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The NewsGroup Fantasy Football Leagues (NGFFL),
hereby known as the league, were founded on December 8, 1998 for the pure
enjoyment of participating in a fun, free, challenging, amicable fantasy
football (FF) league with other newsgroup (NG) regulars. The official
first year of the league was 1999.
Created and fully owned by NG regular Steve Margolis, the
NGFFL is meant to serve as a way for NG regulars to participate together
in FF leagues, have regular communications outside of the NG, and to
provide a forum to enjoy professional football with other FF fanatics.
The league was run completely free for the first year in
existence, but a mandatory three dollar fee to pay for the league's domain
name and for winner awards was established to be effective starting in
2001. This league shall serve as a testament to the collective hard work
and skills of loyal hard-working, intelligent people looking to serve
their league to make the total experience of team ownership in a high
exposure league more exciting. Article 1: Purpose
1.1 The NGFFL
leagues are run purely for fun and recreation, thus the prizes for winning
should include only NG "bragging rights." However, due to the overwhelming
generosity of several of the best known fantasy professionals in this
hobby, several gifts and prizes were donated to the league to make it
easier to manage and to reward some of the winners. On top of these
prizes, a portion of the owner's three dollar league fee will go towards
purchasing and shipping plaques or trophies to its many league winners.
You may click here to see our current list of
contributors and sponsors for 2000 and 2001. We will only ever be at the
whim of generosity from contributors to the league to receive donated
prizes. There will be no guarantee of prizes beyond what is listed in the
link above, which shall be maintained and updated if new prizes or gifts
to the league are donated.
1.2 The league's
Chief Executive Officer shall be solely responsible for the distribution
of prizes he solicits from sponsors. The method for distribution shall be
announced prior to each season based on criteria which shall include the
number of prizes to be distributed and the ranking of the top contests to
win.
1.3 The league
and its members and officers shall not be held liable if a prize is ever
withdrawn by a sponsor after they have agreed to the donation.
1.4 Any team
owner who wins (or is offered) and accepts (or is awarded) a prize must be
a current NGFFL team owner during the time period of the prize (i.e., if
an owner wins a subscription to a premium report for the following season,
they must remain an active NGFFL team owner in that season to continue to
receive the prize). If an owner quits or is removed during that time
period, they will lose eligibility to receive that prize.
2.1 The permanent
League Chief Executive Officer, hereby referred to as the CEO, is the
Owner and Creator of the NGFFL, Steve Margolis. He is responsible for
coordinating all NGFFL leagues, all NGFFL activities, adding and removing
members, leading the Executive Committee, maintaining the Constitution of
the league, and other functions as the need arises. As the Owner of the
NGFFL, Steve Margolis reserves all of his legal, moral and inherent rights
in all matters related to the NGFFL including but never limited to
copyright and legal issues, sales and advertising and league
membership.
2.2 There will be
a League President for each league. Each league will be run
semi-independently by a League President and the CEO will not interfere in
the day-to-day handling of the individual league affairs unless requested
to intervene by the League President or by an owner appeal of a decision
made by the League President to the Executive Committee.
2.2.1 Each
League President will serve one-year appointed terms in their league so
that the positions can be rotated amongst the team owners if possible.
An owner should only serve as a league President every other year at
most in his/her own league (unless there are no other qualified
volunteers or unless the CEO decides it is in the best interest of the
league to retain the President). The term of each will be from May 1 to
December 31. 2.2.2 Each
League President will be responsible for the following:
2.3 The Executive
VP assists the CEO on all league matters, serves on the Executive
Committee and serves as the interim CEO if the CEO becomes unavailable or
at his request.
2.3.1 The VP
for League Operations is responsible for aiding the League Presidents as
needed, serving on the Executive Committee, and serving as an interim
President if a League President becomes unavailable. 2.4 There will be
an Executive Committee to handle all league disputes upon appeal of a
league President's decision by a team owner to the committee, or for any
other matter deemed important by the committee or CEO. The committee shall
be comprised of the following members: the CEO (as non-voting chairman),
the Executive VP, the 5 League Presidents and the VP for League
Operations.
