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We have tried to figure out a way to have fun and realistic, yet still competitive year-to-year owners fantasy football league. We have been in enough to figure out what works and what doesn't, and what is just plain stupid. We believe we are on the right track. By no means are we saying this system is perfect, but it should be fun and competitive.

Below are outlined a basic rule system. We have worked out most problems, we believe, but may have passed some minor details. If anyone has suggestions let us know. Now for the league rules.

II. Rosters

A) Total Team Make-Up

Each team will consist of a 36-42 man roster. Only 36 are active, with 2 long term injury slots (IL) and 1 short term injury slot – NFL PUP list (IR), and 3 Practice Squad slots available for use as needed or wanted.

B) Weekly Starters

Every week, each team designates the following as starters, who in turn decide the number of points your team scores in that week. The deadline for submitting your starters is (based on NFL scheduling) 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time of each players’ games. Lineups are submitted online thru your team webpage Set Lineup access. Once saved online the page will confirm your info has been processed and it will appear online live once the commissioner processes weekly lineups. (See section C, 1)

1 QB / 1 RB / 1 TE / 3 WR / 1 RUP / 1 OUP / 1 PK / 3 DL / 3 LB / 2 DB / 1 DUP / 1 KR

OUP = Offensive Utility Player
DUP = Defensive Utility Player
RUP = Receiver Utility Player
KR = Kick Returner

1) The Offensive Utility Position (OUP) - This is any active NON QB on the roster. All other positions qualify for the OUP besides QB.

2) The Receiver Utility Position (RUP) - The starting RUP position is designated as any active WR or TE on the roster. Teams may start a TE in this position WR.

3) The Defensive Utility Position (DUP) - This is any active defensive player on the roster (DLs, LBs or DBs)

4) Returner Position (KR) - Added to starting lineups to give a Special Teams flair to our league. The KR can be any player on your roster, but only the player designated the Starting KR will be awarded any type of Special Teams/Return Yardage points. A player can be started in the KR position only or in another regular starting position if so desired by the owner. But ONLY the Kicker and KR get Special Teams points, not Regular Offensive or Defensive points, depending on the regular positions. See Scoring chart for KR Bonuses.

C) Submitting Lineups

1) Real Time Lineups

New for 2006 is a real time lineup feature that will be accessible through the individual league website once a team has logged into the site. Lineups can be changed up to (approx) 30 prior to the start of a game. Due to the flexibility of the NFL's schedules, this 15 minute window is defined as such:

Deadline for any EARLY game (defined as games usually starting at 1:00pm on Sunday) will be 12:45pm.

Deadline for any LATE game (defined as afternoon games usually starting around 4:00pm on Sunday) will be 3:45pm.

Deadline for NIGHT games (defined as the Sunday Night game that usually starts at 8:00pm) will be 7:45pm.

Deadline for MONDAY NIGHT games (usually with a 8:30pm start) will be 8:15pm.

Actual start times are in the league database so check the NFL schedule for the real deadline. It is 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Once a deadline is reached a player in the lineup is locked and cannot be changed. Timing is based on BSL SERVER TIME and NOT the time on an owners' watch or computer so be careful. Once Locked ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES will be allowed (unless they fall under rule C2, the Corey Dillon Rule, see below).

D) Injury Slots

(Commissioner's Note: Suspensions, Retirement, Hold Outs and any other non-injury related time lost for a player is not eligible for an injury slot!)

1) Short Term Reserve Slot– NFL PUP (listed on roster as IR) – The BSL uses a PUP slot the same way the NFL does. This limited eligibility injury slot is administered as follows:

1 additional injury (PUP) slot.

Player MUST be on an NFL PUP to be eligible.

Teams will have until Week 10 waivers (which is 3 full weeks AFTER the 6 week injury timeline) to either activate or release the PUP player or move them to an IR slot.

If an NFL team activates the PUP player prior to the week 10 deadline then that player MUST be activate in the Waiver week immediately following the announcement. (Ex. if the player is activate on a Tuesday from the PUP he must be activated THAT waiver week. If he is activated on a Friday or Saturday then that player must be activated the NEXT waiver week or they will be automatically waived)

If the player is moved to an IR slot from the PUP then that player will be IR Exemption eligible in the following Free Agency period.

Any player not submitted for either activation to roster or move to IR will be automatically released into the FA pool as the PUP slot closes with Week 10 waivers.

2) Long Term Injured Reserve (IR) (listed on roster as IL) - The injured list is for players with serious injuries that have been officially announced and will cause them to miss the entire/remainder of the regular season, but the owner may want to keep that player for the next season. Once a player is placed on the injured list, he is out for the year in our league. He may not be activated, even if the player returns early from injury in real life.

These are the two designated injury slot types. If you have a marginally injured player that doesn't fit into these two categories, they must stay part of your active roster. It would be like having a player listed as questionable in the NFL, player won't play, but team can pick up a player they may be able to benefit from by trading after the injured player comes back. The minimum reserve period avoids this kind of action.

Also, with respect to the post season, if a team makes the playoffs, all roster moves must be done prior to the beginning of the post season. There will be no more waiver moves during the playoffs. The only type of roster moves allowed in the post season would be activating players from injured reserve slots or practice squads slots. This means that players can be activated and players waived to make room for the activated player during the playoffs. The restriction to this rule is that this is not available for the Super Bowl game. Only players on the active roster for the first week of the Super Bowl game can be used for the second week. During the first playoff game players can be activated and used between the 1st and 2nd week of the first game.

E) Roster Integrity

Each team must maintain a minimum active roster integrity throughout the year. This is defined as having enough to fill positions that would allow an owner to field a starting team and at least one backup at every position. This would be:

2 QB / 2 RB / 4 WR / 2 TE / 2 PK / 4 DL / 4 LB / 3 DB / = 23

That means there are 14 active roster spots open to any position.

At NO TIME during the regular season can a team violate this roster integrity. (Ex. This means that if you have only 2 QB on your roster, and one is injured and you decide to place him in a an injury slot, you must sign or trade for another QB to fill his Position) An injured player MUST be replaced if he is listed by the NFL in a non-football eligible designation, as in the IR or PUP. If the injured player is simply sidelined for a week, or is questionable for example, they do not need to be replaced by rule.

F) Developmental Practice Squad.

We feel that any team that takes a chance on a player(s) that may not play for a few years or is a just plain risk should have some kind of protection for using a pick that could have been used on an immediate impact player. But this protection does have a price! We had thought of a limited slot practice squad, but I guess forgot to put in first draft of rules.

Each of the 12 teams will get a 3 slot practice squad allotment. The following are the restrictions that a player must meet to be eligible to be on the practice squad:

1. MUST BE A BSL ROOKIE to be initially placed on practice squad. This means the player must be in their first year in their respective leagues player database which means they have NEVER been on a BSL team in any form to be eligible to be placed on the PS for the first time. Also a player can NEVER have played in a BSL game, meaning been started, prior to being placed in the Practice Squad.

2. Player Can Not Have: Started in any BSL games, MORE THAN 8 total or 4 Consecutive NFL games and must be within the players FIRST 3 YEARS (meaning has NOT completed his 3rd NFL season) of NFL experience, to remain eligible for a Practice Squad slot.

3. If a player was given a PS Exemption during the previous Free Agency Signing Period (FASP) than he IS eligible to be placed there during the current season, but must still meet above section 2 requirements to be placed on the practice squad. (2004 Revision - See Section VIII,H for more details) If a veteran that is eligible for the PS in the current season is released from his current team and signed by a new one, as long as he has not violated section 2, he maintains PS eligibility for his new team.

During the course of the season, players on the practice squad can be moved to their teams Active roster by that team spending 1 FP to activate him (more on FP [finance points] later). This move does not affect a team's waiver selection. A team can also use their waiver pick to sign a player the same week they choose to bring a player off their practice squad. The player that was moved from the practice squad, or any other qualifying rookie, may be placed back on the practice squad, for free, at any time as long as they meet the restrictions above. But it costs 1 FP any and every time a player is moved from the practice squad to the active roster, the only exception being the move to the active roster at the beginning of the FASP when PS exemptions are designated! (2004 Revision - See Section VIII, I for more details)

Once a player starts a BSL game he is no longer eligible to be put back on the PS regardless of his BSL experience. This makes the PS a true Practice Squad to hold players until they’re ready for the active roster. As long as a player ends the season on the PS and is given the PS Exemption during the FASP, he is eligible to be placed in the PS the next season. See the restrictions above for the maximum length of time a player can remain on the PS.
At any time (from beginning of NFL regular season to the end of the NFL regular season), if a player has passed one of the restricted limits: played in 1 BSL game, started 8 or started in 4 consecutive NFL games (in his career), or is in his 4th NFL season, he is no longer eligible to be on the practice squad and must be moved to active roster (by using 1 FP), waived, or traded. If traded in the week a player loses PS eligibility, the team acquiring the player must place player on active roster AND pay the 1 Finance Point.

