AFA Rules

Presented for your reading enjoyment, the rules for the Armchair Football Association:

Overview

AFA is an 10-team, “Internet Draft” league. There are no “keeper” players in AFA.

Starting Line-up Options

AFA is a “Mini-Flex” league. 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR and/or TE, 1 K, 1 DST. In this type of league you may start any combination of 3 wide receivers and/or tight ends to fill out the 3 WR/TE position.

Costs

There is a one time entry fee of $65.00 per team. Transaction fees for free agent add/drop or trades will be $3.00 per player transaction. All fees MUST be paid using PayPal or Cash two weeks prior to the draft.

Winnings

1st place: $350.00

2nd place: $150.00

3rd place: $100.00

Each Division winner will be paid $60

The Points Champion (defined as the team with the highest point total at the completion of the regular season) will receive $65.

The Commissioner

The commissioner is the individual responsible for coordinating and managing the AFA.

A. Drafting Process

Live Draft

The AFA draft will be held online and shall consist of 15 rounds. The AFA draft will begin promptly at the time listed on the AFA CBS Sportsline homepage. The homepage can be found at http://afaleague.football.sportsline.com/. The Live Online Draft room is accessible at http://afaleague.football.sportsline.com/draft/v2#. In a LIVE INTERNET DRAFT, each team will have only two minutes to make their selections per round. Typically, LIVE DRAFTS can last anywhere between 2 to 4 hours, depending upon how quickly owners select their players.

Draft Lottery

Draft order is determined by a weighted lottery. Opportunity will be determined based on a token system that will be based on how early you made payment. You can make dues payments upon receipt of a PayPal invoice from the commissioner. (NOTE – this rule was altered from the original content on 7-24-07 to eliminate the need for me to send out PayPal invoices exactly one month prior to the draft as some might have inferred from the original rule.) More info on the draft lottery will come later.

Player Selection

The selecting order will be determined by the aforementioned draft lottery. The order will be reversed for the even-numbered rounds. Each franchise owner shall select players to fill the following roster:

• 2 QUARTERBACKS, 4 RUNNING BACKS, 5 WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS, 2 KICKERS AND 2 DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS.
• Every effort should be made by each and every owner to ensure that draft selections are made in a timely manner. Exceptions are made for technical glitches, but common courtesy and a desire to complete the draft in under 10 hours will require every owner to pay close attention to the draft as it’s going on and have at least two-three picks in the ready in the event that a player one wanted is no longer available.

Note: Individual defensive players are not drafted; rather, you will draft a team’s entire defensive unit. For the purpose of roster limits, each defensive unit will count as one “player.”

B. Roster Requirements

Starting Lineup Requirements

Team owners may select a starting lineup each week from their 15 players. Each team is required to start 1 (one) quarterback, 2 (two) running backs, 3 (three) wide receivers or tight ends (or any combination thereof), 1 (one) kicker and 1 (one) Defense/Special Team.

Player Bye Weeks

A player on an active roster the week that his NFL team is on bye will not accumulate any points. Careful attention should be paid to this when an owner is drafting so that they are able to field the proper amount of players in a given week.

C. Scoring System

Scoring Overview

Each week your team will compete against another team in your league in a head-to-head match up. During a matchup, each of the players in your ’starting lineup’ (active players) for that week will earn points based on actual statistics from NFL games.

Wins & Losses

For each head-to-head match up, the team with the greater number of points will earn a Win and the team with the lesser number a Loss.

Ties and Tiebreakers

There are no ties allowed in any match-up throughout the season or postseason. In the event that the score is tied at the end of a game, the points scored by each team’s backup players are counted, and the team with the most points is declared the winner.

Scoring for Offensive Categories

FG – Field Goals – 3 points
Plus 1 point for a FG of 45 to 49 Yds
Plus 2 points for a FG of 50 to 54 Yds
Plus 3 points for a FG of 55 to 59 Yds
Plus 4 points for a FG of 60+ Yds

Individual Kick Return TD 6 points
Individual Punt Return TD 6 points

Pa2P – Passing Two-point Conversion 2 points

PaCmp – Passing Completion – 1 point for every 5 PaCmps

PaTD – Passing TD 4 points
Plus 1 point for a PaTD of 20 to 39 Yds
Plus 2 points for a PaTD of 40 to 59 Yds
Plus 3 points for a PaTD of 60 to 79 Yds
Plus 4 points for a PaTD of 80 to 99 Yds

PaYd – Passing Yards – 1 point for every 50 PaYds

Re2P – Receiving Two-point Conversion 2 points

ReTD – Receiving TD 6 points
Plus 1 point for a ReTD of 20 to 39 Yds
Plus 2 points for a ReTD of 40 to 59 Yds
Plus 3 points for a ReTD of 60 to 79 Yds
Plus 4 points for a ReTD of 80 to 99 Yds

Recpt – Reception – 1 point for every 3 Recpts

Ru2P – Rushing Two-point Conversion 2 points

RuAtt – Rushing Attempt – 1 point for every 5 RuAtts

RuReYd – Rushing and Receiving Yards – 1 point for every 20 RuReYds

RuTD – Rushing TD 6 points
Plus 1 point for a RuTD of 20 to 39 Yds
Plus 2 points for a RuTD of 40 to 59 Yds
Plus 3 points for a RuTD of 60 to 79 Yds
Plus 4 points for a RuTD of 80 to 99 Yds

Int – Pass intercepted -1 point per INT

FL – Fumble Lost, including ST plays -1 point per FL

XP – Extra Points 1 point

Scoring for Defensive Categories
DFR – Defensive/ST Fumble Recovered (ID/DT/DST) 2 points
DTD – Total Defensive and Special Teams TD 6 points
Int – Interceptions 2 points
SACK – 1 point for every 1 SACK
STY – Safety 2 points PA – Points Against, Total Points Scored
0 – 4 PA = 10 points
5 – 8 PA = 8 points
9 – 12 PA = 6 points
13 – 15 PA = 4 points
16 – 18 PA = 2 points

D. Schedule and Playoffs

AFA Regular Season

The league commissioner shall prepare a schedule. Teams shall play a 14-week regular season, with week 15 and 16 of the NFL season reserved for a single-elimination playoff tournament.