2.4.1 If a
League President's decision or other issue is brought to the attention
of the Executive Committee, the 5 Presidents and 2 VP's shall vote on
the issue after consultation with the both the CEO and any involved
parties as coordinated by the CEO. Normally, any decision by a League
President will be in effect until the committee has voted, but a
temporary stay order may be granted by the CEO until the committee has
voted. The CEO will only consider staying a President's decision if it
appears BOTH to be a credible request and time restrictions necessitate
a temporary decision be made sooner. All committee member votes should
normally be rendered within 48 hours of notification. A minimum of 5
committee members must vote to constitute a quorum. If this cannot be
accomplished within 48 hours, the decision will be on hold until a
quorum of 5 committee members (not including the CEO) can be reached.
The CEO does not vote unless there is a tie, in which case he will cast
the deciding vote. 2.4.2 The
decisions of the Executive Committee can only be overturned on appeal by
a 2/3 affirmative vote of the league involved or the entire NGFFL if it
is involved. All members will have exactly one vote and all affected
parties will be allowed to vote on the matter. It will require 8 votes
to pass in an individual league and 40 votes for the entire
NGFFL.
2.4.3 Any
voting percentages in this Constitution may be changed accordingly by
the CEO if any Alternate Owners who normally wouldn't vote are serving
as a President or VP who would have a vote.
3.1 The NGFFL is
a 60-team league divided into five (5) separate and individual 12-team
leagues. Each league shall have 2 divisions of 6 teams each. The inaugural
1999 leagues are named the George Halas League, the Art Rooney League and
the Paul Brown League in honor of three of the more storied NFL
franchises: the Bears, the Steelers, and the Browns. The 2000 expansion
leagues are named the Vince Lombardi League and Tom Landry League in honor
of the Packers and Cowboys franchises.
3.2 All new
members must be accepted to play in the league by the League Chief
Executive Officer. Members will be assigned teams by the CEO based on
available openings. In future years before new members are added, the CEO
will review an extensive application before awarding a team to a new
member.
3.2.1 All of
the 36 original owners will be called Founding Owners. Any owner added
after the original league is formed with the 36 Founding Owners will not
be termed a Founding Owner. Any NGFFL owner as of June 1, 1999 is to be
considered a Founding Owner. 3.3 In addition
to the 60 team owners, the CEO will always attempt to maintain a
membership of at least 2-3 "quality" Alternate Owners. These Alternate
Owners will be welcome to participate in all league activities and may
fully serve in any and all appointed or voluntary league positions and
activities, with the exception that they will not have a vote unless they
are serving as a President or VP (the CEO may make exceptions depending
upon what is being voted on but their comments and input will always be
welcomed and fully heard). In the best interests of the league, the CEO
may move any alternate off the list and assign him/her to an available
team.
3.3.1 Alternate
Owners may substitute for Owners (at the Owner's request) in temporarily
running an Owner's team if the Owner will need to be away from access to
the league for a period of one or two weeks during the season. No owner
may run more than one league team at a time, but they may, with the
consent of both involved Presidents and the CEO, temporarily run a team
in the league in which they do not own a team in a similar fashion to
how Alternate Owners can. 3.4 If an owner
must be away from access to the league for 2 weeks during the season and
cannot make suitable CEO-approved arrangements to cover this absence, he
should request that a new owner take over his team. In the event that this
were this to occur, that owner would automatically drop to Alternate Owner
status and an Alternate Owner will take his place. 3.5 If the CEO
removes a team owner for failing to participate in the responsibilities of
an owner for two weeks or more or for any other reason, they will not
receive Alternate Owner status.
3.6 Owners will
not be subject to losing their teams in the off-season if they make
suitable arrangements for management of their team for any off-season
league events (the trading period, the draft, etc.) through their league
President or the CEO.