After the NFL regular season ends, ONLY players still on practice squads CAN be given a Practice Squad Exemption during free agent periods and not have the players contract status affected. This exemption costs only 1 FP for each player they want protected under the PS Exemption Rule. (Players must end the BSL REGULAR SEASON on Practice squad, not just be eligible for it to fall under this extended protection status. Playoff teams who make moves in the post season that include moving players TO the PS, those players are NOT eligible for the FASP PS exemption. Alternately, any player moved off the PS in the post season and is used in a post season game ALSO loses PS Exemption eligibility) Practice squad players may be traded and waived with no deduction of FP.

If a team trades a practice squad player, that is still eligible to remain on the PS, the team that gets the player may place them on the practice squad or his active roster. If the player is put onto the active roster, the team receiving the PS player must pay the FP if (a) the player going to Active Roster has lost their PS eligibility or (b) the PS of the receiving team is NOT full. If their PS is already full, No FP is charged.

(Commissioner Clarification - If a team trades for a player that was given a PS exemption during the previous FASP, then that player remains eligible for the new teams' PS as long as he meets the other requirements. If a player ends the regular season on a teams' PS and is traded PRIOR to the FASP, that player does NOT lose his PS Exemption eligibility. The team receiving the PS player can still make that player PS exempt even if his PS is already full. Any team that falls under this category and has more than 3 PS exempt eligible players can only use 3 exemptions, but does not have to designate who they will be until designations are due at beginning of FASP.)

G) Misc. Player Definitions and Qualifications

1) BSL Rookie Eligibility

A BSL Rookie is defined as a player playing in his first year in their respective league. Their first year is defined as their season in which they first appeared on a CDL, FSDL or TLSL roster. This means that a BSL Rookie can be a NFL veteran, but cannot have simply sat the BSL bench and is now finally playing.

The first appearance counts even if the player was only on a BSL for 1 week at any point.

2) End of the Year Awards

Player awards are given in the form of FP Bonuses. Awards for Offensive & Defensive Player of the Year and Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year will be award at the end of each season as well as the top player at each of the 9 positions (QB, RB, WR, TE, K, KR, DL, LB and DB). Awards are given to the highest scoring player in each category. There is not limit on the number of FPs a team can get based on the final stats.

III. League Make-Up

A) Divisional Setup and Schedule

The league will be split into three divisions. The schedule will be a 13 game regular season schedule with no bye weeks. Each team will play the teams in their own division twice and three teams from each of the other 2 divisions once, decided by a weighted schedule based on the prior year’s final standings, plus one non-division wild-card game.

B) Playoffs and Playoff Schedule - The Post Season Tournament

There are 2 playoff brackets – 1 for the Championship Bracket, which includes the 3 Divisions Winners and 2 Wild-Card teams (best 2 non-division winners). And a 2nd bracket for the 7 non-championship bracket teams. Tie-breakers to determine ranking and placement in brackets are determined by 3 factors:

1) In the case of only 2 teams tied with each other: (1) Head to Head, (2) Division Record (if teams even are in same division) and (3) Total points scored.
2) In the case of 3 or more teams in a tie for the same record, the tie breakers are used to get down to 1 team per division and then administered: (1) Head to Head and then if still tied (2) Total points scored.
3) In the case of multiple teams tied for multiple slots: use part 2 multiple times to get to 1 team and then start process over.

The annual post-season tournament will determine the draft pick order as follows:

The Championship Bracket:

Week 14 (Wild Card Round) – The 3 Division winners get a bye. The 2 Wild-Card teams play each other.
Week 15 (Semi-Finals) – The top seeded Division winner plays the Wild-Card Winner, the 2nd and 3rd seeded division winners face each other.
Week 16 (BSL Super Bowls and Consolation game) – Winner of the 1 vs. WCW plays Winner of 2 v 3 matchup for the Championship. Loser of the 1 v WCW and loser of the 2 v 3 matchup play for 3rd and 4th place.
Super Bowl Winner gets the last pick of each round, Super Bowl loser the 11th pick, Consolation Winner 10th and Consolation loser the 9th pick in each round of the subsequent years draft.

The Draft Pick Bracket:

Week 14 – Teams ranked from 6th to 8th will get byes. The 2 teams ranked 9th and 10th will face off in a best-of-3 series for the 3rd and 4th overall draft picks. The 2 lowest ranked teams (11th and 12th) will face off in a best-of-3 series for the top 2 picks overall.
Week 15 – The Wild-Card loser will play the 8th ranked team and the 6th and 7th ranked teams will play each other. Week 2 of the best-of-3 series occurs.
Week 16 – The winners between the WCL v 8 and 6 v 7 matchups play each other for the 5th and 6th overall picks in the 1st round. The losers of the WCL v 8 and 6 v7 matchups play each other for the 7th and 8th overall picks in the 1st round. Week 3 of the best-of-3 series occur (if necessary).
In each best-of-3 series for the top 4 picks, and the other Draft Pick Bracket games, the WINNER of each series will be awarded the higher pick in the first round. All other rounds of the draft (2-8) will be based on final standings of the regular season for all teams.

IV. Scoring System

A) Point Values

The following is the point system used to determine weekly scores by teams: (Includes all Revisions)

Offensive Scoring:

Passing TD	4
Rushing / Receiving TD	6
per Passing Yard	1/50
per Rushing / Receiving Yard	1/20
Pass Completion Thrown	1/4
Reception	1/3
Rush Attempt	1/5
Pass / Rush / or Receiving 2pt Conversion	2
Interception Thrown	-2

Defensive Scoring:

Solo Tackles	1
Assists	1/2
Sack	2
Tackles for Loss = (TFL - Sacks)	1/2
Quarterback Hits (QH in Gamebook)	1
Sack Yardage (per Yard)	1/10
Interception	2
Pass Defense	1
Defensive TD	6
Safety	3

Special Teams Scoring:

Kickoff or Punt Return for TD	6
PAT	1
Missed PAT	-1/2
All Field Goals	3
each FG yard over 30	+ 1/10
Missed Field Goal (under 50 yards)	-1/2
Missed Field Goal (50-59 yards or more)	-1/4
Missed Field Goal (60 yards or more)	No Penalty
Return Yards Bonus (per Yard)	1/33

Any Player Scoring:

Any Fumble	-1
Lost Fumble (Any fumble that results in a change of Possesion)	-1
Own Recovery (Recovery of your own team's fumble)	1
Opponents Fumble Recovered	2
Fumble Out of Bounds (A fumble Out of Endzone, as this results in a change of possesion, would count as a Lost Fumble NOT a Fumble Out of Bounds)	1/2
Forced Fumble	1
Any Fumble Recovery Returned for TD	6
Blocked Kick Returned for TD (if player is started in multiple slots, points apply to regular position first before special teams slots)	6
Blocked Kick	1
Turnover Return Yards Bonus (per Yard)	1/10

B)Week to Week Scoring

The number of points a team scores will be determined by combining the total number of points scored by a teams’ starters that were designated that week, using the above system.

Game winners are determined by comparing team totals vs. the team they played against. In the unlikely event of a tie score, a tie* will show in the standings.

V. Draft Rules

A) Initial Draft Auction (First Year Only)

Teams’ draft order will be determined by a random drawing before the draft. The draft auction will consist of 28 rounds, as to complete an entire roster. (Remember: Roster Integrity must be followed) As this will take quite a long time we have decided to split this into two different drafts. One draft would be held before preseason, and each team would draft 20 players. The second draft to round out the rosters will be held after the third week of preseason. Immediately following the second draft, any teams that have player they wish to begin the season in an injury slot may designate them at this time and choose a replacement player. This is the only time teams will be able to do this before the end of the first week of the regular season. (Reserve time minimums still apply.)

The first round of the INITIAL draft will be held as determined by the random selection in order of 1-12. Each subsequent round will be reverse order. (1st Rnd 1-12, 2nd Rnd 12-1, 3rd Rnd 1-12, etc.) The second draft will begin where the first draft left off.

B) Intro. to the Yearly Collegiate/Free Agent Entry Draft (CFAED)

Each year the league will hold its College/FA Entry Draft on a TBD Saturday and Sunday in August. All incoming NFL rookies and unsigned BSL Free Agents will be eligible. Players drafted in the CFAED must be on an NFL roster to be eligible. The only exception is any rookie that is holding out; those players will also be eligible.

Draft order is determined by the results of the Post Season Tournament as described above (see Section III, B.)

