Godfather was originally started by two fantasy commissioners, Chris Kuszelyk and Brian Hatch which started Paragon Fantasy Football as an umbrella of what came to be 12 leagues. Starting in 2013, Chris took the lead and assumed full ownership and responsibility for Paragon Fantasy Football. After the 2019 season, Chris retired from running the leagues and different owners took up the mantle of keeping these great leagues alive. Dan James took the reigns over in 3 of the contract leagues.. Blue Chip, Contract Killers and Game of fantasy Football Thrones.
PFFL was started due to the frustration of participating in some leagues that were run poorly and run for profit by various entities. These groups took a significant portion of the prize pool money for themselves, held the money themselves and didn't offer as much value as we would have liked for the money we were spending. After running into our fair share of con men who took the money and ran, league managers with no sense of customer service etc, we wanted to take a level of control of our time consuming hobby and run our own sites where 100% of the money (after paying best-in-industry league hosting fees to MyFantasyLeague.com) was returned to players as winnings. Most importantly, we didn't want to hold the money ourselves and wanted it held in trust by Leaguesafe.com, the site that has been mentioned by the Wall Street Journal and was designed to hold the money for fantasy leagues in trust. In this spirit, GFFL is now run by longtime owner Dan but pays homage to Chris & Brian’s dream of a better GM experience, run the right way.

This is the collective set of leagues that are all being created with similar rules, administration and policies. Each league under this "umbrella" will have individual names and a unique set of teams and owners. This site will help to organize the rules and information.

The commissioners didn't do this to make money. We're players and wanted to play in leagues that we were sure would be around for years to come. Leagues that provided well-thought-out, balanced rules and most importantly, returned all the money to players.

So here are the details. Each league has a $70 fee subtracted annually from it for league fees. Due to the volume of leagues, Godfather now pays $50 to MFL in March for the year's software fee for the year. The remaining $20 goes into a pool that pays for the league specific site graphics (the initial banner graphic we have a graphic designer do once the league name is chosen, plus any shared Godfather graphics that are ever made, such as the NFL team logos, division banners, etc. used in many of our leagues), for the Godfatherfootball.com annual domain name registration fees, and for the yearly Weebly Pro account fees to allow us to keep the site updated.

This has always been labor of love for us because we love Fantasy Football and will remain that way.

We will be running 3 leagues in 2023.

The history of all of the leagues are, During 2009 we ran the following 2 leagues:

Annual Auction/Salary Cap League

Pigskin 16 team Dynasty Draft League

2010, we were able to incorporate 3 more leagues at Paragon Fantasy Football. A keeper league that had been established for two seasons and has agreed to terms to be incorporated under the PFFL banner with Chris as the commissioner. Having experienced the success of Auction leagues ourselves, Paragon Fantasy Football will introduce a number of Auction/Salary Cap/Contract leagues in our dynasty formats in 2010. Our two new leagues for 2010 were a 32 team Dynasty Draft league and a 16 team Dynasty Auction/Salary Cap contract league.

2011, we added 2 more leagues. Another 32 team Dynasty Draft league & a 16 team deep dynasty draft/auction hybrid league.

2012, we added another 32 team Dynasty league.

2013 we have added 3 new leagues.

2)16 team Salary Cap/Contract Auction Dynasty leagues, CONTRACT KILLERS a very similar format to our very popular LOEG league but for a $500 yearly fees, upping the stakes for high quality owners. And GAME OF FANTASY FOOTBALL THRONES, a clone of CK was made for a $250 fee.

32 team Salary Cap/Contract Auction Dynasty league. This league at it's core is similar to the 16 team salary cap dynasty leagues with specific tweaks to ensure it's viable for 32 teams. $250 yearly fees

16 team 2 QB Dynasty league. This league has incorporated many quality aspects of our other popular leagues but now Paragon can finally show case our own 2 QB league. We do this using a QB superflex position. $250 yearly fees.

In 2014, we created our deepest every league, a 32 team league with single players in the auction/cap/contract format. BLUE CHIP DYNASTY

Our intent is that our leagues represent a variety of flavors that Fantasy Football has to offer. All will be IDP leagues, allowing the challenge of drafting defensive players.

Other assistant commissioners in various leagues may help with some of the duties in the future, but to be clear, no one other than Dan will ever be be in control over the Leaguesafe account, where all of our money is stored. As always, stay tuned for mid February for full details. Sign up to our mailing list for advanced notice.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Leaguesafe.com. You should definitely visit their website and get familiar with them. Dan is not affiliated in any way with the site. Leaguesafe.com does have an affiliation with MyFantasyLeague. com, which is the premier fantasy league management hosting site on the internet. One of the league functions at MyFantasyLeague.com automates the funding aspect with Leaguesafe.com

Dan does not wish to be responsible for holding the money, nor do I trust any other individual person to hold it either. No offense to anyone who may have held other leagues monies, but we believe this to be the future of fantasy sports. Unfortunately, there are dishonorable people that form leagues and then walk away with the money. Losing the money you pay is definitely frustrating, but frankly, having the league disband after one season due to fraud is even more frustrating to the owner that invested dozens of hours drafting, trading and managing their team. By using a third-party website to hold the money, we remove the fear of fraud and can focus on what we love the most.....which is playing Fantasy Football.
Additionally, by using a third-party site, not only is it more trustworthy, but it removes administration costs. Leaguesafe.com sends out the reminders about payment, advises the league on status and at the end of the season it seamlessly handles the distribution of funds. We have not received any negative feedback to date from our players regarding the service provided by Leaguesafe and from our dealings with them personally, their attention to detail and the way they handle questions and queries is of a very high standard.

For simplicity, many of the rules will be set at a global level across the leagues including clarifications on rules. The reason for this is that over time, there will likely be many leagues operating, many with owners that cross leagues. It would be too confusing to have leagues that contradict one another.

The league commissioner may put out quick surveys to only one league to get feedback from players on clarifications of rules (not to change existing rules, mid-season, in order to try to set policies that align with what the players would want. These will likely be done with a "survey" within the league website on MyFantasyLeague.com, with clarifying rules published to all the leagues as a whole. Note this would only be for clarifications, not direct changes to a particular existing rule.

Each season the commissioners will use this information, along with their research of other fantasy leagues to decide on any possible rule changes for individual leagues or across GPFFL as a whole. Particular major rule changes that will change the fabric of a league will be put to a vote with a majority against the vote required to overturn the possible rule change. Minor rule changes can be implemented by the GFFL commissioners at their discretion each season.

Once a league has started, rules will typically be "grandfathered" if they are changed in future Godfather leagues at a global level. We may come back and put these rules to a vote in these older leagues, to bring them up to the current norm, but if the owners in that original league want to stay with the original rules in their entirety, the rules won't change.

Yes, since trading is half the fun of fantasy football. There are lots of strong opinions one way or the other on trading. Even among the people who set up this league!

However, the best compromise we came up with is this:

Trading will be automatically handled within the system upon approval of the trade by the relevant owners. This will occur without automatic league review or voting. However, ANY team (including the commissioner) can object to a trade by posting in the league message boards their objection within 48 hours of a trade. In that objection, they must state their case with valid reasons why they believe the trade should be reviewed and possibly overturned. This reason may be for whatever reason they wish but it must be articulated as per above. All teams have the right to post their thoughts on the trade in question, and to discuss the matter in a even-handed manner.

Once this objection is made, one MORE team will need to post a seconding motion to the objection within 24 hours.

Upon the second objection, the Commissioner will put a poll out for the league to vote on. A simple majority vote is required AGAINST at trade to get it reversed (including reversing all subsequent trades that may have been made with involved players).

