AFFL League Rules 2024 — Associated Fantasy

Quick Reference

The Quick Reference tabs contain explanations and simplified guidelines taken from the League Rules, organized by subject. They should include all rules info you need and also contain links to take you to the relevant complete rules. Full Rules are printed below

2024 Rules Revisions are indicated by green and magenta; two colors were used for contrast with the color coding but there is no other relevance to the text being either green or magenta other than that those rules are revised. In some cases, text is in white, but the entire section has a bright green border; this is to indicate the entire section is new or revised.

Calendar/Season Timeline

Season Calendar
1. Full and detailed League Calendar can be viewed at League Calendar
2. Season Timeline (NOTE: All dates are aproximate; EXACT DEADLINES WILL BE POSTD TO LEAGUE PAGE AND TELEX):
3. First Day of Season - April 1
4. Offseason - April 1 - September
  - Off Season Trading Period - April 1 - Draft Day
  - Spring Signing Period - April 1 - May
  - Free Agent Auction - May - July
  - Division Draft - May - June
  - Open Scheduling Period - June - July
  - Summer Restructure Period - August
  - Cut Week - Aug (2 weeks prior to draft)
5. Draft - 1st Monday of September
  - Draft Waivers - 3 days following Draft
6. AFFL Regular Season - Weeks 1 - 14
  - Weekly Waiver Runs - Every Wednesday and Saturday
  - In-Season Trading Period Week 1 - Week 11
  - Fall Contract Period - Weeks 9 - 11
  - Trade Deadline - Week 11
7. AFFL Post Season - Weeks 15 - 18
8. End of Season Accounting and Statistics Period Jan - March
9. Last Day of Season - March 31

Entry Fees/Payouts

Entry Fees/Payouts
1. Entry Fees
  - League Dues are $60
  - Includes hosting fees
  - Payment through leaguesafe; account opens April 1 annually
  - Payment Deadline is Week 2 of Regular Season, HOWEVER - TEAMS cannot access their franchise for offseason activity until dues are paid
2. Payouts
  - Payout Schedule established annually by the Competition Committee
  - 2024 payout Schedule:
    - TBD
  - Season Scoring Contest
  - OPTIONAL paid entry contest
  - $15 entry, deadline week 2 of regular season, can be paid separately from League Dues
  - Contest is total scoring in weeks 1-18
  - Highest scoring team among participating teams wins entire scoring contest prize pool
FULL RULES

Competition Committee

Competition Committee
1. 4 volunteer Team Owners; 1 year term
2. Provides assistance on offseason rules edits/decisions
3. Determines payout schedule
4. Collective Management of any franchises under league control
5. Voting Arbitration of any disputes between franchises or between franchises and the rules
6. Voting Arbitration of Scoring Reviews
7. May levy Cap Penalties on franchises - dead money assessments meant to lower team's cap space
8. If necessary, may take action outside of the rules
FULL RULES

Franchises

Franchises
- AFFL Franchises were founded as the 19 original USFL franchises plus USFL founder Dave Dixon's unnamed/dissolved franchise
- Franchise timelines are UNINTERRUPTED with historical records separated by ownership
- Teams may update the hue/shade of any of their team colors and/or adjust the hierarchy of their colors during any Spring Signing Period
Teams may RELOCATE
- Change the placename of their team
- Max 1 time per rolling 5 year period
- Max 2 relocations in league per season
- Request must be made prior to Cut Week
Changing Colors
- After 3 years of continuous ownership teams can change their team colors
- 3 colors must be chosen, ordered Primary, Secondary, Accent
- Must be approved by Competition Committee
- Max 2 team color changes in league per season
- Can be done in conjunction with logo update (see below)
- Can make no further changes for 5 years
- Request must be made during Spring Signing
Changing Logos
- After 3 years of continuous ownership team logo can be changed
- Logo must represent the Franchise Teamname
- Must be approved by Competition Committee
- Max 1 team logo change in league per season
- Can be done in conjunction with logo update (see below)
- Can make no further changes for 5 years
- Request must be made during Spring Signing
Total FRANCHISE REBRAND
- Changing Teamname, Logo, and Colors can be done
- After 5 years of continuous ownership
- Must be approved by League Vote
- Max 1 logo change in league per season
- Can make no further changes for 5 years
- Request must be made during Spring Signing
FULL RULES

Divisions

Divisions
- 4 Divisions, 5 teams each
- Divisions are realigned each offseason by Realignment Draft
- Division Champions are named Division Captains for following season
- Draft order is descending order of furthest advancing Division Captain in the playoffs
- Realignment Draft is long-running and held in May-June
FULL RULES

Player Salaries

Player Salaries
- All players (except NFL rookies and waived FA Contracts) have an AFFL salary based on player's AFFL scoring stats
- League Formula Salary
  - Equals player's previous season points total x 100,000
  - Players not under contract are paid their League Formula Salary
  - Players under contract are paid the salary agreed to under contract (see Contract Rules)
  - For Rookies, see rookies section
- League Minimum Salary
  - Equals 10% of the League Formula Salary of the highest scoring player of the previous season
  - Players cannot be paid less than the League Minimum Salary
Position Designation and Salary
- The MyFantasyLeague system calculates the total points for players with altered position designations as follows:
- Player is starts in AFFL under his NFL position, he's scored under the rules for that position
- For weeks when player is started in the AFFL at a designated position, he will be scored under the rules for that position
- For weeks when player is not started in the AFFL, he will be scored under the rules of his NFL position
FULL RULES

Rookie Salaries

Rookie Salaries
- Rookie Salaries are as follows:
  - Undrafted AFFL Rookies (including those acquired from draft waivers) Assigned Rookie Salary equal to the League Minimum
  - Rookies DRAFTED 1st overall in AFFL draft, salary equal to 700% League Minimum
  - 2nd-5th overall, 600% League Minimum
  - First round (after #05), 500% League Minimum
  - 2nd round, 400% League Minimum
  - 3rd round, 350% League Minimum
  - 4th round, 300% League Minimum
  - 5th round, 250% League Minimum
  - 6th round, 200% League Minimum
  - 7th round, 150% League Minimum
- Rookie Start Bonus
  - NFL Rookies acquired outside of the AFFL draft are subject to a START BONUS for each game started for the team that season
  - Bonus equal to $250k per game started
  - Assessed at season's end, payable as a dead money payment due on the first day of the following season
FULL RULES

Salary Cap / Cut Cap

Salary Cap
- The Salary Cap is the maximum amount a team can spend on personnel during the entire season; aka 'full salary cap'
- Cap resets each season based on formula
  - Salary Cap Formula
    - Sum of League Formula Salaries of the top 400 players divided by 20 equals Salary Cap
    - Teams ranked 16th-20th in prior season salary Cap equals 115% of League Cap Formula amount
- Cap is put into place from the day AFTER Cut Day until the end of the season
- Cap is managed by the MFL system
  - The system will not allow roster moves that will cause the team to exceed the cap
  - If a team does exceed the cap (usually because of retroactive adjustments) the system will not allow setting a line-up until team is back below the cap
Cut Cap
- Cut Cap will be between 40% and 50% of League Salary Cap with exact percentage set by Competition Committee each off season
- 2024 Cut Cap has been set at 41% ($199.928m) of LEAGUE SALARY CAP
- The Cut Cap is the maximum amount a team can spend on all combined salaries for the team's keepers at the end of Cut Week
- For one week (Cut Week) at the end of the offseason, the Cut Cap is put in place and teams must cut players (or use financial tools) to get their total below the Cut Cap by the last day of Cut Week (Cut Day)
FULL RULES

Dead Money

Dead Money
- All money paid to players THAT IS NOT SALARY (bonuses, charges, penalties, etc) is called "Dead Money"
- Dead Money charges are ledgered in the AFFL database as "Dead Money" and then entered into the MyFantasyLeague system as "Salary Adjustments"
  - Dead Money During the Off-Season
    - Dead Money Charges during the offseason (BEFORE Cut Day) are entered into the AFFL database as they happen, and are then totaled and entered into the MFL system as a single "Salary Adjustment" AFTER Cut Day and before the Draft
    - Off-Season Dead Money is a valuable financial management tool and a fundamental concept of the league; see below
  - Dead Money during the Regular Season
    - some Dead Money Charges during the season are handled automatically by the MFL system and show up as a "Salary Adjustment" on team's Roster Report
    - Dead Money Charges during the season that are not automatically handled by the MFL system are entered into the AFFL database as they happen, and then entered into the MFL system as a "Salary Adjustment" at the end of each NFL week
    - Automatic Salary Adjustments handled by the MFL system may or may not be also ledgered in the AFFL Database (it depends on the nature of the charge
  - Dead Money during the Postseason
    - some Dead Money Charges during the postseason are handled automatically by the MFL system and show up as a "Salary Adjustment" on team's Roster Report
    - Dead Money Charges during the postseason that are not automatically handled by the MFL system are entered into the AFFL database at the end of the year and then into the MFL system retroactively
    - If these final Salary Adjustments cause a team to retroactively exceed the Salary Cap, the Cap overage will be entered as a Dead Money charge at the start o the following season
- League Concepts: Dead Money
  - In the offseason, Dead Money works like credit -team's are CHARGED the Dead Money at the time the charge is incurred, BUT do not have to PAY that Dead Money until after Cut Day when those charges are entered into the MFL system
  - The total of a team's salary commitments must be at or below the Cut Cap by the end of Cut Day
    BUT Dead Money is not assessed until AFTER that; meaning any pre-Cut Day money 'spent' as Dead Money does not come out of your available Cut Cap Space
  - EXAMPLES of Dead Money as a tool
    1. Player signs a new contract paying him $10m dollars in the current year, but it requires a $5m signing bonus - The $10m (salary) will count against your Cut Cap, but the $5m signing bonus is paid as Dead Money, so will not be assessed until after the Cut Cap passes, so the $5m is 'on credit' until the full cap is put in place
    2. Player under contract is due to make $25m in current year, but in some cases, part of that $25m can be DIVERTED into a bonus; for this example, let's say the allowable amount is $10m, meaning team can take $10m out of the $25m salary due, pay $10m as a bonus with Dead Money and then owe $15m in salary against the Cut Cap; player still gets $25m total, but only $15m of the player's salary will count against the Cut Cap, while the other $10m is diverted across the cap by converting it to dead money with a bonus
  - Details on using Dead Money in several ways can be found under Contract Rules, but the Concept of DEAD MONEY explained above, particularly in the offseason, is fundamental to the way the league works
FULL RULES

Spring Signing Period

Spring Signing Period
- The Spring Signing Period starts on the first day of the season (April 1) and ends on May 30
- Teams cannot participate until their league dues are paid
- During Spring Signing teams can manage their rosters to prepare for the upcoming season
  - Non Contract players (UFA's) on team rosters can be signed to contract
  - Expiring contracts can be extended
  - Existing contracts can be restructured and have bonuses attached
  - Franchise Tags can be placed onto players
  - Players can be signed to the taxi squad (from team's active roster)
  - Trades can be made (only between teams that are both current on dues)
- League Concepts: Spring Signing Period
  - Immediately following the Spring Signing Period is the Free Agent Auction
  - During the FA Auction, other teams have a chance to poach your players at auction; any player on any roster that IS NOT protected (by contract, franchise tag, or taxi status, etc) will be subject to the auction
  - At the end of the offseason, when keepers are named (Cut Week), any player on a team roster can be kept, whether they are under contract (or any other management tool) or not (UFA's), but those UFA players will have to survive the auction before you can name them as keepers
  - The Spring Signing Period is the time to protect your players from the auction and also to manage your player and team rosters through the use of various management tools
  - See Contract Rules for more information

Roster/Starting Line-Up

Active Roster
- Team's Active Roster is all players that can be started (players on team not on taxi or IR)
- Max 21 players; no minimum
- Position Limits:
  - Quarterback: 1
  - Running Back: 3
  - Wide Receiver: 5
  - Tight End: 3
  - Place Kicker: 2
  - Punter: 2
  - Kick Returner: 2
  - Defensive Tackle: 2
  - Defensive End: 2
  - Linebacker: 4
  - Cornerback: 4
  - Safety: 2
- Position limits and 21 player limit ARE NOT IN EFFECT UNTIL OPENING DAY
- The MyFantasyLeague system controls these limits by preventing a line-up if team is over these limits, so there is no enforcement until first line-up is set
Starting Line-Up
1. Teams start 5 offensive players in any combination
2. Teams start 5 defensive players in any combination
3. Teams start 2 Kick Returners, 1 Kicker, and 1 Punter
4. Partial line-ups are allowed
5. WARNING: there are severe penalties for failing to set a line-up, beginning with $5-10m in cap penal;ties and escalating to forfeiture of draft picks after 2 infractions
League Concepts: Team Rosters
1. Note that AFFL Scoring rules are set differently for each position, allowing relative value for the individual positions
2. Note also that the Starting Line-Ups are set up to take advantage of this wider range of roster building possibilities
3. Position limits and 21 player limit ARE NOT IN EFFECT UNTIL OPENING DAY; this gives teams more freedom in offseason roster management
FULL RULES

