Rules For 12-Team NFFC Ultimate League

[Greg Ambrosius]

We don't have this event on the Registration page yet, but it certainly is an event that we could add to the schedule on Friday afternoon or evening in Las Vegas on Sept. 9th. This one has a 90 percent payout and one team could win $36,000 from a $5,000 entry fee. Four teams make the Championship Round for a shot at the cash prizes, while $5,000 paybacks are awarded to the top h2h team and the top total points team from the regular season. Lots of good stuff in here.

Let me know if there' s any interest in this format and we'll explore the available times that weekend. Here's a look at the rules:

Section I: Official Rules and Regulations of the
National Fantasy Football Championship Ultimate League – 12 Teams

1. Overview: The National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) 12-Team Ultimate League on the weekend of Sept. 9-10 will consist of 12 teams/managers per league. The NFFC regular season will begin with all Week 1 NFL games (including results from the Thursday, Sept. 8th game) and through all Week 13 games. Teams will play every other team in their league once in head-to-head competition plus a two week “All Play” format (Weeks 1 and 2), with the team with the best overall record after Week 13 winning a $5,000 prize and the team with the most total points during the regular season also winning $5,000. One team can win both prizes if they accomplish both achievements. Tie-breakers for the head-to-head title is total points. The top four teams based on total points and h2h record designated below will make the Championship Round, while the eight other teams will compete in the Consolation Round. The four teams in the Championship Round will take their weekly scoring average into the playoffs and add that to their scoring totals in Weeks 14-16 and the team with the most points wins the title and the $26,000 prize. Prizes will be paid to the top three scoring teams in the Championship Round. The Consolation Round will be set up the same way, with only the top team receiving $1,000.

#1 Playoff Qualifier: Most total points
#2 Playoff Qualifier: Best h2h record (not counting total points champ; total points is tie-breaker)
# 3 Playoff Qualifier: Next most total points
#4 Playoff Qualifier: Next most total points

2. Draft: Each NFFC Ultimate League will be comprised of 12 teams, and each draft will last for 20 rounds, with each team selecting a player in each round in a serpentine fashion (team 1 through team 12 in Round 1 and team 12 through team 1 in Round 2). All NFFC 12-Team Ultimate Leagues will use 3RR (3rd Round Reversal) in 2011, meaning that the draft order will go back down to 12 to start Round 3 (12-1) and then continue in serpentine fashion after that. The NFFC is using 3RR in 2011 to balance the talent pool throughout these 12-team leagues. Players can be drafted at any position at any time in the draft, but each team must have at least one player for each of the designated starting positions by the end of the draft. Each team must start a weekly lineup of 10 players and the team roster must remain at 20 players; there are no injured reserve lists beyond the team total of 20.

3. Prizes:
First Place = $26,000.
Second Place = $13,000
Third Place = $4,000
Head-to-Head Regular Season Champion: $5,000
Total Points Regular Season Champion: $5,000
Consolation Round Winner: $1,000

4. No Trading: Trading is not allowed during the NFFC12-Team Ultimate League season and owners are not allowed to trade draft picks.

5. Roster Requirements: Maximum of 20 players at all times.

6. Starting Lineup Requirements: Starting lineups will consist of:
• 1 Quarterback
• 2 Running Backs
• 3 Wide Receivers
• 1 Tight End
• 1 Flex Player (RB, WR or TE)
• 1 Kicker
• 1 Team Defense/Specials Team
(If no Week One lineup is submitted, the NFFC will determine your starting lineup. After Week One, if no starting lineup is submitted, your starting lineup will be that of the previous week.)