However, similar to "challenges" in the real NFL, each team in each league only gets one challenge per season. If they win that challenge, they get another. But if they lose that challenge, they cannot make a primary objection to a trade again in that season.

Additionally, the league is strongly advised not to "flame", "insult" or use harsh language against any team. Every owners right to object must be respected since it is an important part of any league, in order to help prevent collusion or the threat of collusion.

If a team flames or insults anyone during the course of the trade objection/veto discussion, the Commissioner will issue a warning. If they do it again in the same season, they automatically forfeit the chance to win any prize winnings for that season. If they do it a third time, they will be banned from the league.
In reality, we expect very few challenges. For any challenges made to then result in an overturned trade, we believe will be extremely rare. This is from our experience in many leagues. It is important that people have the right to object to trades, as we've mentioned and we're serious about protecting that right and preventing any flaming.

Each team will have a $ 1,000 salary cap to spend on players. You will acquire your roster through proxy bids, which is an online auction system very similar to eBay on the MFL League Website. You set your maximum bid per player, and the system automatically raises the price to the lowest possible amount that will still win you the auction. Once the highest bidder holds the bid for 12 hours, the auction for that player is over.

Each owner will open the bidding by selecting 3 players to bid on. When the bidding for any of those 3 players is completed, the owner will nominate another player to continue the process. In other words, each team should have 3 players of their own choosing out for bid at any given time. This will ensure that at all times, there are 48 players (16-team league) available for bidding. In our 32-team auction league, 2 nominations are required.

The commissioner can, at his discretion, submit players to the auction if the number outstanding begins to fall. In those situations, he will try and put players out that, based on last year's fantasy stats are among the highest-scoring players that still remain free agents. The commissioner also reserves the right to adjust the nomination process, for the sake of regulating the auction tempo.

When a team has filled their roster, they are unable to submit any further nominations. When all teams have filled their rosters, the auction is complete. At the final stages of the auction, the Commissioner will likely ask that all remaining teams in the auction increase the number of players for bid so that the auction can be completed in a timely fashion.

Any remaining money, after the auction is finished, can be spent on free agent acquisition during the regular season.

Auction bids, trades, and free-agent acquisitions which exceed the cap will be refused either by the system or by the commissioner.

The system will reserve $1 for every roster spot, so while you are not required to fill your roster in the auction, you cannot spend your entire salary cap on fewer than 53 players (dynasty)/32 players (annual).

The drafts are "slow drafts", handled through the MyFantasyLeague.com league site and software, with email notifications of each pick and an online timer for each pick. Each team will have 4 hours to make their pick and the clock will be turned off between 1 am and 10 am EST (so that means 10 PM and 7 am on the US West Coast). Teams are still allowed to make draft choices while the clock is switched off, the 4 hour clock will only restart as per the hours specified. This will allow teams time to check in regularly over the course of the drafts if they want to draft "live" at the time of their pick, or alternately, they can use the software to create "draft lists" for each pick and the software will automatically pick for them. In reality, after the early rounds, it can be expected that at least half of the teams in the league will use this automatic software feature to make their selections, which will help to speed up the draft. Drafts may be over in as short as 5 days, or last 10, depending on how many teams utilize the automatic picking tools and/or log in frequently.

See each league's specific pages for the planned dates & times.

There are many different ways that leagues CAN draft, but we have chosen the slow draft because it allows an incredible amount of trading to be done WITHIN the draft, plus it allows teams that want some time to think about picks to do their research. We know some people have jobs/school that prevent them from checking the internet during the course of the day and for those people, we encourage you to set your draft lists before going about your business each day.

The exact draft dates will be set by the commissioner no later than June 1 of each season and while every attempt will be made to pick times that are convenient for all parties, realize that if no time can be found, it is at the discretion of the commissioner, utilizing the above time frames, to make the actual selection. Also, realize that the commissioner will be trying to pick start times that are staggered from other Godfather Leagues as well, so it isn't quite as easy as just checking everyone's vacation schedules.

We have the 4 hour draft clock for all players, shortened to 3 hrs from rounds 21-53. If your 4 hour time limit expires that team owner will be put on a warning. If there is a second instance during the draft where that team owner's 4 hour time limit expires, the commissioner will automatically put that team owner on auto-draft. Once the owner returns, he must notify the commissioner to remove the auto-draft feature. If the same owner times out again, he goes on auto-draft again……and once he returns he must notify the commissioner to remove the feature.

Some might suggest here that the auto-draft be left on for the remainder of the draft. In our opinion, this is not meant to be a putative measure to punish the owner. Everyone has emergencies etc and fantasy football can not take the highest priority. The point is just to keep the draft moving, not to punish.

If the draft timer expires, draft selections will be made in the following way: The system will automatically pick a player for the owner based on the highest-ranked available player on the owner's "My Draft List" player rankings, otherwise, skip the pick. Note that pre-draft picks always take first precedence, so if an owner has pre-draft picks for a round, they will be checked for a possible draft pick instead of relying on this setting.

So when the timer expires, the next team may make a selection, just as in the real NFL. When the team with a skipped pick is ready to draft, they should email a list of 2-3 "available" players currently on the draft board, to [email protected], and put the league AND team name in the subject line, along with "Skipped Pick" or provide the same information via a new message board post on the league site.

The commissioners, when they are FIRST AVAILABLE to do so, will make the manual selection for the team. Please note there are NO guarantees that the commissioners will be online or able to do so before other teams have picked. However, the commissioners are often online frequently, both day and night (since one commissioner is overseas), and so in all likelihood, the pick will be made in a relatively timely manner.

For our Dynasty leagues, you will pay the first year’s fees During seasons 1&2, 25% of the overall prize pool is held in escrow by Leaguesafe.com then in Season 3, all teams will be playing for a Double Prize Super Pool. This will strongly encourage all owners to stay for at least the first six seasons. This same process will then happen again over the next 3 seasons so that by Year 6, another Super Pool will be on offer.

These fees are to prevent an owner from coming in, not liking their draft or first year's results and just abandoning the league after trading their picks, perhaps halfway through. We want all owners to join the league with the plan that they will be managing their team for at least 6 years. After all, the attachment and fun of participating in a league grows with each passing year.

We understand that this policy might "price" a few owners out of the league. However, we have seen too many leagues damaged by owners that don't have the right outlook and commitment, despite their "promises", so realize that although finding a few extra dollars may be difficult, it is for the overall benefit of the league and all the owners that we have chosen this path.

Franchise access will be granted to the team owners once full invoice payment is received and cleared. Please note that if you pay by e-check, this payment will be deemed pending until cleared by the bank and Leaguesafe.

Yes, trading of draft picks for one season into the future are available for trading, meaning that during 2012 season, 2013 picks can be traded.

Any traded future picks require 100% payment for that future season, please note the following rules:

Trading will be allowed between teams that are paid in full for the current season.

You may trade a player you have placed on injured reserve.

Trades can involve players & draft picks with owners responsible for ensuring trades do not put their teams over the roster limits.

You may not trade in the off-season until you have paid for the upcoming year meaning that both teams must be paid up in full to complete a trade.

If you think you might want to trade away your draft picks, we strongly encourage you to deposit those fees with Leaguesafe.com before week 1. Deposits into Leaguesafe will be required during the course of the year due to traded picks.

Sometimes, you need to make a deposit before a DTS Activation trade & Leaguesafe won't allow a deposit, saying your account balance is NIL. In these cases, please advise the commissioners to update Leaguesafe which will allow further payment.

