Fantasy Dreams
Dynasty League
Constitution

Items written in black may be reworded but imply original meaning or
are exactly copied from original constitution.
Items written in red are adjustments or additions to the original.

1.  Purpose

1.1  The Fantasy Dreams Dynasty League (FDDL) exists for the enjoyment of its members first and foremost. In addition, FDDL exists as a showcase dynasty league, an example of a dynasty league in action throughout the years.

2. League Operation

2.1  The league will be operated and scored in two separate formats.

2.2  Overall Points:  Regardless of Division, a cumulative total of the points scored each week will be kept and the winner (FDDL Overall Points Champion) will be declared after the final regular season game.

2.3  Head to Head:  Traditional Head to Head competition will be played through week 13. Playoffs will occur in weeks 14-16, with the Dream Bowl, Nightmare Bowl, and other conciliatory games played in week 16.

3.  Franchise Ownership

3.1  The cost to own a franchise and participate in the draft is $15.00.

3.2 An owner may only own one franchise.

3.3  If an owner chooses to leave the league or is not heard from for two consecutive weeks during the season a replacement owner will be sought.

3.4  The waiting list will be used to determine replacement owners.  If a replacement can not be gained from the waiting list, friends of league owners will be given first priority, then a general announcement at one of the fantasy football boards will be used.

4.  Teams

4.1  Teams/Divisions:  There will be twelve (12) teams within three (3) divisions, Fantasy, Dreams and Nightmare. Teams will remain in their original divisions for the duration of FDDL.

4.2  Team Retention:  FDDL is a dynasty league, which means that all players drafted will be kept from year to year. Players may be waived or acquired through free agency and traded among teams. Because of the nature of this league, teams will continue from season to season, though owners may change. When a new owner takes over an existing team, the new owner will be allowed to change the team name and make all decisions the previous owner was entitled to make. The new owner will also maintain the draft position earned by the previous owner.

5.  Rosters

5.1  Number of Players/Position:  The maximum number of players on a team’s roster is twenty-six (26) players. Position limits are not set and a team may have any number of players at each position. A team may exceed the maximum number of players after a draft, but must cut the roster down to 26 players the Wednesday before the beginning of the season.  Any team that exceeds the cut down deadline will be fined three credits per day till the roster is reduced.  If the roster is not reduced by season start,  the commissionership will cut players off the team in order of most recent acquisition until roster limit and contract limits are met.

5.2  Position Eligibility:  Player position eligibility will be determined by what position the player is listed as at www.nfl.com, the official web site of the NFL. In the event of a player being listed in multiple positions, the player is available to be inserted in the starting lineup at any of the positions listed, provided that is what the owner lists him as. For example, if Keith Byars is listed as a TE and RB, he may be put into either position on a team.

5.3  Injured Reserve:  Each team will have two (2) injured reserve slots. Once a player is designated IR by a team, he will not be able to return to active duty for the duration of the current season. An IR player may be released, however his IR designation stays with him whether he is acquired by another team through free agency or trade. The new team must make room for the IR player on that team’s IR squad. Each owner also has the option of waiving the injured player outright (before sending him to IR), thereby sending him to the free agent pool, or simply riding out the injury. A player must be listed as “out for season” in the NFL Injury Report before he may be placed on IR. (In other words, this is a true IR squad and may not be used to simply hold on to players you don’t wish to play who are not injured.)  There are exceptions to this rule.  In some cases, a player may not be designated "out for season" but is effectively out for the fantasy season.  Cases like this will be handled on an individual basis and will be decided by the commissionership.

5.4  Player Retention:  FDDL is a dynasty league, which means that all players acquired (whether by draft, free agency, or trade) will be kept from year to year. Players may be waived or acquired through free agency and traded among teams.

