Format:
The CFFL uses a team-versus-team format. The first 14 weeks of the NFL season are the CFFL regular season. Six of the 12 teams will go to the playoffs – three division winners and three wildcard teams. Wildcard teams are the best three teams in the overall standings that did not win their division. Week 15 is the Wildcard Playoffs; Week 16 is the Semi-Finals and Week 17 is the Fantasy Bowl. Week 18 is not played.
The team with the most total points for the week will win the top weekly prize. The winning team with the second highest score will get the second weekly prize. Teams tied for the weekly winner will use the tie-breaker system (described below).
Starting Lineup:
- 1 Quarterback
- 2 Running Backs
- 3 Wide Receivers
- 1 Tight End
- 1 Flex Starter (RB / WR/ TE)
- 1 Kicker
Any player that plays multiple positions will only be eligible at his dominant position. The league management system will usually determine the dominant position of the player. If there is a question about whether the league management system has correctly identified the dominant position, it will be put to a vote of all owners.
The Draft:
The draft occurs the weekend before the first week of the NFL season. Each owner will draft a 16-player roster. Owners may select any players in the NFL. There is no limit to the number of players drafted at a particular position. There will be a two-minute time limit for each draft pick. Each owner will have one two-minute timeout for the draft. Time is combined for back-to-back picks into four minutes for both picks. If an owner does not make his pick before time runs out, a timeout is automatically charged. If he has no timeout left, his pick is skipped and the next owner in order will pick. After that, the owner that was skipped will have 60 seconds to pick.
Draft Order:
The draft order will be determined by a lottery drawing, which occurs during or after the first Bears preseason game.
There is a drawing for every odd-numbered round from Round 15 to Round 1 (except for Round 3). The following even round will be ordered in the reverse order of the selected odd round. For example, the order of the numbers picked for Round 1 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) would produce the reverse order in Round 2 (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1).
The Round 3 and Round 4 order is the reverse of Round 1 and Round 2.
Draft Pick Trading:
After the lottery and until 10 AM on the Saturday before the draft, draft picks can be traded. The total number of a team’s draft picks cannot go below 14 or above 18.
Divisions:
The divisions will be determined by the first round draft pick:
- 1, 6, 7, 12…………. Halas Division
- 2, 5, 8, 11…………. Ditka Division
- 3, 4, 9, 10…………. Payton Division
Regular Season Schedule:
Each team will play divisional opponents twice and non-divisional opponents once.
Play:
Each week, every team will play a game against another team in the league. Schedules will be presented before the lottery and are determined by the first round lottery pick.
The team that scores the most total points is awarded a win.
In the event of a tie score, the win will be awarded to the team with the highest individual player’s point total. If the highest player score for each team is the same, the second highest player score will determine the winner, and so on. In the near-impossible situation of all identical scores, the best individual score of the preceding week will be used. If there is no preceding week score (after Week 1), the team with the lowest first-round draft pick will win. There will never be a tie in the CFFL!
After Week 14, the three division winners and three wildcards will be the six playoff teams. The three division winners will be seeded 1, 2, and 3. The three non-division-winning teams highest in the overall standings will be seeded 4, 5, and 6. The wildcard teams are chosen and seeded without regard to division.
In the event of tie records in the standings, total points will be used to break the tie. If the total points are also tied, then the head-to-head record will be used. If the head-to-head record is a split, the head-to-head total points will be used. If the teams have yet to play each other, the team that was higher in the standings the previous week will remain higher in the standings. If a tie in the standings needs to be broken before or immediately after Week 1, the team with the lowest first-round draft pick will be placed ahead of the other team(s).
Website & Email:
Under normal circumstances, all lineup submissions, transactions, and other notifications will be handled by the CFFL online management website. All owners are required to have a working email address to be notified of trades and pickups. All league information will be posted on the CFFL management website or the CFFL.net site.
Reporting Starting Lineups:
Lineups are to be submitted through the CFFL online management website. The system will cut off lineup submissions automatically at the proper times. In the event of website failure, lineups should be submitted to the Commissioner AND opponent. The Commissioner will generally not accept lineups other than the ones submitted through the online system unless extreme circumstances require him to do so.
In the event of problems with the online management system on the day of the game, call/text/email the opponent AND Commissioner with lineups.