3.7 Keeping
article 3.6 in mind, owners are still responsible for keeping up with
required email directions at all periods of the year. If owners do not
respond to league emails in a timely manner as required and they do not
arrange for a proxy to do so for them, they do stand in danger of losing
their teams.
5.1 A
roster may never exceed 20 players.
5.2 You
must always have enough players on your roster to be able to submit a
valid lineup each week.
5.2.1
Owners must at all times have one QB, one Kicker and one TM D/ST on
their roster. Owners must also always have at least five players that
are a legal lineup combination of RB's, WR's and TE's on their roster.
This minimum roster of eight players is considered the smallest legal
roster an owner may have. 5.2.2
A roster may never drop below any position minimums at any time. Owners
may not be without a required positional player waiting for a trade or
free agent bid to be processed.
5.3
Owners must never allow their off-season rosters to drop below five
players. 5.4
Rosters as of June 20th must have a minimum of five players and a maximum
of eight players. As of June 30th, rosters must contain EXACTLY five
players. Once the draft starts, there are no more roster size restrictions
except that upon completion of the draft, an owner must fulfill all
positional minimums as described in Article 5.2.1.
5.5 All
owners must reduce their rosters to a maximum of 16 players by Thursday
noon after week four's games. Owners do so by naming these cuts on their
weekly free agency bid forms in the comments section.
5.6
Owners who do not name their cuts as described here in the Constitution
will have their rosters cut by the CEO in consultation with their League
President.
5.7
There is no injured reserve. If a player gets hurt, an owner may keep him,
trade him or cut him. It is each owner's choice.
6.1
Starting lineups shall consist of 8 players. There will be 1 QB, 1 PK, and
1 TM Defense/Special Teams. The other 5 players will be RB's, WR's or
TE's, with no more than 3 RB's able to start. It is each owner's
discretion how to play those 5.
6.2 All
lineups must be submitted via the myfantasyleague.com web site for your
league (or to your President if necessary) before kickoff of the first NFL
game of the week. The myfantasyleague.com system is the final judge as to
whether a lineup was turned in on time.
6.3 If
no lineup is turned in by the deadline, the previous week's lineup will be
used. Only the individual team owner may turn in his or her own
lineup.
6.3.1
Lineups may be turned in as far ahead of time as you want through the
lineups link on your myfantasyleague.com page. 7.1
Scoring will consist of the following for individual players
(QB-RB-WR-TE-K) regardless of position:
Defensive and special teams scoring
will be as follows:
7.2
Fumbles ruled by the NFL to be recovered in the end zone by an offensive
player will not count as a score for any individual offensive
players.
7.2.1
Fumbles must be returned at least 1 yard (as credited by the NFL) to
count for an offensive player if they happen to score. Section 7.1
states we credit only tds rushed, received, or passed (the offensive
tds). The action of rushing, receiving or passing indicates a movement
of the ball, not a falling on it. 7.3 If
the offensive special teams unit is on the field (to kick a field goal or
extra point or to punt) and an offensive play such as a pass or rush
attempt is made, stats will count only for the individual offensive
players involved in the event of any score and/or yardage gained as
appropriate by the rules. 7.4 The
defense must be on the field for a turnover in the end zone to count as a
score in which case it will be scored both a turnover and a
td.
8.1 In
the initial season for each league, all league schedules were randomly
determined. It is not expected that the league will expand beyond the five
current league it contains.
8.2 All
teams in the initial year of a league will face each division team two
times and three random non-division teams one time each.
8.3 In
subsequent years, each team will still face each division team two
times.