The schedule is generated using a semi-random combiner of sorts, in which each team is randomly assigned a number (usually based on order of finish in division, though this is not a set-in-stone rule). One division receives numbers 1-4 while the other division receives number 5-8, and each team in the division is assigned a number within their given range. That team’s randomly selected number is then plugged into a table (available upon request), giving each team’s full schedule for the regular season.

The schedule is designed in order to maximize divisional matchups; most teams will play their divisional opponents three times per season. It is mathematically impossible for all five teams to play all their divisional opponents three times in a season; the chart available upon request represents a best effort at achieving that goal.

 

Divisional Composition

The Commissioner is the arbiter for deciding team assignments into divisions. Though no changes are expected to the current divisional alignments at this point, the commissioner reserves the right to make changes to the division as he sees fit. No divisional shifts will be implemented during the regular season; any changes are undertaken during the summer before the coming season.

Tiebreaker System

The following is a tiebreaker scenario should two or more teams finish with identical records at the end of the season. 1) Overall record, 2) Head-to-head record, 3) Head-to-head points, 4) Divisional record (if opponents are in the same division, otherwise, tiebreakers #4 and #5 do not apply), 5) Points scored in divisional contests, 6) Total points scored the entire season, and 7) Team with lower draft position advances (one is high).

AFA Playoffs

The teams involved in the playoffs are the two division winners regardless of record (who are seeded first and second) and then the two best teams after that, regardless of divisional alignment. In Week 15, the top seeded team faces the lowests seeded team while the second seeded team faces the third seeded team. The winners of these two matches face each other in the championship game while the two losers face off in the Hicks Invitational. The winner of the championship game is crowned the winner and the loser of the championship game is deemed to have finished second in the league. The winner of the Hicks Invitational will be slotted as having finished third while the loser of the Invitational is fourth.

E. Lineup Changes and Deadlines

Weekly Lineups

Each week team owners have the opportunity to select their starting lineup for the week. All lineup changes must be submitted by the team owner through the Sportsline website. Team owners only must submit a player as a starter 10 minutes prior to the time that player’s game begins. For example, if you have a player playing in a Thursday game, you can either submit just that player in time for their Thursday game, or you can submit your entire lineup. Once a player’s game begins, he will be locked in your lineup, but you will be able to make changes to your other starters all the way up until their respective games begin. Suppose you have two players on a Monday Night Football game, and you are unsure which one will be starting. You are able to wait all the way up until 10 minutes before kick off to finally choose your starter for that game. *** If an owner doesn’t set their lineup for a particular week, the owner’s lineup from the previous week(s) will be used.

Deadline to Change Status

You can change the status of the players on your team (i.e., “active” or “reserve”) up to 10 minutes before that player’s NFL team is scheduled to start. Once a player’s game begins, he will be locked in your lineup. While there are benefits to last minute research, please play it safe and change the status well before this 10-minute window arrives. Norbert Rule: In case of technical difficulties you can email or call the commissioner but the 10-minute Rule still applies. Do not call and say that you have been trying for 15 minutes… There will be ABSOLUTELY NO deviations.

Free Agents

If a player is not on a fantasy team, he is considered a free agent available on the waiver wire. Throughout the season you may want to improve your roster by adding available free agents and dropping players who aren’t performing up to your expectations. There is no limit to the number of transactions you can make, however, there is a transaction fee of $3.00 for each free agent addition.

Add/Drop Procedure

For the first three weeks of the season, the waiver wire is first come/first served. After this period (starting after the week four games) the worst teams have first dibs (limit one pickup per team) on available free agents until noon on Thursday, with the “Power Rankings” found on the Sportsline site used to determine the order of teams. After noon on Thursday, it’s first-come, first-served (with no move limit) until the kickoff of first NFL game of the week (excluding occasional Thursday night games.) If an owner wants a player that has played in a Thursday night game, that player is not available for pickup until the end of games on Monday night. The individual owners must handle all add/drops through the Sportsline software, however the commissioner must approve all transactions. Each pickup of a player requires dropping a player on the current roster.

Trades

Player trades between two or more AFA team owners are permitted. Owners may not make trades during the off-season. All trades must be initiated and accepted through the Sportsline website. Once a trade is agreed upon by two owners and approved by the XFF Commissioner, it is executed immediately. Each team is charged $3 for each player added to their respective rosters, so, for example, in a four player trade between two teams, each franchise would be responsible for $6 worth of transactions. All trades can be vetoed if it is decided by the commissioner to be a dishonest trade. However, the commissioner can be overruled by a majority vote by the owners.

Deadlines

There will be no trades between two or more teams after the 26th of November, 2007. However, free agent/waiver wire aquisitions will continue throughout the regular season. No free agent/waiver wire acquistions will take place after the completion of the regular season.