EDFL League Constitution

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PREAMBLE

This league is about having fun. Basically, you get out of fantasy football what you put into it - and what your fellow owners put into it. The more active league members are - managing their rosters, making trades and other roster moves, paying attention, communicating with each other - the more healthy the league will be. Fantasy football can be as much about camaraderie between owners as it is about football. With that in mind, have fun and enjoy the league. And no, we are not trying to be too formal by creating this league constitution, we are just providing a written guide to help communicate the rules on an even level and give you something to refer back to should questions arise.

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THE LEAGUE

The league shall consist of at least 8, but no more than 12 teams. The league currently has 10 teams, with the possibility to grow to 12 in future years if we have enough interest. And yes, our goal is to keep this league going for many years to come.

All owners need to have Internet access, since most of league business will be conducted on the league's official website, www.edffl.com. All teams must be assigned a franchise name by the team owner (that’s you). Inter-league conferences will be set as follows:

8 Team League	10 Team League	12 Team League
2 Conferences	2 Conferences	3 Conferences
(4 teams each)	(5 teams each)	(4 teams each)

Note: Conference assignments will remain constant from season to season, with the exception of seasons where re-organization is necessary due to expansion growth (if we ever get up to 12 teams). In such cases, the commissioners will determine assignments based on the results of the previous season. Commissioners will also determine assignments for expansion teams (when applicable).

Current assignments and owners are shown on the website.

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COMMISSIONERS

Hey, someone has to be in charge. Quite simply, there are two league commissioners, Joe Rogers and Bill Donahue.

NOTIFYING THE COMMISSIONERS: During the season, the two commissioners will work together managing the league and coordinating league business. While most league business is conducted on the website, please make sure you send all pertinent league e-mail to both commissioners. That way your bases are covered in case one of us is away.

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FEES

The yearly franchise fee is set at $30. Any change in the fees in future years will only be done with the approval/agreement of all team owners.

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THE TEAMS

Each team will consist of 16 position players (Note: a defense/special teams counts as a single player.). This is a perpetual league, sometimes called a "keeper" league. That is, teams will protect some of the players from season to season. This allows teams to keep some sort of identity, and allows teams to build for the future. In this league, each team will protect three (3) players from their active rosters prior to the start of the each season.

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THE OWNERS

Each team has an owner who is responsible for paying league fees and managing his team. In order for the league to be fun and competitive, it's important that each owner participate. Failure to manage your team is not only a waste of your league fee, but it's unfair to the rest of the league. It adds extra work on the commissioners and could result in unfair situations for other owners.

Minimum expectations for owners are:

1. Participate in the draft. This is the one big time committment every year, and it's usually fun. We make every effort to accomodate everyone's schedule. If you absolutely cannot make it, please let us know and provide some instructions on who you want drafted (see The Draft below).
2. Field a viable team every week.That means, at a minimum, paying attention to bye weeks and injuries. And maybe not keeping that rookie RB who was supposed to be the next big thing but is now #3 on his NFL team's depth chart in your lineup every week.

The minimum is probably less than an hour a week, apart from the draft. If you aren't interested in committing to that, you should probably be wondering why you want to play fantasy football at all, or at least trying an anonymous Yahoo pickup league first.

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NEW OWNERS

The first new owner to join the league (agree to participate, and pay the fee) will have first pick of any available rosters (if any owners have left the league from the previous season). This will continue until no rosters are available. At that point, the new owner will be given an expansion team, if we have decided to expand the league. Expansion teams will draft as follows:

Expansion draft rounds 1 and 2 will occur prior to normal draft round 1.
Expansion draft round 3 will occur between normal rounds 4 and 5.
Expansion draft order will be determined by the Commissioners, with expansion round 2 going in reverse order.

Expansion draft picks may NOT be traded. Expansion owners may trade their regular draft slots for protectable players prior to the draft. However, having a player to protect voids an expansion draft pick (forfeit expansion draft round 3 for the first player, etc). Empty roster slots due to trading by expansion teams will be filled after the last round of the draft (the same as a non-expansion team that traded a draft pick).

The possibility exists that there could be a team that was completely mismanaged by an owner that subsequently leaves the league. Since we want to be able to attract new owners and be fair to them, the commissioners may make a special ruling about a bad team. That ruling will vary based on how bad the situation is, but every effort will be made to make the team competitive while being fair to the rest of the league.

