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GREAT LAKES FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUES Cowboys Fans League Rules Section I - General 1. The Franchise Fee is $75.00. To qualify for the Cowboys Fans League, you must be a diehard fan of the Dallas Cowboys franchise. 2. All team names in the Cowboys Fans League must be associated with the Dallas Cowboys in some way. Participants are free to choose names dealing with eras of the team or individual players. Be creative and have fun! Also make sure to find a logo that will correspond to your team name. 3. Each of the three (3) divisions will consist of four (4) teams. 4. The initial draft will be held on-line. Teams will be formed in a draft that will be carried out in 1-12 then 12-1 order (known as 'serpentine' or 'switchback'). Drafts may be done in live draft format (4-6 hours on a chat site) or in email format (over several weeks). The order for all initial drafts is decided randomly. When they are done via the email format, teams have 12 hour time limits to make their selections. When a pick is missed, that owner has to get in contact with the commissioner ASAP in order to make a replacement pick. The longer he waits, the further down in the round his team will drop. The order for all initial drafts is decided randomly by the MyFantasyLeague commissioner software. Teams may request a replacement selection for a missed draft pick, provided the current draft round has not been completed. For example, an owner who misses the 5th overall pick in May, can only request a replacement selection up until the time the final pick is made during May's round. Missed draft picks may not be traded, beginning with the 2006 season. 5. All teams must come out of the initial draft with the necessary components to field a starting lineup (i.e. a Quarterback, 2-3 Running Backs, 3-4 Wide Receivers, a Tight End, a Place Kicker and a Team Defense). Then, you must always maintain these minimum requirements throughout the regular and off-season (i.e. teams can't elect to go without a kicker, tight end, defense during the regular or off-season). 6. Off-Season Rookie and Remaining Free Agent drafting periods begin each year on May 15th and continue three more times before the start of the regular season (June 15, July 15 and August 31). The team with the lowest winning percentage at the end of the regular season drafts first. The rest of the teams are placed in order from lowest winning percentage to the highest. In the event of a tie, the team with fewer total points scored selects first. The Fantasy Bowl winner drafts last, even if they do not have the highest winning percentage. The Fantasy Bowl loser drafts next to last. If a playoff and non-playoff team end the season with the same winning percentage, the non-playoff team selects before the playoff team. Starting with 2008 draft picks, all rounds will be the same order (not serpentine like previous years). 7. Any player or future draft pick for the subsequent year may be traded during the off-season. Before trades are approved involving players or picks in the off-season or future picks in the regular season, both owners must pay their full entry fee for the future year to ensure that they will return for the upcoming season. This is to prevent owners from dealing away multiple future picks and then walking away from the franchise, making it nearly impossible to sell off to a new owner. 8. Starting lineups will consist of 10 players: 1 QB, 2-3 RB, 3-4 WR, 1-2 TE, 1 PK, 1 DF. Please note: The flex position can be a third RB, a fourth WR or a second TE. Section II - Scoring 1. The decimal scoring method will be combined (basic + performance) with points awarded as follows:
2. Points for kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns will only be awarded to the NFL Team, not individual players. 3. Overtime Games: Tie games will be broken by using reserve players. Tie games will be broken using the same performance point system used by the rest of the players in the starting lineup. Section III - Trading and Transactions 1. All transaction requests must be submitted via the web site to the commissioner's office no later than 11 p.m. EST on WEDNESDAY night. Free agents will be awarded to teams on a worst-to-first basis (record, total points, power ranking). These requests will be processed and posted to your respective teams immediately after transactions are processed. You can select up to TWO Free Agents to be processed on WEDNESDAY night. If adding a player or players will take you over the roster size limits for this league, you will also need to designate a player to be dropped for each player you are requesting to add. Leaving the dropped player field blank will cause the following to happen - the system will SKIP OVER anyone who would be in violation of the roster size restrictions by adding a player. You could be the first owner on the waiver priority list but you WILL NOT get your player if you fail to designate a drop at the same time. 2. The next two rounds of weekly transactions will take place on SATURDAY at 1 p.m. EST. Free agents will again be awarded to teams on a worst-to-first basis (record, total points, power ranking). Please note-- Players dropped on WEDNESDAY night ARE eligible to be added during the second transaction processing event on SATURDAY afternoon. 3. If a trade is made with an uneven combination of players (2 for 1, 3 for 2, etc.), the team receiving the extra player must immediately notify the commissioner's office regarding who will be dropped to keep the roster size at 18. While teams are permitted to start play with a roster size below 18, they are not allowed to go above that number. Failure to report a drop to the commissioner in this circumstance will result in the trade being voided. All trades must be approved and forwarded to the commissioner's office no later than Saturday evening at 9 p.m. EST in order to ensure that the players involved are available for Sunday's games. 4. Both teams need to give approval and list terms of the trade for it to be confirmed. This must be done through the league's web site. Once approved by the league commissioner, the trade will be official. Trade results will be posted on the web site for each league. As a trade is approved, the team(s) rosters will automatically be updated and a transaction record will be listed. 