Rulebook

Last updated August 20, 2023

Article I – Contacting League Officers

League officers are available if you have any questions or are in need of assistance. If your question pertains to a feature provided by the Yahoo! Fantasy platform, please utilize the Yahoo! support resources before contacting a league officer. For league-specific issues, please contact the league Commissioner first. If the league Commissioner is unavailable or unresponsive, then you should reach out to the league Co-Commissioner. If you cannot contact either person, and your issue is time-sensitive (for instance, if you are requesting a roster modification because you don’t have access to the Internet), please use the league GroupMe to make your request. In this way, we can verify the time of your request and make your roster change retroactively if necessary.

League Commissioner

Matthew Ching
(510) 685-5828
mching715@gmail.com

Co-Commissioner

Dominic Prado
(510) 333-8791
dominicrprado@gmail.com

Article II – League Entry & Other Fees

The following fees will be collected yearly to finance league operations and prizes.

Entry Fee: $250 per team

The league entry fee is comprised of a $250 fee bringing the prize money to $3,000. $2,600 of the total prize money will be distributed to the top 3 teams and the remaining $400 will be distributed as weekly prizes.

League dues must be paid to the Commissioner by Thursday, August 10th, 2023 (one month before the season starts). A $5 late fee will be imposed per day if dues are not paid by the deadline.

Dues can be sent via:

Venmo: @MChing

Zelle: mching715@gmail.com

Championship Belt Engraved Name Plate: $10

It will be the responsibility of the last-placed team in the consolation playoff bracket to pay the engraving fee for the fantasy league championship belt. The belt will be transferred to the new champion at the league’s annual draft party.

via Fantasy Champs

Note:

The team that finishes the season in last place (based on the consolation playoff bracket) will surrender the ability to name their team in the following season. League managers can make name suggestions and the 2nd place finisher will get to chose the “best” name for the last place team.

2022 12th Place: East Oakland Amen-RAWS – Miles Brown

2022 2nd Place: The Black Hole – John Lantican

Transaction-based fees:

Keepers:

10% of current season’s league dues
- 2023 Season: $25 if player is drafted between Rounds 5-10
FREE if drafted between Rounds 11-15

Waiver Claims:

FREE for teams in playoff contention
$5 per successful waiver claim for a team that is eliminated from playoff contention (team has a 0% chance of finishing in the top 6)
- Collected waiver fees will be added to the weekly prize for high points

Trades:

Free for teams in playoff contention
$5 per trade for a team that is eliminated from playoff contention (has a 0% chance of finishing in the top 6)
- Fee will ONLY be incurred to teams not eligible for the playoffs. A team still in contention for the playoffs that makes a trade with a team out of contention will NOT be required to pay a fee.
- Collected trade fees will be added to the weekly prize for high points

Article III – Prize Payout Structure

Our league awards cash money prizes to the top 3 teams in the league and a weekly cash prize to the team that scores the most weekly points.

Payout Structure

Here is how the top 3 teams are rewarded:

1st Place: $1750 + $150 + $95 = $1995

2nd Place: $600

3rd Place: $250

Note: For 1st place prize, $150 is for 6 paid keepers this season and $95 is from late league dues.

If the season gets cut short due to unforeseen circumstances, league dues will be reimbursed to managers.

Weekly Prize Structure

Every week $25 will be distributed to the team that has the highest point total. If there is a tie, the team that accumulated the highest total team touchdowns will be rewarded the weekly prize. The weekly prize will be ongoing for 16 weeks of the season – not just the 14 week regular season. There will be NO weekly prize championship week.

The payouts detailed above shall be considered the actual payout amounts pending verification of payment from all managers. Payout percentages will be used if we are unable to collect fees from all of the league managers.

Article IV – Playoff Configuration

The top 6 teams in the league standings at the end of the regular season (the fantasy football regular season ends Week 14) qualify for a 3-week (Weeks 15-17) postseason tournament to determine the league champion. This is a bracket style tournament that gets re-seeded each round (the higher seed will always play the lowest seed that advances). The bottom 6 teams in rank will participate in a consolation bracket to determine 7-12th place. Standings are determined by win/loss record and total points are used as a tie-breaker if necessary. As a reminder, the team that finishes in 12th place (not in regular season standings, but last in the consolation bracket) is subject to paying the $10 fee for the season’s championship belt engraving fee and also getting their draft pick swapped (by the 2nd place finisher) in the following season’s draft.

Article V – Determining Draft Order

As of the 2023 season, the draft position for each fantasy team will be determined at random using a 3-step protocol:

Rolling a six-sided dice to determine how many times a listed team names will be randomized.
The list of team names is randomized according to the output of the dice roll (1-6 times) via https://www.random.org/lists/
The randomized list of team names is copied into WheelOfNames.com for the show. The draft order video will be uploaded to Vimeo once all league fees have been collected.

2023 Draft Order – 2022 Draft Order – 2021 Draft Order – 2020 Draft Order – 2019 Draft Order – 2018 Draft Order

*The 2nd place finisher is allowed to swap draft positions with the last place team from the previous season at their discretion*

Article VI – Keeper Rules

The deadline to submit keepers for this season is Saturday August 19, 2023

Each manager may select one player as a keeper that was drafted between Rounds 5-15 from the previous season’s draft. This player must have been on the respective team’s roster for 100% of the season. NO EXCEPTIONS. This player cannot have been involved in any transactions whatsoever (trades, dropped and re-added, etc.) The same player cannot be kept consecutive seasons.