Beginning with the 2012 season, the commisioners will maintain a queue of interested new owners. That queue was initially filled by a random drawing among potential owners. New potential owners will be added on a first come, first served basis (that means don't wait until we are looking for a new owner to give us your interested friend's name). When there is an opening, potential owners will be sent an offer to join, starting at the top of the queue. If there are more owners than openings, that person will be given a time limit to respond with a definite yes, otherwise they will move to the bottom of the queue and the next person will get an offer.

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THE DRAFT

The draft will be conducted at a time agreeable to all owners. Each owner will select a QB, RB, WR/TE, PK or DEF/ST for each of the 13 rounds until all rosters are full. There is no limit to the number of players an owner is permitted to select at each of these positions, but (refer to LINEUPS) keep in mind that each game you must start one (1) QB, two (2) RB’s, three (3) WR/TE’s, one (1) PK and one (1) DEF/ST, so plan accordingly. A good rule of thumb is to make sure that you have a back-up for each starting position, because injuries are a part of football and there are bye weeks in the NFL.

Prior to the start of the NFL season, there will be a draft to fill out the teams' rosters. The draft will consist of 13 rounds. If teams are missing draft picks because of trades, those teams will receive picks in supplemental rounds after the draft, continuing in the same order as the regular draft. If a team has extra draft picks, it must stop drafting when its’ roster has 16 players.

Draft order will be determined as follows: Playoff teams from the previous year will get picks 5-10 as outlined under PLAYOFF FORMAT below. Non-playoff teams will participate in a "lottery draft bowl" during the playoffs for picks 1-4. Lottery draft bowl seeding and draft pick determination is also explained under PLAYOFFS FORMAT. below.

Draft rounds will be conducted as follows:

Rounds 1,2 and 3: Draft order is first to last (1-10),
Round 4: Draft order is last to first (10-1)
(draft order will continue to alternate for each remaining round)

If possible, all owners need to be available to participate in the draft. The draft is typically conducted in a group setting, with owners who are unable to attend connecting in through a chat room via Instant Messenger (typically, this has been Yahoo Messenger). The Commissioners will co-ordinate several pre-draft "test sessions" to make sure that we can all communicate via the selected Messenger.

Owners not able to participate in the draft locally or via internet, may resort to one of these options if necessary:

1. Owners may submit their draft preferences (by position and players) to the commissioners, who will in turn draft for them based on the submitted preferences.
2. Owners may have their team selected for them by the commissioners using a pre-determined draft order (by position) and the Sporting News pre-season fantasy player rankings (with some consideration for covering all positions, and for the lower value of non-top tier tight ends in this league).

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THE SEASON

Our regular season will consist of the first 14 weeks of the NFL season, with Weeks 15, 16, and 17 reserved for playoffs and the lottery draft bowl. The league's regular-season schedule will be determined and published by the commissioners. With a 10-team league, each owner will play the other teams in his respective conference twice each (not including the playoffs), and will play teams in the other conference once each, plus one more cross-conference game in week 14, that will be a repeat of week 7.

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THE PLAYOFFS

The winners of the two conferences will be the top two seeds in the playoffs, with the better overall record being first, and the other the second seed. The four remaining teams with the best records (despite their conference) will be the wild-card teams, seeded # 3, # 4, # 5 and # 6 respectively.

In case two or more teams finish with the same overall record, head-to-head competition will be the first tiebreaker. If that does not settle a tie (as in two teams that split, or if there are more than two teams tied and one team does not hold a clear head-to-head advantage over each of the other teams involved in the tie), the tiebreakers shall go as follows:

To settle a tie for a conference title, the second tiebreaker will be conference record. The third tiebreaker will be points differential (a team's points scored minus points allowed). The fourth tiebreaker will be total (NFL) points scored. After that, we flip a coin.

To settle a tie for a wild-card spot or for draft bowl position, the second tiebreaker is points differential. The third tiebreaker is points scored. After that, we flip a coin.

Note: If three teams are tied for two playoff spots or draft bowl spots, we use as many tiebreakers as necessary to determine one winner. Then we start over with head-to-head between the remaining two teams to determine the second spot (if necessary).