5. A player cannot be traded back to a team until four (4) games have passed. 6. The league has the ability to call for a trade veto within 48 hours of the trade becoming official during the regular season and 72 hours of the trade becoming official during the off-season. Making a case to call for a veto vote must consist of something more substantial than "I don't agree with the trade and I want to vote against it." The owner calling for the veto should post a rationale on the league message board and send out an email to the commissioner for consideration by the entire league. Once this occurs, the trade will be voted on by a 12-member panel of the GLFFL's Board of Directors, consisting of the owners who have the longest tenure and most representation in the GLFFL. This way, deals can be decided by individuals who are unbiased since they are not a part of the league in question. In the event that members of the Board of Directors are involved in the trade in question, they must abstain from the voting procedure. Trades will be vetoed if 60 percent (seven panelists) vote for a reversal within the 48-72 hour period. 7. During the off-season, you can make as many trades per month as you wish. They also have to be submitted via the web site by both parties to the league commissioner. Upon approval, they will be listed on the web site. 8. Owners are permitted to submit the names of starting players up until the respective player's game time. Once a game has begun, all players participating in that game are either locked in as a starter or as a bench player. Lineups should be submitted through the league's web site. 9. Owners are not permitted to trade transaction slots. 10. You will be responsible for fielding a complete team during bye weeks. No carryover points will be awarded for position players or NFL teams. 11. All owners will have the opportunity to place one (1) player on their Taxi Squad/Practice Squad DURING THE OFF-SEASON. These spots may be used for players that are injured or bench players that you would like to stash for the future. However, on Sept. 1st, all rosters must be cut down to 18 players without the use of the Taxi Squad position. The Taxi Squad will not be available during the regular season. 12. No trades will be permitted following the kickoff of Week Eleven's games. The Thursday after the 13th regular season game is the last week to make drop/add transactions, meaning rosters will be locked for the duration of the playoffs. Section IV - Playoffs and Payouts 1. In order to determine division championships and playoff seedings, the following tiebreaker system will be used:
2. Division statistics (2a,4a) are used to resolve division ties only. Playoff seedings WILL NOT consider these values. With playoff seedings, once the division winners have been seeded, all other teams will be seeded based on overall record, head-to-head and then total points scored. In the event of a tie involving three or more teams, head-to-head can only be used as the tiebreaker if one team has a definitive advantage over the others (i.e. Team A defeated both Team B and Team C, therefore they earn the higher seed based on head-to-head.) If no definitive advantage can be derived for any one team (teams split season series, some teams involved in the tie did not play), the tiebreaker will automatically be decided using total points scored. 3. Three (3) division champions and three (3) wild-card teams will qualify for the playoffs. The two division winners with the best records will receive a first round bye and the first and second seeds. The other division winner will be the third seed and the wild-card teams will be seeded fourth, fifth and sixth using the tiebreaking formula above. Division Winner (#1 seed) plays #4 and the #2 seed plays #3. Wild-card weekend will be held during week #14 of the NFL season. 4. The winners advance to the conference semi-finals. The lowest seed to advance plays the highest seeded division winner, with each successive seed taking on the lowest advancing seed. This action will take place on week #15 of the NFL season. 5. The winners will square off for the Cowboys Fans League Championship. This action will take place on week #16 of the NFL season. The champion will receive a check for $400 while the runner-up receives $200. GLFFL is not responsible for the taxes on the prizes of the winner. 6. The six (6) non-playoff teams are entered in a single-elimination consolation tournament that will run through NFL weeks 14, 15 and 16. The seeding will be determined using the formula listed above. The top two seeds will receive a bye during NFL week 14. Seed #3 will play #6 and #4 will play #5 during that week. The winners advance to play the two teams receiving byes during NFL week 15. The winner of the consolation tournament earns a compensatory draft pick in next May's Rookie and Free Agent Draft (the pick will be an extra pick at the end of the first round). Section V - Miscellaneous Items 1. Starting lineups will consist of 10 players: 1 QB, 2-3 RB, 3-4 WR, 1-2 TE, 1 PK, 1 DF. Please note: The flex position can be a third RB, a fourth WR or a second TE. 2. Rosters will consist of 18 players. The eight (8) reserves on your roster may consist of any number of quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, kickers, or NFL teams. It is your responsibility to maintain your roster at all times. If a team goes over the 18 spots (by free agent pickup or trade) the transaction or transactions will not be processed for that week. Teams in the Cowboy Fans Leagues keep their entire ENTIRE roster from season to season. The off-season officially begins after the conclusion of the league's Fantasy Bowl. When new players are added during the off-season via the draft or trades, owners WILL NOT be required to drop a player to stay at the 18-man roster limit. Rosters may be expanded to 22 players during the off-season. On Sept. 1 of each year, teams are required to make final roster cuts to 18 players. 3. The act of "throwing games" (losing on purpose by turning in a lineup filled of players that normally would not play) is not tolerated in the Great Lakes Fantasy Football Leagues. We will revert your starting lineup back to a typical lineup for games that are tried to be thrown and further action will also take place (i.e. possible removal from the league without refund). In every instance