7. Scoring: Players can accumulate points in a number of ways:
PASSING:
• .05 points for every yard passing (works out to 1 point every 20 yards).
• 6 points for every passing touchdown
• 2 points for every 2-Point conversion
• minus 1 point for every interception and lost fumble
RUSHING:
• .10 points for every yard rushing (works out to 1 point every 10 yards).
• 6 points for every rushing TD
• 2 points for every 2-Point conversion
• minus 1 point for every lost fumble
• 6 points for a recovered offensive fumble for a touchdown (RB, QB, WR, TE)
RECEIVING:
• .10 points for every yard receiving (works out to 1 point every 10 yards).
• 6 points for every receiving TD
• 1 point for every reception for RBs, WRs, Tight Ends and QBs
• 2 points for every 2-Point conversion
• minus 1 point for every lost fumble
KICKING:
• 1 point for every extra point
• 3 points for every field goal from 1-30 yards
• 3 points for every field goal plus .10 points for every yard after 30 yards (i.e. a 47-yard field goal would be worth 4.7 points)
DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS:
• 1 point for every sack
• 2 points for every interception or opponents' fumble recovery
• 6 points for every touchdown (interception return, defensive fumble return, punt or kickoff return, blocked field goal return, blocked punt return). All special teams and defensive points are awarded to the team responsible, not the individual player. Should a kicker, punter or field goal holder throw a pass off a fake attempt, however, the offensive output for that offensive play would go towards the individual player, not the specials team. Also, any lost fumble or “muff” on a specials team play does not result in negative points for that individual player.
• 2 points for every safety
• 12 points for a shutout by the entire team
• 8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team
• 4 points for allowing 8-12 points by the entire team
• 2 points for allowing 13-17 points by the entire team
• In the event of a "double turnover" when a team's offense turns the ball over and on the same play forces a turnover and scores a touchdown, the offensive player who scored the touchdown will receive six points. The player will not receive any other fantasy points for the play. The Team Defense/Special teams will receive points for the fumble recovery, but not for the touchdown.

8. Free Agent Acquisitions: Any player who is not on a team roster within your league is considered a free agent for that league. The free agent system will be a "blind bidding" process for each individual league (Free Agent Acquisition Bidding or FAAB). Each team will start with a $1,000 FAAB budget, and will be permitted to bid for free agents on a weekly basis through Week 13. No team will be informed of any other team's free agent bids before the winning bids are announced and only the winning bids and the runner-up bids will be announced to the leagues afterwards. The team with the highest bid on any given player will be awarded that player. The amount of the winning bid will be deducted from the winning team's free agent dollars. For each winning bid, the winning team must drop a player to make roster room for the free agent acquisition. If a team's free agent dollars goes to zero, that team will no longer be allowed to bid for the rest of the season. No bid will be accepted that is larger than a team's free agent dollars. All bids must be in increments of dollars (no cents).

9. The Draft: The draft will be held at the Bellagio Las Vegas on Friday, Sept. 9, after the completed Thursday game. Depending on the interest in Las Vegas, a combined teleconference draft league may be formed. The draft will be held in a serpentine fashion for each round while using 3RR (3rd Round Reversal, 1-12 in Round 1, 12-1 in Round 3, 12-1 in Round 3, 1-12 in Round 4 and continuing in serpentine fashion from that point on).
A. League Management Web Address: STATS LLC will manage the NFFC and provide real-time stats online. You can access your league via the Internet by going to http://nffc.stats.com.
B. Lineup Submission: All lineups may be submitted on the league web site and must be entered prior to the scheduled kickoff for the game affected.
C. Scoring: The National Fantasy Football Championship will use a head-to-head scoring setup and total points setup. Scoring will be accumulated each week from your 10 starters. Scores in the NFFC are finalized with no changes possible after 6 p.m. EST each Thursday after the weekend games.

10. Bidding Time Frame: The bidding process will be held each week after Week 1 and continues through the end of the NFFC regular season. Bids will be accepted on the league web site from Tuesday at 9 am ET until Friday at 9 p.m. ET in each of those weeks. Rosters will be updated by 10 p.m. ET Friday with the results of all successful bids.

The FAAB deadline will be moved to Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 4 p.m. EST to comply with the Thanksgiving Day games and to Wednesday, Nov. 3, Wednesday, Nov. 10 and Wednesday, Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. EST to comply with the early Thursday games as well. There are no FAAB pickups in Weeks 14 through 16 during the NFFC Championship Round and NFFC Consolation Round. All winning FAAB bids on Nov. 17 and 24 are final at that time, even if a scoring change is made after that which would affect tied winning bids.

11. Conditional Bids: Conditional bids can also be offered. In the event you may lose out on a player, you can place conditional bid(s) for other players during the bidding time frame. The first conditional bid will become relevant only if you lose out on the first bid. Subsequent conditional bids will become relevant only if the previous conditional bid fails. Bids do not require conditional bids. Bids may have several sequential conditional bids.