Position Designations

Position Designations
- Certain players can play under designated AFFL positions that are different from their NFL position
- Kick Returners
  - AFFL starts 2 Kick Returners (KR) per team, but the NFL does not have a KR position
  - Also, AFFL scoring gives defensive special teams points to AFFL kick returners
  - Teams can find NFL Special Teams players (returners or gunners) that are RB, WR, LB, CB, or S and designate them as a Kick Returner
  - They will then count as a KR under position limits (not their NFL position) and will score as a KR
- Other Designations
  - LB can be designated DE
  - DT can be designated DE
  - DE can be designated DT or LB
  - CB can be designated SS can be designated CB
  - K can be Designated P
- Limits
  - Defensive Designations can be made once per season per player
    - Player can be given new designation at any time and returned to original position at any time, but cannot then be designated to a new position again
  - After Week 1, designations can only be made on Fridays
    - If a player on your roster is involved in a Thursday game and needs a designation, it can be made retroactively if the designation request and intention to start is made by notification prior to the Thursday game
FULL RULES

Franchise Tag

Franchise Tags
- Guidelines
  - Optional roster management tool
  - Teams have one Franchise Tag that can be placed on a player each year
  - ANY player can be tagged (contract or non contract)Player must be tagged during Spring Signing
  - Tagged Player can be paid their PREVIOUS SEASON League Formula Salary (in lieu of current salary)
    - If previous season salary is paid to player, player is due the difference as a Bonus Payment in the following spring if he's still on team roster
  - Franchise Tag costs team a Tag Bonus equal to 20% of player's salary (whichever used)
  - Tagged Players are shielded from the Free Agent Auction
  - Tagged Player Salaries are shielded from the Cut Cap (their salary does not count against your Cut Cap, only against your full Salary Cap)
  - If Tagged player is under contract, their contract continues as normal, but their tagged year does not count against team's contract cap (total allowed number of contract year commitments)
  - Players can only be tagged ONE TIME during their time on a team
  - Can be traded or cut under normal rules (if traded, Tag is eliminated)
  - NOTE: For administrative purposes, Tagged players will be temporarily placed onto taxi through Cut Week; this will not count against team's 5 taxi player limit
FULL RULES

Team Captains

Team Captains
- Guidelines
  - Optional
  - Max 2 per season; max 1 each Offensive, Defensive, Special Teams
  - Must be under contract and must remain under contract while designated Captain
  - NFL Rookies cannot be named Captain
  - Tagged players CAN be named Captain IF under contract (Tag pricing supersedes)
  - Must be named between Weeks 1-4; Term DOES NOT EXPIRE until Week 1 of following season unless player leaves team
  - Can be named Captain in unlimited consecutive seasons
  - Captain's Salary must be equal to or greater than League minimum x 2
    - Supplemental Salary can be issued to cover the difference to make a lower paid player eligible
  - Can be traded under normal trade rules; Captain status dissolves upon separation from team
  - Team Captains CANNOT BE CUT while designated Captain
  - Existing Captain's exempted from NEW eligibility requirements
- Cost
  - Naming a player Team Captain requires giving them a Captain's bonus equal to 25% of their season salary at the time of designation
- Benefits
  - Contract Benefits
    - Captains are always exempt from auction (even while RFA's)
    - Signing Bonuses due while Captain are only 50%
    - Contract Restructures while Captain do not pay Restructure Bonus are count against team Restructure Eligibility count
    - Contract can be extended at most favorable terms while player is named Captain
    - Expiring contract can be extended on a year to year basis while player is designated Captain
  - IR Benefits
    - If Team Captain is placed on Regular IR or Season Ending IR, team can move to first in the waiver claim order for the next waiver run
  - Financial Benefits
    - Team Captains receive Cap Credits for their team based on their performance
    - Cap Credits are INCREASES in Salary Cap Space
    - Cap Credits received are multiplied by number of consecutive terms player has been Team Captain
    - For every week Captain STARTS in the AFFL and scores 25-39 points, teams receive credits equal to $500k x # Terms
    - For every week Captain STARTS in the AFFL and scores 40+ points, teams receive credits equal to $1m x # Terms
    - For every week Captain STARTS in the AFFL and his season points total has exceeded the points equivalent of his base salary, teams receive $1m x # Terms
FULL RULES

Cutting Players

Keepers/Cut Week
1. Cutting Players
  - For players acquired in the draft and then released before the conclusion of week 1, 100% of their salary is recovered as Cap Space
  - For players not under contract or any other management tool (UFA's) that are cut in the offseason, 100% of their salary is recovered as Cap Space
  - For UFA's cut after the regular season begins, 50% of their salary is recovered
  - For Contract players, see Contract Rules for more info, but generally:
    - For contract players cut in the offseason of their final year, 0% of their salary is recovered
    - For contract players cut in the offseason while not in their final year, 50% of that year's salary is recovered as cap space, and 50% of future money owed in each individual future year is owed in that individual future year
    - For contract players cut during the season, 0% of that year's salary is recovered as cap space, and 50% of future money owed in each individual future year is owed in that individual future year
    - NOTE: when contract players are cut in the season, the MFL system temporarily credits 50% of their salary to the team as cap space, at the end of week databalance, the team receives a salary adjustment equal to that 50% (so that the full 100% of player's salary is accounted) and that cap space will go away
  - Players assume their current League Formula Salary whenever cut or waived
    - Formula Salary will be reinstated on the next weekly system update
    - Players waived on an expired FA Contract retain Contract Base Salary as their Salary for remainder of year
FULL RULES

Taxi Squad (General)

A. General Taxi Guidelines
1. A maximum of 5 players can be taxied at any time
  1. Active Taxi (TAXI-A) - maximum 2 players with this designation
  2. Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) - maximum of 3 players with this designation
  3. Season Ending Taxi (TAXI-IR) - maximum of 2 players with this designation
2. TAXI players are shielded from the Free Agent Auction, Roster/Position Limits(unless active), and the Cut Cap
3. Trading TAXI players
  1. Receiving team in any trade deal involving a TAXI player must have an open taxi spot for the designation (A or B) of player being traded
  2. All taxi details and financial obligations due follow traded TAXI player with trade; any bonuses already paid are final
TAXI-IR
1. The Season Ending IR designation is a TAXI squad spot; Teams have ONLY 2 available Season Ending IR designations WITHIN their 5 TOTAL taxi squad spots
2. See Injured Reserve rules for more info
League Concepts - The Taxi Squad
1. The taxi squad can serve multiple purposes for teams
2. First, it shield's players from exposure to the free agent auction - players on Taxi are exempt
3. Next, it's a tool to get players across the Cut Cap - taxi players are paid via dead money, so it skirts the Cut Cap
4. Teams can use a MAX of 2 TAXI-A players as handcuffs or back-ups or longshots or, depending on the money, it could just get a starter across the cap for just a little more than he would already make
5. Teams can use a MAX of 3 TAXI-B spots to stash promising young players (up to 3 years experience when placed on Taxi with unlimited renewals) often at a cheaper price than rostering them
6. teams can use a MAX of 2 TAXI-IR (Season Ending IR) spots to recoup the full salary of players in the season; see full details in Injured Reserve Section
7. It's important to note that there are ONLY FIVE Taxi spots that teams can fill with any combination of
8. Part of the strategy of using the Taxi Squad involves determining where allocate those 5 available taxi roster spots
FULL RULES

Active Taxi (TAXI-A)

Active Taxi (TAXI-A)
- The Active Taxi (TAXI-A) designation allows team to put a maximum of 2 players onto the Taxi Squad and then activate them to the Active Roster during the season for a premium
- This allows teams to roster a handcuff player above position limits or to shield players from the auction without signing them to contract
- Guidelines
  - Max 2 of your 5 Taxi Squad spots can be filled with TAXI-A players
  - Contract and Tagged players not eligible
  - Shields player from position limits, auction, and cut cap
  - Taxi-A players can be cut, but no money is recovered
- TAXI-A Salary
  - Paid their normally scheduled salary amount, but paid as a lump sum dead money payment at time of taxi so that it clears the Cut Cap
- Activation
  - Once player has spent at least 1 week on taxi, he can be Activated by notifying league office
  - Player can be left active, or moved back and forth from taxi to active roster on a week by week basis
  - Player counts against position limits only while he is active
  - Taxi-A player's salaries are paid at time of designation by dead money payment
  - If/when activated, player is given an additional active salary equal to the League Minimum - this counts against the team's Salary Cap WHEN PLAYER IS ACTIVE
  - Additionally, team pays a bonus equal to 2.5% of player's Taxi Salary for each active week 1-6
    on 7th active week, team pays a 10% bonus; after that, player can be moved back and forth from taxi to active with no charge
  - Total price to send a player to taxi and then activate him fully works out to 125% of player's normal salary plus whatever the league minimum is (usually $5-6m)Activation Costs
REMEMBER, you have ONLY 2 available TAXI-A designations, out of 5 total Taxi spots, BUT this plays into your overall strategy for allocating your available taxi spots
- FULL RULES

Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B)

Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B)
TAXI-B allows teams to roster a maximum of 3 young players for minimum commitment and salary
TAXI-B players are paid based on the League Minimum salary instead of their Assigned Rookie or League Formula Salary, possibly saving the team money
- Guidelines
  - Maximum 3 TAXI-B spots out of 5 total Taxi squad spots
  - No Franchise Tagged Players
  - Contract Players allowed (details below)
  - Player must have 3 or fewer NFL seasons of experience
  - Term is for 1 year or for 2 years
  - Shielded from the Auction
  - Shielded from position limits all season
  - Salary paid with a dead money payment so it does not count against your Cut Cap
  - Cannot be Cut once on Taxi B
- Can be placed onto TAXI-B:
  - During Spring Signing Period
  - Between Draft Day and the End of Week 1 (only for players acquired via draft or draft waiver)
  - During the Fall Restructure Period (only for players acquired during the regular season)Taxi Salary
- Taxi Salary is a dead money payment based on length of taxi term
  - 1 year term, taxi salary = 125% of League Minimum
  - 2 year term, taxi salary = 75% of League Minimum each year
- At End of Taxi Term - 3 Options
  - RENEWED - Taxi status will renew for 1 year under the same terms, will be paid a taxi salary of 125% of League Minimum for that year, and the 3 options return a year later
  - WAIVED - Team can waive their rights to player; player will be released directly to the draft pool during Spring Free Agency (bypasses the auction), team owes nothing for player's release
  - ACTIVATED - Player gets promoted to your Active Roster AND signed to Standard Contract
    - Base Salary= Salary at time of taxi for 1 year players
    - OR
    - Base Salary = Highest Formula Salary while under taxi for multi-year players
    - Length is team's choice
- Contract Players on Taxi-B
  - Contract PAUSED while on taxi (deferred to the future)Contract Salary (and years) do not count against cap, BUT player is paid a dead money League minimum Taxi Salary for that year
  - At the End of Term
    - Can Be RENEWED
    - Can Be ACTIVATED - Contract resumes, becomes 100% guaranteed, player due a 10% bonus
    - Can Be CUT - Player is cut to draft pool, Contract is terminated, 50% of contract salary becomes due, each scheduled year forward
- Emergency Call-Up
  - TAXI-B players can be promoted to your Active Roster midseason under emergency circumstances
  - IF one of your regular starters is placed onto Season Ending IR,THEN a TAXI-B player of the same "Position Group" can be promoted to Active Roster
  - Position Groups defined as: (QB); (RB/WR/TE); (K/P/KR); or (DT/DE/LB/CB); or (S)
  - Player must then be signed to contract
REMEMBER, you have ONLY 3 available TAXI-B designations, out of 5 total Taxi spots, BUT this plays into your overall strategy for allocating your available taxi spots
- FULL RULES

Free Agent Auction

Free Agent Auction
- The Free Agent Auction happens annually from the end of the Spring Signing Period through June
  It is a long-running auction that takes place over the course of 30+ days
- League Dues must be paid for teams to participate AND for those team's players to be included
- Auction Budgets
  - Auction Budgets are individual to to teams and are determined by formula
  - Auction Budget Formula: (Team Salary Cap Space) MINUS (10% of Cap Space) MINUS (League Minimum Salary x Team's Number of Draft Picks in Upcoming Draft)
- Player Pool
  - The Player Pool for the Free Agent Auction will be made up of all UN-SHIELDED players on all team rosters (un-shielded meaning all UFA's not under the protection of contracts, tags, or taxi status
  - All players on team rosters in their final year of contract - these are Restricted Free Agents in the auction and teams that own their rights can match any high offer or be compensated with a draft pick if another team acquires these players
  - See Contract Rules for full Free Agent Auction rules
- League Concepts: The Free Agent Auction
  - The AFFL Free Agent Auction is designed to mimic the NFL Free Agency Season
  - In the NFL free agency season, players on teams that are no longer under contract can shop themselves around to other teams for a better offer
  - The AFFL Auction works the same way - players that are not under contract (or in their final year) can receive 'offers' via the auction for more money than they are currently making
    If another team wins an auction bid on a player higher than that player's current salary, that team can then sign that player away from their original teamThe Spring Signing Period starts on the first day of the season (April 1) and ends on May 30Teams cannot participate until their league dues are paid

