2023 NFL LEAGUE RULES

All questions, disputes and interpretations of these rules subject to commissioner’s rulings. All commissioner rulings will be final.

Rule changes for the 2023 Season are in red

The season will consist of 14 weeks of regular season play beginning Thursday Sept. 7^th, 2023. The participants in the playoffs will be the 3 division winners along with 3 wild card teams from any division for a total of 6 teams. There will be 3 rounds of playoffs to determine the league champion. Week 18 will be Scrub Bowls only.

The weekly team point totals will be ranked 1-12, with the top 6 receiving a bonus win. In the event of a tie for the 6^th and final spot in the top 6, both teams will receive the bonus win.

The Scoring
The 2023 scoring system is available on the main page of the league website. Fantrax will track live scoring. Weekly results, standings and side pots will be updated on our league website. If an owner notices a discrepancy with scores of games, scores of players, game results, standings or side pots, please notify the Commish immediately. In the event of a discrepancy, the commissioner will review all available info and provide a ruling.

In the event of a tie game, both teams will receive 1 point for the tie. In the playoffs, the higher seed will get the win in the event of a tie game.

The Teams/Rosters
The teams will consist of 10 players, distributed as follows:
(1) QB    (2) RB    (3) WR    (1) Optional (Any position)    (1) TE    (1) K    (1) Team Defense        

NOTE: during the draft on Fantrax you can't draft a K or Def in the optional position. They can be added there during the season. Team defenses will be treated as any other individual player on a roster, and eligible for the High Player Score Game side pot. Prior to the draft, the Commish will review player positions in Fantrax and make any necssary adjustments.  During the season, the Commish will review any concerns or issues with a player position change or players misclassified and adjust accordingly.

Teams must declare 1 player from any position to be a Franchise Player. Franchise players must be from your active roster, IR players are not eligible. If a franchise player meets the injury qualification, all free agent players from the same position/NFL team will be ineligible to be picked up by another team. Teams will retain rights to the backup free agents until the franchise player no longer meets the injury qualification. The franchise player can be changed each week when submitting a lineup. The franchise protection for a newly named franchise player begins once a player's game for the week begins. The only exception will be if a team's franchise player is placed on the IR during the week, the team may declare a new franchise player immediately. The same franchise player rules apply during the playoffs. Scrub bowl teams do still retain franchise rights during the playoffs/scrub bowls. If multiple teams have an injured franchise player from the same NFL team, priority is determined by which team drafted/acquired the injured franchise player first.

The Draft
The draft is 10 rounds with teams picking in reverse order in even numbered rounds. Fantrax will determine draft order when creating the league. You are permitted to trade draft positions. There will be a 2 minute per pick time limit.

Players who meet the injury qualification may be drafted. After the draft, any player that meets the injury qualification up to when week 1 lineups are due, may be placed on the IR starting the day after the draft. Priority for these IR replacements is the highest drafted player to be replaced.

Line-ups
Lineup changes are due to the league by 10:30am mtn Sunday. The default lineup for teams each week will be the previous week's lineup. If no legal changes are submitted, the previous weeks lineup status, sub priority and franchise players will be used. Lineup changes for players in games prior to Sunday (i.e. Thu/Fri/Sat games) must be submitted prior to kickoff of the player's game.

Starting line ups will consist of :
(1) QB    (1) RB    (2) WR    (1) Optional (RB or WR)    (1) TE    (1) K    (1) Team Defense

Teams must prioritize their back up RB/WR with a #1 and #2 sub designation. Due to bye weeks, a team may only have one or no subs available. If the starting QB or K does not play, the NFL QB that starts the game for that NFL team or the first K to attempt a FG or PAT will be used. If a team has a QB or K as an optional player, they must declare if they want the Optional player or the QB from the same NFL team to be the first sub. If no QB/K sub priority is declared, the default is the Optional player first.

If a starting player does not play at all (even a single play counts as played), regardless of reason, you may use a sub. If a team is forced to use a sub, they must still maintain a legal lineup. (i.e. can't have 3 RB or 4 WR) You can not use a QB, K, TE or DEF in the optional position as a sub for a RB or WR. If a starter is listed as OUT for a game, no sub will be used.

Teams must declare a specific player as the back up TE on their roster each week. The sub TE must be from the same NFL team as the starting TE. Teams have no permanent rights to the sub TE. A sub TE may be claimed as a free agent at any time. In the event that 2 teams have starting TE's from the same NFL team, priority is determined by which team drafted/acquired the starting TE first. The higher priority team can choose their sub, the other team has to choose a different sub TE. If there is only 1 additional TE available, both teams may list the same TE as their sub, but only one team can use that player if necessary.