8.3.1
The three non-division games will be determined by each team's division
standing (decided by playoff seeding). If you finish in the top three in
your division in any year, you will face the top three teams from out of
your division the following year. If you finish in the bottom three
teams in your division, you will face the bottom three teams in the
opposite division. 8.4
Schedules will then be created annually using the schedule
matrix that will be updated each year based on draft
order. 9.1
During the regular season and playoffs, no game
will end in a tie. If a tie exists the following will be used in order
until a winner is determined: 1. Highest scoring fantasy starter. 9.2 Whichever team wins the tie breaker will have 1 point added to their score and be declared the winner. 10.1 There will be a weekly in-season free agent bidding process. Each owner will be given $25 annually in totally fictional "cash" to spend on a season's worth of free agent pick ups. This cash is available to owners on July 1st each year. 10.2 Bids must be emailed by Thursdays at noon to your individual league Hotmail email account (linked from your myfantasyleague.com page) that your League President will oversee. He will send out results by Thursdays at midnight (on occasion, the CEO, Exec VP or VP for League Operations will process the bids for a league).
10.2.1 Anyone with access to their league's Hotmail account (Executive Committee members) will be required to have their bids in to Hotmail 24 hours prior to the "owner" submission deadline for all in-season and off-season bidding sessions. This deadline is to guard against any Executive Committee member looking to see how full the mailbox is before submitting a bid. It is recommended that team owners submit their bids during the season from Wednesdays at noon until Thursdays at noon (or within 24 hours of the deadline in any off-season bidding sessions), but they may always submit them earlier at their convenience. 10.2.2 Only delegated Executive Committee members will ever have access to the Hotmail accounts. The password will be changed often if necessary. Mail will be confirmed to be unopened by two executive committee members on Thursday mornings before any mail is opened to ensure honesty in the process. Opened mail is flagged as open, so it will easily be seen if any emails have been opened. 10.2.3 Owners will annually be assigned mandatory passwords that they must use to make a successful bid for a free agent. 10.2.4 The date/time stamp on the bid form itself
(which is the independent source dreamsports.com) in comparison with the
date/time stamp on the bid as received at Hotmail shall determine the
correct day and time a bid was sent and received. An owner who also adds
their own email address to the bid form can provide that email as an
offer of 10.3 Each team owner is allowed to bid weekly on up to 4 players and may acquire up to 4 players. Players will be "sold" for the amount of cash bid to the highest bidder. "Acquired" means you're adding one player to your team and dropping one player based on the bid being accepted. A "bid" is a request to acquire a player by using your available bidding cash in a system that rewards the team owner with the highest bid in cash. A "cut" must be named on the bid for a bid to be successful. A cut may be contingent, but a bid may not be. 10.4 Bids must be in even dollar amounts only. Bids made in excess of available cash at the time of the bid will be discarded. 10.5 Bids must be prioritized from the highest bid amount (in $$) to the smallest. If two bids are identical from an owner, the order in which they are listed will be used to determine which player an owner wants more. In the event of tie bids between two or more owners, the player will be sold to the bidder with the worst season won/loss record (the tiebreaker method for the playoffs will be used to break any further ties). Where an owner lists a player on a bid form is meaningless when it comes to scoring a particular legal bid. Presidents should never compare where a player is listed on a bid form - only how much the bid is for and how that compares to other bids.
10.5.1 Owners must state whether they would like to acquire 1 to 4 players based on their bids if acquiring more than 1 is possible; otherwise a bid will always be assumed at all times to only be to acquire 1 player. However, you may acquire up to 4 players each week if your bid is successful. 10.5.2 "If" bids will not be allowed. An "if" bid is one that states you want to grab 1 one qb (or any position) "if" not one then another. 10.5.3 If an owner submits a subsequent Hotmail bid email in addition to one sent previously, any and all previous bid emails are ruled void. Only the most recent bid email by an owner will ever be considered for bidding purposes. 10.6 Once an owner's cash is depleted they will be unable to pick up free agents for the season unless they trade for cash from another owner.