The CFAED will consist of 8 rounds. The draft will continue until there are no teams left picking players. This may sound confusing now but will be explained later in this constitution (Sec. VIII, F). The order for each round (2-8) will be determined by reverse order of standings from the previous year for picks 1 thru 8 and reverse order of the Championship Bracket for picks 9 -12. The first round is determined by the Draft Pick Bracket results of the Post Season Tournament rule above.

VI. Intro to Finance Points

Finance points are the way the league uses the monetary aspect of football and makes our league a little different than other Fantasy Football Leagues. It isn't Roto style, but is fashioned like it . Finance points are what teams will use to sway players to come to their team and not an opponent. In this way you can think of them as money. They can be used in the off-season to sign Free Agents (F/A) (Sec. VIII, D, 2, a) as well as to sign waiver players during the season (Sec. VII, A & B). They can be traded like cash, for player or waiver picks (Sec. VII, C, 4) Finance points will be explained in detail in Section VIII. Each team will receive a five (5) FP bonus to begin each season. This is added to any FPs carried into the year from the previous one.

VII. Waiver Picks & Trading Rules

A) Waiver Picks and Weekly Allotments

Waiver picks are a way for a team to replace a player not performing to expectations, an injured player, or someone you just don't like anymore. Each week teams will be allowed to make 1(one) waiver move for free.

Teams may acquire multiple picks in a weekly period through trades, and may use any number of picks each week, but are only giving one free pick each week. These picks are not cumulative. If you don't use your pick, it does not carry over to the next week. (See Sec. IX, A for weekly transaction deadlines)

B) Waiver Picks and Finance Points

1) How Waiver Picks Work

If there is a player you wish to pick up off waivers, you notify the commissioner by sending a list of players you are interesting in signing, listing the players by which you would like to have more listed higher. In case of two or more teams wanting the same player, the team that is lower in the standings will receive the player. This notification process is submitted online thru the league’s website in the MY INFO section and then WAIVER REQUEST. Emails will be accepted but are NOT the preferred method of delivery.

This is where your finance points come into play. When you send in the list of players you would like, you can also list the number of FP you would be willing to use to sign that player. You will not know how many the other team(s) has bid. Now, if two or more teams want the same player the player that has bid the most FP for that player will receive that player regardless of waiver pick order.

Teams will be informed which players they have signed by the end of the day following the transaction deadline. In case of a tie bid, team with lower in standings will receive the player. That team loses the finance points bid for that player and adds the player to their roster. Teams that did not get the player will get a player ranked lower on their waiver list.

Any player NOT on a BSL roster, but IS on an NFL roster, is eligible to be claimed with a waiver pick.

Commissioner Note: Do not send in bid of "up to" a certain number of FP. Make sure that if you want to use FPs to sign a player that you are SPECIFIC on the number of FPs you want to use.

(Note: When putting in your waiver list, the total number of FP bid on players that week cannot exceed the number of FP that team has. Ex. Team A has 6 finance points and sends in a list of 5 players they would like to sign. Even though they will normally, barring trades, only be able to sign one player that week, the total number of FP they can bid for those 5 players is 6. So the list could look like this: 1) T. Davis (3 FP) 2) D. Marino (3 FP) 3) J. Elway 4) J.Montana 5) S. Young. It could not look like this 1) T. Davis (6 FP) 2) D.Marino (6 FP) … etc. Again even though they can only receive one of those players.) Also, If you send in a Waiver list with FP listed for a player and you are the only team attempting to claim that player, you still spend those FP(s) bid.

2) Purchasing Extra Waiver Picks

Teams may "Purchase" an additional Waiver Pick for 2 FPs. These picks will be at the end of the normal picking order, and will be determined by a first pay, first pick order. Meaning the first team to send a notice to the league office that they wish to buy an additional Waiver Pick gets the first extra pick of the week and so on.

The only limit on the number of extra Waivers a team can purchase is the number of FPs a teams has.

The FPs used in this manner will be placed in the LFPF (see Section VIII, A, 7) for use in the League's Profit Sharing Program.

3) Post Season Waiver Rules

Teams in the playoffs can make waiver moves just like during the regular season. Teams still get 1 free move each week and can purchase additional waiver picks if needed. The difference between a regular season waiver signing and a post season wavier signing is that any player signed during the post season is immediately returned to the player pool once the playoff team no longer has any games remaining.

Ex: If Team A signs a player for the Wild-Card game and Team A loses that game, then that player is immediately released and eligible to be signed by another playoff team if Team A has no games remaining and any other teams continue to play.

These are temporary signings intended to help injury depleted teams in the playoffs should they choose to make a pick. Any player that is waived in order to make room for a post season waiver signing is permanently released and does not come back to that team's roster once the playoffs end so use the post season waiver picks wisely.

C) Trading

Teams can choose to trade just about anything: players, draft picks, finance points, or waiver picks. Each type of trade is discussed below.

1) Player - Player Trades

There is no limit on player for player trades. You can trade any number of players for any number of players. But roster integrity must still be followed. Player for player trades is the easiest kind of trade.

2) Player - Waiver Pick Trades

You can trade a player for a waiver pick or picks. A team can trade waiver picks for multiple weeks, but cannot trade multiple players for a single waiver pick.

3) Player - Finance Point Trades

Teams can trade players for finance points also. There are no real limitations on the number of players that can be traded in this way. Only that roster integrity must be followed and at least 1 FP for each player received must be maintained.

4) Waiver Pick - Finance Point Trades

Teams may trade waiver picks for finance points.

5) Three-Way-Trades

All three way trades must have executive committee and commissioner approval to be allowed.

6) Misc. Trade Rules

a. Trades involving injured players maintain the players injured status from the previous team. (Ex. T.Davis is put on Team A's Injured Reserve, then traded the next week. He must remain on Team B's reserve list. If Team B has both of their reserve slots filled he must release one of the reserved players, or the trade cannot be done.)

b. Listed are the rules for specific trades, but trades can be any combination of the trades above. (Here is an example of a big trade involving different trade types: Team A trades – T. Davis, D. Marino, 2 FP, their Week 6 waiver pick, and a 1^st round draft pick to Team B for – B. Farve, E. George, O.J. McDuffie, J. Seau, their Week 4 waiver pick and a 2^nd round draft pick.) Trades can be simple or deep, but can incorporate different trade types into a larger overall trade. This example can be expanded to a three-team trade, but only with Executive Committee and Commissioner approval.

D) Trading Deadline

The league will be fashioned after the NFL and will have a midseason trading deadline. Trades can be made during the off-season from the end of the league's championship game through the regular season up until the end of the normal Waiver Deadline of Week 8 the following year. After this deadline no trades of any kind, involving players, can be made. Trades that exchange Draft picks, Waiver Picks or Finance Points (or any combination thereof) can still be made up until the end of the regular season. Once the BSL Super Bowls are completed, Open Trading resumes until offseason Free Agency scheduling occurs, in which then restrictions on trading occur once again.

E) The Weekly Transaction Period, Trade and Waiver Pick Deadlines

Each week there will be a transaction deadline. Now that the NFL has moved to Weekly Thursday games, the weekly transaction deadline will be Wednesdays at 10 PM. This will allow trades to be gone over and allowed or to be challenged by the executive committee. This will allow traded players to be eligible for their new teams for that week’s games. The deadline for waiver selections will also be Wednesday nights. This allows a short bookkeeping period to determine which teams get which players and post selections.

Any changes to this deadline will be posted on the home page if applicable.

VIII. Post Season Roster, Off-season and Free Agent Rules

A) Finance Points(FP) (In Detail)

1) Starting Season Points

Each team will receive a five (5) FP bonus to begin each season added to any they are carrying over from previous seasons. These points can be used during the season to sign waiver picks, traded or kept to be added to post season allotment. This bonus is awarded for the beginning of the season and will be added to each team after the final pre-season waiver period and before the Week 1 Waiver deadline.

2) Earning Finance Points During the Season

a. Initial Wins Bonuses – Each team will earn a bonus FP for their first and second wins of the season. 1^st Win = 1 bonus FP, 2^nd Win = 1 bonus FP

b. Win-Streak Bonuses –Teams will be rewarded during the season for putting together long winning streaks. Teams will receive 1 bonus FP for each win streak of 4 games or more. (Ex. Any team that wins 8 or more in a row will receive an additional bonus FP). Any team that finishes the year undefeated will get an additional 1 FP Bonus.

c.Underdog Rules - Since everyone loves the underdog, we've come up with the underdog reward system. When games are set each week the favorite and underdogs will be determined. This is found by the difference between the average number of points scored by Team A compared to Team B.

There are two Underdog designations. If the difference between the two teams’ average scores is less than 20 pts, no underdog is declared. A regular UNDERDOG (UD) will be if a team is averaging more than 20pts a game higher than their opponent for that week, and the other is a LONGSHOT (LS) which will be if a team is averaging more than 40pts a game higher than their opponent for that week.