Rules regarding reporting of lineups to two parties are designed to be a verification system and a safeguard against a failed communication attempt or commissioner error. If the attempt to report a lineup to an opponent has unknowingly failed, the lineup reported to the commissioner will stand.
THE LAST LINEUP REPORTED TO THE COMMISSIONER WILL TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ALL OTHER REPORTED LINEUPS WHEN THERE ARE INCONSISTENCIES IN REPORTED LINEUPS. SUBMITTING THROUGH THE ONLINE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IS THE SAME AS REPORTING TO THE COMMISSIONER.
Starting lineups are carried over from the week before by the online management system. If no lineup is submitted for Week 1, the lineup is created from the first players drafted at each position automatically. In that scenario, the flex position will be filled first by a backup running back, then a backup wide receiver, then a backup tight end.
Changes to starting lineups must be made by the kickoff of that player’s game. The online system locks lineup changes for each player’s game at the scheduled kickoff time of their game. Players must be removed from or added to the starting lineup before that player’s game.
The online system will handle all lineup changes and will lock out owners from making changes at the appropriate times. It is the responsibility of the owner to make sure his team’s lineup is correct before the cutoff time.
Scoring:
Touchdown run………………………………………..6.0
Touchdown reception……………………………….6.0
Touchdown pass…….……………………………….4.0
Touchdown kick return/turnover…………….6.0
Interception thrown…………………………-1.0
Field goal (49 yards or less)………………………..3.0
Field goal (50-54 yards)……………………………..3.5
Field goal (55-59 yards)……………………………..4.0
Field goal (60+ yards)………………………..5.0
Extra point………………………………………………1.0
Two-point conversion run………………………….2.0
Two-point conversion reception…………………2.0
Two-point conversion pass……………………….1.0
1 yard rushing……………………………………..0.1 (1 point per 10 yards)
1 yard receiving…………………………………….0.1 (1 point per 10 yards)
5 yards passing……………………………………….0.2 (1 point per 25 yards)
Fumble lost…………………………………-1.0
All players will have a minimum score of zero. A negative game score that results from interceptions or fumbles lost will still be counted as zero.
The score of the CFFL will be handled by the online management system. If an owner notices a discrepancy between the score recorded by the system and another reputable source (such as NFL.com), he must notify the Commissioner immediately. Once the next football week begins, scoring errors by the system will not be changed by the Commissioner. Any discrepancies will be researched by the Commissioner and changed accordingly.
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH OWNER TO CHECK HIS SCORE AND HIS OPPONENT’S SCORE.
Reporting Scoring Errors/Discrepancies
The MFL system final scores will be considered the official CFFL score in almost all circumstances. Weekly stat corrections issued by the NFL in the days following a game will not be applied automatically. These stat corrections may be applied IF the correction changes an individual player’s score by at least 1.1 points.
A petition to use a stat correction of 1.1 points or greater must be filed with the Commissioner by 11 a.m. on Thursday for the proceeding week’s scores (or 5 p.m. Wednesday before Thanksgiving).
Roster Limit and Minimum Requirement:
Each team’s active roster cannot exceed 16 players at any time. In addition to the active 16-player roster, each franchise can put one player on injured reserve. The roster must have a minimum of 8 players.
Dropping Players:
A player can be dropped from the active roster, injured reserve, or taxi squad at any time until the season transaction deadline. A player who is dropped is “locked” by the system for 24 hours and cannot be picked up on waivers until the 24-hour lock period expires. The system will automatically send an email to all owners to notify when a player is dropped.
Injured Reserve:
Each franchise can designate one player to their injured reserve. To be eligible for IR, a player must have an “Out”, “Doubtful”, or “IR” status on the online management system for the player’s next game. The online management system handles these designations and updates the player injury status. Players with a Suspended designation are not eligible for IR.
If the online management system upgrades a player’s injury status to Questionable or removes him from the injury report, owners must remove him from the IR or they will not be able to submit a starting lineup.
Taxi Squad:
Each franchise can designate one player to the taxi squad for that player’s bye week, opening a spot on the active roster. After that player’s bye week is over, he must be moved off the taxi squad before a lineup can be submitted.
Waiver Wire Pickups:
Each week after the draft, waiver wire pickups will be processed twice a week (typically on Thursday and Saturday) through the last week of the CFFL season (before week 17). Waiver wire pickups require that there is room on the active roster to add a player (the roster limit is 16). A player may be dropped simultaneously with a waiver wire pickup and the drop will be counted first. If the active roster is at 16, and no player is dropped to create roster room for a waiver wire pickup, the waiver pick will not go through.