6.  Starting Lineups

6.1  Formations:  The following formations may be used for starting lineups.

FDDL Offenses Allowed
	Pro Set	Wishbone	Run n Shoot	Goal Line	Two TE's
QB	1	1	1	1	1
RB	2	3	1	2	1
WR	3	2	4	2	3
TE	1	1	1	2	2
K	1	1	1	1	1
D/ST	1	1	1	1	1

6.2 Lineup Submission:  The deadline for submitting starting lineups will be the start of the Sunday games.  Whatever lineup is on the league board thread for that weeks games at gametime will be your starting lineup that week.  If a team has starting players in any game taking place before Sunday, then only those players starting must be declared prior to the start of those games. Lineups must be submitted to the League Board under that weeks lineups thread. The deadline for submitting starting lineups will be strictly enforced. Players not submitted before appropriate deadlines in games before Sunday will not be allowed to be included on a team’s starting lineup. The Commissioner will always use the last valid lineup submitted as the team’s starting lineup, therefore a team may change his starting lineup at any time prior to the submission deadline.

6.3  Default Starting Lineup:  If an owner fails to submit a starting lineup by the deadline, then the previous week’s lineup will serve as the default starting lineup. That lineup will be used regardless of players being on bye weeks. If a player on the previous week’s lineup was traded or cut, then the owner will not receive any points from that player. For the first week of the season, a team will lose by default if no starting lineup is submitted by the appropriate deadline. If an illegal lineup is submitted, the lineup will be treated as invalid to the whole and therefore the previous week’s lineup will be used.  Please note, any owner not submitting a lineup for two consecutive weeks will be removed from the league.

6.4  Default Starting Lineups Playoffs:  If an owner does not submit a lineup for a playoff game, that owner will forfeit the game and be removed immediately from the league.

6.5  Owners may start injured & bye week players but only if no other options are available, i.e. (only 1 kicker on roster and he is on a bye).

7.  Scoring

8.  Credits

8.1  A money system will be implemented for free agent acquisitions. These money units will be called credits.  Credits are used to acquire free agents, bid on restricted free agents and used in certain trade agreements.

8.2  On July 15th each FDDL team will receive 30 credits and free agency will open.

8.3  Credits will not carry over from season to season.

9.  Trading

9.1  Any exchange of players between teams cannot leave either team exceeding the maximum 26-man roster. (not counting IR). Therefore, some players may need to be waived to come down to 26.

9.2  For a trade to be valid, it must be approved by a member of the Commissionership and will be posted to the League Board.  Trades involving the Co-Commissioner will be approved by the commissioner.  Trades between the commissioner and co-commissioner will be approved by a panel of three teams, the highest place team in each division at the time of the trade other than the commissioner or co-commissioner.

9.3  Trades must be fair. Fairness will be decided by the Co-Commissioner and he reserves the right to veto a trade (but see 20.2 below).

9.4 Once a trade has been confirmed by a team, that team can not rescind the trade.

9.5 Trades may be made for future draft picks, not to exceed two drafts into the future. Trades may include credits as well, whether that money is included with player trades or strictly credits for a player (see 8.3 for restrictions).

9.6  Trades may not be made for cash, future considerations, or a player or pick to be named later.

9.7  The deadline for trading will be the beginning of week 10 games.

10.  Free Agency

10.1  The term free agency applies to unrestricted free agents, those players not currently on any teams roster.

10.2  The minimum bid for a free agent is 1 credit.

10.3  Free agency will begin on July 15th.

10.4  To sign a free agent, a team must post a F/A bid to the league board designating the bidding team, the player, the bid amount and the waived player if the acquisition will cause the team roster to exceed 26 players. Any team may exceed the current bid. A player is signed if any bid is not exceeded by a higher bid within 48 hours of placing the bid.  The bid amount will be deducted from the acquiring team's credit total.

10.5  Once a free agent is signed the co-commissioner will post to the free agent thread that the player is acquired.  All bidding will stop at that time.  If the co-commissioner is late in his post of acquisition, the time limit will still be enforced.   The commissioner will post that the transaction has been applied to the sportsline site and the webmaster will post that the roster page and transaction page have been updated with the acquisition.  Then the thread will be locked.

10.6  The deadline for free agent pickups will be the beginning of week 13, the last week of the regular season.  In other words, all free agent threads must be started before the kick off of week 13 games.

11.  No Transaction Period

11.1  Beginning at the start of week 13 and lasting until  July 15th, there will be a no transaction period where all trading and free agency is closed.