The Underdogs can earn bonus finance points by beating the favorite. If the UD wins the game, they are awarded 1 (one) bonus FP. If a LS wins a game, they are awarded 2 (two) bonus FPs. This system begins for the Week 3 games each year (so an average score can be taken after two weeks), and are only used throughout the regular season.

d. Player of the Week Bonuses

i. Player of the Week - Each week teams can earn up to 3 bonus FPs for starting the BSL player of the week. This bonus will be awarded to the team owning the highest scoring Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams (Kicker or Returner) of the week.

ii. PoW Sweep Bonus - If a team has all three Players of the Week within on week, an additional bonus of 1 FP will be given to that team.

3) Getting Finance Points for Off-season Transactions

After the championship game each team is awarded 13 FP, one for each week of the season. The Super Bowl winners receive an extra 3 FP and the runners up 2 extra FP and the 3 division winners from the regular season will get 1 FP. These FP are added to any FP you had left over from the regular season and will be used to sign players during the Free Agent (F/A) Period.

4) Carrying Leftover Finance Points into Next Season

You may now carry over any remaining FP's from season to season. Any FPs remaining after the FA period and resigning is over can be carried by teams into the following season.

5) Pro Bowl Finance Point Bonus

If a team has a player VOTED into the Starting lineup for the NFL Pro Bowl, that team will receive 1(one) bonus FP for each player. Teams can receive a maximum of 5(five) FP in this manner. Starting lineup is defined as any positional player , kicker, or returner, other special teams starters are not eligible for this bonus. In this way a total of 38 bonus FP will be available in Pro Bowl bonuses. (AFC/NFC Offensive (22) and Defensive (22) starters + AFC/NFC Kicker (2) + Returners (2) – Offensive Linemen Starters (10) = 38 FP available)

If you have a player that is voted in as a starter but is not playing due to injury, you still get this bonus. The player taking the injured players spot DOES NOT!

6) Player of the Year Finance Point Bonuses

Teams get a 1 FP bonus if their player is voted a Positional Player of the Year. (see Section XI, B & C for more)

7) Profit Sharing - aka League Finance Point Fund (LFPF)

As described in other places within the constitution, the LFPF will be distributed among the non-playoff teams each season. The distribution will occur at the same time that Pro Bowl bonuses and end of year awards are issued. The LFPF gains FPs with any FP transaction not directly between team-to-team moves. This means paying for extra waivers, using waivers to sign players, leftovers from season to season carryover, etc. FPs are added to the LFPF at any time misc. FPs are paid, during the season or in the offseason. Each league, the CDL, FSDL & TLSL will have separate LFPF's.

The LFPF will be distributed among the non-playoff teams equally, thus discouraging tanking for profit. All FPs in the LFPF will be distributed as evenly as possible regardless of the amount of FPs in the pot. Any leftovers will carryover thru to the next season, if they cannot be distributed evenly. Points will be awarded at the same time Pro-Bowl bonuses are awarded.

B) Post Season Roster Setup & Player Protection Lists

After the end of the Super Bowl, teams no longer have to maintain roster integrity. They may trade whomever for whoever or whatever with no restrictions at all, except that no team can exceed 44 active players signed to their roster at ANY time. (Trades are still subject to Committee approval.) Off-season trading will continue up to the FA Signing Auctions.

During this period all trading is suspended. However trading does open for the period of time from the end of Franchise Resolutions and the beginning of the FASP Auction. The rules for the FASP auction will be explained in detail later in this section. Teams must have a protected list into the league by the deadline listed in the NEWS & NOTES calendar that is posted each May (No Exceptions)!!!

Following the end of the Super Bowl, teams will have from 36-42 players on their rosters. Players in a Long Term Injury (IL) slot that are eligible for the Injury Exemption (defined later) will stay in this spot unless the league office is otherwise notified. Eligible Practice Squad (PS) Players will also remain in their slots unless otherwise noted.

The make-up of a team’s Free Agent Signing Period Protected List will follow the following guidelines and defined in section C:

Up to 8 Restricted Free Agent (RFA) Labels

As many Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) Labels as needed

1 (Optional) Franchise Player Tag

1 (Optional) Untouchable Developmental Rookie Exemption (1 FP cost PLUS player’s FULL salary)

Up to 2 (Optional) Untouchable Injury Exemption (1 FP Cost ea. PLUS player’s FULL salary)

Up to 3 (Optional) Untouchable Practice Squad Exemptions (2 FP cost ea.)

There is no limit to the number of Untouchable Labels a team can have. This is only limited to the number of FPs a team is willing to spend on their protections. Only the 3 untouchable exemption slots will not have their CS's affected by being protected as untouchable. (See Full FASP rules for more detail on all labels and exemptions)

C) Assigning Player Values & Defining Player Labels

Player Labels & Compensation -

Untouchables -Player given this label cannot be taken off your team for any reason during the FA period. Teams pay the player’s FULL salary value to keep a player under this designation. Any player kept in this way will have their CS value increase by 1 for the following season.

Developmental Rookie (1) –This label has exactly the same characteristics of the Untouchable label, except it must be a player who has just completed their rookie NFL season. This can be any rookie, whether he played or not. If there is any question of whether or not a player would qualify for this label, ask the commissioner. If you do not have a player that meets the label characteristics, you may not use this untouchable slot. This slot costs the FULL salary of the player plus 1 FP to maintain the player’s current CS for the following season.

Restricted Free Agent (RFA) (8) - Players with this label are considered protected but available to be signed by teams at higher initial salary costs than unrestricted players and with protections for the current team to retain these designated players. Any team that has one of their RFA bid on during the FA period can keep the player by matching the highest bid. Or if they choose not to beat the offer the team will receive FAPs equal to 1/2 of the bid placed on the player by the signing team UP TO a maximum of the designated slot value (rounded up) compensation for losing that player. (More on RFA Slot Values later)

Franchise Designation (1) –Players with this label are like RFA in that they can be signed away from their current team, but with a higher minimum bid they are worth more. (See Franchise Player Loss Compensation below for greater detail)

Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) (rest of team) - Players with this label may be bad, hurt or just unwanted. They may also be the sleepers or underachieving rookies, or just wouldn't fit into another listing. Either way an UFA has minimum bid of 2 to be signed. If the current team wants to keep the UFA they must out bid the other team or lose the player with no compensation. UFAs are NOT eligible to be resigned by their former teams if the designated players are not bid on during the FASP.

Injury Exemption (up to 2): This amendment is to protect those owners who have players who suffer serious injuries before a significant portion of our regular season is played. A player given this designation would be considered an Untouchable for the purpose of our Free Agency Period, but at a cost and with the restrictions outlined below.

ONLY Players on a BSL IR (out for year slot) by Week 4 Waivers will be able to be protected under this rule at years end. This is for players who had no chance for a true impact on a BSL team during the season.

Teams must pay the player’s FULL salary plus 1 Extra FP to take advantage of this exemption for the designated player to be labeled Untouchable for Free Agency. Teams have 2 possible slots to use in this fashion and any player designated under this rule maintains their current CS for the following season (even if the player was a CS 4 at the time they were placed on the IL).

With the addition in 2008 of a second IR slot, if both slots are full and both players meet the about qualifications, BOTH players can be made exempt for 1 Extra FP each.

Practice Squad Exemption (up to 3) – Any player that ends the BSL regular season in a team’s PS slot can be given the PS Exemption label during the FASP, assuming they maintain eligibility thru the end of the current NFL season. Any player given this exemption cost 1 FP to protect as exempt and 1 FP to pay as qualifying salary, teams do not need to pay the full salary of a PS player to protect as untouchable. This is the only designation with this special caveat. Any player designated under this rule will maintain a CS 1 into the following season.

MORE ON PLAYER FASP COSTS

Every player on a team is assigned a salary value. Salaries are based on predetermined values for players drafted during the CFAED and those picked up on waivers. Salaries for those signed during the FASP Auction are based on open market values for players picked up in free agency and are equal to the number of FPs it cost to sign the player during FA.

All teams receive 300 FAPs (Free Agent Points) to use to re-sign their own players and use during free agency to sign new free agents. After free agency is completed, any remaining FAPs (either from the original 300 or any gained due to RFA loss compensation) are forfeited (may not be carried over into the season or used toward waiver picks during the pre-season). Any FPs the team had to bring into FA may be used in addition to the 300 to sign free agents or may be carried on after free agency is over (basically, the FAPs are used first for signing players; if the team spends more than 300, or 300+ any gained from player loss compensation, that’s when they start to use their own FPs). The 300 only goes toward free agents and does not apply for pre-season waiver picks, in-season waiver picks or drafted players (their salaries are only paid if a team decides to retain a player during the following season’s free agency). None of the 300 FAPs may be traded. A new 300 FAP is assigned the following season to be used to re-sign players/free agents.