If you have to pay after Leaguesafe shuts down payments for the year, usually by late September, you will have to pay a $10 leaguesafe fee for a late payment. This goes directly to leaguesafe.com and is out of Godfather FF's control. This is another reason why we encourage you to deposit future fees if you plan to trade away future draft picks.

We understand that this is frustrating to a lot of people that don't want to deposit monies until AFTER a trade is agreed to, but none of us want to deal with nagging a team to pay or enforcing severe penalties, and this eases the administration significantly.

Remember, there is a great deal of fun you can have trading everything BUT your future draft picks, so if you don't have the money to deposit next years fees, it shouldn't significantly impact your enjoyment of the game.

If a team is abandoned mid-year, unless a replacement owner can be found, then in all likelihood, the Commissioner will set the roster using the best of his judgment each week. During any week where the Commissioner's own team is playing this abandoned team, any other team is welcome to propose a starting lineup and the Commissioner will honor that. If that team wins any prize money, then those winnings will be put into the FOLLOWING year's prize pool as extra winnings. Any team will be considered abandoned if:

1) There is an email to the league or Commissioner stating that the previous owner isn't able or willing to continue playing,

2) An owner does not log onto the league website for a period of 3 weeks without communicating to the Commissioner. Under no circumstances does an abandoned team's previous owner have any right to potential prize money during that season, or in subsequent seasons. If, during the course of the season, an owner has not sent in a lineup for two consecutive weeks without notifying the league commissioner beforehand, the commissioner will officially warn the owner in question via e-mail that further acts of non-participation will result in the owner being subject to removal from the league. If the owner in question does not respond to this e-mail or does not submit a lineup for a third consecutive week, the team will be considered abandoned and the owner will be removed from the league.

After the season concludes, the Commissioner will make every reasonable effort to find a new owner to take over the team. That new owner will pay the same fee of 100% of the league fee for the new season.

It is important to note that "friends" of current owners will not be allowed to take over teams without paying using the above system, as without a financial commitment of at least 1-2 years, the system is too prone for abuse in terms of trades that aren't unbalanced enough to result in overturning by the league, but leave the "paying" team stronger and the "free" team weaker in the end. Unfortunately, we've seen this method of collusion occur.

In the event that a player elects to leave the league, they shall forfeit any dues paid for:
1) The current fantasy season.
2) Future seasons if any of that team's picks for those given years have been traded away.
3) Any contributions of his dues that may have been reserved for a "super-pool" year, if that applies to that league type.

If a team had simply prepaid for future seasons, has not traded any picks away for any future seasons, and decides to leave the league, he shall be entitled to a refund of any prepaid future dues, which shall be payable along with any season winnings after week 17, and before the start of the new season, for the convenience of all teams. The exception to this rule is for either new start-up leagues or for new owners taking over subsidized orphaned teams, where 100% of the next year dues are required upon signing up. In these cases, if an owner decides to abandon their team after only 1 year, they will lose the 100% deposit they have for year 2.
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When one team is abandoned in-season or up until April 1:
a) The replacement owner will be allowed during their first week in the league the chance to pick up as many free agents as they like. This is a one-time ability. Contract leagues also have contract amnesty options ( See league rules)

c) All free agents will be acquired using the MFL league software during this week.

d) Roster limits will be enforced during these pickups so drops may need to be accompanied with free agent requests.

e) All replacement owners get this one time opportunity whenever they join whether it's in season or offseason.

f) Rookies cannot be selected prior to the rookie draft.

g) The new GM will also keep the drafting position held by the previous owner.

When more than one team is abandoned from Week 16 through April 1:

An important Godfather Fantasy Football initiative to ensure quality owners, league strength & continuity through tough scenarios as above has been to utilize a Replacement Owners Draft

Replacement owners will participate in the Replacement Owners Draft (ROD). Including if a team was previously picked up by a new owner under the assumption there would not be a Replacement Owners draft, and remade their team through free agency and/or have traded picks/players.

i) Only if EVERY replacement owner agrees, the replacement owners draft will be canceled with all teams keeping their players and draft picks.

j) When the replacement owners draft begins, all participating owners will relinquish all players and draft picks to the free agency pool. (For ease of moving the contracts, the players remain on the teams until the end of the ROD and the commissioner trades the selected assets to the appropriate team)
k) A Snake draft will be held using the message board, with draft positions determined randomly.
All rookie picks from each orphaned team will only be available for individual selection during the ROD, a team can select as many of the picks as they wish during the draft.
By choosing rookie draft picks early, owners are forgoing a chance at drafting a better veteran player. Therefore it allows all new owners to apply differing strategies based on how they value the available players/rookie picks and how they want to build their team. The amount of rounds for your ROD will depend which league you are in and the current maximum roster limit in place. . This information will be clearly detailed when the commissioner creates the Message Board post for the ROD.

l) Replacement owner draft picks cannot be traded. Any current/future draft picks cannot be traded until after the replacement owner draft is complete. Compensatory picks, if applicable, still can only be traded in line with league rules.

m) The draft will start at the later of 1 week after NFL free agency has commenced, or when last abandoned team is taken (with full payment of dues), whichever is later.

n) Please note that if necessary the scheduled annual rookie draft will be delayed until this ROD process is complete in order to ensure that all teams have active owners participating in the rookie draft.

o) In our Auction Dynasty Salary Cap/Contract leagues, a Replacement Owners Draft is utilized unless a new owner comes in for First Come First Serve. FCFS allows a new owner to get in right away and select thier franchise amongst the available teams at an extra fee in addition to the regular season fee ($75 for Blue Chip & Game of Thrones) ($125 for Contract Killers) & ($100 for QB2). This fee is kept in Leaguesafe to be available to use at a future date if the commissioner feels it necessary to discount a less attractive franchise in order to fill the league.  

p) The regular ROD will occur when FCFS is not utilized and when multiple teams are abandoned. New owners will be randomly assigned a team draft position. The owner that draws the first slot, they get the first choice of the available teams, the owner in the second slot get the second choice of available teams and so on until all teams are assigned. When a replacement owner takes over an orphaned team, they will have the ability to apply a contract amnesty from three available options. Please refer to the individual league rules for complete details.

q) ​Retired players, whose rights are held by an orphaned team, either by being on their roster or by previous retention claim can be acquired during a Replacement Owners Draft (ROD) by all teams participating in the ROD

The question might arise as to why have the Replacement Owners Draft. The key reason is that we feel this will be an important way to attract new owners if/when multiple franchises have been abandoned. If for example we are trying to find 4 new owners and one of the abandoned franchises has a few stud/elite players, instead of the first owner that comes along snapping up that team, it will encourage all new owners to join as they will all have a shot at the stud players.

Please note that trading will not be allowed with any team that does not have a valid, active owner. However, the commissioner, listening to advice from other owners, will execute draft and/or keeper choices on behalf of the team if there is no valid owner during any draft or keeper declaration event.

Any funds lost through the rules in this section become property of the league as a whole, and are retained in the prize pool. For leagues that have a 5 year superpool, these extra dollars will become part of the next superfund prize pool that will be paid out. For leagues without a superpool, it will be paid out at the end of that season when prizes are then calculated.

Once Leaguesafe.com creates their NFL season template, the Commissioner will create each league on their website and send a notice for payment to each team owner.

Upon indicating that you wish to join the league, the Commissioner will have Leaguesafe.com send a notice for payment invoice to that party. That new owner will have 48 hours to make payment on the team. If not, then a new owner, if available, will be found and the previous interested owner will be dropped from the league without notice. This is to prevent the league from potentially reserving a spot for an owner who doesn't make payment until after the league starts.