PLAYOFFS FORMAT

The top 6 teams are eligible for the playoffs. Teams seeded 7-10 will participate in the Lottery Draft Bowl, competing for the top draft picks (1 - 4) the following year. As teams get eliminated from the playoffs, they will also compete for position in the draft. The playoff schedule will be as follows:

Week	Game	Teams	Outcome
Week 14	Bye	#1 seed and #2 seed
	WildCard1	#3 seed vs #6 seed
	WildCard2	#4 seed vs #5 seed
	LotteryBowl1	#7 seed vs #10 seed
	LotteryBowl2	#8 seed vs #9 seed
Week 15	Div.Champ1	#1 seed vs lowest (worst) seeded winner of Wild Card games
	Div.Champ2	#2 seed vs highest (best) seeded winner of Wild Card games
	LotteryBowl3	WC1 loser vs WC2 loser	Winner gets 5th pick, loser gets 6th pick
	LotteryBowl4	LB1 winner vs LB2 winner	Winner gets 1st pick
	LotteryBowl5	LB1 loser vs LB2 loser	Loser gets 4th pick
Week 16	Super Bowl	DC1 winner vs DC2 winner	Winner gets 1st place and 10th pick, loser gets 2nd place and 9th pick
	Consolation	DC1 loser vs DC2 loser	Winner gets 3rd place and 7th pick, loser gets 4th place and 8th pick
	Tiebreaker	LB4 loser vs LB5 winner	Winner gets 2nd pick, loser gets 3rd picK

LEAGUE SCORING
Champion: 200 points
Runner-up: 70 points
Third place: 30 points

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LINEUPS

Each week, teams will start a quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers/tight ends, a placekicker and a defense/special teams. Lineups must be entered on the website by game time or 1:00pm Eastern each Sunday (whichever is earlier). If the website is not working, owners should email their lineup to the commissioners and their opponent for the week.

If the owner does not change their lineup before the cutoff time, the players in those games who were in the owner's lineup the previous week will be locked into that owner's lineup. Likewise, players in those games who were not in the owner's lineup the previous week will be locked out of the owner's lineup.

The team lineups will be available on the website. The commissioners will tally the week's results of the games and the league standings and update the website with that information each week, usually by Tuesday evening. That’s right, you don’t have to score this yourself, however you may want to double-check us (we’re not perfect). Weekly results will not be published until confirmed by both commissioners.

Note: If an owner inadvertently starts a player whose NFL team is off that week, that position will remain empty.
Note: If an owner makes a trade for the same position, and the traded player was on that owner’s lineup the previous week, the new player does NOT automatically go on the lineup for the next week. He must be updated in the new owner's lineup.
Bottom line: Don't forget to check bye weeks, and don't forget to update your lineup.

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THE FREE AGENT WIRE

You may pick up and drop players throughout the season by requests via the website, with e-mail or phone as backup. The Priority Claiming Deadline each week is Wednesday at 10:00pm Eastern. Claims will be handled as follows: The team with the worst record that claims a player, gets him. That team then goes to the back of the pack in terms of priority for that week. So if you make multiple claims in a week, be sure to prioritize them. ANY CLAIM MUST INCLUDE A CORRESPONDING DROP TO BE VALID (remember, your roster cannot exceed 16 players). After the priority deadline each week, the commissioners will update week's claims on the website so everyone knows who was picked up.

Once the Priority Waiver period is over, the Free Waiver period will begin. Because the priority claim processing time varies, the Free Waiver period will open at 8am Thursday morning, and end at 1pm on Sunday. The free waivers are first come, first served. You can claim anyone not on another fantasy team, except players who have been waived that week. You can drop anyone except someone who was in your lineup in an early game. Claims occur immediately, so make sure you've entered the correct players before you click the execute button. There is also no error-checking to make sure you have enough players, and that your players (new or old) are not on bye (i.e. if you screw up your team you have only yourself to blame...). If you make an error and drop the wrong player, let the commissioners know immediately, and do not drop the player that you claimed in the error (or we will not reverse it).Finally, while it is theoretically possible to use the free waivers against your opponent (e.g., adding and dropping every available kicker to lock them all once you notice your opponent's kicker is on bye), such behavior is poor sportsmanship and will not be tolerated (e.g., the kicker trick above might result in your opponent getting his choice of kicker and you not being allowed to start one that week).

There will be one (1) free agent session/round each year after the draft, prior to the first games of the season (Week 1). The commissioners will announce the submission deadline for this free agent round each year however the deadline will typically be the Thursday night prior to the first weeks’ games. Priority order for free agents in this round will be reverse draft order.

Note 1: The only exception to the deadline is if a scheduled NFL game is canceled or delayed, AND one of the defenses from that game is the only defense on a player's roster. In that case, the owner may select one available defenses, not including defenses that were dropped that week. The logic behind limiting this to defenses is that eveyone should be prepared for an individual player to be injured at any time, but we don't expect every team to carry two defenses on the rare chance that a game is canceled. If two or more teams are in this situation, the priority order for the week will be used.
Note 2: (A) In the event that two (or more) teams are tied with the same overall record, points differential is used to determine current standings, with the higher value being the higher ranked team. Therefore weekly free-agent priority order will also be determined by point differential in this situation. (B) In the event that two (or more) teams are tied with the same overall record AND have the same point differential, total TEAM points scored will be used to determine current standings, with the higher value being the higher ranked team. Therefore weekly free-agent priority order will also be determined by total TEAM points scored in this situation.
Note 3: Your waiver claim request on the site should include which players to waive and claim, the order in which to do so, and any special instructions (such as only picking up one kicker, or only dropping a player under certain circumstances). Your claims can contain very detailed instructions, but you must make sure your instructions are clear. The commissioners will follow your instructions to the best of our ability, but our interpretation of your instructions is final. If the instructions are vague, expect us to follow the letter, not the intent.

In week 14, the teams in the playoffs seeded # 1 - # 6 get first priority at free agents (based on overall team record). Draft bowl teams seeded # 7 - # 10 get second priority (again, based on overall team record). In week 15, teams in the conference championships (DC1 and DC2) get priority. In week 16, the teams in the Superbowl have priority.

Note that if the league has a bye week (see season), there will be no free agency that week.

No free agent pickups are allowed in the off-season.

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TRADES

Trades are encouraged. Not only do they allow teams to improve themselves and make the league more competitive, but they also foster interaction between owners, making the league more fun for everyone. Teams may trade players for other players, or for draft picks. But trades for draft picks must be for the next season's draft only - no trading Adrian Peterson for first round picks through 2015, for instance. Trades may also be made in the off-season.

Owners may make trades up until the Lineup Deadline for a given week. However, keep in mind that trades confirmed after the weekly Free Agent Pick-up Deadline has passed cannot factor into Free Agent claims. Therefore, if your trade leaves you with an open roster spot you won’t be able to fill that spot until after that week's games. Trades will only be approved by the commissioners when the deals of the proposed trade leave both teams compliant with the minimum roster requirements (see below).

A TRADE IS NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL BOTH TEAMS INVOLVED HAVE NOTIFIED THE COMMISSIONERS AND HAVE MUTUALLY AGREED TO THE TERMS. TRADES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL CONFIRMED BY AT LEAST ONE COMMISSIONER.

Trade notifications should include any necessary roster adjustments; that is, if you trade a running back for two receivers, you should let us know which player you want to drop to make room for the two receivers and keep your roster at 16. If you make a trade that leaves you above 16 players and have not notified the Commissioners of who you want to drop, the trade cannot be approved.

And finally, the league trade deadline is before the early Sunday games of the last regular season game for this league. The only exception to that is players who were in early games that week and in a team's lineup. Those players may not be traded once their game starts. Trades are temporarily suspended during the playoffs. Trades may be made in the off season however.

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SCORING RULES

Teams play head to head. Each team starts one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, a kicker and a defense/special teams. YOU CANNOT START A PLAYER AT A POSITION HE DOES NOT PLAY (For example, Reggie Bush cannot be started at WR). The stats compiled by the real NFL players become the stats for your team. If you have a question about where someone qualifies to play, please ask a Commissioner.

Points are awarded in the following categories:

QB	completions	2 points
	completion percentage	1 point
	total yards accumulated (minus 25 yards per interception)	2 points
	total points scored (touchdowns and 2 pt. conversions)	2 points
RBs	# of rushes	1 point
	total yards rushing	2 points
	total # of receptions	1 point
	total yards receiving and passing	1 point
	total points scored (touchdowns + 2 pt. conversions)	2 points
WR/TEs	# of receptions	2 points
	total yards gained	2 points
	yards per catch	1 point
	total points scored (touchdowns + 2 pt. conversions)	2 points
K	total points scored (field goals, extra points, and touchdowns)	2 points
DEF	fewest yards allowed	1 point
	turnovers	1 point
	sacks	1 point
General	Total points scored by all starting players	2 points
	Total team yards (all offensive yards accumulated – yards allowed by defense)	2 points

Overall Breakdown:

QB	7
RB	7
WR/TE	7
K	2
DEF	3
General	4
Total	30

The two teams are compared in each of the categories and point totals are awarded to the team that wins each category. No points are awarded in case of a tie in a category. Obviously a perfect score in the core categories would be 30-0.