10.6.1 Owners are allowed to bank up to $5 for carryover to the following season. Any excess funds an owner possesses at the final cut down date will be forfeited. 10.6.2 Any new owner added to a previously existing league after each season will start with either $30 for bidding or $25 plus the available cash the departing owners possesses (keeping in mind article 10.6.1) at the discretion of the CEO. 10.7 Owners playing in individual league championship games may make one FREE (bidding dollars not required) drop/add 48 hours before their games in case of injury or benching ONLY if another "named NFL starting player" is not available on your bench (this will be at the discretion of the CEO in consultation with each involved President and the order will be based on playoff seeding with the higher seed getting priority).
10.7.1 Owners in this situation must notify the CEO of their intentions to use this clause by Tuesday midnight after week 15. Bids will then be due 48 hours before the first week 16 game and the results will be granted soon thereafter. In the event of an unlikely Thursday week 16 game, bids will be due Tues midnight and will be considered notification. 10.8 There will be one off-season free agent bidding session that will occur between one to three weeks prior to the first NFL game each year in August. It will be run identically to how a normal weekly free agent bidding week during the season is except that Presidents will have 2 full days to process results on this occasion. 11.1 Trading rules will be extremely liberal. Owners are encouraged to be creative in making trades, but "player to be named later" trades will not be allowed.
11.1.1 Owners in returning leagues may trade players, cash or draft picks. Owners in expansion leagues may not trade draft picks until after they have been in the league for one full year. 11.1.2 Owners who may trade draft picks may only do so for the current year and one year beyond the current year. Any trade for a future draft pick beyond the current year must be approved in advance by the CEO or his designee. 11.1.3 No trades will be allowed between leagues. 11.2 Trades that appear to be collusional in nature may be subject to appeal and may be held up until an investigation by the involved President and CEO can start and end.
11.2.1 Owners who collude to fraud the league with extremely unfair trades, loaning of players, or any other action or non-action which has a direct negative effect on a franchise and/or the league will be removed from the league if it is determined by the CEO collusion and/or cheating has occurred. 11.2.2 For this reason, a player acquired by trade must remain on your roster for 2 NFL games. In practice, this rule may not be actively enforced, but if it does get noticed that a team violated this rule, they will be subject to sanctions. 11.2.3 No money (legal tender) or products/services with a real cash value may be tendered as part of any trade or negotiation. 11.3 Trades of players and/or free agent cash is allowed as long as they are fair and reasonable and will only become valid after all owners involved make and post their trades on the league's myfantasyleague.com web page. The League Presidents have the right to void any obviously unfair or unreasonable trade after consultation with the CEO. 11.4 No trading will be allowed after Thursday at noon after Week 12. Trading will resume again in the 4-week trading period in June each year. 11.5 The weekly in-season trading deadline will be Saturdays at midnight EST (or 12 hours before the start of the first game of the week for weeks with Thursday, Friday and Saturday games).
11.5.1 Any players traded or received in trade after the trade deadline up until the lineup deadline are not eligible to be started that week. 11.5.2 Anyone found starting a player acquired in trade after the trade deadline for that week will receive a zero for that player that week. 11.5.3 On the second offense, that owner would forfeit their next game with a score of zero. 11.5.4 If an owner was in violation of this rule for a third overall time, they will not be allowed to participate in free agent bidding or trading for 10 consecutive NGFFL weeks (whether they fall in one year or not). 11.6 Trading may take place during the one-week period between the announcement of the keepers and the commencement of the annual draft; however, at that time, trades must be for an equal number of players so that each team remains at 5 keepers. 11.7 After each season is over, returning team owners will be permitted to negotiate to trade franchises with any other NGFFL returning or newly-appointed team owner.