In subsequent years, confirmation & payment of returning for the upcoming season is required by March 1. If an owner doesn't confirm their return by then, the Commissioner will begin the process of finding a new owner. If a new owner is found, then that team will be considered abandoned and if any partial league fees had been paid, they will be forfeited and deposited into the prize pool for the super pool year.

In all events, league fees will be required at the earliest possible time that Leaguesafe.com says they can accept fees, in order to allow the maximum time for the Commissioner to find new owners for any non-returning teams.

Please note, that trading abilities will not be restored for any franchise, after the week 16 league championship game, until that franchise has fully paid next years entry fees.

We will attempt to find a new owner who will pay their fees and fill your spot (you are welcome to help with this!). If we can find a new owner and collect the fees before the draft, so that the league is filled, then we will have Leaguesafe.com refund your money.

Please see league specific page to see if any details are provided, otherwise, view the standard payouts below:

To return the most money to the winning teams, along with ensuring there is a reward for making the playoffs, the following prize pools will be utilized:

16-Team Dynasty Leagues prize money pays out for top 6 teams:
1st - 50% of prize pool
2nd - 25% of prize pool
3rd - 10% of prize pool
4th - 7% of prize pool
5th - 5% of prize pool
6th - 3% of prize pool

In these leagues, playoffs for 3rd and 5th place will not be played. The highest seed based on regular season standings from the two losing teams in Week 14 & 15 of the playoffs will receive the highest prize. For example, if in Week 15 the two losing teams finished 1st and 5th during the regular season, instead of there being a 3rd place playoff, 3rd place is awarded to 1st, 4th place is awarded to 5th. As per the below Q&A (How is re-draft order/division realignment determined in subsequent years?), draft slot/division realignment for the upcoming season is based on Potential Points (Non Playoff Teams), regular season finish (Playoff teams) except for winner and loser of league SuperBowl.

Playoff format determines the finishing position in the Annual Auction Salary Cap League. A detailed explanation of the playoff system and playoff tree for this league is available here.

Once the league is completely formed and all teams have made their payments, the Commissioner will utilize a third-party tool (likely this one at https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/draft-order-generator.php) to randomly set the draft order. He will enter the emails and team names for the entire league, and then all at once, everyone in the league will be notified of the results. No one will know the results first. At that point, once the commissioner enters these details into the league website, trading will commence for draft picks, so if you are particularly unhappy with your randomly assigned draft order, you can likely trade out of it. All other league specific details regarding draft order are available on the league bylaws & league website page. This handy tool is also used for randomly determining assignment of orphaned teams in contract cap leagues where a replacement owners draft is not possible.

3RR stands for 3rd Round Reversal, which allows the bottom of the draft order to begin Round 3 after also starting Round 2. It's one way to balance the talent in a larger league. In fact, it balances the league so much that it has been adopted by many, if not most, of the high-stakes fantasy leagues in the industry. The basic idea is that in a traditional format, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams had a distinctly higher chance of winning a championship. But by using 3RR, it takes away a lot of this advantage by making these three spots slightly less valuable. For example, in a 14-team redraft league, the draft would go: Round 1: 1-14 Round 2: 14-1 Round 3: 14-1 Round 4: 1-14 Round 5: 14-1 Round 6: 1-14 Round 7: 14-1, etc. Please note that although 3RR is used for all first year's drafts. Subsequent redraft and rookie drafts follow the regular 1-16, 1-16, etc. format, in order to give the maximum advantage to the teams that, based on their record, need the most help from the draft.

For teams that qualify for the playoffs, the draft order will be determined first by the win-loss records in the regular season. If a team ties in record, then total points scored will be used as the tiebreak. Further tie breaking methods will be detailed on the league website.

The exception to this is that the League Champion will always have the last draft spot, and the loser of the championship game (Superbowl) will have the second to last spot.

Note this is slightly different than many other leagues, but in this case we have decided to mirror the NFL.

For all non-playoff teams at year end, the determination of draft order will be sorted according to "potential points" which is the total points that would have been scored if a team set the optimal lineup each week from week 1 through the last game of the regular fantasy season for that particular league. The lowest total Potential Points (PP), will be awarded the first draft position, and so one, through all of the non-playoff teams.

In all ways, scoring will follow the published league rules and will utilize the official stats that MyFantasyLeague.com utilizes. If you have a problem with their scoring, you are welcome to write to them. However, in all cases, their final scoring of teams and the league will stand as final. Please note that MyFantasyLeague.com offers live scoring, but will adjust final scores based on weekly stat changes by the following Thursday. Paragon Fantasy Football has chosen not to utilize the late weekly stat changes.

The site is the official place to set your lineups and make transactions. You can set your lineups several weeks in advance, and owners are encouraged to utilize that feature especially if they know they will be absent for forthcoming weeks.

In the case of an emergency or an owner being unable to make changes, that team can attempt to email (d[email protected])the Commissioner directly with a required change, ensuring that the email is time/date stamped prior to roster deadline. However, if the Commissioner is unable to receive it in time, or act upon it (be aware of time zones), or is otherwise unable to make the change, then the owner has no other recourse.

Please note that the Commissioner is not obligated to make changes, but rather will often try to help out an owner that is otherwise unable to make the changes themselves. In all cases, these should be vary rare.

It is always recommended as a best practice that a team set their rosters for the following week on Tuesday mornings. You can then log in later in the week to make changes, if required. However, if you get busy, sick/injured, or have technical difficulties, you will still have a valid, reasonably good lineup in place.

The first rule is, to be careful with each keystroke and think before doing anything like accepting a trade, dropping a player, etc.

The second is, if a mistake does occur, immediately post on the league message board a new topic and state that an error occurred, how it occurred, and why, if necessary. In all events, it should occur within 10-30 minutes, although the Commissioner may, at his sole judgment, reverse blatantly obvious mistakes (dropping Adrian Peterson MIN, for example), no matter the time lag.

Please note that regret on a trade, not realizing an injury has occurred, etc. are NOT grounds for reversal. If more than 3 errors are made by a team during the course of any season, no more reversals will be made. Be cautious!

Owners are responsible for verifying the scores and the legality of line-ups of both their own team and their competition. Fortunately, our league software is very good and it is highly unlikely that a team can set invalid lineups.

Trades offered on the website are considered valid offers until they are revoked or rejected. Owners are responsible for removing offers they have made that they are no longer interested in executing. Due to the risk of a player being injured in a trade, it is strongly recommended that you not leave any trade offers open longer than 72 hours and never over a game time where one of the players can get injured. Trades must be consummated on the website to be official. However, although not officially binding, please realize that the practice of offering a specific trade via email, which is immediately accepted by email by the other party and subsequently not honored is not ethical or sportsmanlike. In other words, do not offer a trade via email if you don't do it. Many owners will in fact not want to do email negotiations for this very reason and will insist you use the league software to make offers.