At the end of each season, FP bonuses for games played (13), Pro Bowl players, post-season Player of the Year awards, in-season Player of the Week awards and winning streaks and all other FP bonuses currently in the rules.

Part1 - Assigning Predetermined Salary Values:

For drafted players, their salaries are based on the round they are drafted: Round 1 = 12 FPs; Round 2 = 10 FPs; Round 3 = 8 FPs; Round 4 = 7 FPs; Round 5 = 6 FPs; Round 6 = 5 FPs; Round 7 = 4 FPs; Round 8 = 3 FP. Compensatory Draft picks awarded due to Franchise signings = 11 FPs (this is due to them not being a 1st round and not a 2nd round pick but a betweener). These salaries stay with the player until their contracts expire or they are made available through free agency. (Example: It will cost 12 FPs to re-sign a 1st round pick during free agency.)

Part 2 - Assigning Predetermined Salary Values:

Players picked up during the regular season through waivers automatically have a 5 FP salary unless their earlier salary is higher than 5, in which case they keep that salary. (Example: Amani Toomer is purchased during free agency for 12 FPs. He is waived during the season or maybe even during the preseason. If a team picks up Toomer, he still has the 12 FP salary. The only thing that changes is that his contract status (CS) resets. Any player that is picked up on waiver during the preseason automatically have a 3 FP salary unless their earlier salary is higher than 3.

Any player that is signed during the waiver period by a team that uses additional FPs to sign that player, then the amount of that player's salary is the waiver salary of 5 FP + the amount of FPs use to sign that player. If the player signed already has a salary value, like the Toomer example above, then the player is signed for the minimum + the Fps used or the salary value the player already has whichever is higher. The FPs used to sign a player that already has a salary value are NOT added to that salary. If a team uses 2 FPs to get an extra pick, that is not added to the waiver salary. Only if they buy an extra pick for 2 FP AND use additional FPs to sign the extra pick.

Franchise Player Designation Tag – the slot value of a Franchise player is determined by the average of the top 5 players at that player’s position in each league. This value will be posted by no later than the beginning of the season on the league home page.

In order to bid on a Franchise Player during the FASP, the minimum amount of the initial bid must be at least 1 PLUS the slot value of the franchise player. If a franchise player is designated but not bid on that team MUST resign their designated Franchise Player. Teams MUST resign any unbid on player for 15 OR at their slot value whichever is higher. The salary for the Franchise Player for the subsequent season shall match the amount used to resign the player.

(For example: if a RB with a Franchise value of 55 is not bid on then the designating team MUST resign the player to a new CS 1 contract of 55. If a DB with a Franchise value of 9 is not bid on then the designating team MUST resign the player to a new CS 1 contract of 15.)

Either way the average of the top 5 salaries for each position will be posted on the site well in advance of the FA period so teams have plenty of time to make the choice on whether to designate a Franchise player or not as well as who that player should be.

Teams get 8 RFA slots to assign. Each RFA slot is assigned a "Tender Salary" which determines their minimum bid by other teams, compensation a team gets back for releasing a RFA, and the amount a RFA can be resigned for if not bid on during FA. The 8 slots are equal to the 8 round draft values. (12 FP for 1st slot, 10 for send slot and so on). Each team will designate their FA list by setting the up to 8 RFAs into a RFA12, RFA10, RFA8 slot, etc. Note that if you do not use all 8 RFA slots you start with the top slot and designate down.

The minimum bid during FA is this tender offer value +1, just like we do it now where a RFA has a 3 value and 4 minimum first bid. Once bidding has ended on a RFA the team has the choice to match the bid and keep the player and reset his contract or release him. If the team releases a RFA, the slot he was in determines him compensation. That compensation is FAPs equal to 1/2 of the bid placed on the player by the signing team UP TO a maximum of the designated slot value (rounded up) compensation for losing that player. Any RFA that is not bid on can be resigned by the current team for his Tender Value Salary to a new contract. UFA bids requiring a minimum bid of 2. UFA designated players are NOT eligible to be resigned by their old team.

Again, the cost of resigning a player and keeping them as UNTOUCHABLE for the following season costs the amount of FPs equal to the player's salary value.

Injury Exemption - To keep a player that is Injury Exemption eligible, you can resign him for his salary and pay the 1 extra FP to have his CS not go up.

Rookie Exemption - Teams can take one NFL rookie on their roster and designate him as their rookie exemption and pay his salary and pay the 1 extra FP to have his CS not go up.

Practice Squad Exemption - For any player that is still eligible for the PS in the following season AND ended the previous season ON a BSL PS (this can be any team's in case a PS eligible player is acquired thru a trade before FA), teams can pay the 1 extra FP to have his CS not go up. Teams can only use up to 3 PS Exemptions regardless of how many PS exemption eligible players they have. Although PS players are assigned a full salary at the time they are signed or taken in a draft, to keep a PS player with the exemption designation teams simply designate a PS exempt player and a 1 FP PS salary and the 1 FP exemption fee (2 FP total regardless of current full salary) and he is kept as untouchable and will be PS eligible to begin the next season.

D) The Free Agent Signing Auctions & Signing Free Agents

1) Free Agency & Contract Status - How you designate protections lists and its effects on Contract Status

This rule gives players a Contract Status (CS) that follows them in trades and insures all players will be available to the league at least every 5 seasons (at most).

a. You may now protect as many players in Free Agency as you want and/or can afford to, costing determined by their Salary Value (see rule VIII,C), as long as their contract is not up.

b. Contract lengths are 3 years with a 4th (1) One year option. Each time you designate a player as untouchable, this continues their contract. (Adds to their Contract Status [CS])

c. All players acquired by Draft, a Free agency winning bid, or waiver will have a new contract (3 year with 4th 1 year option) This means that anyone that is acquired during a period in which the player was available to the league as a whole, their contract status resets to 1.

d. Any player within their first 3 years of a contract (a CS of 3 or less) may be designated in free agency as a Franchise Player, Restricted Free Agent, Unrestricted Free Agent or you may protect them as untouchable. (Still following limitations listed in section D, 2.) The CS of an untouchable player changes when free agency lists are posted.

e. Players that have had their 1 year Option bought may only be designated as an Unrestricted free agent the following season as they have fully run the course of their contract. EXCEPTION: The only exception to this rule is that IR Exemptions supersede CS. Meaning if you have a CS 4 player on the IR prior to week 4 of their final contract year, that player IS eligible for the IR exemption if they end the season on your IR. You may make them exempt during the FASP and therefore keeping their CS at 4 for the following season. (Commissioner Clarification)

(Ex. Marshall Faulk was Untouchable last season. He will go into this Free Agency Period with a CS of 1. If the Longriders deem him Untouchable again this season, his new CS is 2. Any player that has a CS of 4, is no longer eligible to be anything other than a UFA for Free Agency (unless eligible for IR exemption). Through CS 3, you can make a player a Franchise, RFA or UFA. If the Longriders make Faulk a RFA this season, the team that signs Faulk (even the Longriders) now has Faulk with a CS of 1.)

f. Player contracts are carried with the player. (If the Eclipse trade Warner with a CS of 2, his CS is 2 for the team getting him.)

g. Each team will begin the season with 10 FP's in the first year of this proposal, and the normal 5 at the beginning of the year every year following. (This bonus ends in 2007)

h. The Injury Exemption (1 Extra FP) rule would now work as follows: If the player falls into the current eligibility for Injury exemption status, you must spend the 1 FP to make them untouchable and 1 FP to make this injury season exempt from affecting CS. (Ex. Darnay Scott is placed on the IR before BSL Week 4 and remains there for the season. He is eligible for the exemption if wanted. The X-Men can spend the 1 FP to simply protect Scott as an Untouchable and add 1 to his CS or pay 2 FP to protect Scott as Untouchable and not have Scott's CS go up.)

i. Rookie Developmental Exemption (1 Extra FP) rule would now work as follows: This is also contract exemption, like the Injury Exemption. You must spend the 1 FP to make them untouchable and 1 FP to make this rookie season exempt from affecting CS. This can only be used on a TRUE NFL rookie drafted (Drafted by you or traded for from another team) or Picked up on Waivers in that season. Still a limit of 1 per team per year.

j. Practice Squad Exemption (2 FPs) – Any player that ends the regular season on a BSL Practice Squad and maintains eligibility through the end of the NFL season is eligible for the PS exemption. The player’s current salary is not paid as long as they maintain PS eligibility. To protect the player, you pay 1 FP as a PS qualifying salary and 1 Extra FP for the exemption for a total of 2 FP. Once a player is activated from a PS, their contract salary kicks in and will be used like any other player in the following offseason.