Fees
There will be an entry fee of $330 due on draft day. Owners may make arrangements with the Commish if necssary.

*Entry Fee Breakdown:    $3960 Entry Fees Collected

-$330 Commish Fee
-$80 Website/Server
-$150 Division Winners (3 Teams)
-$2320 Playoff Team Breakdown (6 Teams)
-$600 Side-Pot Winners
-$240 Scrub Bowls *(Scrub Bowl I for 6 non-playoff teams, Scrub Bowl II for teams eliminated from playoffs after each round)
-$240 Post-Season Pool

Prize Money
The total of all eligible fees collected will be returned to the league in the form of prize money. All Six (6) of the playoff teams that qualify for the post season will share in the prize money. All sidepots will conclude at the end of the regular season.

Weekly Points Pool
The top 3 teams scores each week will receive the following prize:     1^st $12         2^nd $8       3^rd $4
The bottom 3 teams will have to pay the following amounts:     12^th $12    11^th $8       10^th $4

Team entry fees will be adjusted by money won or loss in the weekly points pool the following season. Any winnings or losses from the prior year, would be the responsibility of the owner that incurred them. If a team chooses not to come back to the league the following year, they would receive any weekly winnings they may have won, as well must pay any losses they may have had. If a team does not pay off any losses, they would not be permitted to participate in ANY UAL Fantasy League until their debt is settled.

Post Season Play
Each Division Winner and 3 wild card teams qualify for the playoffs. The top two division winners will receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs. In Round One, the matchups are lowest division winner vs wildcard seed 3, and wildcards 1 vs 2. In Round Two, the top division winner will play the lowest remaining seed, and the two remaining teams will play each other. In Round Three, the two winners from round two will play for the league championship. When determining final order of finish, a wildcard team can never be ranked higher then a divisional winner, regardless of the teams final record. "Home-field advantage" will apply in the playoffs ONLY, with the higher seeded team receiving the advantage in a tie game.

Tie Breakers
If at any time during the season a tie occurs with respect to records, the league will use the same formula through out:
1) total team points (wins/ties(1/2 point) + top 7 finishes)
2) winning percentage ((wins + 1/2 point for ties)/games played)
3) head to head
4) record within division (*only in the event of a tie between two teams in the same division)
5) most points scored
6) most points scored against
7) coin flip

*Note: In the event of a 3-way tie for a position spot, tie breaker #3 head to head is only used if a team won against both of the other two teams. If the three teams all went 1-1 against the other two teams, tie breaker #3 is not used.

Transactions
All transaction request must be sent to the Commish. Transactions will be processed daily at 8pm mtn. Sunday transactions will be processed at the 1030am mtn lineup deadline. There are NO TRANSACTIONS permitted on Monday. On weeks with a Thursday game, transactions (including waiver claims) will be processed at 6pm on Thursday ONLY. When you acquire a free agent, the player must remain on your roster for that week's scheduled game. The only exception is in an injury situation, where an injured player may be replaced or a player is activated off the IR and player must be dropped.

Free Agents
Free agent add/drop moves are not permitted after the draft. The first transaction day to make add/drop moves will be Tuesday night September 12, 2023 after week one is complete.

If a team wishes to place a bid on more than one free agent during any given claim period, the owner must rank the players in an order of preference. The initial free agent priority list will be set on Tuesday September 12^th based upon the reverse order of the standings from week #1. Teams will only drop to the bottom of the priority list on free agent add/drop moves only, IR moves do not drop a team. Trading your priority position during the season is permitted.

The league will award players in a draft like manner, with the highest ranked bidding team on the priority list getting their first choice of players then the next highest ranked team getting their choice, and so on. If a team makes multiple claims, the claims will be processed one "round" of claims at a time, with the priority list reset after each "round" of claims. Teams will each get one move processed before going to the second round of claims. Teams can not drop a player and wait to pick a player up at a later date, the entire move must be completed at one time.

There is a limit of 5 free agent add/drop moves per year at the QB, TE, K, DEF positions, whether the free agent is added at the actual position or at the optional position.

Players that meet the injury qualification may be claimed as free agents, but they can not be placed on the IR until after they play in a game first, provided they still meet the injury qualification. Changing from one QB to another QB at the same NFL team does not count as a free agent move.

Any player involved in an early game (Thu/Fri/Sat), can not be released for a new player during that same week once the early game starts. Players involved are locked out until the next transaction period on Tuesday. One exception to this rule: if a team has a player on the IR and an active player who plays Thursday. Teams may designate the Thursday player to be dropped if the IR player is not on the Friday injury report or due to be activated off the NFL IR. The Thursday player must be listed as a sub, if they are started on Thursday they can not be dropped under any circumstance. If the IR player is not on the Friday injury report, the move will be processed Friday, dropping the Thursday player, activating the IR player. If the player is activated off the NFL IR anytime before Sunday, the Thursday player is dropped. This move is automatic, and can not be changed once declared. If the IR player is listed as questionable or worse on Friday, the Thursday player remains on the team, and another active player will have to be dropped if the team wants to activate the IR player despite being listed on the Friday injury report.