11.7.1 The open trading period for trading franchises will be from Jan 1 until May 31 each year. 11.7.2 Franchise trading includes trading every asset your team owns for every asset the other team owns. That includes: your entire roster, your league and division placement, your rights to future draft picks, all of your available free agent cash, etc. You carry no rights from the former team that you previously held to your new team. 11.7.3 To have a franchise trade with an owner in your league be successful, it will need the approval of at least 2/3 of the returning, non-involved owners in your league. 11.7.4 To have a franchise trade with an owner outside of your league be successful, it will need the approval of at least 1/2 of the returning non-involved owners in EACH league. If either league votes against the trade, it will not be approved. 11.7.5 The CEO may deny any franchise trade in the best interests of the NGFFL, but will only intervene in such trades if it appears the trade was collusional in any aspect. 11.7.6 Votes will be called by the CEO on June 1st for all potential trades that are negotiated in the open trading period. A vote shall not be official until all returning owners in the league at that time cast a vote. If a new owner is added to the league after the season, they shall not have a vote and the CEO will modify the required vote percentages accordingly. 11.7.7 Each owner may only have one potential franchise trade voted on each year. 11.7.8 If an owner makes a successful franchise trade, they will not be allowed to attempt another franchise trade for 3 years. 12.1 Weeks 14, 15 and 16 of the NFL season are reserved for the league playoffs. At the end of the 13 weeks, the 2 division winners, the next top 3 best teams according to won/loss record (and tiebreakers), and the remaining team with the highest number of total points scored will enter the playoffs. 12.2 The following will be used if two or more teams have identical records in determining the best and worse won/loss records and the 6th playoff spot for the remaining team with the highest points scored:
1) Head-to-head record by winning percentage (wins divided
by total games involved) if all involved teams have played each other at
least once each. 12.3 For the playoffs, each individual league is handled separately. For the first week, the two division winners get a bye. The wild card team with the best record plays the 6th place team. The other two wild card teams play each other. For the second week, the #1 seeded division winner plays the wild card remaining with the worst record and the #2 seed division winner plays the other team. The two winners meet in the league championship games the following week. 12.4 The remaining 6 teams will begin the Consolation Bowl playoffs. The top two teams by record (#7 and #8) will have a first round bye. The #9 team will play the #12 team, and the #10 team will play the #11 team. In the second round, the #7 team will play the winner of the 10/11 game, and the #8 team will play the winner of the 9/12 game. The two winners in round 2 will play for the Consolation Bowl championship. 12.5 There will also be a NGFFL Points Champion. The winner will be the one team in all of the NGFFL to score more points by the sum of their weekly starting lineups over the course of the season than any other team. This award will be realized after the results of the week 13 games and this award is totally separate from anything that may occur in the playoffs. 12.6 There will be a Unification Title Game that will pit the five league winners against each other and will take place in week 17 of the NFL season. The winner of this game is declared the NGFFL Champion. There will also be a Toilet Bowl game. To qualify for this game, the last place team in each league that does not win the Consolation Bowl will play in this game. The Unification Title Game and Toilet Bowl Game will be played in week 17 of the NFL season.
12.6.1 In these two games, the involved teams will play "roster versus roster." Every member of each team will be scored in determining the final scores for each team. If any team has less than a full, healthy 16-player roster due to injured players or non-starters, that will be the risk they take in not fielding a full bench in preparation for this game. 12.6.2 Any ties in these games will not be broken. In that instance, co-champs will be declared. 12.6.3 If co-champs are declared, a coin flip will take place by the CEO to determine draft order. 12.7 How you fare in the playoffs will determine your draft position for the following year. For each league, this will be the draft order based on playoff and regular season performance:
1st position - will be the Consolation Bowl winner. This is to reward the team who does not make the league championship playoffs who wins in the Consolation Game. 2nd thru 6th positions - will be the worst five teams by inverse regular season record that do not win the Consolation Bowl game and that did not make the league championship playoffs. 7th position - will be the League Champion. 8th thru 12th positions - will be the 5 playoff teams who do not win the league championship game by inverse regular season record. 13.1 The 16-player rosters must be reduced to 8 players by June 20 at midnight each year by emailing "CUT" players to the league's Hotmail account. The 8-player rosters must then be cut to exactly 5 players/keepers by June 30 at midnight in the same manner.