Offseason/Preseason Trading

Offseason/Preseason Trading
- Guidelines
  - Opens on April 1 - Closes 72 hours before Cut Day (Aug)
    - May be paused periodically through the offseason for administrative reasons
  - Only Contract, Tagged, or Taxi Players can be traded during the Free Agent Auction
  - Both trading teams must be current on league dues
  - Any player on roster can be traded - Contracts, commitments, etc, follow player
  - Draft picks from Current year, Current year +1, and Current year +2 can be traded
  - Any combination of the above can be traded
  - Teams can negotiate/agree to trades through the MyFantasyLeague system or via email/messaging, BUT even if agreed to via MFL, League Office MUST BE NOTIFIED when trade is accepted
- Counter Offers
  - Once League Office has been notified of a Trade Agreement, that trade will be announced to the league
  - All other teams (that are current on League Dues) will have 72 hours to make a counter offer to either trading party
  - Any agreed counter offer will get a new 72 hour counter period until trade concludes
FULL RULES

Keepers/Cut Cap

Keepers/Cut Week
1. League Concepts - Keepers
  - A fundamental concept of the AFFL is that instead of "Naming Keepers" teams do just the opposite - they eliminate players from their roster until only their 'keepers' remain
  - All team rosters' Total Salary Costs must be below the league Cut cap by the end of Cut day
2. Cut Cap
  - The Cut Cap is 40% of the full Salary Cap
  - MFL and Team Databooks will display accurate Cut Cap Space for each team
  - The Cut Cap goes into place at the start of Cut Week
  - Only scheduled current season salaries on team rosters count against the Cut Cap
  - Dead Money Charges accrued in the offseason do not count against a teams Cut Cap spaceTeam's Active Roster is all players that can be started (players on team not on taxi or IR)
3. Cut Week/Cut Day
  - Cut Week will start on the Monday, approximately 2 weeks before the Draft
  - Drop privileges will be enabled on MFL and teams are allowed to cut players to bring their Total Roster Salary down to the Cut Cap or below
  - Trading, Taxiing, and Contract Restructuring is open during Cut Week
  - Cut Day is the last day of Cut Week, by 11:59pm (Est), Team Salary must be below the Cut Cap; Competition Committee can intervene with forced roster manipulation if team is over capRunning Back: 3
  - Position limits and 21 player limit ARE NOT IN EFFECT UNTIL OPENING DAY
  - The MyFantasyLeague system controls these limits by preventing a line-up if team is over these limits, so there is no enforcement until thenNon Contract players (UFA's) on team rosters can be signed to contract
4. After Cut Day
  1. The day after Cut Day, rosters are locked in preparation for the draft
  2. Cut Cap is raised to the FULL SALARY CAP
  3. All offseason Dead Money charges are entered into the MFL system as Salary Adjustments the count against the team's Full Salary Cap for the season
5. All Offseason Activity should be preparing your team's roster for Cut Week
  1. The fundamental 'object of the game' for the offseason is to stock your roster with talent while simultaneously positioning your financial situation to get below the Cut Cap
  2. The available tools for this include the Franchise Tag, Taxi Squad, manipulating player contracts with restructures and bonuses, and your auction strategiesNote that AFFL Scoring rules are set differently for each position, allowing relative value for the individual positions
6. NOTE: Position Limits are not in effect during Cut Week, but be mindful of them while building your roster
FULL RULES

The Draft

The Draft
- Draft is held LIVE ONLINE on the first Monday of Sep
- League Office will issue a Draft Guide with specific rules and guidelines prior to every draft
- General Info
  - Order determined by inverse of standings (NFL formula)
  - Order is straight, 1-20, 1-20, etc
  - 7 Rounds
  - Winner of Consolation Bracket given a Supplemental Pick at #21 overall between 1st and 2nd round
  - Timer is 5:00 minutes per pick
    - (Teams have Trade Timeouts during the draft that can be used as a general timeout when they are on the clock)
  - Teams must make a selection with each of their picks unless they have reached the cap
  - Some player salaries (mostly Rookies) will be updated in semi-live time during the draft, teams are responsible for tracking their own spending if they're close to the full cap
NOTE: Position Limits are not in effect during the Draft, but be mindful of them while drafting
NOTE: Teams may cut any drafted player before the end of week 1 with $0 Salary Charged against cap space
FULL RULES

Draft Day Trading

Offseason/Preseason Trading
- Guidelines
  - Prior to draft, League Office will release a Draft Guide that includes details on the upcoming draft as well as details, rules and guidelines on Draft Day trading
  - Any player on roster at moment of trade can be traded - Contracts, commitments, etc, follow player
  - Draft picks from Current year, Current year +1, and Current year +2 can be traded
  - Any combination of the above can be traded
  - Teams can negotiate/agree to trades through the MyFantasyLeague system or via email/messaging, BUT even if agreed to via MFL, League Office MUST BE NOTIFIED when trade is accepted
- Making Trades
  - Trade agreements/negotiations can be conducted between teams through back-channel communications before or during the draft
  - During the draft, EACH team has TWO Trade Time-Outs that can be called whenever that team is on the clock
    - Note these timeouts can be used for any reason
    - Trade timeouts are 5 minutes long; when a trade timeout is requested, Commissioner will pause the draft timer for 5 minutes and then resume that timer when either 5 minutes have elapsed or when that team that called the timeout calls 'time-in' - whichever comes first
  - WHEN A TRADE AGREEMENT HAS BEEN REACHED - with or without a Trade Time-Out being used - Commissioner will announce trade to the league and start a 60 second Counter Offer Timer
    - During this 60 seconds, teams can request a Counter -Offer Timeout
    - Counter-Offer Timeouts are 3 minutes, during which time team can attempt to negotiate a counter offer with either trading party
    - If a Counter-Offer is accepted, it starts the process over again
    - Counter-Offer Timeouts can only be used after the announcement of a trade agreement
  - Teams have TWO Trade Timeouts per draft, if both timeouts result in successful trades, they receive a third
  - Teams have ONE Counter-Offer Timeout per draft, once that timeout is used, they must use their Trade Timeouts for the purpose of any counter offers
FULL RULES

Rookies (General Guide)

NFL Rookies
- NFL Rookie Players acquired in the AFFL Draft OR Through Draft Waivers CAN BE:
  - Kept on Roster as UFA for their Draft/Draft Waiver Salary; can then be signed following season to a Standard Contract under their Rookie Salary or their Spring League Formula Salary
  - OR
  - Can be signed to Rookie Contract at their Draft/Draft Waiver Salary
  - OR
  - Can be placed onto Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) for 1 year; salary will be 120% League Minimum, when term ends, can be cut, extended, or promoted by signing to Standard Contract at original Rookie Salary
  - OR
  - Can be placed onto Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) for 2 years; salary will be 80% League Minimum/yr, paid in each year, when term ends, can be cut, extended or promoted by signing to Standard Contract at LOWEST of original Rookie Salary or highest League Formula Salary earned while on TAXI
  - OR
  - Can be placed under Rookie Contract AND THEN placed onto Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) (1 year only), immediately pausing terms of contract
  - OR
  - Can be placed onto TAXI-A (ACTIVE TAXI); Taxi guidelines apply under Rookie's Salary
- NFL Rookie Players acquired during the AFFL Regular Season (Waiver, Gameday free agency, or trade) CAN BE:
  - Kept on Roster as UFA for their Rookie Salary; can then be signed following season to a Standard Contract under their Rookie Salary or their Spring League Formula Salary
  - OR
  - Can be signed to Rookie Contract at their Rookie Salary during Fall Contract Period (retroactive to April 1)
  - OR
  - Can be placed onto Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) during Fall Contract Period for 1 year; salary will be League Minimum, when term ends, can be cut, extended, or promoted by signing to Standard Contract at original Rookie Salary (retroactive to April 1
  - OR
  - Can be placed onto Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) during Fall Contract Period for 2 years; salary will be League Minimum, paid in each year, when term ends, can be cut, extended or promoted by signing to Standard Contract at LOWEST of original Rookie Salary or highest League Formula Salary earned while on TAXI
  - OR
  - Can be placed under Rookie Contract AND THEN placed onto Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) (1 year only) during Fall Contract Period , immediately pausing terms of contract

Regular Season/Schedule

Regular Season/Schedule
- AFFL Regular Season corresponds to the NFL weeks 1-14
- AFFL teams play 14 regular season games (wks 1-14)
- Teams play 8 division games and 6 out-of-division games
- Teams play their 4 division rivals, 2 each, in a double round-robin, randomly scheduled by the League Office and MFL system throughout the season
- Out-of-Division Games
  - Teams have 6 games per season against teams not in their division
  - Teams have the opportunity to schedule their own out-of-division games vs any teams with a matching open date
  - During the offseason, after the Division Draft, the division schedule will be set for all teams and the Open Scheduling Period will follow
  - During the Open Scheduling Period, teams can can see the open dates for the entire league and contact other teams to schedule accordingly
  - Any open dates not scheduled, will be scheduled at random by the league office
- Home Field Advantage
  - All AFFL games have a designated HOME and AWAY team
  - Home teams receive a 3 POINT HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE on the scoreboard in every game of the Regular Season
  - All teams have 7 HOME games and 7 AWAY games per Regular Season
    - Teams' 8 Division games will be 4 Home, 4 Away, with each division team being home and away vs each other division team
  - Teams' 6 open dates must be scheduled with 3 HOME and 3 AWAY games
    - Teams can schedule home and away among their open dates at their own discretion, but the final math must work out to 3 home and 3 away
FULL RULES

Waivers

Waivers
- General
  - During the Regular Season, all players go directly to waivers when cut/dropped
  - Except for Gameday Free Agency - see separate section - free agent players can only be acquired through waivers
  - Initial Waiver Priority Order is set to inverse order of the official draft order
  - Waivers are "move to last after successful claim; never resets
- Draft Waivers
  - Information on Draft Waivers will be included in each annual Draft Guide
  - Immediately after the draft, all players not with an AFFL team, will be placed onto waivers
  - During the 3 days immediately following the draft, there will be 8 individual waiver runs; these are called Draft Waivers
  - Teams may make a maximum of ONE successful claim in each of these waiver runs (unlimited claim attempts per run)
  - Players acquired via draft waivers have no specific distinction from any other players except for:
    - NFL Rookies acquired via draft waiver can be signed to Rookie Contract just like a drafted rookie....and
    - Any Eligible player acquired via draft waivers can be taxied
    - NOTE: Eligible players acquired in the Draft can be signed or taxied as well, but NOT players acquired via regular waivers (until Fall Restructure period - see that section)
- Regular Waivers
  - The first 'regular' run of waivers happens on the Saturday of week 1 of the NFL season
  - Beginning in week 2, waivers will run every Wednesday and every Saturday until week 18
  - Waiver priority carries over from draft waivers (never resets)
  - Teams may make a maximum of TWO successful claims in each of these waiver runs (unlimited claim attempts per run)
  - Players dropped/cut during or prior to any waiver run will be available in the next waiver run; players dropped/cut after any waiver run will not be available until the run after the next scheduled run
  - The MyFantasyLeague system handles all waiver sorting/transactions and will not process any claim that will cause a team to violate the salary cap, roster limit, or position limits
FULL RULES

Free Agency

Free Agency
- Gameday Free Agency
  - The only time regular free agent players can be acquired outside of Waivers is on Sundays week 1-18 in a process called Gameday Free Agency (does not apply to Thursday/Saturday games)
- General
  - Each Sunday morning at 7:00am (Eastern) First Come - First Serve OPEN Free Agency opens
  - Salary Caps, Roster Limit, and Position Limits are in effect
  - Players dropped in the Saturday Waiver run and after will remain on waivers, but all other players will be open for immediate pick-up and start (are no start)
  - Free Agency Remains open until 11:00pm (Eastern) on Monday night
  - IMPORTANT
    - Players added in Gameday Free Agency ARE NOT ACTUALLY ADDED TO YOUR ROSTER
    - These are basically players that your team has hired for the day - a substitute player
    - They can be acquired, started, and score points for you in your time of need, but then they go on their way
    - They will be removed from your roster at the end of week data balance
- Money
  - You have to have ENOUGH CAP SPACE TO COVER THE PLAYER'S FULL SALARY to add him on gameday
  - Player is acquired at his regular salary and that salary will count against your cap while he's on your roster on Sunday and Monday
  - On Tuesdays, the player will be removed from your roster, and his salary will no longer count against your cap; no charges against you for the removal either
  - Team is then charged a salary adjustment equal to 5% of the player's salary for their "Gameday Services"
    - For context, 14 games in a season, 1/14th of player's salary would be 7%, so it's a bit of a discount
    - Not sure how good you are at math, but I'm not, so the way I do the conversion quickly in my head is figure 1% then times 5.....$24m player...10% is $2.4m...1% is $240k...times 5 is $1.2m
- Keeping a Player
  - If team notifies League office by email before Tuesdays following a Gameday Acquisition that they wish to extend a permanent roster spot to the player, that player will be left on the roster
  - Team will be charged player's full salary AND the one time earned Gameday Salary AND a Roster Bonus equal to 2% - essentially, the full 7% but it's done this way for accounting purposes in the databooks
  - It will count as a successful claim and team will move to last in waiver priority
- Playoffs
  - During the postseason, all Gameday Acquisitions are PERMANENT
  - Team is automatically charged the 7% (two payments, 5% and 2% for accounting purposes) as a one time payment in the week player is acquired
FULL RULES