12. Number of Bid Limits: There is no limit to the number of bids each week in which bids are permitted.

13. Tied Bids: If there is a tie bid, the team that receives the player will be determined in order by:
1. Worst league record.
2. Lowest total points.
3. Head-to-head matchups of teams (losing team would get the player).
4. Worst previous week score.
5. Worst previous week score for every week backwards
6. Lowest draft spot

14. Trades between managers: To minimize the possibility of collusion, there will be no trading allowed. All drops are also subject to review by the commissioner of the NFFC and can be revoked if the dropped player is deemed too valuable to be offered to that league's free agent pool, thus damaging the credibility of the overall contest. In the case of a “star” player being dropped in a league for a valid reason, the NFFC commissioner does reserve the right to allow the cut but keep the player out of that league's free agent listing for any length of time, possibly the entire season. Accidental cuts or cuts of the wrong player will be handled individually by the NFFC commissioner. All decisions by the NFFC commissioner will be final.

15. League Structure: The NFFC regular season will begin with all Week 1 NFL games (including results from the Thursday, Sept. 8th game) and through all Week 13 games. Teams will play every other team in their league once in head-to-head competition plus a two week “All Play” format (Weeks 1 and 2), with the team with the best overall record after Week 13 winning a $5,000 prize and the team with the most total points during the regular season also winning $5,000. One team can win both prizes if they accomplish both achievements. Tie-breakers for the head-to-head title is total points. The top four teams based on total points and h2h record designated below will make the Championship Round, while the eight other teams will compete in the Consolation Round. The four teams in the Championship Round will take their weekly scoring average into the playoffs and add that to their scoring totals in Weeks 14-16 and the team with the most points wins the title and the $26,000 prize. Prizes will be paid to the top three scoring teams in the Championship Round. The Consolation Round will be set up the same way, with only the top team receiving $1,000.

#1 Playoff Qualifier: Most total points
#2 Playoff Qualifier: Best h2h record (not counting total points champ; total points is tie-breaker)
# 3 Playoff Qualifier: Next most total points
#4 Playoff Qualifier: Next most total points

16. Random League/Draft Spot Selections: The NFFC will randomly select the draft orders of each league once all entries have been submitted for Las Vegas. Leagues are formed on a first-come, first-served basis until the league is full.

In 2011, we’ll also use the Kentucky Derby Style process to allow owners more draft preference. The KDS process allows owners to rank their order of preference for Draft Day, ranking their preferences 1 through 12 BEFORE the leagues are selected. If an owner wants the third pick if he is selected No. 1 overall in his league, he would choose that option and he would then be moved to third in that league on Draft Day. NFFC officials will look at every owner’s Draft Preferences after the leagues and orders are randomly selected and then announce the draft orders for each league. Once each NFFC owner has officially signed up for the contest, they can find this feature in their game site under My Settings. Then click on Draft Preferences and you’ll see the Draft Order ranked 1 through 12 and the option to change those preferences next to them. If you decide not to rank your preferences, your preferred order will remain 1 through 12. Owners can change their Draft Preferences right up until the announced deadline is set.

17. Tie-breaker procedures. If after 13 regular season games, teams are tied for first place, second place, third place, etc. the following tiebreakers will be used in this order:
a. Total points through 13 weeks
b. Head-to-head won/lost record (if three or more teams, it's cumulative wins against those common opponents)
c. Highest point total from Week 13
d. Highest point total from Week 12
e. Highest point total from Week 11 and continue until Week 1
f. Lowest draft spot starting from 12 and going up.
This procedure is for determining the head-to-head champion and the league total points leader.
In the post-season, should any teams finish in a tie for prize money, the money would be split among those teams. In the unlikely event that teams are tied with the exact same point total during the playoffs for the NFFC title, the prize money for first and second place would be added together and split evenly. The same is true if teams tied for third place or fourth place or any of the other money spots, including the consolation round.

18. Draft Rules:
a. Time Limit: Each participant will have a one-minute time limit from the moment the draft facilitator tells him/her that they are on the clock to make their selection. The participant will be told when there is 15 seconds left by the draft facilitator and a countdown from five seconds will go until time has expired. The draft facilitator will have final say on whether a pick was called out in time or not. If a participant does not make a selection within one minute, he/she will be passed over until the next participant makes a player selection. The passed-over player goes back on the clock for one minute after the selection is made. The draft facilitator also has final say on the announcement of the picks as the pick becomes final AFTER he/she announces the pick.
b. Seating: Every team will have two draft spots available at the table and each team will be seated in their draft order.
c. Trading: There is no trading allowed during the NFFC season and all player cuts will be evaluated by the NFFC. Any player cut that will hurt the integrity of the league can be removed from that leagues’ free agent pool for good by the NFFC.
d. Electronic Equipment: Participants can use electronic equipment during the draft as long as it fits in the allotted draft spot at the table. There will be no Internet connections or electrical outlets, so participants bringing laptops will have to supply their own power. Cell phones are allowed at the draft table, but we encourage participants to use them sparingly and not in a way that interrupts the draft process.
e. Smoking/Drinking: Smoking will not be allowed in the Draft Room. There will be a cash bar available in the Draft Room, but we ask that each participant drink responsibly.
f. Breaks: There will be a 15-minute break after Round 10 and we will finish the draft after the break.
g. Week One Lineups: Every participant is responsible for submitting their Week One starting lineup before the Thursday, Sept. 8th game. The Thursday night game results will count in the NFFC scoring. All teams are also required to confirm their team roster and sign off on the players on the list before leaving the draft. Any errors on your roster should be presented to the NFFC management as soon as possible.
h. League Management: The league will be available via the Internet at http://nffc.stats.com. All lineups may be submitted on the league web site and must be entered prior to the scheduled kickoff for the game affected.
i. Thanksgiving/Saturday games: Any players you want to place in your starting lineup for early games like Thanksgiving or the Saturday late season games, must be entered online at least five minutes before kickoff. Any player involved in those games that isn't in the starting lineup by the regular lineup deadline of Sunday morning, won't be available for those week's games.

19. Refunds: Once a participant submits valid payment, no money will be refunded to participants or co-managers unless the National Fantasy Football Championship is canceled. A team spot is considered filled when the entire $5,000 entry fee is paid. STATS LLC reserves the right to cancel any entries not comprising a full 12-team league. When a participant agrees to finish the registration form and submit payment, that participant has demonstrated his/her acceptance of the official rules and regulations for the NFFC Ultimate.

At its sole discretion, STATS LLC reserves the right to terminate the National Fantasy Football Championship Classic in its entirety if there are an insufficient number of teams by August 28, 2011. In this unlikely event, STATS LLC will refund all entry fees within 48 hours of cancellation notice and/or provide a new application form with the newly stated prize figures. In this situation, all pre-registered applicants have the right to a full refund or to agree to play for the newly announced prize structure. STATS LLC is not responsible for any loss or liability incurred by any participant or co-managers due to cancellation of the National Fantasy Football Championship Classic, including but not limited to travel or hotel expenses, time taken off from employment, etc.

20. Prize Winnings. If the principal team owner's prize winnings are $600.00 or greater, the National Fantasy Football Championship must file a Form 1099 with the IRS at the end of this calendar year. We will request your social security number and signature on this form. The form contains the amount paid to you and you will receive a copy of the form for tax purposes. STATS LLC pays ONLY the principal team owner of each NFFC team that was submitted on the entry form and you are responsible for paying any taxes that result from your cash prize; please consult your income tax advisor for filing advice. After 12 months, any unclaimed prize will be forfeited.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

I have some interest. If I play at all, I would see no reason I would not want to play this.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Originally posted by Cocktails and Dreams:
I have some interest. If I play at all, I would see no reason I would not want to play this. Sounds good Chad. I'm seeing a couple of your NFBC teams creeping into the big money areas and with a strong summer I have a feeling you'll be in good shape. And I think this league will be in good shape too as there will be a lot of people in Vegas that weekend looking for some good payout private leagues.

Now we all need to find the perfect time for it. We'll figure it out soon enough. Thanks much and best of luck with everything you have going on now.

[MH503]

Greg or Tom...

I have a question about the Primtime event. For teams who draft after the September 8th Thursday night game, (N.O vs G.B), will they be able to submit players from that game into their Week 1 starting line ups and get their point totals for that game? I think the answer is yes but want to confirm.

Thanks

Mike

[Greg Ambrosius]

Originally posted by Mike_503:
Greg or Tom...

I have a question about the Primtime event. For teams who draft after the September 8th Thursday night game, (N.O vs G.B), will they be able to submit players from that game into their Week 1 starting line ups and get their point totals for that game? I think the answer is yes but want to confirm.

Thanks

Mike Yes. Everyone in the NFFC Primetime will be able to set their starting lineups AFTER the Thursday night game. Even those owners who draft on Sept. 3rd can watch the Thursday night game before setting their starting lineups on Sunday, Sept. 11th. So in the Primetime, everyone benefits from watching that one game, no matter when you drafted.

Best of luck this year.