NFFC Rules Changes Proposed For 2021; Let's Discuss

[Greg Ambrosius]

The “COVID” changes should remain permanent for 2021 and beyond. Just fix the Team Kicker so that the “Free Agent” link on player profile is there as it is for every other position and TDST.

Something to consider: I believe that the NFL will soon incorporate regular Tuesday and Wednesday games into their schedule. The idea would be to get as many games in unique time slots as possible. The fallout of this is that NFL weeks would regularly end on Wednesday and begin on Thursday. I suppose you would have to move the first FAAB deadline to Thursday afternoon — not ideal, but not sure how else you would handle it.

Yeah, we'll standardize the Team Kicker designation on the draft board and within free agency next year. We made that change during the summer and still had some drafts using individual kickers, so it wasn't an easy change on the back end of our software. But yes, we'll get that done.

I think regular games beyond Monday night are at least a year off as the new TV deals kick in during the 2022 season. I said to Tom on our show last week, I'd rather see Sunday-Monday-Tuesday than Thursday-Sunday-Monday as a regular games format. I don't think Wednesday night is coming anytime soon, but Tuesday is a possibility. I don't think we'd change the Wednesday FAAB deadline because of that, but we'll see. Plenty of time to make those decisions, but yes we'll keep an eye on all of that.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I don't see us getting rid of the TE spot or the K spot or combining the third WR spot. I also don't think we'd change any of our current contests to a SuperFlex contest. Could we ADD a SuperFlex contest? Of course we could and it's an easy addition in the programming for us that we could do right now. All of the Fanball contests are SuperFlex now. But is there enough demand for a national SuperFlex contest when we already have like six national contests? Maybe we could start out with private leagues next year and build from there, but it's an easy addition if we want it.

The 10 roster spots and 20 total spots are the right mix, we think. Drafting Tight Ends is like drafting Catchers in baseball; there's a lot of strategy in whether Kelce is worth a second round pick or if just waiting for Evan Engram to bust out makes more sense. I have been intrigued about a second Flex spot (not Super Flex involving QB, Double Flex) and whether there's a way to work that in as the third WR spot or as an additional spot (start 11 per week?). I wouldn't mind having that discussion.

To clarify, I was not trying to imply to change any current contest to a SuperFlex contest. My suggestion was meant that it would be a new contest. Maybe I was confusing by suggesting the name FantasyPoints.com SuperFlex Online Championship. Sorry, that was not my intention. As for the demand, I don't know the answer to that. I think there would or should be. I get tired of drafting in 1 QB leagues where everybody waits on QB. It is the most important position in football, and I just wish it was treated as such. I have a home league that is a SuperFlex. Despite being my lowest stakes league, because it is my only SuperFlex league it is my favorite team to draft every year. I'm not sure if any other national contest is a SuperFlex contest or not. I only play you guys and a few teams over with your main competitor. The only national contest I can recall that used SuperFlex is one I'm sure you are familiar with, because it was the original cutline contest, the Fantasy Football Open Championship (FFOC). The FFOC ridiculously offered an unsustainable $1M prize for 1st overall in 2008, which led to it folding after the 2nd year, but that was a 10-team SuperFlex league that had 6,600 entries that first season. Now I'm sure that had more to do with the ridiculous $1M carrot than the fact that it was SuperFlex, but 6,600 is a lot of teams. But I don't know if the demand is there or not, I only know that I personally love the concept of SuperFlex. Maybe I'm in a vast minority. But if you had a SuperFlex league I would definitely join, and if you had a SuperFlex national contest I would definitely take multiple teams. But I certainly understand that you already have 6 national contests, and maybe it isn't worth adding another if the demand isn't obviously there. In any case, I love the NFFC. You guys have the best contests, the best FAAB system, the best draft software and BY FAR the best customer service in the industry. Thank you for running contests during this horrific 2020 COVID year. I'm glad the MLB was able to get through the season, and I'm even more happy that the NFL has been able to get through the season to this point. Go Pack Go!

Yeah, I hear ya Michael. Again, adding a Super Flex contest is easy from a programming standpoint and all of the Fanball games are SuperFlex now. Let us kick it around here and I think we'll definitely do it in 2021. I think it would be best to start out with higher dollar private leagues and a lower-priced national contest with an overall prize pool. Maybe we start with low expectations and offer a lower-price point with a lower guaranteed grand prize, but this way we could grow it together. Having an overall prize pool draws more interest to a new format, and as long as we keep expectations realistic we can make it work.

We'll kick the idea around here for sure and we'll announce something before February's site launch. I'm leaning toward a national contest with overall prizes to see what kind of demand there is out there. I don't think this new format would take away from any of the contests we are doing now. If anything, you crazies would just add more leagues to what you're already doing!!

I like it. We're on it. Thanks for the suggestions.

And yes, GO PACK GO!!!!

[Coyote Streakers]

Team kicker nice addition

WED/SAT waivers are good.

Eliminate consolation prizes, reward the teams in the playoffs its hard to make it!

Its a well run contest when you cant think of many changes so nice job guys!

[Greg Ambrosius]

I can create another thread for these three questions and I'll even add a survey somewhere, but what are your quick thoughts on these points:

1. Would you prefer having the third WR spot changed to a Dual Flex position (RB/WR/TE)?

2. Would you prefer that change to Dual Flex or would you be interested in an 11th starting spot each week, adding a second Dual Flex to QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, K, D? Yes, it makes another tough decision on starting lineups, but with Team Kicker it frees up another roster spot to add to your bench. Thoughts on a starting lineup of 11 players each week?