Players kept between Rounds 5-10 incur a $25 fee while players kept between Rounds 11-15 are free of charge.

Keeper’s need to be reported and paid for (if necessary) by Saturday August 19, 2023. After this date, no changes to keeper’s can be made. If a requested keeper that required a fee is unpaid for, that player will be re-entered into the draft pool. Keeper fees will be added to the 1st place payout.

Article VII – Trade Guidelines

The trade deadline for this season is December 2, 2023

For a trade to be granted and applied to a given week, it must be sent and accepted on the Yahoo! Fantasy platform (not just verbally or through a handshake). Trades will process instantly on the Yahoo! Fantasy platform, but players involved in the trade cannot be modified (re-traded or dropped) until clearing the league’s 24 hour approval process. For a trade to affect rosters for the given week, it must be agreed before these weekly deadlines:

For Thursday Night Football (TNF), trade must be sent and accepted by Wednesday @ 5:30pm PST
For Sunday games and Monday Night Football (MNF), trades must be accepted by Saturday @ 10:00am PST

These deadlines give all managers ample time to review a trade before the games begin. Any trades that are executed after these deadlines will be voided and must be re-submitted after the completion of MNF and subsequently will affect the following fantasy week. If a trade involves a player that has already been locked (e.g. a TNF player is included in a trade on Friday) that trade will affect the following weeks rosters. Once accepted through the Yahoo! Fantasy platform, a trade cannot be withdrawn by one party due to player injury, suspension, or any other unforeseen circumstance. During the trade approval period, all managers (except those involved in the trade) will be given the opportunity to veto the trade. However, the managers(s) who choose to veto the trade must make a valid case to the league (via GroupMe) for why the trade should not be granted. Some example arguments for why a trade could be vetoed: both teams are clearly not improved by the trade, there is any evidence of collusion, etc. We all must understand that based on the league’s roster configurations, one team could “desperately” need to fill a position. This IS NOT a valid case to veto a trade (unless of course collusion is involved). In NO CIRCUMSTANCES can side money or favors be involved in any trades (e.g. enticing another manager with extra money to help push a trade along, agreeing to split prizes if a trade helps another manager win, etc). If a majority of votes cast are against the trade, then the trade will not be granted. Some managers may be indifferent to a trade in which case their vote will not be counted towards the majority (e.g. 3 managers do not have any input on a trade, the majority now becomes 4 votes). If there is a tie in voting, the Commissioner, in all his wisdom and glory, will cast the tie-breaking vote (unless the Commissioner is involved in the trade, in which case the Co-Commissioner will cast the tie-breaking vote). If the trade is between the Commissioner and Co-Commissioner and there is a tie in voting, the trade will be allowed.

Article VIII – Creating New League Rules

When a league dispute arises mid-season that is not addressed in the league handbook, a discussion will ensue on possible resolutions to the dispute. Based on these discussions, the Commissioner will create a GroupMe poll so that managers can vote on an appropriate course of action. The league will follow the course of action based on the plurality of league votes. For a new rule to take effect immediately, there must be 100% agreement on the new rule among managers. If there is not 100% agreement, but the majority votes in favor of the new rule, that rule will be implemented into the following season’s league handbook.

Article IX – Roster Format

As of the 2022 Season, the roster format decided on is:

QB – RB – RB – WR – WR – TE – Flex – Flex – SuperFlex – DEF – Bench – Bench – Bench – Bench – Bench – IR

*Flex allows the option to play a RB/WR/TE

*SuperFlex allows the option to play a QB/RB/WR/TE

After 3 seasons of utilizing a roster format, during the offseason, league manager’s will be able to vote on 2 options:

1.) Keep roster format unchanged

2.) Proposed Roster Format (decided by league managers)

Every 3rd season (2022, 2025, 2028, etc) the roster format becomes open to potential change, IF THERE IS A CHANGE TO ROSTER FORMAT, Keeper’s will be RESET for the season the roster format changes go into effect. If roster format remains unchanged, normal Keeper’s rules will apply.

Article X – Adjustments & Penalties for Roster Oversights & Mismanagement

If a manager has an open roster slot (either due to bye weeks or oversight/laziness), but has a backup player (not on a bye, or labeled OUT) available on their bench, then the Commissioner must insert the available player in the open roster slot. If two eligible bench players exist then the player with the highest average projected point output for that week should be inserted into the open roster spot. The Commissioner will not make a substitution for a player who is OUT, regardless of when they were declared out. If a manager has an open roster slot due to bye weeks or injuries and does not want to drop any bench player’s, they must inform the league that this is an intentional action via GroupMe. If a manager is repeatedly neglecting their team (and handing out easy wins to opponents), that manager will be subject to removal from the league the following season.

Article XI – Resolutions to Unforeseen Events and Circumstances

During the fantasy football regular season, in the event a scheduled game is declared a no-contest or not played due to a force majeure event, the matchup will stand as-is and winner shall be determined by highest point total from the 10 players in each manager’s starting lineup.

During the fantasy football playoffs, in the event a scheduled game is declared a no-contest or not played due to a force majeure event, the matchup will be decided by league managers on a case-by-case basis.

If the outcome is clear and obvious, the winner should be decided without question.
If the matchup is undecided, managers will use bench players to create the best possible 10 player lineup. Whichever manager has the highest point total will be declared the winner