Regular Season Trading

Offseason/Preseason Trading
- Guidelines
  - The MyFantrasyLeague System automatically handles all regular season trades
  - Any player on roster at moment of trade can be traded - Contracts, commitments, etc, follow player
  - Draft picks from Current year, Current year +1, and Current year +2 can be traded
  - Any combination of the above can be traded
  - Regular season trades can be agreed to between the end of the draft and the Trading Deadline
  - Trading Deadline is the end of the last game of Week 10
  - There are no counter offers in regular season trading
- Making Trades
  - Trades are agreed to in the MFL system
  - Once agreed to, the trade is listed for vote by the system
  - The trade will be denied with 8 No votes
  - The trade will be approved and automatically processed if 13 Yes votes are cast or if less than 8 No votes have been cast 96 hours after agreement
FULL RULES

Injured Reserve

Injured Reserve
- Regular Injured Reserve (IR)
  - 3 spots
  - Player must be listed as Doubtful, Out, IR, or Suspended
  - Cannot be activated until 18 days later (can be left on IR indefinitely)
  - PLAYER DOES NOT COUNT AGAINST POSITION LIMITS WHILE ON IR
  - 100% of salary counts while on IR
- Season Ending Injured Reserve (SEIR)
  - WARNING: Season Ending IR counts as a TAXI roster spot, team MUST have available (empty) Taxi roster spot(s) to place a player on SEIR
    - Note that an Active Taxi-A player is NOT occupying a TAXI roster spot
  - Teams have a maximum of 2 SEIR spots (but must have space on 5 player Taxi Roster)
  - Player must be listed as Doubtful, Out, IR, or Suspended
  - Cannot be activated(or cut) for remainder of season
  - PLAYER DOES NOT COUNT AGAINST POSITION LIMITS WHILE ON SEIR
  - Non-Contract players:
    - 100% of player's salary is recovered if placed onto SEIR prior to the Trade Deadline (Week 11)
    - 50% of player's salary is recovered if placed onto SEIR after the Trade Deadline
  - Contract players placed onto SEIR prior to the Trade Deadline have that year of their contract paused, and started over the following season under the same terms
    - Can be placed after the Trade Deadline, but contract year continues to cycle and salary is not recovered
  - Players on SEIR can be cut, but are subject to charges under their full salary
- Team Captains on IR
  - If a player designated as an AFFL Team Captain goes onto IR or SEIR, their team can request waiver priority in the next run of waivers and be given first priority
  - Teams in this situation should check Team Captains rules as they have other options as wellThe first 'regular' run of waivers happens on the Saturday of week 1 of the NFL season
FULL RULES

Fall Restructure Period

Fall Restructure Period
- A period during the regular season when limited management moves can be made
- Week 9 - Week 11 (trade Deadline)
- The following moves can be made:
  - Players eligible for Taxi-B, IF ACQUIRED via regular waiver, Gameday free agency, or trade, can be placed onto Taxi-B (retroactive to start of season)
  - Rookies acquired via regular waiver, Gameday free agency, or trade, can be signed to Rookie Contract (retroactive to start of season)
  - Contracts eligible for restructure can be restructured in any eligible way (length, schedule, bonus)(see Contract Rules)
- Trade Deadline
  - The end of the Fall Restructure Period (week 11) is the Trade Deadline
  - By the Trade Deadline, teams should:
  - Complete all Fall Restructure moves
  - Complete all trades
  - Deadline for recovering player salary on Season Ending IR
  - Deadline for waive/Renew on Option Contracts (see Contract Rules)

Playoffs

Post Season
- NOTE: The MFL system will allow teams to set line-ups in every week through to 18 - even if team is on bye or eliminated
- This is particularly important if team is participating in the Total Scoring Contest as the scores in these games will count
- Playoffs
  - Weeks 15, 16, 17
  - 8 teams qualify
    - 4 Division Champions
    - 2 Wild Cards by W-L Record
    - 2 Wild Cards by Total PointsDuring the Regular Season, all players go directly to waivers when cut/dropped
  - Seeding
    - Division Champions are seeded #1-#4 based on record
    - 1st Standings Wild Card is seeded #5
    - 1st Points Wild Card seeded #6
    - 2nd Standings Wild Card is seeded #7
    - 2nd Points Wild Card is seeded #8
  - Match-ups
    - The #1 seed has the option of choosing their Round 1 opponent from seeds #5-#8
    - Remaining teams are matched low to high for Round 1
    - Bracket RESETS for Round 2, where low round 1 winners play high round 1 winners
    - Championship Game is Round 3 (week 17)
  - Home Field Advantage
    - The higher seeded team in each match-up of Round 1 and Round 2 will be the Designated Home Team
    - Playoff Home teams will have a scoreboard points advantage based on seeding
      - (Low Seed value) - (High Seed value) = Home Field Advantage
      - EXAMPLE: Seed #8 @ Seed #1 is (8-1)= 7 point Homefield Advantage
    - Championship Game, Placing Games, and Consolation Bracket Games have NO HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
  - Placing Games
    - Teams that lose in the playoff bracket will be funneled into Placing Games
    - These are used for determining Prize Money only, and not for final standings or draft order
Consolation Bracket
- The 12 teams that do not make the playoffs will be placed into a Consolation Bracket
  - Weeks 15, 16, 17, 18
  - Teams will be seeded #1-#12 based on INVERSE of final standings so that the last placed team is seeded #1
  - Teams seeded #1-#4 will get first round byes in week 15
  - Teams seeded #5-#12 will be matched low to high on the bracket
  - Match-up #5vs#12 will be placed under the #1 bye; match-up #8 vs #9 will be placed under the #4 bye
  - Bracket DOES NOT RESET
  - Bracket final is week 18
  - Bracket winner receives a supplemental pick at #21 overall in following season draft
FULL RULES

Tiebreakers

Tiebreakers
- Regular Season Games
  - These games can tie; ties equal half a win in the standings
- Post Season
  - Tiebreaker is highest Scoring player in starting line-up
  - If still tied, goes to next highest, and so on
  - (Covers ALL post season match-ups)
- Division Champion Tiebreakers
  - (Teams within a Division tied by standings)
  - Order of Tiebreakers:
    1. Head to Head Record*
    2. Division Record*
    3. Common Out of Division Opponents*
    4. Total (Cumulative) Head to Head Points**
    5. Total Division Game Points
    6. Total Points
    7. Total Kicker Scoring in ALL Division Games
    8. Coin Flip
  - * When more than 2 teams are tied in the standings - By win percentage among ALL tied teams in ALL head to head games
  - ** When more than 2 teams are tied in the standings - By total points in ALL common head to head games combined
- Standings Tiebreaker for Overall Seeding and Standings Wild Cards
  - Order of Tiebreakers:
    1. Head to Head Record*
    2. Common Opponent Record*
    3. Division Record
    4. Total AWAY wins
    5. Total Points
    6. Points Scored Against (highest wins break)
    7. Total Kicker Scoring (season)
    8. Coin Flip
  - * When more than 2 teams are tied in the standings - By win percentage among ALL tied teams in ANY common games among ALL tied teams (meaning unequal number of games allowed)
- Points Tiebreaker for Points Wild Card and Total Season Scoring Contest
  - Order of Tiebreakers
    1. Head to Head Record*
    2. Total (cumulative) head to head points*
    3. Average of 5 highest scoring games
    4. Average of 8 highest scoring games
    5. Average of 5 lowest scoring game
    6. Lowest scoring game (highest wins break)
    7. Total Kicker Scoring (season)
    8. Coin Flip
  - *If only 2 teams are tied or if all tied teams have played all other tied teams an equal number of games
FULL RULES

I General

These will serve to be the official rules for the Associated Fantasy Football League (AFFL)

The League Contract Rules Page and Scoring Rules Page are considered to be an extension of these league rules, and whenever refered to here as "League Rules" (or "guidelines") in this page will apply to those other two pages by extension and vise versa.
At a date TBD before the draft, both the rules on this rules page and the settings at the hosting site's league home will be "LOCKED" and will not change (except for Competition Committee intervention) until the following offseason
LOCKED for 2024 on:
For anything not covered in these rules, please refer to the League Settings page at League hosting website
After Rules Lock Date, should there be ANY discrepancy between the rules contained therein on this rules page (also Contract Rules page, and Scoring Rules Page) and the rules listed in the hosting site's League Settings, either in description or in function, the Hosting Site's settings will superseed
League will be hosted on MyFantasyLeague.com where a free account is required for participation
League hosting Fees will be paid from entry fee/prize pool, collectively

Competition Committee

All interpretation, when in question, of League Rules to be arbitrated by League Competition Committee (Comp. Comt.)
Competition Committee made up of Commissioner and 4 volunteer coaches
Coaches can volunteer for the Competition Committee each off season and may volunteer for multiple consecutive seasons only when there are no other volunteers
If less than 4 coaches volunteer, Commissioner will appoint coaches his discretion
Competition Committee will excercise trade reviews
Competition Committee will review, discuss, and participate in the evolution of off-season rules changes, may propose rule changes, and may be lobbied by other teams about those rules
Competition Committee will be charged with collectively managing any team that falls under league control (orphans)
Competition Committee has the authority to act outside of the explicit rules in applying decisions intended to enhance the overall parity and competitive nature of the league or in response to incidents outside the range of existing rules
In any unforeseen or disputed event that arises not covered in the rules explicitly and clearly enough for all affected parties to agree, Competition Committee will exercise final judgment
Competition Committee members will abstain from voting on any issue directly involving their own team
Issues involving tied votes based on abstentian or some other reason will be settled at the discretion of the Commissioner to include league vote with margins set by Comp Comt

Season Calendar

Full and detailed League Calendar can be viewed at League Calendar
Season Timeline (NOTE: All dates are aproximate; EXACT DEADLINES WILL BE POSTD TO LEAGUE PAGE AND TELEX):

First Day of Season - April 1
"Offseason" - April 1 - Draft

Off Season Trading Period - April 1 - Draft
Spring Signing Period - April 1 - May
Free Agent Auction - May - July
Division Draft - May - June
Open Scheduling Period - June - July
Summer Restructure Period - June - August
Cut Week - Aug (1-2 weeks prior to draft

Draft - 1st Monday of Sep
Draft Waivers - 3 days following Draft
AFFL Regular Season - Weeks 1 - 14

Weekly Waiver Runs - Every Wednesday and Saturday
In-Season Trading Period Week 1 - Week 11
Fall Contract Period - Weeks 9 - 11

AFFL Post Season - Weeks 15 - 18
End of Season Accounting and Statistics Period Jan - March
Last Day of Season - March 31

II Format/Teams

20 Teams; Dynasty; Salary Cap
Divisions

Teams will be divided into 4 Divisions of 5 teams each
Divisions will be Realigned each season by draft
The 4 defending Division Champions will be Division Captains and will select the 4 other teams of their divisions by draft each offseason
Draft order will be in descending order of seed # in the prior season playoffs, in a straight-line order (1-4, 1-4, 1-4, etc) for 4 rounds
In the event that a prior season Division Champion does not return for the new season, their spot as Division Captain will be taken by the next highest ranking returning team, by post season/end of season finish from that Division Champion's prior season division
AFFL Divisions

George Halas Division
Vince Lombardi Division
Paul Brown Division
Tom Landry Division

Franchises

The AFFL was founded with the 19 historical franchises of the defunct USFL (1983-85)(plus USFL founder Dave Dixon's unnamed franchise, the rights to which were sold back to the USFL and the franchise never founded)
Teamnames, mascots, logos, and colors of these 20 USFL teams will be used as the base/starting point for all AFFL Franchises (Dixon's 20th Franchise to be named for the NFL Raiders franchise which Dixon owned for 4 days in the 60's with team colors based on Dixon's alma mater, Tulane University)
For League Continuity, these franchises remain in existence when orphaned until taken over by a new owner, BUT All League Records will begin a new timeline for each franchise at time of new ownership
Teams must affix a place name (City, Town, State/Province) ahead of the franchise team name
Team names (mascots), logos and colors of the franchise will remain in place until eligible to change (see below)
Teams may request an update in any Spring Signing Period to team colors to include changes to the tone, hue, or shade of any/all of their team colors and also can rearange the hierarchy of their primary, secondary, and accent team color, as long as the same general color scheme is retained
Relocation

