I) THE LEAGUE

The New England Rotisserie Football League (N.E.R.F.L.) is composed of twelve teams. Each team will draft players from the National Football League and use the performances of those players each week to accumulate points. Points in head to head competition with other N.E.R.F.L. teams determine weekly winners. Won-loss-tie records determine playoff contenders over a fourteen game schedule. In the case of a tie, head to head competition, followed by conference records, decides winners. If a tie still exists, total offensive points scored followed by points given up will decide winners. The final three weeks of the NFL season will consist of the NERFL playoffs in a head to head single elimination format. Entry into the league is by invitation only, although members from previous seasons, who are in good standing with the league, will be extended automatic invitations until the entry fee deadline. By accepting an invitation into the league and paying the annual fee, members accept the responsibility for reading and understanding the rules and regulations of the league.

II) FEES AND PRIZES

A) The membership fee is one hundred ($100) dollars per team.

B) There are no transaction fees for trades or selection of free agents.

C) The Commissioner of the league does not keep any of the money collected for administrative costs.

D) Prizes are awarded as follows:

Winner of Regular Season $50

Conference Winners (Three) $100

PLAYOFFS:

First Place $475

Second Place $250

Third Place $125

III) THE COMMISSIONER

A) The Commissioner is the creator of the league.

B) The Commissioner operates the league. The Commissioner is responsible for collecting fees, distributing prize money, conducting the draft, interpreting rules, overseeing team transactions, and setting times for league business.

C) The Commissioner will rule on all disputes involving league owners. In cases involving the Commissioner, a neutral team owner will be called on to resolve the dispute. All rulings are final.

D) Neither the Commissioner, nor any other team owner, may waive or change any rule expressed in the official rulebook once the season has started.

IV) OWNERS

A) Owners of a team are responsible for having an active roster on file with the Commissioner.

B) Owners are responsible for making sure their active roster on the web site is updated prior to the start of the NFL player’s actual game. Once players are locked by the web site, they may not be changed.

C) Owners are responsible for making sure the web site correctly scores their weekly games. All disputes must be enacted before the next week’s games begin or the result will be considered final.

D) Owners are responsible for making sure they are present for the draft or they have a representative present for them.

E) Owners are responsible for adhering to the honor system. Owners who violate league rules will be terminated without recourse or refund.

V) THE DRAFT

A) Draft order will be decided from the previous season standings. Worst to First is the draft order.

B) All owners or a team representative must be present for the draft. Any team not present at the draft will select a team from NFL players who remain after the draft is completed.

C) The draft will be conducted under the following system:

1) Each team will have to abide by a universal point system when selecting players. Each team is allotted one hundred fifty (150) points to start the draft.

2) NFL players will start at one point and will increase as NERFL owners bid for the NFL players.

3) Any player may outbid another owner for an NFL player at anytime during the draft but once an NFL player has been assigned to a specific team, owners may not go after that player again.

4) When an owner purchases an NFL player, the cost of the NFL player is deducted from the salary cap. If an owner runs out of points before completing their roster, the owner is done for the draft. No other players can be added until free agency opens after week 1 of the NFL season. If a player is placed on IR, cut by a team, or retires, the owner of that player will be allowed to add a replacement from all available players post-draft at 25% of the value for the player they are dropping. If they so choose.

5) The draft continues until rosters are full or all owners have run out of available points.

6) Draft Order: All Rounds 1-12

VI) TEAMS

A) Each team consists of twelve NFL players and a defensive unit. Teams may never be over this number. Rosters may not be over the salary cap of one hundred fifty points. Owners will have points deducted from their weekly score for being over the salary cap at a rate of four points per point over the salary cap (ie: 162 points means 48 points will be deducted from the weekly score).

B) No team may have more than one defensive unit. During a bye week, owners may select another available defensive unit while their original defense remains “protected”.

C) Owners must update their team roster on the web site before the start of each NFL player’s scheduled NFL game.