12.  The Inaugural 2000 Draft

12.1  Date:  The date for the inaugural draft will be May 9th.

12.2  Draft Order:  The draft order for the first year will be determined randomly by using the web dice machine located at http://www.irony.com and ordering from 1 to 12.  Each team will roll a set number of dice and post their results to the draft placement thread at the league board.  Highest roll will receive the first overall pick.

12.3  Serpentine Draft:  The initial draft will be conducted on the league board in a serpentine manner of twenty-six (26) rounds. Draft picks in odd numbered rounds are selected in the order 1 through 12. Even numbered rounds are reversed and selected 12 down to 1. For example, the owner who drafts the 1st pick would draft next in the 24th and then the 25th position (1st pick of third round). An owner drafting in the 12 position would also have the 13th pick (1st pick of second round).

12.4  Trades:  Draft picks may be traded for players currently on your roster or for other picks. Draft picks cannot be traded for credits or other considerations. Draft picks may not be traded any further than 2 seasons in advance.

12.5  Time Limit:  Each team will have 30 hours on the clock to make their pick.  Any pick not made in the time limit will be forfeited.

13.  Rookie Drafts

13.1  Date:  The rookie draft will begin August 1st.

13.2  Draft Order:  Rookie draft order will be a reverse of the previous seasons standings, with one exception.  The FDDL Champion will draft 12th and the runner up will draft 11th.

13.3  Non-Serpentine Draft:  The rookie drafts will be one through twelve in each round.  The team with the first pick in the rookie draft will draft first in each round.

13.4  The rookie draft will last 4 rounds.

13.5  Trades:  Rookie draft picks may be traded for players currently on your roster, for other picks or for credits.

13.6 Time Limit:  Each team will have 48  hours on the clock to make their pick.  Any pick not made in the time limit will be forfeited.

13.7  Eligible Players - Any player listed on a NFL roster as a rookie at the beginning of the FDDL rookie draft is eligible.

14.  Schedule (Regular Season)

14.1  The regular season will consist of 13 weeks.  Each team will play divisional opponents twice and play 7 of the 8 inter divisional opponents.

14.2  There will be six home and six away games and one neutral site game.  Divisional opponents will be played once at home and once away.

15.  Schedule (Playoffs-Dream Bowl Tier)

15.1  Playoffs begin in week 14 and run for three rounds.  Wildcard Round, Divisional Round and Bowl Round.

15.2  Six teams will make the playoffs.  The three division winners, seeded D1 through D3.  Then the next three best records will get wildcard berths, seeded by record W1 through W3.  The higher seed will receive home field advantage.

15.3  Wildcard Round:  In this round D3 will play W3 and W1 will play W2.  D1 and D2 will receive byes in this round.

15.4  Divisional Round:  D1 will play lowest seed remaining and D2 will  play the other team advancing from the wildcard round.

15.5  Dream Bowl:  The two winners from the Divisional Round will advance and play each other at a neutral site for the Dream Bowl.

16.  Schedule (Playoffs-Nightmare Bowl Tier)

16.1  Playoffs begin in week 14 and run for three rounds.  Wildcard Round, Divisional Round and Nightmare Bowl.

16.2  The six teams not making the dream bowl tier will make the playoffs here.  The teams will be  seeded x1 through x6.  The higher seed will receive home field advantage.

16.3  Wildcard Round:  In this round x3 will play x6 and x4 will play x5.  x1 and x2 will receive byes in this round.

16.4  Divisional Round:  x1 will play lowest seed remaining and x2 will  play the other team advancing from the wildcard round.

16.5  Nightmare Bowl:  The two winners from the Divisional Round will advance and play each other at a neutral site for the Nightmare Bowl.

17.  Tie Breakers

17.1  Game Tie Breakers:  If a regular season or playoff game ends in a tie, the following will be used to determine a winner.

1. Decimal Scoring

2. Total TD's

3. Total Yds Quarterback

4. Total Yards RB, WR and TE combined

5. K scoring

6. D/ST scoring

7. Coin toss

17.2  Divisional Season Standings Tie Breakers:  If two or more teams finish the season with identical win-loss records, the following steps will be taken to determine the divisional champion.