Franchise may 'Relocate' - change their location name - after 1 year in the league
Franchises may not relocate more than once in any rolling 5 year period
A maximum of 2 franchises per year may "Relocate" by changing their place name on a first come, first serve basis
Request must be made in the offseason prior to Cut Week

Brand Update

Teams under continuous ownership for 3 or more completed seasons may update their franchise's 'brand', including:
Replacing Logo with any new logo as long as logo is still representative of the franchise name
Any/all team colors can be changed to any new color set; max 3 colors and must be labled primary, secondary, and accent
Either or both of these changes can be made with a brand update
Request must be made during Spring Signing Period
A league maximum of one logo update will be approved per year and a league maximum of 2 color changes will be approved, overlap included
Competition Committee must approve changes by majority vote, and consideration is made on a first come first right basis with request order carrying forward into following season(s)
Brand Update can be done in conjunction with a relocation if desired
Except for relocating, franchises may not perform any more updates for 5 years after any brand update

Total Rebrand

Franchises under continuous ownership for 5 or more completed seasons may completely rebrand their franchise to include a new teamname, colors, and/or logo whether in conjunction with a relocation or not
New teamname, logo, and/or colors DO NOT have to be representative in any way of the original franchise
Except for relocating, franchises may not perform any further updates for 5 years after any rebrand
Request must be made during Spring Signing Period
A league maximum of one franchise rebrand will be approved per year; unrelated to the max of 1/2 'Brand Updates'
Any/all requests submitted by the end of Spring Signing will be considered together by League vote with 12 approval votes needed for Rebranding

With multiple submitted Rebrand proposals, they will all be put up for league vote together, with each team casting 1 vote for a proposal and 12 votes needed for approval; if no proposal receives 12 votes, the proposal with the fewest votes will be removed from consideration
In a second round of voting, if no proposal receives 12 votes, the proposal with the fewest votes will be removed from consideration
This will continue in rounds until only one rebrand remains; ties of 0 yes votes will cause all teams with zero to be removed for next round, but any other ties for lowest yes votes will trigger a Revote with no proposals removed
When only one proposal request is up for approval, it will get one round of voting in which to attempt to reach 12 yes votes
Requests for Rebranding that do not gain approval can be made in subsequent years with no limitations

Orphan Franchises

All orphan franchises claimed by a new owner/coach will carry with them all obligations received or promised through trade by the open franchise's previous owner/coach, including draft picks
If the Competition Committee determines that an orphaned franchise claimed by a new owner is at a severe competitive disadvantage due to any combination of roster, draft position, finances, or traded picks, supplemental pick(s) may be extended at the end of any round of the upcoming draft deemed appropriate
If new ownership is unavailable for an orphaned franchise, Competition Committee will manage orphan franchise in a neutral manner until ownership can be secured
If a franchise has been deemed to have been abandoned within the season, Competition Committee will excercise all judgement concerning how to proceed with that franchise during the season, and once the season has been completed, ownership will be replaced
Whenever a franchise with a particularly rich AFFL history is orphaned, existing charter league franchises can vote to "retire" the franchise
Should the above happen, the franchise name, logo, and record will be retired and ownership brought in to takeover orphan team will supply new franchise name, logo, and colors, subject to league vote (weighted toward charter members)

III Entry Fees and Payouts

AFFL is a paid entry league with paid hosting with payments/payouts handled though LeagueSafe.com

League Dues assessed to each franchise will be $60.00 (US)
Payment Account Opens: April 1
Payment Deadline is: April 30
Teams CANNOT participate in off-season activity, including but not limited to trades, trade counter offers, or roster cuts until payment has been made

Hosting fees charged to the league by MFL.com are $79.95 and will be paid from the $1200 prize pool

Payout structure of Prize Pool will be determined annually, prior to the start of the season by Competition Committee

2024 Payout Structure will be as follows

Total Entry Fees ($60x20 teams = $1200 Total) less Hosting Fees ($79.95) equals $1120.05
The 8 team's that advance to the playoffs will win $30.00 each
The 4 team's that advance to the semifinals will win $50.00 each
The 2 team's that advance to the Championship will win $100 each
Winner of the Championship will win $200
Placement Prizes:
Runner-Up (2nd place wins $20
Winner of the 3rd/4th place game wins $50
Winner of the 5th/6th place game wins $30
Additional Prizes:
Division Champions will win $30 each
Coach of the Year (League nomination and vote) will win $60

3rd and 4th places, 5th and 6th places, and 7th and 8th places will be determined by the outcome of down bracket match-ups after eliminated from the main playoff tree
Coach of the Year prize will be awarded by league vote(s) after an open nomination process
Payouts will be made on the Thursday following the conclusion of NFL Week 18

AFFL Scoring Cup (Total Scoring Contest)

The Total Scoring Contest is an OPTIONAL second contest
Contest runs simultaneously to the AFFL regular and post season, but the scoring contest and AFFL season results
Contest is for the most Total Points scored (after stat correction) from week 1 of the NFL regular season through to week 18

Contest includes all started player scoring totals in each and every week 1-18, including for bye weeks, weeks played after playoff elimination, weeks played from the consolation bracket, and/or any unmatched weeks
System will record a score for every week a franchise sets a line-up whether that franchise has a match-up or not

Entry

If teams choose to participate, fee is paid into the main AFFL LeagueSafe account in addition to the $60 AFFL entry fee
Fee can be paid separately from and at a different time than the franchise's regular entry fee
Deadline for payment is Midnight of the Monday night of Week 2 of the NFL regular season
Payment triggers automatic entry into the AFFL Scoring Cup Contest
Teams can withdraw from the contest for a refund after payment is made, up to the payment deadline of Midnight of the Monday of Week 2 of the NFL regular season

Winner of the AFFL Scoring Cup will be the participating team with the highest total season score among all participating teams
AFFL Scoring Cup winner will win a prize payout equaling the total scoring cup prize pool ($15 x number of participants)
Payouts will be made on the Thursday following the conclusion of NFL Week 18

IV Scoring Rules

Scoring Irregularity Review Rule

There are certain rare instances where teams may want to request a "Rules Review" from the Competition Committee

Certain Scoring Rules on the host site do not conform to all possible instances for fantasy scoring

EXAMPLE: under certain defensive scoring rules players receive a points bonus for 2 or more blocked kicks/punts, but in the MFL Score settings this would be scored as 1 blocked kick and 1 blocked punt, bypassing the bonus

In this situation, where a coach feels there are rules defined in the official AFFL Scoring Rules that were not granted by the host site, they may request a review by the Competition Committee

League Office must be contacted in the week immediately following the scoring irregularity in question

In these instances, the Competition Committee is encouraged to rule in the spirit of the AFFL Scoring Rules, and simple majority vote will carry their decision

In the event that a sitting member of the Competition Committee is involved in the game in question, they will recuse themselves, and their vote will be cast by the coach with no conflict of interest with the highest current waiver priority

All Competition Committee decisions are final

Click Button for Full Scoring Rules:

Scoring Rules

V Contract Rules

Contract Rules

Full Contract Rules are considered to be an extension of the League Rules; available by clicking the button below

Click Button for Full Scoring Rules:

Contract Rules

VI Player Salaries

League Formula Salary

Every player except for NFL Rookies, has a "League Formula Salary" defined as "Prior Season Total Points times 100,000"
Unless otherwise specified by contract or some other team financial management tool, players will be assigned their League Formula Salary as their Salary Due each year

Rookies are assigned an Assigned Rookie Salary
Waived players on an Expiring FA Contract retain contract's base salary for remainder of season

Players being paid under contract, etc, STILL have a League Formula Salary, but in this case that refers to the amount of the calculation, and not the amount being paid
Where specified, Rules may call for a Corrected Salary to be used

When specified, Corrected Salary is as follows

If a player played in less than 12 games, but at least 6, Corrected Salary Formula for that season = (Total Points) divided by (Number of Starts) times (16) + (10%) times (100k)
If a player played in less than 6 games, season is ineligible to be used for base salary calculation

League League Minimum Salary

The League Minimum Salary is calculated as: 10% of the league formula salary of the highest scoring player of the previous season, rounded to 1 place
Players with a League Formula Salary lower than the League Minimum Salary will be paid the League Minimum Salary for that year
2024 League Minimum Calculated at $5.4m

Assigned Rookie Salaries

NFL Rookies DO NOT HAVE a League Formula salary for use in calculations, their Assigned Rookie Salary is not to be considered a replacement calculation
"Drafted" in this section applies to NFL rookies as drafted in the AFFL draft
Assigned Rookie Salaries will be as follows:

Undrafted AFFL Rookies (including those acquired from draft waivers) Assigned Rookie Salary equal to the League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 1st overall in AFFL draft, equal to 700% League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 2nd-5th overall in AFFL draft, equal to 600% League Minimum
Rookies drafted first round (after #05) equal to 500% League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 2nd round, equal to 400% League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 3rd round, equal to 350% League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 4th round, equal to 300% League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 5th round, equal to 250% League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 6th round, equal to 200% League Minimum
Rookies DRAFTED 7th round, equal to 150% League Minimum

Rookie Start Bonuses

NFL Rookies that remain UFA's/TAXI on any AFFL team roster at the close of the season are subject to a START BONUS for each game started for the team that season
This bonus will equal $250k per game started
Will be assessed at season end, payable as a dead money payment due on the first day of the following season

Position Designation and Salaries

League Formula Salary being dependant on player's total points scored, formula salary for any players involved with position designations other than their own will be dependant on the MFL system's calculation of that players accumulated points total
Any Player spending at least 1 week of the prior season DESIGNATED as a position other than his NFL position, will be calculated by the MFL system as follows:

For weeks in which player is started in the AFFL under his NFL position, he will be scored under the rules for that position
For weeks in which player is started in the AFFL at his designated position, he will be scored under the rules for that position
For weeks in which player is not started in the AFFL, he will be scored under the rules of his NFL position

Cut Players

Players that are cut while under any management tool subject to all relevant guidelines
For Players Cut IN THE OFFSEASON while not under any management tool, player salaries will not be charged against team's cap
For Players Cut DURING THE SEASON while not under any management tool, 50% of player salaries will be returned against team's cap
When any player under any management tool is cut, their salary is returned to their League formula or Assigned Rookie Salary
These Salary Regressions ARE NOT AUTOMATIC in the MFL system and are adjusted retroactively with the weekly balance
WARNING: Note that any player acquired on the waiver wire with listed contract/tag information is SUBJECT TO A RETROACTIVE SALARY ADJUSTMENT. Any adjustment that causes team to go over the salary cap will cause a retroactive reversal of acquisition and forfeit of any points

IR Players

Players that are placed on IR while under any management tool subject to those
For other players placed on IR during the season, player salaries will continue to be charged against team's cap
For players placed on TAXI-IR (Season Ending IR) player salary subject to those rules

VII Salary Caps

Salary Cap

The LEAGUE SALARY CAP is determined by set formula and recalculated each season
The Salary Cap Formula is: CAP = SUM of the League Formula Salaries of top 400 players divided by 20

Teams ranked 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th in the final standings of the previous season will qualify for a Recovery Cap equal to 115% of the League Salary Cap
Teams with a Recovery Cap will have the same Cut Cap as the rest of the league
Can be revoked at Competition Committee' discretion

Salary Cap is in effect from Draft Day to the final game of the post season
When SALARY CAP is in place, all current year charges - to include player salaries, bonuses, penalties, or charges of any kind - count against the Salary Cap

Salary Cap is HARD CAP

The system will not allow roster moves that will cause team to exceed the cap
If a roster move comes under the cap as allowed by the system, but exceeds the cap when the system is reconciled, will be retroactively reversed

Cut Cap

Cut Cap will be between 40% and 50% of League Salary Cap with exact percentage set by Competition Committee each off season
2024 Cut Cap has been set at 41% ($199.928m) of LEAGUE SALARY CAP
Cut Cap is in effect from the start of Cut Week until Cut Day conclusion
When Cut Cap is put into place, All current season player salaries count against the CUT CAP

VIII Dead Money

General Guidelines

All money charged against a team - to include bonuses, penalties, fees, or any charges - will be termed "Dead Money"
Dead Money are all charges that are not player salary
Dead Money is ledgered in the AFFL Database, THEN entered into the MFL system
Dead Money is ledgered in the AFFL Database throughout the offseason until AFTER CUT DAY and then the TOTAL of each team's OFFSEASON DEAD MONEY EXPENDITURES are entered into the MFL system as a single Salary Adjustment

Once in the MFL system, Dead Money charges show up as "Salary Adjustments" with your roster data

As teams make roster moves that accrue any charges - to include any bonuses or gameday payments or penalties, etc - they will be ledgered in the AFFL Database

After each week during the season, the AFFL Database and the MFL system will be reconciled and individual dead money charges from the previous week will be entered as individual salary adjustments