Teams are permitted to acquire a bye week sub to replace a QB, TE, K or DEF. Bye week subs will be processed on Saturday at 8pm mtn, after regular free agent moves. Priority for bye week subs is reverse order of the standings. (team point totals only, not playoff seeds) Teams retain no rights to a bye week subs once the week is completed. Bye week subs must be an eligible free agent player to be claimed, players on waivers are not eligible for bye week subs. If a team has multiple QB, TE, K or DEF on their roster (i.e. one in optional player position, not on a bye week as well), they are not eligible to receive a bye week sub. Teams may use an early game player as a bye week sub. Teams may make a Thursday player a secondary choice as a bye week sub (i.e. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. choice) If another team makes the same player their first choice, they will get the player.

There are no free agent add/drop moves permitted once the playoffs begin in week 15 for all teams, including playoff teams on a bye in round one. Playoff bye teams do not have to activate players off the IR if they are not on injury report in round one, but will in round two if required. IR moves are permitted during the playoffs. After week #14, all playoff teams will get priority on free agent claims. All free agent claims made by Scrub Bowl teams will be processed on Saturday night after playoff teams. The priority list will still be used, but split into two; one for playoff teams and one for scrub bowl teams. The playoff priority list seeding will carryover from the end of the regular season, it is not reset. Active playoff teams have priority over eliminated playoff teams. Scrub Bowl and eliminated playoff team's claims will be processed on Saturday at 8pm after active playoff team moves are processed, in the date order received, and then by priority list if necessary. Scrub Bowl teams may designate a Thursday game player to be dropped for a free agent on Saturday. The Thursday player to be dropped must not be started and the move can not be changed after the Thursday game is played once declared. During the playoffs, if a healthy player is announced as expected to not play their usual role, whether it is a QB not starting, a player expected to be inactive or they will have a limited role (i.e. play the first series or two only), the player may be placed on the IR.

Waiver Wire
All players dropped will go on waivers. Players will remain on waivers for 2 days. (i.e. a player dropped Tuesday can be claimed Thursday) If a team activates an IR player, the player dropped will be available the next day. (IR move players dropped on Saturday can be claimed at the 1030am mtn Sunday lineup deadline)

If a player clears waivers Friday, teams with a player in the Thursday game may make a conditional Friday waiver claim involving the Thursday player. Once the conditional claim is submitted and the Tursday game is played, it may not be changed under any circumstance.

Injury List
A player can be placed on the IR Tuesday through Thursday (prior to the release of the Friday injury report) with any verifiable injury, Covid protocol issue or news a player will miss a game for any reason. It must be a substantiated injury or Covid protocol issue, not just a player was given a day off for rest. Once released, the official NFL Friday injury report will be used to determine injured player status for the week. Official NFL injury reports for Thursday, Saturday or Monday games are released the day before the game. Players that are suspended, released by their NFL team, or officially inactive for a game for any reason are eligible for the IR. If a player is on a bye week and there is qualified injury news they may be placed on the IR during their bye week. If a TE is hurt, teams do not automatically get the sub TE on their roster. Teams must submit a move to claim the sub TE, and that sub TE is also available to be claimed by any team in the league. (only exception is if the TE is a franchise player, then franchise rules apply)

If an IR player is not on the official Friday NFL injury report, the player must be activated by Sunday 1030am mtn or they will be dropped. If additional injury news is updated Saturday or Sunday, the player may remain on the IR. An IR player who plays in a week but has a bye the following week does not have to be activated during the bye week.

IR moves are permitted during the playoffs. Playoff bye teams do not have to activate players off the IR if they no longer meet the injury qualification, but will in round two if required.

Trades
Trades are permitted at anytime until the trading deadline. Owners must have a complete and balanced roster at the conclusion of a trade. In the event of a "2 for 1" trade, owners must release and/or acquire free agents to fill any roster voids. The trading deadline will be 10:30am mtn on Sunday of week #10 (Novermber 12, 2023).

Fines
Fines will be issued for for an incomplete lineup. An incomplete lineup occurs when a player on a bye week is started, or a player listed as out is started. A mulligan will be issued for the first offense and a $10 fine for all subsequent offenses. Fines will be deducted from any team winnings, or added to next year's entry fee. Fines will be used for league expenses or added to the prize fund if necessary.