Waiver Pickups will be handled by the online management system. Each pickup week, waivers will be processed Thursday at noon (Wednesday at noon in week of Thanksgiving games) and Saturday at noon. Owners will submit their list of waiver wire pickup choices through the system. A different player can be designated to be dropped for each pickup player listed.
Waiver pickups are always added to the active roster. It is the owner’s responsibility to list enough pickup choices to guarantee a pickup and to make sure the 16-man active roster limit would not be exceeded by an attempted pickup. Designating a drop player that is on IR or the taxi squad will NOT create an additional active roster spot for a pickup player. Owners can list as many players for pickup as they want, but they must be submitted through the system by the deadline.
Participation in the waiver pickup is optional. Waiver picks cannot be traded, and unused waiver pickups are lost (not transferable to other weeks).
Playoff Waiver Pickups:
For the pickups prior to Week 15, 16, and17, playoff teams’ waivers will have priority over teams eliminated from the playoffs.
In order to give waiver priority to playoff teams over non-playoff teams in the MFL system, the playoff teams will get an additional $201 in FAAB for one-time use in each pickup. If you’re in the playoffs, you should always use all $201 + whatever additional existing FAAB you want to use if you’re doing a pickup for Thursday. For Saturday, the $201 will be added again. This added FAAB doesn’t accumulate. It’s use it or lose it for each pickup. The amount over $201 used will be deducted from the season-long FAAB balance.
Players dropped by non-playoff teams after the final regular season waiver round cannot be picked up by playoff teams. For the purposes of this rule, teams also become non-playoff teams after they lose in the playoffs. The management system does NOT handle this. Therefore, playoff teams need to be aware of which players were dropped by non-playoff teams and eliminated playoff teams and exclude them from their waiver list.
Blind Bidding and Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB):
Every owner will get a budget of 200 free agent acquisition points (fake dollars) for the season to use on blind bidding for waiver pickups. For each selection in the waiver pickup list, owners can submit a bid using a portion of the season-long budget in an attempt to be the highest bidder for a particular player. Owners can submit a different bid amount for each player listed in their waiver pickup list. The highest bid submitted by an owner will be considered the player with the highest priority for that owner’s waiver pickup list. For any players listed with the exact same bid amount, the player listed higher in the list will be considered as a higher priority add for that owner.
Owners are not required to use any of their FAAB to pick up a player. Owners may submit a bid of 0 for these players and will receive that player without a deduction from the FAAB if the system awards that player. FAAB units cannot be traded or transferred to another owner.
When the system automatically processes the waivers, it will look through all submitted lists and award the player with the highest bid amount to that owner. It will then award the player with the second-highest bid to that owner, and so on. For any bids on the same player that are tied, the owner with the lowest ranking in the overall standings will be awarded the player. Once a player has been successfully awarded, the amount bid on that player will be deducted from the owner’s season-long FAAB. The player designated to be dropped will be dropped from the roster.
The waiver priority setting for the two pickups that occur before Week 1 will be set in the reverse order of first round draft picks. In other words, the team with the 12th first round pick will get top waiver priority and the team with the 1st overall draft pick will have last waiver priority. After Week 1, it will go to the normal reverse order of the overall standings.
Trades:
Owners may trade players with each other starting immediately after the draft, until the trade deadline. Trades are not official until they are successfully processed by the online management system (or commissioner). Trades are to be entered through the online system. The system allows for a proposal to be sent to an owner and that owner must accept the trade through the system. In some circumstances, the commissioner may assist the processing of a trade if there are issues with accessing the online system.
Trades that violate the 16-man active roster limit will not go through. Traded players are always added to the active roster and never the IR or Taxi Squad. So, uneven trades must account for active roster space.
- Once a player is traded away, he cannot rejoin the same team for 21 days.
- If a player is started in a Thursday or Saturday game, he may not be traded away until the following NFL week.
- The trade deadline for the season will be 11 AM on the Sunday of Week 11.
- The trade deadline for the week will be Sundays at 11 AM.
THE COMMISSIONER WILL NOT ACCEPT TRADES BETWEEN 11 AM SUNDAY AND 11:45 PM MONDAY.