D) At the end of the season, owners may choose to keep one player from their current roster for the following year. If an owner chooses to keep a player, they must submit their league fee by May 15^th and the name of the player to be kept by July 15^th. If a new owner buys into the league, they will be allowed to keep one player from the roster of the team they are buying. Owners do not have to protect any players if they do not want to do so. If a player is protected, their cap value will increase by 20% (drop the decimal point) of the value of the NFL player or by 5 points on the fantasy roster; whichever is greater. If a player is placed on IR, cut by a team, or retires prior to the NERFL draft, the owner of that player will be allowed to add a replacement from their old roster under the “keeper rules”.

E) Quarterback Rule. When a team selects a quarterback, he owns all the quarterbacks for that team. Therefore, any pass thrown by any of the quarterbacks on that team will count for the owner’s team. Any pass thrown by another position player will count for that particular player, not the team quarterbacks.

F) Pro-set Rule. 1 QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1K, and 1 defense.

G) Run and Shoot Rule. 1QB, 1RB, 4WR, 1TE, 1K, and 1 defense.

H) Two Tight Ends Rule. 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 2TE, 1K, and 1 defense.

I) Fun and Gun Rule. 1 QB, 1 RB, 5 WR, 1K, and 1 defense.

J) K-Gun Formation. 1QB, 1RB, 3WR, 2TE, 1K, and 1 defense.

K) Any team that uses an illegal roster during the season will receive a 20 point deduction for that weeks’ game.

VII) WAIVER SYSTEM

A) Any NFL player who isn’t drafted or is released by a team becomes a free agent.

B) Free agents may be acquired between 9:00am Tuesday and 8:00pm on Friday. The Waiver period ends each day at 8:00pm.

C) Dead Weight Cap Hit. When a player is dropped from a roster 25% of their value (drop the decimal point) is carried as cap value. Dead cap space will be halved each week (drop the decimal point). Dead cap space means you have that many points less then 150 to spend on any other player.

D) There is no Dead Weight Cap Hit for any NFL player placed on IR and lost for the season.

E) Waiver System. Teams will be given a waiver number from 1 to 12, 1 being the best and 12 being the worst. Original numbers are assigned after the first week of play. The team with the lowest point total will be assigned the first number and the team with the most points will be assigned the twelfth number. Owners can call or email the Commissioner and state which free agents they are interested in acquiring. Along with that request, owners will submit a maximum point bid for the player they want to select. The owner must state the name of the free agent, maximum amount they are willing to spend on the player, and the player being released from the roster. All information must be supplied or the bid will be considered invalid and all bids must be a numerical number. The owner with the lowest number (closest to one) would have first crack at the player but if an owner with a higher waiver priority number has a higher maximum bid for the player, that owner would jump over the owner with the lower waiver priority number and have to spend their maximum bid on the NFL player. The owner with the lowest waiver priority number (closest to one) will only be charged one point over the next highest bidder for the player if they supply the highest bid. If only one owner bids on an NFL player, the cost of the NFL player will be reduced one point. Once a player has been selected, the owner will move to the number twelve slot on the waiver priority list.

F) NERFL Owners may not pick up an NFL player they dropped within the same week. An NFL weekend must be completed between dropping and adding the same player.

G) The Free Agent Period ends the Friday night before Week 14.

H) Bereavement Rule. Any owner who has a death in the family will have the waiver selection period extended until Saturday at 5:00pm. The owner must call and email the Commissioner.

VIII) TRADES

A) Trades can happen at any time during the week but must be completed by 11:30pm on Thursday in order to have players considered active for the current week.

B) Trades will occur under the following system:

a) Owners contact the Commissioner. (48 hr grace period begins)

b) Commissioner will notify all owners in the league about the deal.

c) Owners have 48 hours to object to a trade, if an objection exists.

d) If fifty percent of remaining owners object, the trade is rejected.

e) If there are no objections, Commissioner will notify teams of an accepted trade.

C) The Trading Period ends the Wednesday night before Week 11.