In addition, 1 bonus point is awarded for each of the following performances:

• 300 passing yards by a quarterback (BEFORE subtracting for interceptions), plus 1 more bonus point for every 100 additional passing yards
• 50 rushing yards by a quarterback, plus 1 more bonus point for every 50 additional rushing yards
• 100 yards rushing by a running back, plus 1 more bonus point for every 100 additional yards rushing
• 100 yards receiving by a running back, plus 1 more bonus point for every 100 additional receiving yards
• 100 yards receiving by a receiver, plus 1 more bonus point for every 100 additional receiving yards
• a score by a team's defense/sp. teams (safety, kickoff return, punt return, interception or fumble return)*
• a score from 50 or more yards (as in a 53-yard touchdown pass, or a 60-yard TD run or catch, or a fumble return of 73 yards)
• a field goal of 45-51 yards (a field goal of 52 or more yards is 2 bonus points)
• a shutout by a team's defense

*Scores by kickoff or punt return are only 1 bonus point regardless of distance. This is because by nature, they are almost always more than 50 yards.

The team with the most points and bonus points wins. If the two teams have the same number of points, the tie-breaker will be determined by the higher number of total points scored by each team's players, then by total QB category points (including bonus points), if needed.

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MISCELLANEOUS RULES

MINIMUM ROSTER REQUIREMENTS

No free agent pickups or trades will be allowed that reduce the number of players by position on a team's roster below the amount needed to fill a lineup for the next game. In other words, teams must maintain rosters that include a minimum of 1 QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR/TE's, 1 PK and 1 D/ST. Injured players are included in those totals, but players (and defenses) with an upcoming bye are not. Free agent requests that force a roster below the minimum will be disallowed. Trades after the close of the free agent wire that violate this rule will be disallowed. Trades made before the close of the free agent wire that violate this rule will be allowed if the owner of the team in violation submits a free agent request that can be reasonably expected to fill the necessary roster slots. That free agent request may be revised later in the week, but must still meet the reasonable expectation requirement. "Reasonable expectation" means that given the free agent priority order that week and the available players at a pos ition, an owner could be expected to obtain a player to fulfill the requirement.
Note: this rule does not prevent a team from having insufficient players to fill a roster due to owner inactivity or through bye situations in future weeks.

COLLUSION

Collusion between owners is frowned upon. Collusion is when two or more owners work together to circumvent the rules or competition of the league. An example would be an owner agreeing to lose a game -- by starting his or her weaker players, for instance -- so that another owner has a better shot at a playoff spot. Or two owners make a trade that is extremely unbalanced in favor of one team and agree to split the playoff money that results. These are just examples of something that's hard to define, but you know it when you see it.
Another form of collusion would be an owner at the back of the priority list encouraging an owner at the front to claim a particular player. The priority system is in place to make sure the teams at the bottom of the standings -- and those who have the initiative to submit a claim -- have first shot at the best available players, and it should not be circumvented.
Note: This doesn't mean two owners can't have an innocent conversation about available players, or that an owner can't seek the advice of a fellow owner, but it does mean you shouldn't be approaching other owners and suggesting players for them to claim, especially when that claim could somehow benefit you, however indirectly (by keeping a player out of the hands of a conference foe, for example, or by putting a player in the hands of a team willing to trade with you).

MISSING DEFENSE

Unlike other missing players, having no defense (yours is on bye and you failed to pick up a replacement in free agency) in the lineup could give a team an advantage in scoring. To avoid this situation, opponents of a team with no defense will automatically win defensive yards and total yards. Ties are still possible in sacks and turnovers.

TIES IN THE PLAYOFFS

Ties in the playoffs will be handled the same as in the regular season.

FINAL AUTHORITY

All final authority regarding the administration of the league rests with the Commissioners. Execution/enforcement of this Constitution and issues that arise that are not covered in this document will be decided by the Commissioners. We pledge to be fair and judicious in our rulings and administration of the league. Now let’s have some fun.

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Joe Rogers and Bill Donahue Commissioners
Drafted: August 17, 2001
Revision #14: October 16, 2025
This revision updates the schedule to include week 14 in the regular season, as agreed prior to the 2025 season, revises the wording on the cutoff time for early games, and corrects typos.