13.1.1 If a team owner does not respond to specific required duties contained in league emails in a timely manner during the 4-week trading period or does not announce his/her keepers on either cut day, it will be assumed they have quit the league and an Alternate Owner will be named to take over the team. 13.2 There will be a 7-day waiting period after keepers are announced from July 1-7. The annual drafts will then begin on July 8th each year.
13.2.1 The email/web-based draft will then last until all teams have acquired 20 players. 13.3 If an Alternate Owner is named according to 13.1.1 to take over a team, they will inherit the full available roster and have 48 hours to decide which 5 players they will keep.
13.3.1 The Alternate Owner will be allowed to trade during this 48-hour period with the rest of their league which has already cut down to 5 keepers, but trades must be even in the number of players traded by both sides so that they remain at 5 keepers at all times. 13.3.2 If the Alternate Owner takes over a team after the first cut deadline, they will participate with the other owners as normal. 14.1 The draft will start approximately July 8th each year and continue until it is done.
14.1.1 Owners may only draft current NFL players, rookie draft picks from that calendar year and players not in the NFL who have played in the NFL (or other pro league) at any time in the previous two years. 14.2 Owners must check email and the web page several times every day and should take no more than a few hours after receiving notification to make a selection.
14.2.1 Owners who exceed 16 hours on the clock to make a pick will lose their pick for that round and will make 2 selections consecutively in the next round at the spot in the round that owner would normally pick. 14.2.2 Owners are highly encouraged to use the pre-draft method described at myfantasyleague.com to be sure all picks are made in a timely manner. This will be mandatory in some circumstances as determined by the CEO. 14.2.3 If an owner misses one pick in the draft regardless of the excuse, his pick is automatically moved down per 14.2.1. 14.2.4 If an owner misses a pick at any point in the draft, he will be required to pre-draft at myfantasyleague.com at least two rounds ahead from that point on. 14.2.5 If that same owner then misses another pick in the draft for any reason, he may lose his team. 14.2.6 All situations are unique and at the discretion of the CEO in consultation with the involved League President, alternate sanctions may be enforced if removing an owner from his team is not deemed the best solution to the problem or issue that arises. 14.3 Once you draft a player, you may not "undraft" him and draft another in his place. 14.4 As the commencement of the season grows near, the CEO may shorten the time frame an owner may have to make a selection. 14.5 If the season is getting too close and the CEO feels the draft will not end on time, the CEO will call a live chat room draft meeting with a two week's notice to finish the draft. Any owner who fails to show up at that time will have his or her team draft completed by the CEO or a designee appointed by the CEO. Article 15 - Amending the Constitution 15.1 All votes to amend the Constitution will be conducted by June 15 before the first set of cuts must be announced each season. 15.2 Any voted rules changes must be approved by 2/3 of all league owners. 15.3 Any proposed rules changes will be considered by the CEO, and based on the appropriateness of the rule change proposal, a league-wide vote may take place. 15.4 The CEO reserves the right to make rules changes in the best interests of the league. Not all rules changes will be voted on at the discretion of the CEO. 15.5 Very few, if any, rules will ever be changed during the season unless it is absolutely necessary, and only then after bringing the issue up for a league-wide discussion. Article 16 - League Activities 16.1 In addition to the positions described above for the running of the leagues, other things may be going on and all owners are highly encouraged to take an active part.