Post-Season Dead Money

Weekly salary adjustments will be suspended during the post season
All post season salary adjustments will be entered at the close of the season
Adjustments causing teams to go over the cap will cause cap overage to be carried forward as a dead money charge on the first day of the foolowing season

Cap Penalties

Any penalty assessed by Competition Committee at their discretion in the form of a Cap penalty will be assessed as a dead money payment

Cap Penalties inherited with orphan teams can be rescinded by Competition Committee at their discretion

Failure to set a weekly line-up (not to include partial line-ups due to injury, bye week, etc) will be assessed a Cap Penalty of $5.0m dollars

IX Active Roster

Roster

Maximum 21 players allowed on any team's Active Roster
Teams are allowed to carry fewer than 21 total
Players on active roster can be under contract, not under contract, franchise tagged, or carry any NFL designation as long as said player is in the MFL database

Position limits and roster maximum limits are in effect from the conclusion of the draft until the conclusion of the season
Position limits are managed entirely by the MFL system
The system will not allow any roster move to be made by a franchise that is over the position max at any position
This includes no adds, waivers, trades, OR SETTING A LINE-UP
Franchises will have to make cuts (or IR or Taxi moves) to appropriate personnel to get their roster within position limits in order to proceed ewith any other activity
There are no Position Minimum requirements
Position Maximums by position:

Quarterback: 1
Running Back: 3
Wide Receiver: 5
Tight End: 3
Place Kicker: 2
Punter: 2
Kick Returner: 2
Defensive Tackle: 2
Defensive End: 2
Linebacker: 4
Cornerback: 4
Defensive Safety: 2

Starting Line-Up

Any player on active roster may be started without regard to bye week or NFL status
Partial Line-Ups are allowed
Teams may start a maximum of 5 OFFENSIVE PLAYERS in any combination
Teams may start a maximum of 5 DEFENSIVE PLAYERS in any combination
Teams may start a maximum of 2 Kick Returners in any combination
Teams may start a maximum of 1 Punter
Teams may start a maximum of 1 Kicker
No Line-Up Penalties

Failure to set a line-up will result in the following penalties:
$5.0m in Cap Penalties per infraction to be assessed the following season against team's full cap with a max of $25.0m assessed
If team qualifies for recovery cap, they will still receive the recovery cap, but penalties will be doubled

AFTER first infraction,forfeiture of team's earlieast draft pick in next draft per infraction

Competition Committee has discretion to increase or reduce penalties

Position Designations

Position designations allow players of certain positions to be designated with a different position on his AFFL roster
Designated Players score under the scoring rules for their designated position rather than under their NFL position
Designated players conform to roster maximums and/or starting line-up spots under their designated position
Position Designations can only be changed Friday and later after week 1
Position Designations can only be made between the conclusion of the draft and the end of the post season and do not carry over into the offseason

Position Designations to players can only be CHANGED from Friday thru Monday during the regular and post season
Players with changing position designations can be started retroactively in Thursday games if position designation change AND start request are submitted by email prior to game start
Penalty for an early position designation change will be decided by Competition Committee to potentially include cap penalties, player forfeiture, and/or points or game forfeiture

NFL Runningbacks, Wide Receivers, Cornerbacks, Linebackers, and Safeties can be designated as AFFL Kick Returner
NFL Linebackers can be designated as AFFL Defensive End
NFL Defensive Ends can be designated as AFFL Linebackers or Defensive Tackles
NFL Defensive Tackles can be designated as AFFL Defensive Ends
NFL Cornerbacks can be designated as AFFL Safeties
NFL Safeties can be designated as AFFL Cornerbacks
NFL Kickers can be designated as AFFL Punters

X Franchise Tags

Franchise Tags ARE NOT CONTRACTS

Franchise Tags exist as an additional option for shielding players from Off-Season Free Agency
Tagged Players DO NOT enter the Free Agency Auction

Guidelines

Each team has the option of using one Franchise Tag per season (does not have to use it)
Tag can be placed on any player on the team's roster (under contract or not) at a cost of a dead money Tag Bonus equal to 20% of salary paid under tag
Tags do not count against the team's Contract Cap
Tags can only be placed during the Spring Signing Period (Tags Expire on the last day of the season)
Players can only be Tagged 1 time in their continuous tenure on team's roster

Player must be cut or traded and spend at least 1 week on another roster or on the Regular Free Agent Market and then reacquired by their former team either by draft, trade, or through any type of free agency, to become Re-Eligible to receive the Franchise Tag

Tagged players can be cut at any time and can be traded at any time UNDER NORMAL CUT AND TRADE GUIDELINES
If traded, Franchise Tags expire upon completion of the trade, and player remains eligible to be tagged in the following season or beyond by the acquiring team

Contracts and Franchise Tag

If player Tagged is under contract, years remaining of contract continue to cycle, HOWEVER
While Tagged, a players contract WILL NOT count against team's Contract Count
Contract cannot be restructured while under Tag
If signed to contract or contract extension in the Spring Signing Period immediately following a season in which a player was Tagged, the highest available base salary option must be used in signing the contract or extension

Player Salary and the Franchise Tag

The salary's of players under Franchise Tag DO NOT count against a team's Cut Cap
The salary's of players under Franchise Tag DO count against a team's Salary Cap
The salary due under contract to Tagged players is not affected by being designated with the Franchise Tag
Tagged players not under contract can be paid EITHER their current season League Formula Salary, OR
Their prior season League Formula Salary

If paid prior season value, a Roster Bonus equal to the difference between current season and prior season salary must be paid in the following spring if player is still on team roster on the last day of the season

XI Team Captains

Guidelines

NOTE: Existing Named Captains exempt from any NEW eligibility requirements
Naming a Team Captain(s) is OPTIONAL
Max 2 players per team

Max 1 each players from offense, defense, or special teams
Offensive or Defensive Team Captains do not receive/generate Captain's benefits while designated KR; Special Teams Team Captains with the KR designation do not receive/generate Captain's benefits while NOT designated KR
Players may carry dual Captain status - Offensive/Special Teams or Defensive/Special Teams - in which above rule will not apply, however a Dual Status Captain uses both of team's available Captains spots, and player must be designated as such at time of being named Captain

Can be named

Any time between week 1-4
Team Captain's term runs week 1 of current season to week 1 of following season
Once named Team Captain, player retains that status until Week 1 of the following season unless cut or traded
Players may be named Team Captain in unlimited consecutive seasons
Rookies cannot be named Team Captain

Captains and Salary

Players named Team Captain must have a current season salary equal to League Minimum x 2 or greater
If current season salary is less than current League Minimum x 2, difference must be paid with a Minimum Salary Adjustment dead money payment
Due a Captain's Bonus (ineligbility rules do not apply) at time of designation equal to 25% of their scheduled salary

Players named Team Captain must be under Contract

UFA's may not be named Team Captain
Franchise Tag players excepted, see below
Players must remain under contract while designated
NOTE: Captain's term does not end until start of regular season, meaning forced contract extensions where applicable will be in effect during the Spring Signing Period of the player's term as Captain)

Franchise Tagged players may be named Team Captain

If named team Captain while under tag, player must be signed to contract in the Spring Signing Period of his Captain's term
Franchise tag contract pricing rules will supercede Captain pricing rules for these players
Team Captains can be traded, and if traded lose Captain status and all related obligations
A player CANNOT BE CUT during his term as Captain
Due a Captain's Bonus (ineligbility rules do not apply) at time of designation equal to 25% of their scheduled salary

Team Captain Contracts

Team Captains are exempt from the Auction
Team Captains are due only 50% of any specified signing bonus that may become due while designated
Team Captains can Restructure contract without using contract's Restructure eligibility; does not pay Restructure Bonus
Contract Extensions/Options negotiated while Team Captain may be negotiated at the most favorable option
Team Captain current and/or future contract money becomes 100% guaranteed once designation is made or once signed while designation is active and remains so even if designation is removed
If Extension/Option expires in Spring Signing Period of the Captain term, it will be renewed 1 season at existing Base Salary; this process can repeat indefinetely

Team Captains and IR

If a Team Captain is placed on Regular or Season Ending IR, team may excercise WAIVER PRIORITY at next waiver run after Team Captain is IR'ed
Team excercises Waiver Priority by notifying League Office of request when Team Captain is placed on IR
Teams excercising Waiver Priority for a Team Captain, will be given the first overall waiver position at the next waiver run
If two teams excercise Waiver Priority for the same waiver run, they will be given priority numbers 1 and 2 in order of their original position
If no player is acquired, they are returned to their previous position (adjusted for cleared waivers)

Team Captains and Scoring/Cap Credits

Amount of Cap Credits earned by a Team Captain is multiplied by the number of consecutive terms player has been Captain (1, 2, 3) with a max of 5
During Regular AND Post Season, in each week that Team Captain's scores more than 25 AFFL points, team receives Cap Credits equal to $500k x Captain's term
During Regular Season, in each week that Team Captain's scores more than 40 AFFL points, team receives Cap Credits equal to $1.0m x Captain's term
In every week (1-17) that a STARTING Team Captain's season points total has exceeded the points equivelant of their Base Salary, team receives Cap Credits equal to $1.0m x Captain' term
Cap Credits will be issued weekly with the weekly salary adjustments (team will receive a positive adjustment in the amount earned)
Once named Captain before week 4 deadline, cap credits retroactive to week 1 will be applied

XII Keepers/Cut Week/Cutting Players

Keepers

A Team's KEEPERS are ALL PLAYERS REMAINING ON TEAM ROSTER AFTER CUT DAY
These include contract and UFA players on Active Roster and all TAXI players

Cut Week/ Cut Day

The Monday 2 weeks (14 days) prior to the draft will be the start of Cut Week; Cut Day is the last day of Cut Week (the two terms can be used interchangeably to reference the "Off-season Player Cutting Event")
Drop permissions will be enabled for all franchises to make cuts to their roster as needed
Cut Week is the only time during the Off Season that player cuts can be made
Cuts can be to contract or non contract personnel (following applicable rules rules)
Players without contracts or management tools (UFA's) MAY BE RETAINED
Teams must use cuts or restructures to bring the franchise's total roster salary to the current season's Cut Cap or below
There are no positional or total roster size limitations in place; NOTE: these limits will be in place to set week 1 line-up after draft
Teams may not place a player on IR to lower their salary hit or open positions
Cuts must be made by 11:59pm on Cut Day to bring the franchise's total roster salary to the current season's Cut Cap or below

Cuting Players

Players assume their current League formula Salary whenever cut

Player's Formula Salary will be reset at next system update
Players waived on an expiring FA Contract retain the contract's base salary as their default salary for remainder of season in which waived - NOTE: DOES NOT count as formula salary for calculations

For players acquired in the draft and then cut before the conclusion of week 1, 100% of salary is returned as Cap Space
For players not under contract or any other management tool (UFA's) that are cut in the offseason, 100% of their salary is recovered as Cap Space
For Contract players, there are certain guaranteed rules, depending on individual contract, so see Contract Rules for more info, but generally:

Contract players cut in the offseason of their final year, 0% of their salary is recovered
Contract players cut in the offseason while not in their final year, 50% of that year's salary is recovered as cap space, and 50% of future money owed in each individual future year is owed in that individual future year
For contract players cut during the season, 0% of that year's salary is recovered as cap space, and 50% of future money owed in each individual future year is owed in that individual future year

XIII TAXI Roster

General Taxi Guidelines

Teams have a maximum of 5 Taxi Roster spots available

Active Taxi (TAXI-A) - maximum 2 players with this designation
Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B) - maximum of 3 players with this designation
Season Ending Taxi (TAXI-IR) - maximum of 2 players with this designation

TAXI players are shielded from the Free Agent Auction
TAXI players are shielded from Roster and Position Limits(unless active Taxi-A)
TAXI players are shielded from the Cut Cap
Trading TAXI players

Receiving team in any trade deal involving a TAXI player must have an open taxi spot for the designation (A or B) of player being traded
All taxi details and financial obligations due follow traded TAXI player with trade; any bonuses already paid are final

Taxi-IR

Season Ending IR (SEIR) is a TAXI Roster spot
Teams can designate a maximum of 2 players with SEIR/TAXI-IR
TEAM MUST HAVE CORRESPONDING OPEN SPOT AMONG 5 TAXI ROSTER SPOTS TO UTILIZE SEASON ENDING IR/TAXI-IR
A player designated TAXI-A can be placed onto TAXI-IR with only 1 TAXI Roster spot
See Injured Reserve Section for more info

XIV Active Taxi (TAXI-A)

Guidelines

Max 2 of the 5 TYaxi spots can be used for TAXI-A players
Players NOT under contract or tag (UFAs) are eligible for Taxi-A
Players can be placed on TAXI-A at any time up to the Trade Deadline; status expires at end of season
No restriction on players being placed onto TAXI-A in consecutive seasons
TAXI-A players can be placed on IR if they have been activated and meet relevant IR criteria; if placed onto Season Ending IR (TAXI-IR), player takes up only 1 taxi roster spot
TAXI-A players can be CUT at any time