Trade Vetoes

Each team, including the Commissioner (under his team name), is allocated 1 veto per season (starting April 1 each year) to dispute a trade. This veto right is NOT transferable to another owner or from year to year.
Veto Submission Process:
1) Within 24 hours of the trade in dispute, a team must second the veto. The commissioner will start a poll to the league by clicking in the MFL header Social > League Polls > Create/Edit League Polls. Poll details will include only the below information:
    - Poll Question:  "Should The Trade Between Team X And Team Y Be Overturned?". "Team X" and "Team Y" are replaced with actual team names.
    - Answer #1: "Overturn Trade."
    - Answer #2: "Leave Trade As-Is. Don't Overturn."
2) Vetoing team owner starts a message board post with details of the veto. Details include specifics of the trade, the rationale for the veto and confirmation that poll is posted.  The veto isn't considered live until the poll is live. If message board post isn't posted or posted after the 24 hour period, the veto is nullified. If the veto is retributory in nature, the veto is nullified and the owner loses veto rights the following year.
3) Teams involved in the trade in question have the option, but not requirement, to respond to the message board post.
4) If the conclusion of the poll occurs after the start of the fantasy week with players that would impact a starting lineup, teams that made the trade have the option of posting backup starters in case the trade is overturned. Teams can also do the same with subsequent trades prior to the conclusion of the poll. If a trade is made right before a game begins and owners suspect a veto to the trade will occur, team owners can send replacement players to the Commish prior to the start of games. These players will then be added to the message board post once the message board post is live.
In order to overturn the trade, we need a majority of the league to vote in favor of overturning the trade (17 team owners in our 32 team league/ 9 owners in our 16 team leagues). This puts the onus on the team submitting the veto to convince the rest of the league to not only vote, but to also vote to overturn the trade.
As part of this process, the league is strongly advised not to "flame", "insult" or use harsh language against any team. Every owners right to object must be respected since it is an important part of any league, in order to help prevent collusion or the threat of collusion.
If a team flames or insults anyone during the course of the trade objection/veto discussion, the Commissioner will issue a warning. If they do it again in the same season, they automatically forfeit the chance to win any prize winnings for that season. If they do it a third time, they will be banned from the league.
If League Majority Votes To Overturn Trade:
1) If the trade is overturned via veto, all players and picks that were part of the trade will be returned to the original teams. Subsequent trades by teams in question prior to the conclusion of the respective veto poll will also be reversed. Impacted teams will not be able to complete the same trade or an objectively similar trade. Teams can, however, complete a significantly different trade.
2) The team that used their veto to object to the trade will be reimbursed 1 additional veto for that league year.
3) If the conclusion of a veto occurred after the start of a team's fantasy week begins, and traded players were in a lineup, the Commissioner will manually remove points tied to that traded player's results. If traded teams posted replacement players in the veto message board post, those replacement player results will be added in replacement of the traded player's scores.

1. When a player retires, by publicly declaring that they are retired, a team may make a public post to the league for official records saying that they are dropping but retain his rights (and providing proof), and then drop the player.
2. 
   Career-Ending Injury - If a player suffers an injury and is then either placed on IR and/or released from the team subsequently and the player OR NFL team indicates that this is a Career-Ending Injury (or equivalent meaning words) such that the commissioner(s) reasonably believe(s) that the player is unlikely to ever play a single down again, then that player may be cut without salary cap penalty & rights to that player are retained for that player returns to the NFL.
3. 
   Death - If a player dies, they can be dropped as per the retirement rules below.
4. 
   A few points of note:

• Each league year, a thread shall be created called Retirements. Only posts put in this space shall be considered valid. Please do not create a new thread every time a player retires.
• In double-player leagues, "ditto" or "me too" are invalid responses and will void a claim to a player. Post as if you are the first one to do so.
• In order for a claim to be valid, it must follow a specific format. Deviate from this, and your claim is open for dismissal by the commissioners 1) It must state "Team X drops retired player Y and retains his rights.". 2) It must also have a cut and paste article from a major news site saying unequivocally that a player has retired. 3) It must have a valid URL link to that original story so the league can verify it.
• The player must be on your roster when he has retired to be eligible for you to drop and retain his rights. This is to prevent teams from adding retired players then dropping and retaining rights. That is not the intent of this rule, and creates unnecessary transactions.
• When a player retires, by publicly declaring that they are retired (note, they do not have to file paperwork with NFL), just publicly indicate that they are retiring or their career is ended by injury as detailed above, the team may drop that player and still retain his rights should they later return to the NFL.
• In a salary cap league, the rights to the player are retained only for the length of the current contract.
• Retired players, whose rights are held by an orphaned team, either by being on their roster or by previous retention claim can be acquired during a Replacement Owners Draft (ROD) by all teams participating in the ROD

That player return to the NFL, the Paragon team must wait until they are acquired/activated/signed by an NFL team. At which point they should post that article & link, and say they wish to retain the rights. They should also post the MB link to the earlier claim. The commissioners will immediately add the player back to your roster. They must do so within 72 hours of them signing with the new team. If they do not do that, they lose this right.

Therefore, be careful about making a waivers claim for a player that has recently unretired. First check to make sure no other team has a valid claim on them.

Yes, Divisions are used for all leagues. In a number of our Dynasty Leagues where specified, division realignment occurs each season on a promotion and relegation basis to assist in league parity. Each new season, divisions are realigned based on last year's standings using the same rules applied to determine rookie draft order as described above. Playoff teams will be based on the previous years finishing position in the league standings with the exception of the winner and loser of the league championship, they will be determined at the no.1 and 2 teams. Nonplayoff teams will be determined by Potential Points. The top 4 teams end up in Division 1, teams 5-8 in Division 2, teams 9-12 in Division 3, teams 13-16 in Division 4. Season 1 division alignment based on draft position.

Having division winners that are automatically awarded playoff spots generally rewards mediocrity. The best 6 teams, based on their regular season standings should qualify for the playoffs and that's how this system works. One of the problems we believe with fantasy football is that certain things which have been done in the NFL for many years have been automatically transplanted into fantasy football for no valid reason except that it's always been like that. We've seen too many fantasy football leagues where a 6-8 team makes the playoffs essentially because he only has to compete against the other 3 teams in a weak division for the entire regular season. We have seen the same thing in the NFL year after year as well, teams with a .500 record making the playoffs and teams with 10 or 11 wins not qualifying. That system is broken and we are to fixing it.

The division realignment might initially seem complex because it's different to what happens in most American sports. Promotion and relegation division systems have been working for many years all over the world, especially in European soccer leagues. The key to this concept is that the new divisions are based on how the teams ranked last year, therefore we have produced a weighted schedule essentially, like the NFL where a 1st place team gets a 1st placed schedule. The division alignment each season ensures another level of parity.

Over a 13 Week regular season, you play all 3 teams in your division twice and 7 teams outside your division once. Since the best 4 teams end up in Division 1, they will play 6 of their games against the best teams from the previous season. The division alignment gives each franchise something additional to strive for. Getting into the top division and staying there would be quite an achievement. Additionally, it gives a slight "punishment" to these teams that they have to be exceptionally great to get the best seeding for the playoffs and makes it slightly easier for the teams that did worse in the prior year to make the playoffs.
In all, anything that helps to create another level of "parity" is important in dynasty leagues which is why we have structured the use of divisions in this manner.

Depending on league-defined roster limits, owners may designate rookie players from their team to the Dynasty Taxi Squad (DTS) for development purposes, replacing any openings on the DTS with rookies they acquire in future years. Players on the DTS will be in addition to the active roster players.

Players may only be placed on the DTS if they were either initially drafted in the rookie/veteran draft/auctions, or were selected in the supplemental draft and maintain DTS eligibility. The closure of the DTS will always be detailed on the MFL League Calendar. Once this date has passed, no more demotions to the DTS will be allowed until the following year's drafts begin. If the time on the DTS has expired, any players who based on this rule are no longer eligible for the DTS must be placed on the team's active roster or waived. Team owners have until 1st March to do this.