Playoff schedule:
Week 15: Division winner 3 vs. 3rd Wildcard, 1st Wildcard vs. 2nd Wildcard, Division winners 1 and 2 – BYE week (play exhibition game)
Week 16: Regular Season Champion vs. Lowest Ranked, 2nd Division Winner vs. Highest Ranked
Week 17: Fantasy Bowl
Exhibition Games:
The top two division winners will play head to head in an exhibition game during their playoff bye in Week 15.
The two Week 15 playoff losers will play an exhibition game during Week 16.
The four playoff losers will play an exhibition pool contest for the highest score in Week 17.
Exhibition games are played for the prize money only – statistics do not count for the purpose of any CFFL records.
Toilet Bowl:
At the conclusion of the regular season, all four teams that do not make the playoffs are automatically entered in the Toilet Bowl Tournament. There is no extra buy-in for the Toilet Bowl Tournament.
The Toilet Bowl Tournament will be played from Weeks 15-17 for the highest cumulative point total over three weeks. Before the tournament begins, bonus points will be added to each team’s total according to the regular season overall standings.
| Overall Standings | Bonus |
| 7th | 25 |
| 8th | 20 |
| 9th | 15 |
| 10th | 10 |
| 11th | 5 |
| 12th | 0 |
The team that has the highest cumulative point total over three weeks (plus bonus points) will win the Toilet Bowl prize. All ties for the highest score will split the prize money evenly. The Toilet Bowl Tournament is played for the prize money only – statistics do not count for the purpose of any CFFL records.
Rules & Voting:
Any discrepancies in the interpretation of the rules during the season – rules pertaining to the play of that season – that are not explained in this document are to be voted on by a majority vote of all owners. Each owner will have one vote, with the Commissioner having the extra tie-breaking vote.
Preseason proposals for format or rule changes to the CFFL that are put up for a league vote will use a seniority-weighted system. Each owner will have one vote plus additional votes for each completed season in the CFFL, up to four additional votes. The Commissioner has the tie-breaking vote. The weighted system is as follows:
4 or more completed seasons = 5 votes
3 completed seasons = 4 votes
2 completed seasons = 3 votes
1 completed season = 2 votes
New owners = 1 vote
Any owner who is deemed to have compromised the integrity of the league by cheating or collusion during the season is subject to expulsion from the CFFL by a closed-door vote of all other owners.
Money:
Total CFFL dues are $420 ($360 + $35.00 for league fee + $25 Survivor Pool ).
The $35 league fee is for a $15 franchise fee (commissioner gets $15 from each of the other owners, $13 web and online manager fee, and a $7 trophy fee ($84 total for trophies). $25 is collected for a Survivor Pool on the CFFL website. The remaining $360 goes for the prize money, which totals $4320.
Winnings:
Regular Season Weekly ($1120 of total $4320)
Regular Season Week Highest Score: $55
Regular Season Week 2nd Highest (must win game): $25
End of Regular Season ($1320 of total $4320)
Regular Season Champion (Division Winner 1): $500
2nd Place (Division Winner 2): $320
3rd Place (Division Winner 3): $200
1st Wildcard: $125
2nd Wildcard: $100
3rd Wildcard: $75
Playoffs ($1425 of total $4320)
1st Round Playoff Win (Week 15): $175
2nd Round Playoff Win (Week 16): $225
Fantasy Bowl Champion: $625
Exhibition Games ($275 of total $4320)
Exhibition games* (Week 15 & 16): $75
*The #1 and #2 division winners have a playoff bye and will play an exhibition game Week 15.
*The first round playoff losers will play an exhibition game Week 16.
Exhibition Game** (Week 17): $125
**All playoff losers will play for the highest score in Week 17.
Toilet Bowl Tournament ($180 of total $4320)
Toilet Bowl Tournament: $180
Notes from the Commish:
What-up, knockas!!! Welcome to the 28th season of the CFFL! There are a few changes to the rules this season:
- The number of draft rounds and the maximum roster size is going back to 16 from 18.
- We will each get one taxi squad spot that is only used for a player on his bye week to open a spot on the active roster. That player must be moved off of the taxi squad after the bye week is over or the system will not allow you to change your lineup.
- Fumbles lost are now minus 1 point (-1.0).
COMMISH
By the way, don’t forget that the number one objective of this league is to have fun. But you still have to…..
….. PREPARE FOR WAR!