract value across all years of the proposed contract.
Contracts offered must meet the minimum contract length requirements that are present during the free agent auction. If the bid will force you over either your roster limit or salary cap limit, you must also submit the name of the player or players that you are dropping to make either the roster room or cap room or both. Ties will be awarded to the team who offered the longer contract. If exactly the same contracts are offered (amount and length), the player will be awarded to the team that was slotted to draft highest in the rookie draft the previous offseason.
After the commissioner has sent out an e-mail announcing the winning bids, the owners who submitted those bids must make the adds and drops before the start of those players' games the following week. In extraordinary circumstances, a manager may ask the commissioner to do this for them. Failure to have your roster adjusted will result in your claim on the player being nullified, a 20% cap hit for each year that was offered, as well as a 1 week moratorium from bidding on free agents. After the winning bids have been announced, all players still available who were not awarded via waivers can be signed. All players acquired this way automatically have a contract consisting of one year and $1.
If you use the in-season free agent system to reacquire a player you have dropped, he maintains his previous contract. This is waived if the player is unclaimed through a waiver cycle.
V. Rosters
A) Positions
Each roster must contain the following: 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1K, 1DST, 14-16 Bench spots
B) Injured Reserve
Owners may place an unlimited number of players on injured reserve, but only in the event that the player is actually placed on the NFL team’s injured reserve. The player's salary will still count against your cap. However, this will free up an extra roster space for your team. You may also place on the injured reserve a player who has been suspended for the rest of the regular season.
C) Trades
Trades are allowed from the completion of the tag auction to kickoff of week 10. Teams are allowed to make any trade that does not violate the team’s roster restrictions or current-year salary cap. If a trade does put you over your roster or salary limits you must also drop a player to make the appropriate room. If you are under the minimum roster constraint after the trade, you will be given until the Sunday after the trade is processed to bring your roster up to the 23 minimum limit. Trades that violate future year salary caps are valid. Trades cannot be made with players that do not have contracts. The only draft picks that can be traded during the season are the ones for the upcoming draft. During the offseason you can make trades for the draft of that offseason and the next one.
i. Protests
After a trade has been submitted to the commissioner, he/she will bring it before the league. At this point, there will be a 24 hour window for any owner to attempt to negotiate with either owner concerning players involved in the trade. If either owner involved in the original trade receives a deal they would prefer over the original, they may back out of the original trade if the 24 hour window has not expired. After the 24 hour period has passed, there will be a second 24-hour period where the owners not involved in the trade will have an opportunity to veto the trade. To veto a trade, a ½ + 1 majority of the owners not involved in the trade must email the commissioner their ‘nay’ vote. ‘Aye’ votes are not necessary, as the absence of an owner’s vote will be counted as an ‘Aye’. Only after both 24 hour periods have successfully been cleared will the trade be processed by the commissioner manually adjusting the rosters of the involved teams.
VI. Scoring
Offense:
Passing Yards: 50 yards per point
Rushing Yards: 10 yards per point
Reception Yards: 10 yards per point
Return Yards: 30 yards per point
TD: 6 points
2-point conversion: 2 points
Turnover (INT or Fumble): -2 points
Kickers:
FG 0-39 yards: 3 points
FG 40-49 yards: 4 points
FG 50+ yards: 5 points
PAT: 1 point
Missed kick: -1 point
DST:
Sack: 1 point
Turnover (INT or fumble recovery): 2 points
Safety: 2 points
Blocked Kick: 2 points
TD: 6 points
Shutout: 15 points
1-6 Points Allowed (PA): 10 points
7-13 PA: 7 points
14-20 PA: 3 points
21-27 PA: 0 points
28-34 PA: -3 points
35+ PA: -7 points
VII. Playoffs
The league has been broken up into two divisions. The winner of each division will automatically be in the playoffs. There will be two wild cards that may come from either division. The 4 playoff teams will be seeded based on their regular season record. The playoffs will take place in weeks 15 and 16 of the NFL regular season.
A) Tie-breakers
1) Head-to-head
2) Division record
3) Point differential
4) Record in last 5 games
5) Coin Toss
VIII. League Changes
After the completion of the Fantasy Championship up until 2 weeks after the Super Bowl, changes may be made to this charter, the league, managers and team names. These changes may only take place during this time. Changes to team names may be made without a vote from the league. Everything else will require a league vote.
A) Process
At any point during the aforementioned time period, a proposal may be submitted to the league. Proposals require two endorsements to come to a vote. 48 Hours after a proposal with the proper endorsements is brought forward, the vote shall commence. A ½ + 1 majority is required to for the proposal to pass. Absent votes shall be counted as “Nay”. Voting shall occur over a 48 hour period.
IX. Inactivity and Collusion
To keep the league fair, inactivity and collusion will not be tolerated. Managers are expected to meet all deadlines, including setting a roster of active players each week. Inactive players, including those on BYEs, are to be subbed out of a weekly roster, with the exception of ‘game-time decision’ injury players. Failure to do so will result in a warning the first time, the forfeiting of a first round draft pick (or other such penalty) the second time, and removal from the league the third time. Appeals may be made to the commissioner for extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances.
Since draft position is determined by regular season finish, there may be a temptation to put less than the best team on the field at any point. As the season nears the end, the commissioner will review all complaints made by owners who feel an owner seems to have made questionable moves. If the commissioner feels that a manager has purposefully put less than his/her best team in on any given week, he will take away that team's 1st round pick. If that pick has been traded away, then the commissioner may choose other alternate but equal measures.
X. Prizes
Each year, the entry fees will be used to award the top players. Entry fees will be $5, totaling $50 for the League each year. The $50 shall be spent in the following ways:
A) Trophy
$5 shall be spent each season on the League Trophy. The League Champion will have their name added to the Trophy and will keep possession of the Trophy until a new League Champion is crowned. Damages to the trophy, including destruction and/or loss of the trophy shall be the financial responsibility of the holder of the Trophy. Should damages or a loss of trophy occur, the holder of the trophy will be held responsible with its repair/replacement.
B) Final Standings
The League Champion shall be awarded $25. The loser of the Championship will be awarded $10. The winner of the Third-Place Playoff Match will be awarded $5.
C) Highest Weekly Score
The manager who had the highest single-week score during the season will be awarded $5.
X. Prizes
Each year, the entry fees will be used to award the top players. Entry fees will be $5, totaling $50 for the League each year. The $50 shall be spent in the following ways:
A) Trophy
$5 shall be spent each season on the League Trophy. The League Champion will have their name added to the Trophy and will keep possession of the Trophy until a new League Champion is crowned. Damages to the trophy, including destruction and/or loss of the trophy shall be the financial responsibility of the holder of the Trophy. Should damages or a loss of trophy occur, the holder of the trophy will be held responsible with its repair/replacement.
B) Final Standings
The League Champion shall be awarded $25. The loser of the Championship will be awarded $10. The winner of the Third-Place Playoff Match will be awarded $5.
C) Highest Weekly Score
The manager who had the highest single-week score during the season will be awarded $5.
XI. Special First Year Rules
During the First Year, the following rule changes are in effect until the completion of the 2011 Fantasy Playoffs.
A) Initial Auction Draft
Rosters will be set by an Auction draft. Order for the auction draft shall be determined in a random order.
B) Cap Penalties
No cap penalties shall be enforced for dropping players during the first year.
C) Waiver Order
The waiver order shall be determined each back based on the inverse of the standings.