16.1.1 A Newsletter Editor will be appointed by the CEO based on hearing from volunteers. The Editor will be responsible for all activities of the newsletter with help from an Assistant Editor, league correspondents, and power rankings correspondents from owner volunteers. It will be up to the Editor to ensure the newsletter is sent out as scheduled and they will work with their staff to set up the roles of each person on staff. All functions of the newsletter will be up to the Editor. If the Editor can no longer meet their commitment, a new Editor will be appointed by the CEO. We will have a newsletter that will publish once per week in-season (from the NFL week 1 through the week of the NGFFL playoffs), and once in the off-season (June to August). 16.1.2 There will also be a league Webmaster appointed by the CEO. This person will acquire, develop, maintain, and post all league activities on the league web page in cooperation with the CEO. This person should be relatively experienced in web page design by having run a league or web page before and must be willing to the time commitment of a few hours or so each week. This person may appoint an assistant and/or staff if they choose. The webmaster will work closely with the CEO, each President, and the newsletter editor. Owners may serve in dual roles with the approval of the CEO if they feel they can handle it. 16.1.3 There may also be others who are asked to run certain activities such as Grudge Matches, Chat Activities, NGFFL Olympics, Survival Game, Power Rankings, etc. Other activities may include the Predict the Playoffs contest and Mr. Football contest. 16.2 An Annual NGFFL Masters League will take place starting in 2000. In the first year, the top 12 teams by Hall of Fame scores will battle it out in a points-only format with their weekly scores from 2000 in their regular leagues being their Masters League weekly scores. Starting in year 2001, the top 15 teams will be invited to play as well as the winner and runner-up from the previous season. In the year 2000, the winner will receive 12 HOF bonus points and the runner-up will receive 7 points. Starting in 2001, the winner and runner-up will receive 15 and 10 respectively. 17.1 Each owner is ethically responsible for fielding their best possible lineup each week to win each and every league game for that season. What is considered your best possible lineup will be left to each owner, but if an owner appears to be tanking a game for any reason, they may be removed from the league. 17.2 Owners will not make it a point to police the lineups and trades of other owners. If a lineup or trade appears to cross the line, the owner who feels it needs to be brought out in the open should first contact their President (a courtesy copy to the CEO is also a good idea). All attempts shall be made in private by the President and CEO to resolve the issue. If the issue needs to be brought to the league(s) attention, be assured the CEO will do so. 17.3 Public or private attempts to harass or malign another league member will not and should not go on. We are all adults. Talking a little smack I'm sure will go on and will be fun, humorous, and good natured; however, personal attacks are something else altogether. It is each owner's responsibility to remain civil and friendly to everyone else in the league at all times. If you end up not getting along with someone, it doesn't need to be an issue dragged thru the league. 17.4 Tanking will consist of the following: attempting to lose to get a better draft slot, attempting to lose to help another owner make the playoffs, attempting to lose to help eliminate an owner from the playoffs, submitting injured players when healthy ones are available, not actively trying to trade or pick up free agents to improve your team if your season hits the skids, or any other definition of tanking that has the effect of hurting your team and/or the league. 17.5 Owner communications will not be considered tanking or collusion on its face; however, if they can be shown to be such, that owner won't be allowed to continue in the league. Owners may and should freely talk to each other however is appropriate. It is only when the line of collusion, tanking, or trying to defraud the league in any way is crossed where the CEO will step in and conduct an investigation. The CEO will also not hesitate to drop an owner who quits responding to the league if they lose interest or violate league rules. Remember, we are here for fun, but it does take work to make fun. 17.6 At no time shall an owner make any attempt, either openly or covertly, to remove another owner from the league. If an issue that comes up rises to the level that sanctions are discussed, removing an owner will only occur as a last resort if other ways to resolve the issue are not considered by the CEO to be in the best interests of the league. P.1 Several controversial scoring situations arose at the end of the 1998 season. As a result, all individual player/team scoring as computed by the myfantasyleague.com system shall be considered final. If the system later "corrects" a scoring play, changes will be made retroactively. However, any owner may appeal any scoring decision to the CEO and Executive Committee for an emergency appeal. If timeliness is not an issue, a majority vote of 2/3 of the entire NGFFL will be required to reverse the scoring decision of myfantasyleague.com. P.2 The rec.sport.football.fantasy newsgroup will not be used for any NGFFL business - official or unofficial. Any team owner doing so may be removed from the league without warning.
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