where a team has found to intentionally lose a game by submitting a
bogus lineup, that owner will immediately be REMOVED from the league in
question. When other instances arise, teams will be REMOVED the moment
the indiscretions are discovered, whether they happened this year or in
a previous year. 4. ACTIVE OWNER CLAUSE - If the commissioner has not heard from you (by phone, e-mail or web evidence) or your authorized representative for 3 consecutive weeks (no transactions or lineup changes) you may be declared an inactive owner, banished from the league, and your team repurchased by the league on a pro-rata basis and resold or dissolved. It is unfair to the active owners to have a disinterested owner. This becomes especially critical as the season winds down and you find yourself "out" of the running. You may appoint a designated representative in writing to the commissioner anytime prior to a known absence. 5. Conduct that is deemed detrimental to the league or to the GLFFL will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, posts and or emails that are harassing in nature and serve no legitimate purpose other than to cause discord within the league or the GLFFL organization. There is a difference between expressing viewpoints or likes/dislikes of a league or format and personal attacks toward fellow owners, the commissioner or the Board of Directors. Failure to comply may result in IMMEDIATE EXPULSION WITHOUT REFUND. In addition, attempts to negatively impact the integrity of the league (i.e. threatening or outright refusal to submit lineups, partaking in bogus trades, etc.) will result in an immediate expulsion, without refund, from the GLFFL. 6. Each season, divisions will be realigned based on performance from the previous season. One division will feature the four teams with the lowest winning percentage through the regular season weeks, with total points being used as the tiebreaker. The second will feature the 5th through 8th lowest winning percentage through the regular season weeks, with total points being used as the tiebreaker. The third will feature the remaining four teams, including both the conference champion and runner-up. Section VI - Team History In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys became the NFL's first successful new team since the collapse of the All-America Football Conference 10 years earlier. Clint Murchison Jr. was the new team's majority owner and his first order of business was to hire Tex Schramm as general manager, Tom Landry as head coach and Gil Brandt as player personnel director. This trio was destined for almost unprecedented success in the pro football world but the "glory years" didn't come easily. Playing in the storied Cotton Bowl, the 1960 Cowboys had to settle for one tie in 12 games and Dallas didn't break even until its sixth season in 1965. But in 1966, the Cowboys began an NFL-record streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons. That streak included 18 years in the playoffs, 13 divisional championships, five trips to the Super Bowl and victories in Super Bowls VI and XII. Dallas won its first two divisional championships in 1966 and 1967 but lost to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL championship game each year. Similar playoff losses the next seasons were followed by a 16-13 last-second loss to Baltimore in Super Bowl V following the 1970 season. The Cowboys were typified as "a good team that couldn't win the big games." But they dispelled such thought for good the very next year with a 24-3 win over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI. The Cowboys were Super Bowl-bound three more times from 1975 to 1978. They lost to Pittsburgh in extremely competitive games in Super Bowls X and XIII but defeated the Denver Broncos 27-10 in Super Bowl XII. During their big years of the 1970s, the Cowboys were led by such future Pro Football Hall of Fame members as quarterback Roger Staubach, defensive tackles Bob Lilly and Randy White, defensive back Mel Renfro and running back Tony Dorsett. In 1967, Murchison announced that the Cowboys would build their own stadium in suburban Irving, Texas. A new Dallas pro football era began on October 24, 1971, when 65,024-seat Texas Stadium was opened. The Cowboys of the 1970s and early 1980s were known as "America's Team," an outfit that was just a step ahead of almost every other club when it came to image-enhancing promotions such as The Dallas Cowboys Newsweekly with a circulation of 100,000, sales of Cowboys souvenirs and apparel and the famous Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. The Cowboys suffered their first losing season in two decades in 1986 and fell all the way to 3-13 in 1988. H. R. "Bum" Bright, who had purchased the Cowboys from Murchison in 1984, sold the team to Jerry Jones in 1989. Jones named former University of Miami coach Jimmy Johnson to replace Landry, who finished his career with 270 victories, third most by any coach in history. Johnson's first team won only once in 16 games but some daring trades and shrewd selections in the annual NFL draft quickly returned the Cowboys to championship status in Super Bowl XXVII in the fourth season of the Jerry Jones regime. They followed with a second straight world title in Super Bowl XXVIII. In March 1994, college coach Barry Switzer replaced Johnson as the Cowboys third head coach. The winning continued under Switzer, as the "Team of the Nineties" won its third Super Bowl in four years with a 27-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX. In 1998, Chan Gailey replaced Switzer as the Cowboys' head coach followed two years later by Dave Campo. In 2003, Bill Parcells became only the sixth head coach in team history. After Parcells retired at the end of the 2006 season, Wade Phillips was named head coach in February 2007. © Copyright 2007 Great Lakes Fantasy Football Leagues. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.
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