1. Head to Head Record

2. Divisional Record

3. Highest Divisional Points

4. Highest Divisional +/- (Points For - Points Against = +/-)

5. Highest Overall Points

6. Highest Overall +/-

7. Most Starting TD's

8. Coin Toss

17.3  Non Divisional Season Standings Tie Breakers (Wildcard Tie Breakers):  If two or more teams within the league are tied and ranking is needed for wildcard seeding or draft order the following tie breakers will be applied.

1. Head to Head Record

2. Highest Overall Points

3. Highest Overall +/-

4. Most Starting TD's

5. Coin Toss

17.4  Overall Points Standings:  In the case of a tie for overall points standings, apply the following steps to break the tie.

1. Highest Overall +/-

2. Head to Head

3. Highest Overall Record

4. It's a tie, split the money

18.  League Governance

18.1  Commissioner:  The goal is to have a very strong yet fair Commissioner. The Commissioner is sworn to act at all times in the best interests of the League and is vested with the following powers:

1. Interpret these rules as he sees just and fit.

2. Approve team names and new owners.

3. Preside over draft and settle draft disputes.

4. Provide timely weekly scoring results.

5. Maintain the integrity of the league and its owners.

18.2  Co-Commissioner:  The Co-C is responsible for all transactions and to provide support to the commissioner in times the commissioner is unavailable.

1.  Settle all position eligibility questions.
2.  Distribute free agents and restricted free agents through the bid process.
3.  Approve all trades and transactions.
4.  Maintain rosters.

18.3  Committee of the Whole:   The league owners will function as the Committee of the Whole (CW), in which all league owners will each have an equal vote. The CW reserves the right to veto any decision made by the Commissioner with a 2/3 majority vote (with at least 2/3 of all current owners casting a vote). Each member of the CW will be charged with the responsibility of acting in the best interests of the League.

19.  Extraordinary Situations

The following are serious situations and should be treated as such:

19.1  Amendments to the Constitution:  Any owner may call for an amendment to the constitution.  Amendments will be offered up on the league board for discussion and then a vote thread will be started.

• During the off season, vote calls will require a 2/3 majority (8 votes) to pass.
• During the season, vote calls will require a complete majority (12 votes) to pass.

19.2  Appealing a Commissioners Decision:  ONLY ONE (1) APPEAL PER OWNER WILL BE ALLOWED PER SEASON. NO EXCEPTIONS. Once an owner has appealed one (1) decision, all further Commissioner decisions involving that owner will be final with no appeal possible. Appealing the decision of the Commissioner is a very serious action and is expected to be a rare occurrence. The process for appeal is as follows:

1. Owner notifies the Commissioner that he is appealing the decision.
2. Commissioner notifies the Committee of the Whole via email and begins a vote thread on the league board.
3. Owner and Commissioner present their positions to the Committee of the Whole via the thread on the league board.
4. Each owner will vote on the issue on the vote thread on the league board.  Comments are not allowed in the vote thread.
5. Vote calls will be decided by a majority vote (7 votes).  If there is a tie, the commissioners decision stands.

19.3  Reprimanding an Owner:  If an owner is considered by the Commissioner to be conducting himself in a manner not in the best interest of the league, this path is followed:

1. The commissioner will talk with the owner via email and inform him that his actions are detrimental to the league.
2. The commissioner will post a warning to the league board.
3. If a second warning is issued, the Commissioner may recommend to the Committee of the Whole that the owner be removed from the league. (see section 20.4 below)

19.4  Removing an owner:  This is an extremely serious consideration, one which the league will seek to avoid at all costs. If it arises, this process will be followed:

1. Three (3) league owners together or the Commissioner may recommend that an owner be removed.
2. The commissioner will post a vote thread to the league board and email everyone in the league about the vote call.
3. If 2/3 of the Committee of the Whole vote to remove the owner (with at least 2/3 of all owners casting a vote), the owner is removed from the league.
4. The Commissioner assumes control of the team and a replacement owner is found as soon as possible. The new owner will inherit the team’s roster and draft position for the coming season.

20.  The Bottom Line:  This League was founded on the ideals of competition and fun. FDDL hopes to be a model league for the world to enjoy as well. Every team owner is a vital part of that process and is essential to the success of the league.

21.  Last updated in 2003 by: