League

The GOLDEN EMPIRE DYNASTY LEAGUE was founded in 2018. It may be referred to as “the league” or “GEDL” throughout these Rules & Regulations.

The league is comprised of 12 teams, which are all parts of the league and cannot be sold. If an owner or ownership group decides they no longer want to be part of the league, that team reverts to the league and the Commissioners will seek new ownership.

In order to promote a professional and consistent look and feel, teams may not use the nickname or logo of any NFL team or the name of any team in any of the Get a Life Football Leagues. All logos will be in the approved format.

The league is divided into three divisions of four teams each. Some time after the rookie draft, but before the beginning of the NFL season, the three defending Division Champions will name their division and choose teams for the coming season.

Commissioners

The office of Commissioner is not voted upon, but is occupied by unimpeachable tyrants. Term of office is forever, or until the Commissioners lose interest.

All functions of the league are handled by the Commissioners in conjunction with CBS Sports, unless delegated to another individual.

If a situation arises that is not adequately covered by the existing Rules and Regulations, the Commissioners will make a ruling that he feels is in the best interest of the league.

Disputes that cannot be handled within these Rules & Regulations, or resolved by a ruling from the Commissioners, are decided by an outside arbitrator agreed upon by all parties involved. The arbitrator's decision is final.

Teams and Owners

All owners must be approved by the Commissioners. There is no limit to the number of owners that a team can have. Unless the Commissioners are told otherwise in advance, it is assumed that any owner listed for a team is authorized to perform any functions for that team.

The Commissioners may remove an owner or owners if they feel there is sufficient cause. Causes include, but are not limited to: collusion, inactivity, or gross mismanagement that affects league play.

If an owner disappears during the season, their team may be considered an "abandoned team." The Commissioners will attempt to find new ownership for the abandoned team, or may appoint an owner from one of the re-draft leagues to act as interim owner for the remainder of the season. Any money won by an abandoned team is split equally among all remaining teams in the league.

Calamities

A "calamity" is defined as death, illness, injury, relocation, or other unforeseen circumstances preventing an owner from completing the current season.

In the case of a calamity the Commissioners will appoint an owner from one of the re-draft leagues to run the affected team for the remainder of the season. After the season any money due the affected team is forwarded to the owner or their family.

League Year

The new league year begins the day after the GEDL playoffs have concluded.

The Offseason begins concurrent with the new league year and runs through Cut Down Day.

Cut Down Day is the day before the first NFL game of the season.

The Regular season is comprised of weeks 1-14 of the NFL regular season.

The Playoffs are held weeks 15 & 16 of the NFL regular season, with Championship Game being played week 17.

Suspension of a Game or Season

If a game is suspended due to a player injury or other cause, and is not completed that same week of play, any points awarded, or not awarded by CBS will be counted. All GEDL games will be considered final with whatever points were or were not awarded by CBS.

If a player strike, owner lockout, or any other unusual event causes a season to end prematurely, the team with the most wins at the point the season is declared over by the NFL will be awarded the League Championship. All other finishes will be determined the same way.

League Fees and Prize Pool

Prior to each season, each team will pay a Franchise Fee of $100, creating a league treasury of $1200. From that, a $150 League Administration fee will be deducted. This fee covers the cost for the CBS website hosting of our league, and a Championship t-shirt for the Champion.

The remaining money forms a Prize Pool of $1050 and will be disbursed at the end of the season as follows:

▪ 60% for League Champion
▪ 25% for for 2nd Place
▪ 15% for 3rd Place
▪ $50 for Division Champions
▪ $10 to the highest scoring team each week of the regular season

All prizes based on percentage are calculated after the money for Division Champions and weekly High Points have been deducted.

Annual Draft

Prior to each season on the second Saturday following the conclusion of the NFL Draft, the Annual Draft will be held. The draft is 7 rounds long and is conducted over several days or weeks at the CBS web site. Owners have up to 4 hours for each pick.

Any player taken in the most recent NFL Draft, undrafted free agents from that draft class, or any unrostered NFL player can be taken in any round.

Draft slots are assigned based on finish from the previous season.

Draft slots 1-6 are assigned based on worst record to the six teams who did not make the playoffs. If records are equal lower points scored is the tiebreaker.

Draft slot 7 and 8 are assigned to the two teams eliminated the first week of the playoffs based on worst record. If records are equal lower points scored is the tiebreaker.

The fourth place team gets the 9th draft slot, third place team gets the 10th draft slot, the second place team gets the 11th draft slot, and the League Champion team gets the 12th draft slot.

Final Cuts

By midnight PST on the day immediately preceding the first game of the NFL season, all teams must cut as many players as necessary to get down to the maximum number of players on the Active Roster, Reserve Roster, and Practice Squad. All teams must have a legal Active Roster for Opening Day.

After final cuts no team can have more than four quarterbacks and no more than two kickers on their Active and Reserve Rosters. Practice Squad, IR, and PUP players do not count against these limits.

Roster Management

Active Roster

A legal active roster is comprised of 12 players with these positional requirements:

▪ 1 Quarterback
▪ 1 Running Back
▪ 1 Wide Receiver
▪ 1 Tight End
▪ 3 Offensive Flex Players (RB, WR, or TE)
▪ 1 Defensive Lineman
▪ 1 Linebacker
▪ 1 Defensive Back
▪ 1 Defensive Flex (DL, LB, or DB)
▪ 1 Kicker

Teams have until 5 minutes before each player’s first game of the week to promote them to their Active Roster, or send them down to the Reserve Team, Farm Team, or Injured List at the CBS web site.

Inactive Roster

The Inactive Roster contains all of the players a team controls, but does not have on their active roster. This includes the Reserves (bench), Practice Squad, and Injured Reserve.

Reserves (Bench)
Teams have 16 reserve (bench) slots that may be used for players at any position.

Practice Squad
Teams have 7 Practice Squad slots that may only be used for rookie players selected in the most recent draft, or players who were already on the Practice Squad who have never been promoted.

Injured
Teams have an unlimited number of Injured Reserve spots that may be used for players placed on their NFL team's Injured Reserve or Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) lists. Players suspended by the NFL may also be placed on the Injured Reserve.

If there is a question about a player's eligibility for any of these lists, the team owner must provide proof that the player is eligible for that slot.

Players activated from the Injured Reserve, PUP or Suspension must be moved to the Active Roster, Reserve Roster, or Practice Squad (if eligible) before the beginning of the next week of play, or be released.

Players may only be placed on the Practice Squad before the season begins. Players who are promoted from the Practice Squad cannot be returned to the Practice Squad.

Player Contracts

Once a team drafts a player, claims a player off of the Waiver Wire, or acquires a player by trade, that player is under contract to that team until they are released or traded away. Players can be kept by their team from season to season. There are no contracts that expire and there are no salaries attached to contracts.

Free Agency

Players are awarded using a Waiver Wire system. Any player not on the active or inactive roster of any other team is considered a free agent and can be claimed at any time. Waiver claims are awarded Tuesday night.

After Tuesday waivers have run, all players can be claimed immediately as free agents.

Players can be claimed on waivers/free agency beginning after the first week of play, through the final waiver/free agent run of the week the playoffs begin.

Teams must have a legal roster by the roster deadline for the next week of play following any transaction.

Trades

Players may be traded freely between teams. Trades should be made using CBS Sports, and become official when a proposed trade is accepted. Trades can also be made by notifying the Commissioner, and those trades become official when all teams involved in the trade have reported the details to the Commissioner.

Trades may involve any players on a team's Active or Inactive Roster, future draft picks, or both. Only draft picks for the current season and the next two seasons can be traded.

No trades can be made after midnight PST on the Wednesday after the completion of Week 11. Trading is allowed again after the playoffs are complete.

Trades cannot involve contingencies, cash, property, or any other considerations outside of the league.

Teams must have a legal roster by the roster deadline for the next week of play following any transaction.

Outright Release

Players can be released at any time.

Teams must have a legal roster by the roster deadline for the next week of play following any transaction.

Rules of the Game

Head-To-Head Play

Each week teams set a starting lineup and play Head-to-Head against another team. Lineups must be set at the CBS Sports league web site. If circumstances prevent an owner from setting their lineup online, they can submit their lineup via email to savagelizard@gmail.com, in writing, or by phone to the Commissioner.

Points are scored as follows:

Touchdown run, reception, or pass (6 points)
Defensive touchdown on a returned fumble, interception, or blocked kick/punt (6)
Field Goal (3) plus (1) if the field goal is greater than 50 yards
Conversion pass, run or reception (2)
Conversion kick (1)
Individual Defensive Player safety, sack, interception, forced fumble, recovered fumble, returned conversion, or blocked kick/punt (2)

Any player may score in any fashion.

Quarterbacks are awarded one bonus point for each 25 combined yards (passing + rushing + receiving).

Running Back, Wide Receivers, Tight Ends, and Offensive Flex Players are awarded one bonus point for each 10 combined yards (passing + rushing + receiving).

All players are awarded one bonus point for each 25 kickoff return yards.

All players are awarded one bonus point for each 25 punt return yards.

The official source of stats for purposes of scorekeeping is CBS Sports. If disputes occur in scoring, the Commissioner must be notified as soon as possible. The Commissioner will investigate the discrepancy and adjust the score if necessary. Any disputes regarding scoring must be resolved before the beginning of the next week's games. Scores will not be corrected after that point.

All points scored by players in the starting lineup and their performance bonus points are combined to reach a team score. The team with the higher score is declared the winner of the game.

All games can end in a tie except for playoff games. The tie is broken using these tiebreakers in order until one of the teams enjoys an advantage:

1) Higher total score for active players for the regular season (14 games)
2) Best record for the regular season (14 games)
3) Higher total points scored in head to head games between the tied teams (including any playoff games)

If the three tiebreakers do not produce a winner, the tie stands.

Statistics

The official source of stats for scorekeeping purposes is CBS Sports. If disputes occur in scoring, the Commissioner must be notified as soon as possible. The Commissioner will investigate the discrepancy and adjust the score if necessary. Any disputes regarding scoring must be resolved before the beginning of the next week's games. Scores will not be corrected after that point.

Live scoring at CBS is UNOFFICIAL. Often times stats are corrected through the course of the day, and sometimes overnight. If you notice a potential problem with the scoring, please wait until after their system updates overnight before bringing it to the Commissioner's attention. Usually the problem will be corrected by the following morning.

Playoffs

All 14 regular season games count toward the overall standings.

The two Division Champions with the best records advance to the playoffs as the first and second seeds and receive 1st Round byes. The remaining Division Champion advances to the playoffs as the third seed and gets to select their opponent for their first round game.

Of the remaining nine teams, the two with the best records, regardless of division, advance to the playoffs as Wildcards. And finally, of the remaining seven teams, the one with highest points scored, regardless of division, advances to the playoffs as a Wildcard. The Wildcard teams are seeded 4-6 based on win loss records.

In cases where teams have identical records, the following tiebreakers are used:

1) Highest points scored by active roster during the regular season
2) Highest points scored by active roster in games between the tied teams
3) Highest total points scored by entire roster for the for the regular season
4) Coin toss

Playoffs are single elimination.

Final Thoughts From the Commissioner

COLLUSION BETWEEN TWO OR MORE TEAMS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!

While it might be difficult to prove that owners acted in concert to affect the outcome of a season, any owners who exhibit behavior that strongly points to such conduct will be removed from the league and banned from any future Get a Life Sports activities.

This league requires a year-round commitment. Though there is much less activity during the offseason, it is expected that all owners pay a reasonable amount of attention to their teams at all times. This includes, but is not limited to, prompt response to emails from the Commissioner, timely responses to trade proposals, and generally just paying attention.

The purpose of this league is to compete and have a good time doing it. There are twelve teams, and they are all going to run things how they best see fit. Someone else's idea of a good prospect/player/trade might be different than yours. Some teams might trade a lot, some not much at all. The Commissioners will run the league, you run your team and let others run theirs.

All that having been said, let's have some fun!