2) Free Agency Signing Auction - How the FASP Works

TBD in either June or July (usually July) each year, we will hold our Free Agent Signing Auction. The calendar for the FASP will be posted on the home page no later than May 1st. (NOTE: Or as soon as scheduling conflict for as many owners as possible are resolved.)

The breakdown is as listed below. Each team in the league MUST HAVE THEIR PROTECTED LISTS IN BY THE DEADLINE SET IN THE FASP CALENDAR (see the NEWS & NOTES page for the calendar each May). The make-up of these lists has been previously explained.

Before full protection lists are submitted, Franchise Players Bidding and Resolution will take place 2-3 weeks (time permitting) prior to the FASP Auction. Teams may be bid upon for 3 days and bidding will take place online in a blind auction format. Owners must declare their intentions to resign or release franchise players at the end of this period, they will be contacted by the commissioner in standings order of the previous season, meaning the highest ranked team must declare resolution first down to the worst team. (See Franchise Loss Compensation for more Details - Sec. VIII, D, 3)

Players will be bid on the using the above rules for minimum bids and franchise bidding will end the at midnight of the 4rd day. Teams will then be contacted to declare if they are resigning or releasing their Franchise Player. If a team releases a franchise player, it will not be revealed which team obtained the released player until after all the teams have signed/released their franchise player.

After franchise players have been assigned to their respective teams, and FP's have been added/subtracted accordingly, trading will open again until Full FA Protection lists are due. This deadline shall be no less than 5 days prior to the FA Auction date.

FASP Auction will take place in a chat room as well as on the FA page on the website. Starting with the last place team, teams can choose any FA and place a bid on him. Teams will continue to bid on the player until no more bids are placed. Team will choose the player to be bid on my choosing that player on the FA page. In the chat window the Commissioner will declare bidding open on that player.

The first bid that appears on the page is the effective bid. Teams will see on their page is theirs is the active bid.

If it appears teams have stopped bidding, the commissioner will put warnings in the chat room. First will be going 1, then a couple seconds later, going 2, then a couple seconds later sold.

As soon as sold hits the board, that's it, highest bid wins. If a team decides to try and outbid another team at the last second, it doesn't matter. If sold appears on the board before the next bid, then the player is gone. The commissioner will control the sold button, and once sold has been placed on the chat room the button will be pressed, and the player awarded to the bidding team.

If the commissioner is bidding on a player, then an owner (NOTE: preferably on the executive committee) not bidding will assume responsibility of saying going 1, 2, sold.

Going with the draft order, this process will continue until all RFAs and UFAs that teams want to be bid on, are bid on.

If a UFA is bid on, the team with the highest bid gets him.

If an RFA is bid on, the team who currently owns that player has the option of keeping him at that price, or releasing him. As soon a RFA is brought up for auction it will be announced who has matching rights to that player. Teams with matching rights are prohibited from bidding on that player.

After all the players are bid on that want to be bid on, then teams have the option of signing or releasing their remaining players. Resigning can work just as it does now. It will show online and you can resign or release those remaining players the week after the FA auction.

THAT'S IT. FA AUCTION OVER. THIS WILL ALL BE DONE IN 1 DAY. EACH LEAGUE SHOULDN'T TAKE MORE THAN 4-5 HOURS.

ALL trading is suspended during the FASP (Commissioner Note: This one is a rules clarification - NOT a votable amendment proposal)

3) Franchise Player Bidding / Loss Compensation

The MINIMUM opening bid on a Franchise Player is determinded by the average of the top 5 salaries of players at their respective position.

Designation of a Franchise Player is optional. If you do not want to use this spot, you don't have to.

Bidding on a Franchise Player works the same way as all other FAs (RFAs and UFAs). The team with the highest bid on the board after the 3 days is the active team that the current owner of the Franchise Player must deal with. Meaning if the Franchise player is allowed to be signed away, compensation will come from the active bidding team on that player.

Team with rights to the Franchise Player MAY refuse offers. You do not have to accept an offer.

If the current team wants to keep the Franchise Players, the team with the rights MUST match the active bid on the Franchise Player to keep him and reset his CS. If the Franchise Player is not bid on during the 3 day bidding period they MUST resign the Franchise player for 15 OR the full value of the slot whichever is higher.

Either way the average of the top 5 salaries for each position will be posted on the site well in advance of the FA period so teams have plenty of time to make the choice on whether to designate a Franchise player or not as well as who that player should be.

The Maximum number of Franchise Players you may sign is equal to the number of 1st round picks you have. Teams with NO 1st round pick may Only sign a Maximum of 1 Franchise Player.

What a team GETS for Losing a Franchise Player:

Compensation for releasing a Franchise Designated Player will be 1/2 of the FPs offered (Rounded Up), as well as a 1st Round Draft pick.

Tthe compensation will include the FPs and a compensatory pick between the 1st & 2nd rounds.

Current owner of the Franchise Player will not know who the active bidding team is until decision is made to release the Franchise Player and therefore will not know what the draft pick compensation will be prior to making their decision.

What a team LOSES for signing a Franchise Player:

Teams signing a Franchise Player will lose the amount of FPs bid on that player as well as their HIGHEST draft pick. If that pick is NOT in the 1st round they will lose their two (2) highest draft picks.

In the case that a team has multiple 1st round picks and signs multiple Franchise Players, they lose the corresponding highest 1st round picks for as many Franchise Players that they sign. (Ex. if a Team A has 3 1st round picks and sings 2 Franchise Players, they will then lose their 2 highest 1st round picks.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

In the event that a team has NO 1st Round pick AND signs a Franchise player AS WELL AS loses their Franchise player, then the 1st round pick they would receive for losing their Franchise player will transfer to the team that they signed the Franchise player away from. NO team can go into Free Agency without a 1st round pick and sign a Franchise player AND come out with a 1st round pick. This is a safeguard enacted by the executive committee in 2002.

In the case that a Franchise player does change teams due to being released to a bidding team, the team that decides to release that player MAY NOT acquire the released Franchise Player via trade until AFTER the completion of the upcoming Free Agency Auction for their league. No exceptions, regardless of direct trade or via multiple teams and mulitple trades.

E) Pre-Draft Roster Limitations

Following the end of the resigning period, teams will be notified of remaining FP. Off-season trading is reinstated. This trading is still unrestricted. At no time can a team have more than 44 active players signed to their roster. If a team ends the FA Auction with more than 44 players signed they will have 24 hours to make cuts to get down to the 44 maximum. If a team is over the 44 limit AND does not notify the commissioner of their cuts then the last player(s) signed during the auction to place a team over the limit will be immediately and automatically released after 24 hours.

F) The Collegiate / Free Agent Entry Draft (Rules in Detail)

The league will hold its CFAED each year on the 2nd weekend of August. The exact date will have to be determined around this time each year as to allow all owners to be present.

The order of each round of the draft will be determined by the reverse order of standings from the year before. In case of a tie, team with lower number of total points scored will pick first. Therefore the draft order for each round will be 14-1. Any compensatory picks awarded due to loss of Franchise players will be declared before the draft begins.

During the draft, all players that were not resigned during the FA period are declared draft eligible along with all the incoming rookies selected during that years NFL College draft. This is where our draft pool comes from.

The CFAED will have a maximum of 8 rounds for teams to sign as many players as they want to and can drop out of the draft at any point. Teams can fill empty roster slots they have up to a 44 player pre-season active roster limit. Teams may decide to draft none or one player and drop out, and use the preseason waiver period to fill out their roster. Either way the draft will continue until there are no more teams selecting players.

G) C/FAED Draft Pick Time Limits

During the first half of the draft (Rounds 1-4) there will be a 3 minute time limit on all draft picks. During the second half of the draft (Rounds 5-8) there will be a 5 minute time limit on all draft picks. The commissioner will keep a running clock during the draft, to the best of his ability, and the time limit will begin ONLY when the commissioner announces that the team in "on the clock " or "on the board". And the commissioner shall be the only person keeping the official selection clock.

Teams will be warned when there is 1 minute remaining on the clock, and also with 15 seconds left. Once the final 15 second warning is given, if a team fails to post their selection before the commissioner declares the next team on the clock, then the next team in the order may make a selection. The previous team doesn't forfeit their pick and may make their selection at any time, but as soon as the commissioner puts the next team on the clock, that team may pick.

The Commissioner may allow emergency stoppages of the clock, but is the sole person with the power to do so. Each team will be allowed a single (ONE) 5 minute timeout during the draft. There will be the normal regular breaks for food and restrooms, and these are independent of each team's 5 minute timeout.