D) Off Season Trading. After the off season league voting period has concluded until the May 7^th, owners may trade under the rules as they exist above except that owners will have 168 hours to object to a trade, if an objection exists.

IX) THURSDAY/FRIDAY/SATURDAY RULE

All owners must update their roster page on the web site at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the game. Owners may make trades and changes as long as the changes do not affect a player who played on Thursday/Friday/Saturday.

X) CONFERENCES

A) Metro DC Conference. Draft order: Teams 1-4.

B) Tri-State Conference. Draft order: Teams 5-8.

C) New England Conference. Draft order: Teams 8-12.

D) Teams will play all opponents at least once. Teams will play conference opponents twice during the season.

E) Teams can change conferences from year to year depending on draft order.

XI) LEAGUE RECORDS

SEE NERFL RECORDS TAB AT TOP OF THE PAGE AND CLICK ON IT!

XII) SCORING

A) ESPN League Manager scores all games.

B) All scoring must originate on a play from scrimmage. Exceptions to this rule are as follows:

a) Punts or Kick-offs. Only Touchdowns count for the specific player and the defense of the team that player plays on.

b) Special Teams. Special teams are considered a defensive unit. (Punts, kick offs, fake punt, on-side kick, etc.) Therefore, any points scored would count as positive defensive points as well as points allowed. Fourth down plays that utilize the kicking team, punt team or unit other than the regular offense is considered a special teams play. Exceptions to the rule are; a kicked field goal, point after and two point conversions do not count as positive defensive points scored.

c) Interceptions and Fumble returns. Interceptions or fumbles run back for touchdowns count as a defensive touchdown scored, but will not count as defensive points given up.

d) Safeties. Safeties will not count as points given up by a defense.

C) Scoring:

OFFENSE:

Touchdowns — 6 points

Passing — 1 point every 25 yards. No bonuses.

Rushing — 1 point every 10 yards. No bonuses.

Receiving — 1 point every 10 yards. No bonuses.

Catches — 1 point for every catch.

Extra Point — 1 point.

Field Goals — 3 Points up to 39 yards. 1 pt for each additional 10 yards.

2-Pt Conversion — 2 Points

Interceptions = (-2 points)

Lost Fumble = (-2 points)

DEFENSE:

Sack — 1 Point.

Turnovers — 2 Points

Touchdown — 6 Points

Safety — 2 Points

Blocked Kicks/punts – 2 points

Shutout — 10 points

2-6 Points Allowed — 7 points

7-13 Points Allowed — 4 points

14-20 Points Allowed — 1 point

21-27 Points Allowed — 0 points

28-34 Points Allowed – (-1 points)

35-45 Points Allowed – (-5 points)

Over 45 Points Allowed – (-10 points)

XIII) SCHEDULE

Regular Season Schedule:

The Regular Season schedule will be set prior to the beginning of the NERFL season. All conference teams will play each other twice while all non-conference teams will play each other at least once over a fourteen game regular season. The top eight teams as determined by conference winners and the tie breaking formula will compete in the NERFL Playoffs.

Playoffs:

1) Top team in each conference will be ranked one through three. Five remaining teams will be ranked four through eight for games played during week fifteen.

2) Teams will be ranked one through four for games played during week sixteen.

3) In week seventeen, the two winning teams in week sixteen will play for the championship.

4) In week seventeen, the two losing teams in week sixteen will play for third place.

Regular Season Tie Breaker Formula: Tie breakers are decided by Head to Head Competition, followed by division record, followed by points scored, followed by points allowed. All division tie breakers must be settled first. Once division tie breakers are settled, you break the other ties. Once a clear winner of the breaker is decided, you go back to the beginning and start over with the remaining teams, exactly the way the NFL does with their tie breakers:

Playoff Tie-Breakers: If a playoff game is tied, all of the offensive yardage will be added up and the team with more yards wins. If a tie still exists, the team with the longest field goal, followed by the defensive unit with the most sacks will decide games. If a tie still exists, regular season tie breakers will be used to break a tie.