3. If we ran a SuperFlex contest, would QBs still get 6 points per passing touchdown or for this separate contest should QBs be reduced to 4 points per passing touchdown?

Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

[dubbya]

1. please keep 3 WRs. eliminating the 3rd REQUIRED WR may shift the emphasis to RBs more.
2. dual flex (wr, rb, te) with 11 starting roster spots would increase the difficulty and variance which is positive for competition. i would prefer 11 starting spots over changing the 3rd wr spot.
3. please keep 6pts per passing td in order to shift the emphasis away from RB hoarding in the early rounds of the drafts.
4. team kicker was nice but it waters down the kicker position. as your contests grow in size, i prefer to increase the difficulty w/ individual kickers but it was nice change in a "COVID-environment"
5. no opinion on waiver days as long as they stay the same throughout the season
6. no consolation prizes

GREAT JOB NFFC for sticking to your rules and not succumbing to peer pressure for "in-season" rules changes. i love the INTEGRITY of your national contests!

[Former-Army-Person]

1. Would not change 3rd wr to flex
2. Would be in favor of a 11th starter as a rb/wr/te flex
3. no opinion on SuperFlex rules
4. prefer individual kicker in FAAB formats; tmpk is fine in leagues w/no waivers: SAT night waivers solve most of the issues w/late week kicker injuries/cuts
5. Keep consolation bracket in big contests; owners losing interest is already a problem - I missed out on a prize in one league because an owner started Fuller in week 13 and lost by 0.1 of a point.
6. Definitely keep WED/SAT waivers. I'd switch the cut-off time to 10 PM Pacific to give West Coasters time in the evening after standard work hours to make waiver decisions

Re-look overall H2H tiebreaker being total points. Total points are already heavily rewarded. If overall H2H is worth having, then the tiebreaker should be H2H between the tied teams in leagues where each team plays the others once (balanced schedules). The next tiebreaker would be all-play wins, then total points.

[Coltsfan]

Personally, I like the rules the way they are. The 3 wides is fine with me. I kind of like the consistency of the rules and format being basically the same so if for no other reason, I would keep them like they are just so we aren't changing things around every year.


Wayne

[chriseibl]

I agree with everything Wayne said too.

Phew!! NOW Greg may actually listen to the overwhelming suggestion to eliminate the 4th place $ in private leagues.

We already pay 4th place instead of the Consolation Round winner in the New York Super League and have been doing that for the last two years. That league is almost like a private league with the same 11-12 owners every year and when they asked us to do it, we made the change. No problem at all.

There has not been a single other private league that has asked us to do this, and for the reasons I gave previously, as a game operator we feel a Consolation Round is best to keep all owners fighting all season long. If a league like the NFFC 14-Team Super Auction League wanted to make this same change to paying 4th place instead of the Consolation Round winner, we could easily make this change. It's all the same prize money, so it doesn't matter to us. And with so many of the same owners back each year, this is an easy change to make.

We obviously wouldn't make the change if there was resistance from half of the owners or not a clear majority, but Jack is a good lawyer and I'm sure he could get a 12-0 verdict...or in this case 14-0. We'll make the change in 2021 if that's what the Super Auction league owners want.

We have different KDS timelines for the Platinum and the Diamond leagues, too, and if those owners wanted us to pay 4th place instead of the Consolation Round winners there we'd do it for those leagues, too. As of now, nobody has ever brought this up to me as a rules change they'd like to see, but I'm certainly open to that discussion. Ultimate and Super leagues too, but not all of those leagues have similar owners from year to year.

Believe it or not, we are actually pretty flexible with rules changes that make sense. And again, we've already catered this suggestion to the New York Super League and can pay this way in other private leagues as well. Thanks for the suggestion and the sarcasm as both are worthy.

I'm holding out unless Jack gives me one extra auction dollar. Maybe then I can get the Lions Kicker from Roger next year.

(I'm good with whatever everyone wants on the consolation prizes going to the playoff teams, otherwise I love the current rules and the job the NFFC did this year).

[Greg Ambrosius]

It does look like the NFL owners are going to implement a 17 game season starting in 2021 with only one bye week per team. It's hard to believe that they don't add another bye week for the players, but as it stands now it looks like we are looking at an 18-week NFL regular season.

Thoughts on the 2021 NFFC season:

1. 14 week regular season and Championship Round in Weeks 15-17. Add an extra All Play week into each league.

2. Keep it as a 16-week season and not play Weeks 17-18??? I don't like that one at first glance, but it has to be on the table.

3. Any other alternatives??

Let's see some thoughts and discuss because it looks like the owners are ready to implement this as early as next season. Thanks all.

[TR]

I can create another thread for these three questions and I'll even add a survey somewhere, but what are your quick thoughts on these points:

1. Would you prefer having the third WR spot changed to a Dual Flex position (RB/WR/TE)?

2. Would you prefer that change to Dual Flex or would you be interested in an 11th starting spot each week, adding a second Dual Flex to QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, K, D? Yes, it makes another tough decision on starting lineups, but with Team Kicker it frees up another roster spot to add to your bench. Thoughts on a starting lineup of 11 players each week?

3. If we ran a SuperFlex contest, would QBs still get 6 points per passing touchdown or for this separate contest should QBs be reduced to 4 points per passing touchdown?

Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

1. I'd be in favor of the 3rd wr spot changed to a dual flex position

2. I'd definitely be in favor of this 11th starting spot dual flex as it would add alot more strategy

3. I think they should be reduced to 4 pts per passing td