It’s Time to Revisit Your Fantasy Football Rulebook

The vast majority of fantasy football Super Bowls were disrupted last year, after the halting and eventual cancelation of the Bengals vs Bills week 17 game. Leagues and commissioners were scrambling on how to deal with the situation because most of us didn’t have a rule in place.

Hopefully, your league has since addressed the scenario during the off-season and added and rule to deal with “canceled games”. If you haven’t, well…get on that! And while you’re at it, here are a few other rules many of you should make sure are included in your league’s bylaws:

1. Tie in the Playoffs
   As obvious as this one should be, it’s oftentimes a forgotten one. There are many different approaches to this: Coinflips, bench scoring, playoff seed, or utilizing regular season stats (eg Best Overall Record, Total Regular Season Points, etc). Make sure that you have something in place, and that the something isn’t a thing that can also result in another tie.

2. Draft order for next season
   If you are going to be basing it on this season’s outcome (eg Standings), then make sure that you have it decided and in the rulebook before the season starts.

3. League Scoring Oddities
   Check your scoring settings, and clearly denote in your rules less clear situations such as fumble recovery touchdowns, handling of fake punts/FGs that result in touchdowns, and how 2-point conversions are handled (Does the QB get any points). Most leagues will fall back on what their league management service does, but understanding and communicating these in the rulebook is wise.

4. Free Agent & Trade Deadlines
   It’s wise to lock out teams that aren’t in the playoffs from performing free-agent drops/pick-ups during the playoffs, otherwise, they can cause disruption
   Most leagues also have an established trade deadline, which can help prevent collusion if set early enough in the regular season.

5. Handling the Introduction of New Rules
   It’s best to run your league democratically and present all new rules and rule changes to be put up for league vote. Simply stating that “a >50% vote is required for to pass any new rule additions or changes” will do the job for your league.
   However, in Keeper/Dynasty Leagues, a more fair way to approach this is to require >50% votes to add new rules, but >70% to change existing rules.

6. Keeper/Dynasty Leagues: Decide Your Official Dates
   When does Free Agency officially open and close?
   When do keepers have to be declared?
   When does trading end and when can it resume?

7. Injured Reserve
   What kind of injury status is required to place a player on IR?
   What happens when a player’s injury status is upgraded, but your league management platform keeps the player in IR?
   How many IR slots does each team get?

8. When will your playoffs start?
   The NFL has been really annoying the last couple of seasons by loading tons of BYE weeks in week 14. Do you really want your fantasy playoffs to start when 6 NFL teams won’t be playing?

9. What happens if a game is canceled mid-play?
   Just in case you forgot to deal with this one, this is your final reminder.
   However, what if that game was simply halted, but played later that week or even later in the season? You better cover all of the bases in your rulebook.

10. Finally, a method to address any situation that is not included in your rulebook
    A situation is bound to arise, where a scenario isn’t directly covered in your league’s bylaws. Have a way to address these situations should they arise. One option is to simply state that “The Commissioner Decides”. Another option is to hold a league-wide vote. Or you can combine them, and state that it will go to a league-wide vote, with any tied voting scenarios to be decided by the Commissioner.