Only a rookie in his rookie year can be placed on your DTS, not a 2nd-year player who was never on any other roster previously. Traded players may be placed on the DTS if they were on the other teams DTS when the trade took place. Players on the DTS are not eligible to start a game until they are moved onto the active roster. Once a player is activated from the DTS to the active roster, he is ineligible to return to the DTS. This includes if the player is traded to another franchise or waived and subsequently picked up by another team owner.

If an invalid player is placed on the DTS, the following process will be followed:
1) Upon infraction, the commissioner will move the invalid player back to the active roster.
2) If the maximum active roster limit is exceeded, the owner has 24 hours to make a cut of their choice and bring their roster back to the legal active roster limit.
3) If no cut is made, the invalid player will be dropped by commissioner.

If league rules allow, Team owners have the ability to activate DTS players from other franchises in the league to their own active roster.

The team owner activating/signing DTS players from opposing franchises will pay the price of 2 draft picks to the franchise losing the DTS Player; 1 draft pick from the same round the player was drafted, 1 draft pick from the round higher than the player was drafted.

Example: The price for a DTS player drafted in the second round will be a 1st & 2nd round draft pick. A team that is claiming the DTS player may give up earlier round draft picks than what is technically required if they do not have the exact round of draft picks available.

Example: A 7th and 8th round is required but the team doesn't have a 7th round, so it gives a 6rd and 8th round instead.

The team owner activating/signing a 1st round DTS player from opposing franchises will pay the price of 2 x 1st round draft picks to the franchise losing the DTS Player.

The price for DTS players selected in the Veteran/Supplementary Draft will as if the player had been drafted in the last round of the rookie draft (example: 7th and 8th pick). Only the next draft's set of picks may be used for activating/signing DTS players from opposing franchises (not two drafts out, for example). Activating DTS players from opposing franchises may only occur after the Dynasty Taxi Squad is closed each year and before the start of the next year's Rookie Draft. DTS activation is also closed during the trade window closures.

To activate DTS players from opposing franchises, the team owner must create a new message board post to the league declaring the transaction, listing the teams/player & draft position/draft picks involved, so all owners are notified. Please note that if a team owns multiple picks in the same round, they need to specify which one they are surrendering (their choice) in the message board thread. If a team that is "purchasing" the new player owns multiple picks in the appropriate rounds, that team should specify which of these picks they wish to trade away.

The Commissioner will execute the transaction as a trade if the picks are valid, if all league fees for the pick years are fully paid and if all roster requirements are met. The DTS activation trade will be declared null and void if all of the conditions above are not met.

Any rookie player acquired by a team must be demoted within 72 hours of that acquisition, or that player is no longer eligible for demotion. The exception to this is the rookie draft/auction, during which demotions are not required until 24 hours after the conclusion of the entire draft/auction. Furthermore, if any player is utilized in an actual lineup for a game (scoring 0+ points), that player is no longer eligible for demotion to the DTS.

For all position, rookie & IR designations, the information produced by Myfantasyleague.com for their league websites is the final determining factor. This includes players on an NFL team's Non-Football injury list; and players that have been suspended by the NFL.

On occasions, a player placed on IR by one NFL franchise is waived and free to sign and play for another team. NFL IR rules also allow for a player to be activated from IR mid-season. When MFL updates their IR designations to reflect these situations, The player cannot remain on IR. To align with what is happening in the NFL, the fantasy team owner must either activate the player or cut the player since he no longer has an IR designation. This scenario has a significant impact in our contract/cap leagues and should always be taken into consideration when managing your roster. The ramifications of not doing so once our trade deadlines are imposed can be catastrophic to your season.

If you want to draft a player that is not on the MFL database list (likely an undrafted free agent acquisition by an NFL team), you should follow the following process: Firstly and most importantly, check and double-check that the player you wish to select is not in the MFL database. Once this is confirmed, pick a place-holder player that has very little chance of getting picked by anyone. Often there are still a number of retired or deceased players in the database so use one of those as your place-holder. Then, when you pick that player in a draft, you can specify in the "comments" section the following for example: "For Pick 5.12, Phoenix Cardinals has selected Gaines Adams as a place-holder for John Doe, RB, Atlanta Falcons." Lastly, for official record keeping, please post that info in a new message board thread for Selecting Unlisted Players. Then, the commissioners will create the custom player on the MFL league site, add them to your team, and drop the placeholder you drafted. If you see this happening through notifications, that is likely what has just happened, so don't be alarmed. As time goes by, MFL will create these players and the mock player will be removed.

Please also note that if you are willing to take advantage of this facility being offered to you, there is also a level of obligation on your behalf to keep and eye on when MFL add the player to their database. It is next to impossible for the commissioner to note every custom-created player in every league but it is exponentially easier for the individual owner to keep an eye on their own custom-created players and when they are added to the MFL database. When this happens, you should notify the commissioner so he can put the correct copy on your roster and remove the custom player.

The process is essentially the same when selecting an unlisted player via Waivers or FCFS. Select the place-holder player during the waiver period and use a new message board post created for Selecting Unlisted Players for official records once the waivers have been processed. The responsibility is on the team owner to be 100% sure that the player is not listed in the MFL database. Often during the NFL preseason, MFL will be adding new players to the database daily often based on the previous week's game action. If your selecting a place-holder via waivers, double-check before the waiver period is processed if the player has been added to the official database. If the scenario came up where one team selected a newly added player from the database, and another team selected a place-holder to choose the same newly added player, the commissioner will rule in favour of the team that correctly selected the player from the MFL database.

Like the real NFL, the highest seed always gets the lowest seeded opponent.

The tie-breakers across all our leagues are quite simple and are the same for waiver wire order, regular season standings & playoff births. This is also detailed on the league website in the league by-laws.
#1: Overall Winning Percentage
#2: Total Points Scored
#3: Head-To-Head Record (only splits a tie between 2 teams, will be skipped if 3 or more teams)
#4: Divisional Winning Percentage
#5: Power Rank

Regular Season Game Tie Breakers - Tie games will be scored as ties.

Playoff Game Tie Breakers - Unlike the regular season the playoff games cannot end in a tie. If a Playoff games does end in a tie, the following tie breakers will be used to declare the winner:
#1: Most Total Yards (Rushing + Passing + Receiving)
#2: Most Total Touchdowns (Rushing + Passing + Receiving +IDP’s TD’s)
#3: Longest Touchdown
#4: Most Field Goals
#5: Longest Field Goal
#6: Most Safeties
#7: Highest Seeded Team

Superbowl Tie Breakers - Tie games will be decided by the Tie Breakers used for Playoff Games. If game is still tied, the game will be awarded to the highest seeded team.
Non Playoff team final standings - For the determination of draft order, all non-playoff teams at year end, will be sorted according to "potential points" which is the total points that would have been scored if a team set the optimal lineup each week. The lowest total Potential Points (PP), will be awarded the first draft position, and so one, through all of the non-playoff teams. The above listed tie breakers would be utilsed if 2 or more teams finished with equal potential points.

For our draft leagues, prior to the start of the first NFL week 1 game, free agent acquisitions can be made every 2 weeks via the waiver request periods as defined in the league calendar.

Commencing Week 1 of the NFL regular season and ending at the commencement of Week 16 games, there will be 3 waiver periods each week as defined in the league calendar. The 1st waiver period starts from the kickoff of the first Sunday games and will end on Wednesday. The 2nd waiver period starts on Wednesday and will end on Saturday. The 3rd period will be on a First Come First Served (FCFS) basis. This will run from Saturday until the 1pm kickoff of Sunday games. Please refer to the league calendar for full details.

For the auction leagues, prior to the start of the first NFL week 1 game, free agent acquisitions can be made via blind bidding waiver periods as defined in the league calendar. (every 2 weeks).