H) Preseason Waiver Period Rules and Roster Integrity Deadlines

After the draft, teams that still have empty roster spots can claim player off the waiver wire to fill these spots. The players available on the waiver wire include any player not on a roster following the draft. Waiver periods will last one week each and there will be as many as are allowed between the end of the draft up through the Wednesday before the first game of the season. The first Preseason waiver period will begin the Monday following the draft and a full schedule will be posted each season prior to the draft date.

Each week teams can send in a list of up to 10 (ten) players they wish to claim off of waivers. This is the difference between the preseason waiver periods and regular season waiver periods. During the season only 1 (one) player each week can be claimed, barring waiver pick trades. But during the preseason waiver period, teams can claim multiple players each week. Teams can use any leftover FP to help sign waiver selections during these periods also. In this way the preseason periods are just like the regular season periods in every way except number of player that can be claimed. If two or more teams attempt to claim the same player during any one waiver period then the team that finished lower in the standing from the year before is awarded that player. If two or more teams attempt to claim the same player and two or more of those teams have also sent in FP bids along with the choice the team with the higher number of FP bid will receive the player regardless of waiver pick order. Any tie in bids will revert to the normal tiebreaker rules. Teams can claim as many players as they need to during this period. Also there will be a 44 man pre-season roster limit during this period. This allows for a training camp type environment. But at no time can teams be over the 44 player limit.

This will continue until reaching some preset "Cut Down" days in the preseason. There will be X number of separate “cut down" dates, to a get down to the Maximum of 36 Active player for the regular season. The number of cut dates and the number of player to cut down to will be posted prior to the draft and will be determined by the amount of time allowed between the completion of the draft and the time needed to get to the Week 1 Waiver deadline on the Wednesday before Game 1 on Opening Thursday Night each season.

These cuts will happen PRIOR to the Week 1 Waivers when roster integrity rules begin to apply and the regular season waiver rules take effect. The Week 1 Waiver deadline will ALWAYS be the night immediately preceding the NFL opening game.

I) Offseason Roster Rules Regarding Practice Squad Players

Once the FASP starts all players, that are designated as Untouchable or have either an injury, rookie or practice squad exemption used on them, move to the active roster of the corresponding team with the appropriate adjustment to the players' CS if needed. No player can be placed on or back into the Practice Squad until the “Final Cut” date, at the earliest.

The only players that are eligible for a PS slot are any BSL rookies just entering the league through the CFAED or any player that was given a PS Exemption during the previous FASP. Once a player is placed in the PS, regular PS activation rules then apply, meaning any movement off of the PS (other than thru trades) costs 1 FP to make the move. This also means that players placed in the PS slots do NOT count to the 36 man active roster limit.

If a player was given a PS exemption in the previous FASP but is NOT replaced on the PS by the "final cut" date, then he may still be placed in the PS at a later date as long as he continues to meet the PS requirements.

If an NFL rookie holds out, the player is considered on an NFL team for the purposes of our league as long as an NFL team has his signing rights. This extends until the player signs an NFL contract. The player is eligible for a PS slot or can remain on the active roster but is NOT eligible for an injury slot (of any kind). In the chance that a player holds out for an entire year and is not signed before the subsequent NFL draft by an NFL team, the BSL team that drafted him in the previous season shall then lose the rights to that player (on the first day of the NFL draft). The player, for the purposes of BSL rookie eligibility in our database shall be considered never to have been in our league and will be eligible for the next BSL CFAED's, assuming he is taken in the new NFL draft. If he is selected in the new NFL Draft, he will be treated like any other rookie incoming from that draft.

Injury slots, both Long Term (IL) and Short Term PUP (IR) slots will open with 1st cuts and can be made at any of the cut dates during the pre-season. Remember that once in an injury slot players may not be activated, for the entire season in the case of the IL slot and at the earliest week 7 waivers in the case of PUP slots. Injury slot players do NOT count toward the 36 player active limit and can be released at any time.

IX. Misc. Rules and Commissioner Powers

A) Commissioner Powers - "Best Interests of the League"

Although Baseball failed to see the integral need for this power by it’s commissioner, we haven’t. We believe that this power is needed to insure the stability of the league over many years. This rule states that any rule in the constitution can be changed at any time by the commissioner if he deems it necessary to balance out the parity of the league, determined a rule just isn’t doing what it was intended to do, or just sees it as in the best interests of the league as a whole. This power is absolute and unquestionable. Although the commissioner will be required to get input from several or all owners before a final decision is made. This power will be taken just as seriously as the Executive Committee rule and should be used sparingly. It is the hope of this constitution that any amendment to the league’s constitution be done by a majority vote by the ownership, but makes it known that none is needed.

B) Executive Committee Challenge Veto Power

The commissioner is allowed to at any time he feels it necessary, veto the decision of the Executive Committee. This works both ways. He can veto a trade that was allowed or veto the challenge of a trade disallowed. Again it is important to use this power sparingly and only after great thought. But the purpose is to make it known that the commissioner has the power to take actions he feels are in the best interests of the league. This will come into play in 2003 when the commissioner is no longer on the executive committee.

The executive committee will be made up of 3 permanent members (currently comprised of A.Abrams, S.Billings and J.Tanzer) and 2 floating spots that may fluctuate from year to year. (the 2 floating spots currently are D.Krakower and S.Fox). The commissioner's office is not involved in the executive committee, but is a separate entity. The commissioner's job with respect to the Executive Committee is to bring rules or other issues to the committee's attention if needed.

This committee will have the power to question any trade made and be the final word on any rules that may need to be interpreted during the year. Also, they will also be responsible for monitoring any uncompetitive lineups that may be submitted (with respect to LR302 and LR 112).

If a trade is challenged in this way it will be voided and teams trading will be asked to work out something else out. This is a very powerful tool at the disposal of the league and should be used sparingly, but will also insure that teams cannot be involved in collusion and one-sided trades that are detrimental to league stability.

If a member of the committee is involved with a trade then a team not involved will answer for that trade. A majority vote from the committee is needed to challenge a trade. (This rule should be taken seriously and anyone found to be abusing the committee rule would be asked to leave the league, with no refund of dues.)

* - The Executive Committee Members can be found on the Owner's Box. It will be marked in the team's entry if they are an Executive Committee Member (ECM).

C) Other Misc. Rule

1) Death Rebate – If a team has a player on their roster die during the course of the season that team will receive a 3 FP anti-death tax rebate. If said player passes away (due to natural, unnatural, supernatural, or any other means) during the course of the season (regular or post-season) that team shall also be awarded an additional free waiver pick. This pick shall mirror your waiver pick order for that current week and normal waiver rules apply. If this occurs during the post-season however, regular season rules apply and any player signed in this way WILL remain on your roster once the post-season ends.

X) League Resolutions

The following resolutions encompass the rules voted on invoked by the executive committee. They are rules designed to maintain league integrity and stability. ALL RESOLUTIONS ARE ABSOLUTE AND FINAL!

LR 102 - Disapproving Anti-competitive Voluntary Entrees - For ease of reference, this rule will be known as the DAVE Rule.

This rule's goal is to prevent teams from intentionally trying to lose, especially by fielding an uncompetitive lineup littered with players on bye weeks, suffering from serious injuries and unlikely to play, and/or players who are deceased, retired, incarcerated or otherwise incapacitated.

For example, there is no reason to start a player who is known to be OUT (let's say he is still in the hospital suffering from a collapsed lung) if other alternatives exist on the roster.

High draft picks are meant to assist struggling teams in rebuilding, but are not meant to be a reward for teams that intentionally lose games in order to better their draft position. This approach is selfish and not in the best interest of the league.

This proposal is based on an honor system, but will be monitored by the Executive Committee. The only firm rule proposal to be put in place will be that BSL teams may NOT start a player whose NFL team is on a bye week if other alternatives exist on the BSL team's roster. If a BSL team attempts to start a player on a bye week, (1) the commissioner will inform the team of the error, in case of mistake, and if not changed, (2) the Executive Committee will step in and decide on a replacement. One exception would occur if the commissioner is unable to contact the owner, at which time the Executive Committee would make the lineup change and verify that it was an honest mistake by the owner as soon as the owner can be contacted.

However, if the Exec. Committee has to step in because the BSL team is unwilling to correct the error, the Committee will immediately assume operations of the BSL team for the remainder of the season or until a new owner can be found. The guilty BSL owner forfeits any prize money his team or players would have earned. If a new owner can be found during the season, the new owner will be rewarded any prize money earned at season's end.

This league is supposed to be fun and owners should not have to worry about other owners attempting to undermine the integrity of the league.

LR 202 - NO PAY=NO PLAY

For this point on, the official beginning to the BSL Season is the first day of the Free Agency Signing Period. This is when League Fees are due by.