If cut before being activated, nothing is owed or recovered
If cut after being activated for at least 1 week, 0% of player's assigned League Minimum Salary is recovered; 100% is deducted from cap space

Salary

Paid a Taxi Salary equal to player's League Formula Salary at time of taxi signing
Taxi Salary paid as a dead money payment
If/When ACTIVATED

Player is assigned a League Minimum salary which will count against team's cap space in week(s) player is active
If/When ACTIVATED, player receives a dead money Roster Bonus equal to 2.5% of their League Formula Salary for each of first 6 weeks active
If/When ACTIVATED, player receives a Roster Bonus equal to 10% of their League Formula Salary 7th week active

Activation

Players on TAXI-A can be activated at any time after spending a minimum of 1 week on Taxi-A by notifying the League Office
All relevant roster guidelines (position limits, salary cap, etc) must be followed to insure there is space to activate player
Upon activation, player can be moved back and forth between TAXI-A and Active Roster on a week to week basis
Once their 7th week Roster bonus (10%) is paid, player can be moved back and forth from taxi to active at will, as long as all relevant roster guidelines are met (position limits, etc)

XV Developmental Taxi (TAXI-B)

Guidelines

A maximum of 3 of the 5 TAXI spots can be used for TAXI-B players
Player must be an NFL Rookie or an NFL veteran with 3 or fewer years of NFL experience at the time of original taxi to be eligible for TAXI-B designation
Contract Players can be placed on TAXI-B (see special section below)
Players under Tag are ineligible
Players cannot be cut while on TAXI-B
Eligible players can be placed onto TAXI-B during the Spring Signing Period

Players acquired via Draft or Draft Waiver can be taxied before the end of Week 1
Players acquired that season via Regular Waiver, Gameday Free Agency, or Trade can be taxied during the Fall Contract Period

Salary/Length

Eligible players can be placed onto TAXI-B for a 1 or 2 year term
1 year TAXI-B players are paid a Taxi Salary equal to 125% of the League Minimum Salary at time of taxi, paid as a dead money payment at time of signing
2 year TAXI players are paid a Taxi Salary equal to 75% of the League Minimum Salary at time of taxi, and are committed to be paid a Taxi Salary equal to 75% of the League Minimum Salary in their second year
At end of term, can be Renewed, Waived, or Activated in Spring Free Agency Period

When Taxi Term Expires/Activation

In spring Signing Period when player's taxi term expires, taxi status can be:

Renewed - Taxi status is renewed for 1 year and another League Minimum Taxi Salary payment is due; all guidelines continue (can be renewed indefinitely)
OR
Waived - Player is released directly to the draft pool with 0% owed/recovered
OR
Activated - Player is promoted to active roster, and must be signed to a Standard Contract

If player has been on TAXI-B for one season or less, Base Salary is equal to player's assigned Rookie Salary or League Formula Salary at time of taxi
If player has been on TAXI-B for more than 1 complete season, Base Salary is equal to the highest League Formula Salary scored while on TAXI-B
Player is due a Signing Bonus equal to 15% total contract value

Emergency Call-Up

Eligible TAXI-B players in eligible circumstances can be called up from taxi to the active roster during the season

Player must be replacing an Active Starter on that AFFL team of the same position group (QB, RB/WR/TE, SPECIAL TEAMS, DT/DE/LB/CB, S) that is placed onto season ending IR in the same week
Player is placed under contract at available terms at time of promotion (or existing contract is activated) with 15% bonuses replaced by 25% bonuses of the same

Contract Players on TAXI-B

All terms, salary due, and expirations of contract are PAUSED/DEFERRED for duration of player's term on TAXI-B
Players salary and contract years DO NOT count against Contract Cap while on TAXI
Player is due the requisite TAXI-B League Minimum dead money salary payment
Player's contract becomes 100% guaranteed
At end of term

Can be Renewed - new 1 year term, contract defers again (max 3 years)
Can be Activated - Promoted to Active Roster, contract resumes, player is due a roster bonus equal to 10% of remaining salary due
At end of term, can be Cut - Player is released to draft pool, contract is terminated, 50% of amount of contract salary owed becomes due (per anum)

XVI The Draft

Draft Order

Draft Order determined by inverse order of prior season final standings (NFL formula)

Playoff Teams ranked by inverse of round of playoff loss, ordered by inverse of original playoff seeding (NFL formula)

Each Round of draft will proceed in specified Draft Order, picks #1-#20, #1-#21, #1-#2, etc (except in the case of traded picks)
There will be no snake/serpentine style turnaround at the end of any round
A Supplememntal Pick will be placed at #21 overall, between the first and second rounds; this pick will count as part of the Second Round. This pick is awarded to the previous season's Consolation bracket winner
Any additional Supplemental Picks (granted by Comp Comt, etc) will be placed between rounds and will count as part of the higher of the two rounds pick is placed between

Draft Day and Time

The AFFL draft will be held annually on the Monday immediately prior to the opening Thursday of the NFL season (US Labor Day Monday; first Monday of September)
The AFFL Draft will be scheduled to begin at 8:00pm EDT - the draft will last approximately 4-6 hours

Draft Guidelines

Draft will be 7 rounds in length with the addition of any supplemental picks added between rounds or at the beginning or end of the draft
Teams will draft until all of their picks have been used OR their team salary cap has exceeded The full Salary Cap less the current League Minimum amount
If a team's salary cap is reached, teams forfeit all remaining picks
Draft picks may be traded - either in the prior season or in the Preseason Trading Period (SEE TRADING section) or in Draft Day Trading
Draft Day Trading is allowed (See DRAFT DAY TRADING section for full details)

Draft Timer

Pick Timer will be set at 5 Minutes Per Pick for the entirety of draft
Commissioner will establish a Draft Day Communications hub for all teams and for official Draft Announcements (ie, trade time-outs, trade counter periods, intermission)
Commissioner may pause the draft during any pick for reasons including but not limited to Announcements, Technical Difficulties, Trade Timeouts, Trade Counter Offer Negotiations, Updating the database or MFL system, Intermission; All timer pauses will be announced in the Communications Hub
Commissioner, at his discretion, may place any franchise not in the draft room onto autopick; Commissioner may also remove teams from autopick
Teams on Autopick will have their selections made based first on any draft list saved, and then by the MFL system

The Draft and Salary

Salary Cap limits in effect during the Draft
Rookies drafted during the draft will be subject to salary adjustment per salary rules
Rookie salary adjustments will be made in real time as is possible, but may not be finalized until the conclusion of the draft or after
Teams should be aware that their overall cap hit may not be adjusted until the conclusion of the draft and if that adjustment causes them to go over the salary cap, they will be forced to cut the necessary personnel to get under the cap
Teams may cut any draft players before the end of NFL Week 1 with no($0) salary charge

The Draft and Positions

Position limits ARE NOT in effect during the Draft
These limits will not be enforced until the time a team sets their week 1 starting line-up
All players in the draft will carry their NFL position as interpreted by the MFL system - meaning, no AFFL position designations are on any player in the draft pool
Teams may issue position designations post draft to any player on their roster
Total Active Roster size limit (total players) IS NOT in effect during the Draft; These limits will not be enforced until the time a team sets their week 1 starting line-up

XVII Regular Season/Schedule

Regular Season

Weeks 1-14
Teams play 14 games each; no byes
Teams play 8 Division Games - 2 games each vs each Division opponent; double round robin
Teams play 6 Out-of-Division games; self-scheduled

Home Field Advantage

All Regular Season games will have a designated HOME and AWAY team
Teams will play their Division opponents once each as both Home and Away team (by randomized week)
Teams will play 3 Out-of Division games as the Home team and 3 as the Away team
The Home Team in all Regular Season games will receive a HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE of 3 points on the scoreboard in that game

Schedule

After Divisions have been determined in the Division Draft, League office will produce a randomized schedule of all Division Games
The Division Schedule will leave 6 OPEN DATES per team, in randomized weeks
Open Schedule Period

Between the Division Schedule Release and Cut Week
Teams may schedule themselves by agreement with any other team with an OPEN DATE in the same week
Division Oponents MAY NOT be scheduled for these OPEN DATES
Out-of-Division opponents can only be scheduled once per season
Teams scheduling their games are responsible for scheduling who is HOME and who is AWAY
Teams scheduling their games are responsible for minding their limit of 3 HOME and 3 AWAY games
Teams with OPEN DATES remaining at the end of the Scheduling Period will be matched at random vs other teams with OPEN DATES

XVIII Waivers

NOTE:

A "Waiver Run" refers to a Waiver Event
A "Waiver Round" refers to a round of claims WITHIN a Waiver Run
Wavier RUNs have either 1 or 2 Waiver ROUNDs

General

All players not with a team are placed onto Waivers immediately following the conclusion of the draft

Players are also put onto waivers:
After being cut
At the start of their individual games each week
And/Or at the start of the final game of the week (for players on BYE)

Waivers are set to "revolving; move to last after successful claim"
Teams may make unlimited unsuccessfull claims per Waiver Round without moving to last
Initial waiver priority order is set as the inverse of that season's official draft order
Waiver priority continues between draft waivers and regular waivers

Draft Waivers

Immediately following the draft there will be 8 Waiver Runs called "Draft Waivers"
These will be scheduled as 8 individual Waiver Runs as follows (all times are US EDT):

8am Tuesday
4pm Tuesday
12midnight Tue/Wed
8am Wednesday
4pm Wednesday
12midnight Wed/Thu
8am Thursday
4pm Thursday

Draft Waivers will have only ONE Round of claims each
Players cut in any Waiver Run will be available for claim in the following Waiver Run
NFL True Rookies successfully claimed from Draft Waivers may be placed under Rookie Contract if franchise notifies League office by end of week 1
Any player successfully claimed from Draft Waivers may remain on team's active roster as UFA, be signed to Taxi-Squad, or cut
Players acquired via draft waiver that are cut - without an AFFL start - by the end of week 1 will return 100% of their salary as cap space ($0 charge)

In Season Waivers (Wk 1-18)

There will be two waiver periods in each week of the Regular Season and Playoffs
Following Draft Waivers, the first Season Waivers will run on Saturday of Week 1 at 11:00pm Eastern
Following that, Waivers will run each week at 11:00pm Eastern on Wednesdays and Saturdays through to the Saturday of Week 18
All teams may make unlimited claims in each of 2 Rounds per Waiver Run in every run of the season/post season; max 1 succesful claim per Round
Players can be cut at any time without a coresponding Waiver Claim

Limits

No more than 2 free agents may be added in any given waiver period
Franchises may add 0, 1, or 2 players in any waiver period per week
The system will not process any claims that cause a franchise to exceed position limits or maximum roster size (Taxi, IR exempted)
The system will not process any claims that cause a franchise to exceed their Salary Cap
Player Availability may vary depending on player's NFL gametimes
Post-Season Add/Drops:

Rosters cannot be culled
Personnel dropped in the post season are subject to retroactive re-rostering at commissioner's discretion
Associated cap overages will apply

XIX Gameday Free Agency

General

Players not with a team go to Waivers
Once placed onto Waivers, players can only be acquired via successful Waiver claim or via 1 of 18 "Gameday Free Agency Periods"
Any players cut during GameDay Free Agency go to Waivers for the next run

Gameday Free Agency

Gameday Free Agency is held weekly (Weeks 1-18) from Sunday mornings at 7:00am (ET) to Mondays at 11:00pm (ET)
Players released to Waivers on the immediately preceding Saturday night Waiver Event will remain on Waivers during these Gameday Free Agency Periods, but all other unsigned players will be available as Open Free Agents in these time periods
Teams may acquire the GameDay Services of any available player during this time period on a FIRST COME - FIRST SERVE basis
Players acquired in the GameDay Free Agency Period are TEMPORARY players, acquired for their GameDay Services
At the End of Week Update:

Player WILL BE REMOVED from team roster and returned to waivers; all points scored will remain part of the record
All player Salary Charges will be removed from the system; no cut charges will be imposed
Teams will be charged a dead money payment equal to 5% of player's salary as a GameDay Salary Payment
Post Season Gameday Pick-Ups are permanent, teams will assume player's full salary and pay one time payments equal to 5% and 2% of player's salary

Keeping Player

Teams CAN KEEP PLAYER acquired through Gameday Free Agency

Team must notify League Office that they're extending a full time roster spot to player before Tuesdays at midnight
Player must have been started that week by the AFFL team that acquired them
Player's Full Salary will then remain charged against team's Salary Cap, in addition to the Dead Money payments made for player's GameDay Salary, and ADDITIONALLY, player is due a Roster Bonus equal to 2% of player's salary
Counts as a successful claim; Team moves to last in waiver priority

XX Trading

General Guidelines

3 distinct Trading Periods

Pre-Season Trading Period
Draft Day Trading
In-Season Trading Period

Eligible Trades

Any player on a team's roster at the time of the deal may be traded
Any Current Year, Current Year +1, or Current Year +2 draft pick may be traded
Any combination of eligible Player(s) and/or Draft Pick(s) may be traded for any combination of eligible Player(s) and/or Draft Pick(s)
Draft Pick for Draft Pick trades, are allowed, including trades involving only Current Year Draft Pick for Current or Future Year Draft Picks