Commencing Week 1 of the NFL regular season and ending at the commencement of Week 16 games, there will be 2 blind bidding waiver periods each week as defined in the league calendar. The 1st period starts from the kickoff of 1pm Sunday games and will end on Wednesday. The 2nd period starts on Wednesday and will end on Saturday. Please refer to the league calendar for full details.

In all leagues, from the commencement of Week 16 games, there will be no free agent pick-ups until the next designated period as defined in the league rules.

In keeper/dynasty leagues, teams should always be trying to upgrade their rosters.

In an Annual league, once your team has been eliminated and is no longer in the running, you should stop making any transactions out of respect for the teams still playing. Once the playoffs have started, add/drop player functions will be removed from teams who are no longer playing.

For simplicity and ease of understanding, ALL leagues (with the exception of Hell's Kitchen) will have the same scoring system.
You will notice that this scoring system balances IDP and IOP players more than most leagues. In terms of tackles and big play IDP scoring, it is relatively balanced while having PPR scoring though lighter than some leagues. QB's are balanced so they don't completely dominate scoring like in some leagues but are still very important. Return yardage is also rewarded somewhat.

It won't be tolerated & is strictly prohibited! You are expected to make every reasonable effort to set your best roster possible every week of competition, even if you are out of the running for prizes. The Commissioner and other owners will monitor this. This includes an owner failing to submit a quality lineup, either intentionally or through indifference, or blatantly changing their roster to tank a game. It is understandable and expected that owners will play hunches on who to play and won’t always start the players who score the most points. On the other hand, employing tactics such as benching “must-start” players with no injury concerns for more questionable choices, starting players who have been hurt, suspended or benched for weeks, or starting players who are on their bye weeks is unfair to the rest of the league and will draw a warning from the Commissioner. If the behavior persists, the commissioner may take more serious action to resolve the situation in accordance with the selected penalties listed below, up to and including expulsion from the league. That owner loses control of their team and forfeits any partial league fees they may have paid. Please note that hopefully, this will never occur.

1) Making trades that result in worsening your team in order to stock another team that plays a rival you want/need to lose

2) Trading- If you don't intend to come back. If you don't plan on returning next year, the commissioner may revoke your trade rights once you are eliminated from the current season playoff race to preserve the integrity of the franchise.  Please just set your roster as best you can, and do not drop/trade any players. Let the new owner next year pick their keepers (if appropriate) and make their own trades.
3) Collusion - Any collusion between teams, including trading to consolidate better players on one team and/or agreeing to share winnings by acting in concert, is strictly prohibited. Two or more owners make arrangements to influence the results of league activities, such as auctions, player availability, draft standing, or game outcomes. Any unsportsmanlike conduct coordinated between two or more owners is considered collusion.
4) "Loaning" players is not allowed (i.e. "I'll trade you my backup QB, but you have to give it back after your bye week."). All parts of a trade should be fully disclosed to the league so they can evaluate it for fairness. No delayed or two-part deals should be made (i.e. "You give me LT this week and I'll give you LJ next week," or, "Here's a 3-player for 3-player trade, but I don't want to give you my RB until next week. Let's trade the other 2 for 2 now and agree to swap the remaining players next week")

5) Adding and Dropping players frequently to tie up their status is not allowed.

6) Indifference - An owner who fails to submit starting lineups, or change their existing lineups to replace players who are out due to injury, suspension or bye weeks may receive a warning from the Commissioner. If they fail to respond & resume their participation in setting starting lineups, the Commissioner will have no choice but to impose draft pick penalties.

6-a) In addition to any cap penalties, an pick penalty for indifference may also be applied on top if the conditions are met

Before the trade deadline:

1st offense after warning- a 3rd round draft pick or next highest available pick.

2nd offense after warning-a 2nd round draft pick or next highest available pick.

3rd offense after warning-a 1st round draft pick.

After the trade deadline:

That owner will be penalized with Draft Position Adjustment (DPA) to the end of the round for each round that they own in the draft. If another owner owns their pick for a given round, it will not be subject to penalization. After the deadline is a crucial time of the season as the playoff races are tight and a warning may not be given, the pick penalty will advance directly to affect all picks possessed by owner. 

6-b) Playoff Integrity Interference (PII)- If the ability to set a lineup due to over the cap or indifference and it affects the score outcome resulting in effecting a playoff race (deemed so by the commissioner of teams vying for playoff contention) then that owner will be penalized with Draft Position Adjustment to the end of the round for each round that they own in the draft. If another owner owns their pick for a given round, it will not be subject to penalization.

(Example: If the owner has the 2nd overall pick at the end of the season for the next years draft, it will be moved to the 16th pick-for 16 team leagues/ 32nd for 32 team leagues)

6-c) If future picks are assessed as penalty, the owner must make payment for future years in a timely manner communicated with the commissioner.
7) Dumping players - An owner who, for any reason, cuts players from his team who are obviously valuable will receive a warning from the Commissioner to cease. If the owner continues to dump, the Commissioner will take more serious action to resolve the situation in accordance with the selected penalties listed below, up to and including expulsion from the league. Obviously, there are always going to be a few borderline cuts made but cutting obvious fantasy starters, or large quantities of average players in an obvious attempt to increase draft position, make players available to others by way of collusion or to sabotage the integrity of the league will not be tolerated.

If at anytime an owner breaks a rule or displays behavior in any way judged by the commissioner as detrimental to the league, the commissioner has both the right and obligation to act in such a way as to protect the league. He will utilize a variety of actions to balance the league and attempt to fix bad behaviors. It is expected that the following actions will be rare and not undertaken lightly.
The GFFL Commissioners reserve the right to utilize the following options:

• Deductions from overall and divisional point totals.
• Loss of trading privileges for a specified or indeterminate period.
• Loss of bidding privileges for a specified or indeterminate period.
• Forced waiving of players.
• Retrospective rejection of trades, with the possibility of forfeits declared for any affected games.
• Draft position adjusted to end of the round
• Removal of draft picks
• Loss of future draft choices.
• Loss of chat board privileges.
• Owner Suspension, with their team forfeiting games for the length of suspension.
• Deduction of Salary Cap Money
• Removing owner from team.
• Any combination of sanctions deemed appropriate by the Commissioner.
• If some league rules cannot be enforced on the MFL website, teams are responsible for knowing and following all league rules, even if the website allows illegal roster moves to occur.

Penalties, at the discretion of the Commissioner, may be enforced at anytime including retroactively. The commissioner may use an owner's past record in considering the severity and length of penalties. None of the commissioners wish to impose any of these and have very rarely had to in any of the leagues they have run in the past. But we reserve the right to protect the integrity of the league and fellow teammates, especially in cases of clear collusion, cheating, or intentional sabotage of the league.

This Code of Conduct is to be followed by owners in all Godfather Fantasy Football leagues. The commissioners will enforce this Code without exception.

• Participation is the lifeblood of a fantasy football league; more than fresh FAs, more than rivalries, even more than stats. If there is no sense of community going on between owners - no trade talk, no trash talk, no football talk - there will shortly be no GFFL because there will be no fun. So owners are actively encouraged to go out there and start a new rivalry or talk up some trade bait, not only for their own enjoyment but also for the good of the league; however, abusive language and cursing rants resulting in negative owner experiences will be prohibited and punishable at the commissioners discretion. 
• It goes without saying that preparedness is the key to long-term success in a fantasy league. Owners who come to the draft prepared, keep abreast of the free-agent market and do their homework when it comes to researching players and studying league rules usually experience success from year to year. On the other hand, nobody wants to play week to week with a roster full of scrubs. Owners are also encouraged to stay on top of NFL happenings year-round, not only for their own enjoyment, but also for the good of the league.
• Perhaps the most overlooked facet of fantasy football is communication. Players and Commissioners alike need to be timely, complete and accurate with the information they provide to one another. In a virtual game like fantasy football, based on statistics and one level removed from reality, communication is the only way that everybody can share the construct that is collectively built. Owners are encouraged to over-communicate rather than under-communicate whenever possible, not only for their own benefit, but also for the good of the league.
• Sportsmanship, a much maligned value these days, helps make fantasy football a much more pleasant experience for everyone. True enough, the FF environment is competitive, as it should be, but sportsmanship is knowing where to draw the line. Every Owner has had the guy in one of his leagues who no one wants to trade with because he will try to peddle his injured players for your healthy ones. Then there is the guy who can’t stand to lose without whining about it. Similarly, there is the blowhard who may go 1 – 13, but the one owner he manages to beat will never hear the end of it. Any F'Fer will tell you that it’s the loser’s privilege to cite the “could haves” and that the greatest benefit of winning a game is getting to rub it in. But owners are encouraged to temper these natural inclinations every once in a while, so that by raising the bar a little they also raise the enjoyment level for all the owners in the league.

• While banter and trash talking are certainly part of the fun in our in depth fantasy leagues, there can be line not cross where it becomes an unpleasant negative daily activity if certain owners are consistently berating others abusively through cursing or insult in an aggressive manner.   
• These actions will not be tolerated once they cross lines of normal trash talking and will be subject to disciplinary actions by the commissioner as deemed necessary based on the issue at hand or complaints wielded by other owners. 
• First warning discipline will include chat and or message board privilege's being removed for 48 hours up to a week.
• Second warning discipline will include chat and or message board privilege's being removed from a week to an indefinite period, including potentially the remainder of the season. The second warning could also incur a next season draft pick penalty or draft position penalty at the commissioners discretion.  
• Final warning discipline will result in indefinite suspension of chat & message board privilege's, possible draft penalties and may include expulsion of the owner from the league altogether.   
• In the case of multiple owners being involved in behavior detrimental to the league, each owner may be disciplined individually from one another based on their circumstances.  

• Owners are responsible for knowing and following all the league rules, bylaws & schedules.
• Owners are responsible for ensuring that their team has current contact information.
• Owners are responsible for responding to emails from the commissioner or other owners in a timely manner.
• Owners are responsible for taking part in league votes and debates.
• Failure to access the site for excessive periods of time will not be accepted.
• Failure to respond to trade offers will not be accepted.
• Failure to submit weekly lineups will not be accepted.
• Failure to follow or participate in any league function or schedule will not be accepted.
• Owners also should understand that a high level of participation is also required during the off-season.
• Abusive language towards other owners will not be tolerated and will be punished at the commissioners discretion.

In the event that you will be away for an excessive period, you should notify the commissioner.

Work Stoppage and/or Season Cancellation

In the event of a work stoppage, strike, lockout, or anything of this nature in the NFL, our season will freeze along with the standings and statistics. Our league will resume when the NFL season restarts. A revision in the schedule, rules, and regulations may be necessary to accommodate for the delay. This revision will be immediately processed by the commissioners and distributed to each team owner as soon as possible. If the NFL season does not begin, the fantasy leagues will likely be frozen in all ways until after they resume. All prize money will be carried over to the following season.

Human Error within the League Office

If there was a human error made within the League office all attempts shall be made to retroactively correct the error and its subsequent ramifications.

Communications

In communicating electronically with other football owners or the league office, there is always a risk of the message not being received by the intended party. It is up to the individual to ensure that their message has been received. This includes all forms of communications, but is not limited to telephones, Mail, Email, and paging.

Each Godfather-League is "named" once at founding by the league's team owners. The process, in general, will be that after the league has formed, a message board thread will be started for nominations. Every name must be at least "seconded" by another team for it to go on the final vote. After about one week, the commissioners will review the "seconded" names and if there are more than 10, they will narrow them down to 10 using their own judgment, otherwise, they will all be put up for a vote. These 10 names (the max for a poll) will be put in a poll allowing multiple names to be voted for. Therefore, each team will vote for as many names as they "like." At the end of the voting period, the name with the most "likes" gets selected, unless there is less than a separation of 3 or fewer between the highest total and the next highest total. In that case, a runoff vote is quickly held. In summary:
Initial nominations by league via message boards for approximately 4-5 days. "Seconds" or "top 5" lists were appreciated near the end to show what names were liked.

1. Co-Commissioners to narrow down to top 10 seemingly most popular, using their discretion.
2. Vote where multiple "likes" votes allowed by each team. 72 hour initial vote.
3. For close votes where the margin between the highest vote total and next highest is 3 or less, a run-off of that name and next highest votes will be done. A 48 hour runoff with a single vote per team shall be conducted. If there is a tie for 2nd place, commissioners will pick the 2nd name for the vote.
4. League name chosen will be the permanent league name, moving forward.

Across all Godfather Leagues, we ask that you use a consistent "owner" name. For the vast majority, it should be your real name. But if you want to use a nickname or a "fictional name", that's fine, but make sure it's consistent across every Godfather league you play in. Furthermore, it MUST be in your Leaguesafe account name that you use to pay for the leagues. For example, if you go by "Spiderbob" (please don't...), at least have it in your Leaguesafe name as Robert "Spiderbob" Smith. This makes administration by the commissioners much easier and allows the "matching" of teams and leagues are payments possible, while reducing any chance of miss-allocated winnings at year-end. Ideally, just use your real name everywhere... the vast majority of people do.

Furthermore, league payouts are usually processed approximately 7-10 days after the championship game. If at that time, there are conflicts between the names on the MFL site and Leaguesafe, please note that any amounts due to an owner will simply be applied as a balance on the team accounting, towards future league dues (unless it is an annual league, in which case no winnings will be distributed by any team until all reasonable efforts have been made to synchronize identities of all winning teams on MFL and Leaguesafe). This is because there is only one payout vote per year for the league, in which all league members must vote and the majority approve, and rather than delay payouts to compliant teams or run the risk of paying out invalid amounts to invalid identities, it is safer and preferable to simply apply amounts towards future dues.

Please be aware that these written rules serve as the final source of the rules. Often, the commissioners will be asked questions via message board, email, or IM about something. The commissioners will do their best to accurately answer the question, but may not have the time to do what the player should have done in the first place, which is to go to the website, and carefully review the rules. It is highly probable that the commissioners, as the people that wrote the rules, will be right. But realize that they will occasionally be mistaken. Before you make any important decision, go back and read the rules yourself. Each owner should read the rules for their league at least 2-3 times per year. That may be excessive, but not in complex dynasty leagues, with high dollar amounts at stake. Anyway, this is a disclaimer that commissioners are happy to try and answer questions via IM, email, message board, etc., but at the end of the day, the website rules are the rules.

From time to time, a situation may arise in which the rules, as written, may lend themselves to harming the position of a team in a way, which was not the intent of the rule when written. If this scenario arises, the commissioner has the right to re-evaluate the league rules to determine whether the situation at hand is such that the intent of the rules when written cannot stand because the literal interpretation would lend itself to the contrary. If the above is true, the commissioner can forgo the rules, as written, in favor of the rules’ intent. If the commissioner comes to such a decision, the commissioner must inform the other league owners by email/message board post explaining the situation, the decision to forgo the rule in question, and the reasoning for making such a decision.