A team's yearly dues allows you to own your team from one signing period to the other. A team has to pay to go through the FASP and if they drop out before the draft or the start of the season they can be reimbursed (and then a new owner would pay the new dues). If people are concerned with paying so far from the start of the season, they have to understand our season starts with the FASP. This is the first point that a Owner begins to affect the look of his team for the upcoming season, so this seems a logical point to mark the beginning of our official season.

If Fees are not paid by the date that Protection Lists are due, the Executive Committee will assume control of the BSL team until Fees are Paid or Until a new owner can be found (whichever comes first).

(Commissioner Note: The Commissioner's Office WILL update the League Schedule within the Constitution to note this change and also make sure when trading in the off season is allowed is clearly noted.)

LR 302 - Anti-Dumping Protection / Trading Future Draft Pick Guidelines

BSL teams can trade draft picks for the immediate upcoming draft and the one following AFTER the NFL free agency period begins (March 1st) In order to do so, the team TRADING the draft picks AWAY for a draft past the immediate upcoming draft, MUST pay their league fees for the following season by the deadline that normal seasonal fees are due. (Beginning of BSL FASP).

All but $20 of this prepayment can be returned if the current owner drops out of the league prior to the draft in which they traded away the picks. The $20 that is kept will become a rebate for the new incoming owner who is taking over a team that has lost draft picks prior to acquiring the team.

This allows for BSL teams to to Pre-FASP trades but ensures that the team trading away the picks will be in the league when their team is affected by the the loss of the picks. It also makes it a bit easier to sell the any dropped teams that may have lost future draft selections since the entrance fee for the first season will be lower.

LR 103 - Player Position Change Declaration and Timing Clarification

Many teams have questioned how and when the commissioner's office changes a player's official position eligibility. This resolution is to set it in words, since this is currently not the case in the current constitution.

The League Office officially reserves the right to change a player's position listing at any time during the year (off-season, regular season or post-season). It will however refer to the guidance of the executive committee before any change is declared. It also resolves to make its best efforts to only change a player's position eligibility at the following times: just prior to the FA periods, just prior to the BSL Drafts, just prior to the regular season. NO changes will be made during the FA period, but teams should be aware on their own on whether or not an NFL player may be changing the position he plays.

Please note however that there is not deadline for making a change and that it can happen at any time. If an NFL team discloses in the middle of the season that a player is moving positions, than the executive committee has sole authority to change that player's eligibility. (ex. This happened this past season with Slater's Raiders FB turned RB Najeh Davenport (GB).)

LR 112 - Anti-Tanking Rules

Tanking is not permitting. Tanking is, for the purpose of this resolution, defined as the purposeful and deliberate inclusion of players known to be injured, players known to be OUT of a particular game, or players on BYE weeks in a starting lineup when other active options are available.

Any player that is in a starting lineup that has been declared OUT prior to the day before the start time of the game or that is on a team BYE week when ANY OTHER active player alternative is available to a team will be deemed as tanking. Teams are fully responsible for their lineups and for checking on player statuses in the days leading up to the game.

If the commissioner's office finds a player that meets the above criteria, either during lineup reviews on game day, while entering stats, or is notified by another team owner, an immediate change will occur and an active player will be replaced (see more below) and the owner of the team in question will be warned.

Any player changed in this manner will be done so at the full discretion of the commissioner's office. The commissioner will 1st make an attempt to contact the offending owner (if games have not yet begun, or at least the game involving the tanked player), 2nd attempt will be to contact 1 or more executive committee members not taking part in the involved game, if neither of those choices are available or can be completed the commissioner's office will make the change to the player deemed as the "best available option" as a replacement. PLEASE NOTE: This change will be made as soon as possible after finding the tanking issue EVEN IF the game has already begun. The commissioner's office will try to fill the offending position with the best active option available, again, even if the game for the replacement has already begun.

Owners that have players changed it this way will face the following level of punishment: 1st Change - Warning and player(s) is changed.

2nd Change - Final Warning, player(s) is changed and penalty of 25 FP AND loss of highest draft pick administered.

3rd Change - Team owner forfeits right to compete in the BSL, team is taken over by the league and a new owner will be found at the earliest convenience. If owner owns multiple teams in the BSL then ALL BSL teams are forfeit even if other teams owned are not involved in tanking issues.

LR 112 - Week 7 Rivalry Week Replacement (to remain in effect until the NFL expands its regular season)

"Rivalry Week" is no longer an annually static game. Instead, for week 7 will change each season on a rotating weighted basis. Each team will gain 1 non-division game against 1 of the 2 teams they do not play based on the weighted schedule construction. The league will alternate each season the division in which this additional game takes place against in order to ensure each season's schedule is different than the previous season. Due to this (keep in mind this will change as soon as the NFL goes to 18 regular season games - SEE COMMISSIONER'S NOTE) each team will play 6 games inside their own division (2 vs. each other team in the division) and 7 games against the other 2 divisions (4 vs. all teams in 1 division and 3 against the other based on previous season final standings). The fantasy schedule for each season will be posted PRIOR to the beginning of the Free Agency Auction.

Commissioner's Notes: This will become a moot point if and when the NFL expands to 18 regular season games as that will allow us to go to a 14 game regular season and a completely balanced schedule instead of a weighted one. An 18 game regular season NFL season, we assume, would take 19 weeks to play if not 20 depending if they use multiple bye weeks. Either way, the BSL will switch to a 14 game regular season schedule + Wildcard Week + Semi-Final Week + a 2 Week Super Bowl letting us play games in 18 NFL weeks. If the NFL goes to multiple bye weeks and a 20 week schedule we will discuss that when it happens but that may allow us to play our own "Pro Bowl" as we had voted on and approved a couple of seasons ago but are waiting on the schedule expansion.

XI) League Fees, Prizes, and Voting

A) League Fees

League Fees are now $100 per year. This covers $80 towards the prize fund and $20 per owner toward the Internet hosting for our web site. Prizes are described below. Fees are Due by the official Start of the new season, which is the beginning of the FASP (June 1st.) Also note that if you have traded a draft pick for the following season, then those fees are due on June 1st as well, or if the pick is traded after June 1st, fees will be due within 2 weeks of the transaction or the transaction may be reversed.

12 Teams x $80 League Fee = $960 Total Prize Fund

B) League Awards and Prizes

Post-Season Awards:
Super Bowl Champs (1st Place) = $500
League Runner-Up (2nd Place) = $250
Winner of Consolation Game (3rd Place) = $70

Division Winners = $10

Pro-Bowl Bonuses = (see Bonus FP in sec VIII, A, 5)

Regular Season Awards: – FP Bonuses: (of the Year awards are given strictly to the Highest Scoring Player in each designated category)

Offensive Player of Year = 1 FP
Defensive Player of Year = 1 FP
Offensive Rookie of the Year = 1 FP
Defensive Rookie of the Year = 1 FP
Players of the Year by Positions = +1FP to Owning team (QB, RB, WR, TE, PK, KR, DL, LB and DB)
Ea. Team of the Week = $ 5 Highest scoring team per week
Team of the Week of Year = $ 5 Highest single weekly total during regular season
Offensive Team of Year = $ 10 Highest scoring Offense
Defensive Team of Year = $ 10 Highest scoring Defense
Special Teams of the Year = $10 Highest scoring Special Teams
Team of Year = $ 10 Highest overall team score

C) Rule Change Amendment Voting (2006 Amendment)

Each team in each league shalll receive one vote when it comes to league wide voting. The effect of this rule is that there will be 38 votes each season, starting in 2007. One per team instead of 1 per owner (even if they had multiple teams). For an amendment to pass the rule change proposal must recieve 20 or more votes.

Commissioner's Note: The commissioner's office has added the following caviot to the 30 vote rule and that is that any MAJOR Procedural change (defined as any proposal that vastly changes the previous rule or event) must recieve at least 30 votes to pass (75%), not just a majority. Proposals deemed MAJOR changes by the commissioner's office will be noted when proposals are posted each season.

D) Off-season Calendar

The following calendar will be used each off-season, barring unforeseen circumstances.
End of Super Bowl (End of Jan)
Unrestricted Trading Begins (End of BSL Super Bowls)
NFL College Draft (Usually early to mid-May)
Free Agency Auctions / Trading Suspended (schedule TBD each season, usually in July) - Official Start of New Season
Free Agent Re-signing Period (day after individual league Auction - 3 day re-signing period)
Trading reinstated (after re-signing ends)
College / Free Agent Entry Draft (schedule TBD each season, will attempt to spread 3 league thru August)
Pre Season waiver period (Begins 1st Monday following CF/A-ED)
Beginning Regular Season and Regular Season Rules/Waiver Rules in affect (Wednesday before Game 1 of NFL season)