Limits and Conditions

Fiancial obligations follow player in any trade, but stand alone money/cap space may not be traded (ie, 'money' cannot be traded for player)
Pre-Season Trades may exceed both Salary Cap and/or Roster Limits with the understanding that the trading team(s) exceeding those limits must be within those limits after Cut Day
In-Season Trades must adhere to Salary Cap Rules or must include a Player(s) to be dropped by trading team(s) to keep them within Salary Cap Rules
In-Season Trades must adhere to Roster Limit Rules or must include a Player(s) to be dropped by trading team(s) to keep them within Roster Limit Rules
Three-Way Trades are NOT allowed, however Turn Around trades WILL BE allowed with "Turn Around Trade" being defined as a player and/or draft pick being acquired by a team through trade and then immediately traded away to a third team, and further, there is no prohibition on any teams engaging in closed door negotiations with any third party team while negotiating a trade with another team
Trades involving players under contract or under expiring contract subject to both these trading rules and contract trading rules
Trades involving taxi players are subject to both these trading rules and taxi trading rules
Franchises in first year of ownership prohibited from trading any future draft picks
Franchises in second year of ownership prohibited from trading any future first round picks (2024 second year teams exempted)
Franchises in third year of ownership and beyond have no restrictions

Pre Season Trading

Opening Day (April 1) thru 72 hours before Cut Day
League Office may pause pre-season trading for administrative reasons
When Trade Agreement is accepted, trading partners must notify league office

League Office will announce trade agreement
Other franchises will have 72 hours to contact either trading party to negotiate an intervening counter agreement
All Counter Agreements must include some piece of the original trade
If counter agreement is reached within 72 hours, new trading parties must contact league office
League Office will nullify the previous agrrement and announce the new trade agreement and start a new 72 hour timer for new counter offers, and so on until timer expires on any final counter agreement

Once any trade offer or counter offer has been accepted, the trade deal may be quashed only by both parties unanimously for any reason or by one party only in the case of an injury, suspension, public arrest announcement, or announcement of retirement of a player(s) involved in the trade before timer expires
Any Trade Deals that are quashed by one or both of the trading partners will work backwards through all accepted counter offers to the original trade deal where both trading partners must agree to accept trade at each step as trade works its way backwards

Draft Day Trading

Draft Day Trading Period will govern any/all trades taking place During The Draft
Teams that may be interested in making a draft day trade, are allowed to negotiate terms of a possible trade with interested teams prior to Draft Day
Any Trade Agreements may be submitted to the League Office beginning Draft Day morning

Agreements submitted prior to two hours before the start of the draft will be announced to the league to enable counter offer negotiations (Agreements submitted less than 2 hours prior will not be announced
At the start of the draft, any/all trade agreements will be announced (even if previously announced) and the draft start will be paused for 5 minutes for counter offers and for the trades to be pushed througfh the MFL system

TRADE TIME OUT

Teams have TWO Trade Timeouts, BUT if both conclude with a successful trade they will receive ONE more
Teams have TWO Counter Offer Timeouts, BUT if both are used, can use a Trade Time Out
Trade Timeouts are 5 minutes; Counter Offer Timeouts are 3 minutes
Timeout may be used when team is on the clock
When Timeout Timer expires, Draft Timer will resume
Within the time limit, trading teams must finalize any trade agreement between each other and announce deal to League/Commissioner
Trade will be announced and a 60 second timer will start for teams to request a Counter Offer Timeout
Counter Agreements will be announced and can be countered
Once all timers have expired, trade will be processed and draft timer will resume

In Season Trading

In-Season Trading Period opens at the conclusion of the draft and closes at the end of Week 11
In-Season Trading handled 100% by MyFantasyLeague system
Trade agrrements must be submitted into the system prior to the conclusion of the last NFL game of Week 11, but may be concluded after that point
There are no counter offers made to in season trades
Trade Review

Once agreed to in the MFL season, trade will be posted for League vote
Teams will be required to submit their vote on any accepted trade before setting their weekly line-up
With a total of 8 "NO" votes the trade will be automatically rejected
With a total of 13 "YES" votes the trade will be automatically passed
After a period of 96 hours from the minute of accepted trade, trade will process automatically, HOWEVER MFL system may or may not process untill the proceeding overnight system update

Trade Review

At the request of any third party franchise, accepted PRESEASON trades and counter offers will be reviewed by the Competition Committee
In the event of any trade being reviewed by the Competition Committee, both parties involved in the trade will be notified of the review, and either or both parties will have an opportunity to submit a statement regarding the trade's legitimacy and/or fairness before any vote is taken or decision is made
Trade Agreements can be vetoed/reversed by Competition Committee votes of 4-1 or 5-0 in favor of rejection
If trade has already been processed before the Competition Committee has a chance to review/vote on it, trade can still be reversed
If it is a trade counter offer that is vetoed by the Competition Committee it will revert backwards in the progression of counter offers where the 48 hour counter offer period will start over; either party may then quash original trade
During any Draft Day Trade, any Competition Committee member may use an Administrative Timeout to initiate a quick trade review

XXI Injured Reserve

Regular Season Injured Reserve (IR)

Franchises have 3 Injured Reserve slots available
Eligible players may be placed onto IR from the conclusion of the draft to Week 18; does not extend into following season
Eligible players must be placed onto IR prior to the start of their weekly game
Players may be placed on IR any time their NFL status is listed as:

DOUBTFUL
OUT
IR
SUSPENDED

Once placed onto IR, player cannot be moved back to Active Status for 18 days
Once placed onto IR, player can be left on IR indefinitely
100% of a player's salary WILL continue to count towards the franchise's salary cap for the duration of the time player is on IR
Player WILL NOT count towards the franchise's position or roster limits for the duration of the time player is on IR
Player can be traded while on IR

Acquiring team must have an available IR spot
IR activation timer continues
Player may be activated when eligible or left on IR

Season Ending Injured Reserve (SEIR)

Franchises have 2 Season Ending Injured Reserve slots available
MUST HAVE MATCHING OPEN SPOTS ON THEIR 5 PLAYER TAXI ROSTER
Eligible players may be placed onto SEIR from the conclusion of the draft to Week 18; does not extend into following season
Eligible players must be placed onto IR prior to the start of their weekly game
Players may be placed onto SEIR any time their NFL status is listed as:

DOUBTFUL
OUT
IR
SUSPENDED

Once placed onto IR, player cannot be moved back to Active Status for the remainder of the season
Player WILL NOT count towards the franchise's position or roster limits
Players NOT under contract:

If placed onto SEIR at or before the Trade Deadline, 100% of player's salary WILL be recovered in cap space
If placed onto SEIR after the Trade Deadline, 50% of player's salary WILL be recovered in cap space

Players under contract:

When placed onto SEIR player's current Contract Year does not count against Contract Count
If placed onto SEIR at or before the Trade Deadline, 100% of player's salary WILL be recovered in cap space; current contract year and all future years will be defered forward
If placed onto SEIR after the Trade Deadline, 0% of player's salary WILL be recovered in cap space; contract year will cycle normally

Player can be traded while on SEIR

Acquiring team must have an available SEIR designation
Acquiring team must have an available TAXI-IR spot

XXII Postseason

Division Championships

Division Champions will be defined as the team in each division with the best overall W-L-T record in weeks 1-14, Division Champion Tiebreakers in effect

Playoffs

AFFL Playoffs will be held in Weeks 15-17
8 teams qualifying for advancement to the post season

4 Division Champions
2 "Standings Wild Card" teams
2 "Points Wild Card teams

Seeding

Teams seeded as follows:

Seed #1 - Division Champion with best W-L Record (Standings Tiebreakers in effect)
Seed #2 - Division Champion with second best W-L Record (Standings Tiebreakers in effect)
Seed #3 - Division Champion with third best W-L Record (Standings Tiebreakers in effect)
Seed #4 - Division Champion with fourth best W-L Record (Standings Tiebreakers in effect)
Seed #5 - Standings Wild Card #1 - Team with the best W-L record (Standings Tiebreakers in effect) among the 16 other teams
Seed #6 - Points Wild Card #1 - Team with the highest season total points score (Total Points Tiebreakers in effect) among the 15 remaining teams
Seed #7 - Standings Wild Card #2 - Team with the best W-L record (Standings Tiebreakers in effect) among the 14 remaining teams
Seed #8 - Points Wild Card #2 - Team with the highest season total points score (Total Points Tiebreakers in effect) among the 13 remaining teams

Bracket

The #1 Seeded Team receives the option of choosing their Round 1 opponent from the 4 Wild Card teams (Seeds #5-#8) in Round 1 (Wk 15)
Remaining teams will be matched Low vs High for Round 1
The Bracket will RESET for Round 2 (wk 16) with the 4 advancing teams matched Low vs High by original seed

Home Field Advantage

In Round 1 and Round 2 (Wk 15,16) of the playoffs, the higher seeded team will be the designated HOME team
In Round 1 and Round 2 (Wk 15,16) of the playoffs, Lower seeded team will be the designated Away Team
The Championship/Round 3 (Wk 17) is a Neutral Site game with designated home and Away teams but NO HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Homefield Advantage Points Value is based on Seeding Value Difference between matched teams
Formula is (Low seed number value) - (High seed number value) = Home Field Advantage Points Value
EXAMPLE: Seed #8 @ Seed #1; Seed #1 receives a 7 point Home Field Advantage

Placing Games

Down-Bracket Games will be held in Week 16 between the four teams not advancing out of Round 1
These will be matched High vs Low by original seed
Down-Bracket Games will be held in Week 17 between the two losing teams from the week 16 down-bracket games; the outcome determines 7th/8th place for the purposes of any prize payoputs only
Down-Bracket Games will be held in Week 17 between the two winning teams from the week 16 down-bracket games; the outcome determines 5th/6th place for the purposes of any prize payoputs only
Down-Bracket Games will be held in Week 18 between the teams not advancing out of Round 2; the outcome determines 3rd/4th place for the purposes of any prize payoputs only
Down-Bracket Games are neutral site with no Home Field Advantage

Consolation Bracket

Simultaneous to the Playoff Bracket (Weeks 15-17), a Consolation Bracket will be set up for teams ranked #9 through #20 as determined by standings with tiebreakers in effect
Bracket will be a standard 12 team single elimination bracket with 4 first round BYE Seeds
Home Field Advantage will not be used in the Consolation Bracket
Teams ranked #17-#20 will receive the bye seeds
Teams ranked #9-#16 will be paired high vs low for the first round of the bracket in Week 15
The four winning teams will advance to round 2 (wk 16) vs the BYE teams
The #19 seeded team will have the option of choosing their Round 2 (wk 16) opponent from among the four advancing teams
The remaining teams and the 3 other bye teams will be matched high vs low for the second round of the bracket (week 16)
The four winning teams will advance and be matched against each other high vs low by original seeding for the third round of the bracket (week 17)
The two advancing teams will play each other in a week 18 final
The winner of the Consolation Bracket will be awarded a supplemental draft pick in the following season's draft to fall between the 1st and 2nd rounds of the draft at Pick #21 overall
The supplemental draft pick is eligible to be traded

18 Week Scoring Contest

If participating in the 18 Week Scoring Contest, teams should set their line-up EVERY WEEK
Eliminated teams and teams on bye weeks can set line-ups in the MyDFantasyLeague system
These line-ups in these weeks will be scored by the system
These scores WILL COUNT toward your 18 week scoring total for the Monetary Scoring Contest
These will be considered "Exhibition Games" in the AFFL Scoring Record

XXIII Tiebreakers

Regular Season Games

Regular Season games are allowed to end in ties
Ties equal half a win in the standings

Post Season Games

Should ANY post season game end in a tie
Tiebreaker is highest Scoring player in starting line-up
If still tied, goes to next highest, and so on until a winner is produced

Division Champion Tiebreakers

(Teams within a Division tied by Standings)
Order of Tiebreakers:

Head to Head Record*
Division Record*
Common Out of Division Opponents*
Total (Cumulative) Head to Head Points**
Total Division Game Points
Total Points
Total Kicker Scoring in ALL Division Games
Coin Flip

* When more than 2 teams are tied in the standings - By win percentage among ALL tied teams in ALL head to head games
** When more than 2 teams are tied in the standings - By total points in ALL common head to head games combined

Standings Tiebreaker for Overall Seeding and Standings Wild Cards

(For ALL Standings Ties for determining Standings Wild Cards, Overall Seeding among Division Champions, and for seeding the Consolation Bracket)
Order of Tiebreakers:

Head to Head Record*
Common Opponent*
Division Record
Total AWAY wins
Total Points
Points Scored Against (highest wins break)
Total Kicker Scoring (season)
Coin Flip

* When more than 2 teams are tied in the standings - By win percentage among ALL tied teams in ANY common games among ALL tied teams (meaning unequal number of games allowed)