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Red text denotes a new or amended rule

LEAGUE FORMAT

• The Diesel Football League (TDFL) is a computer league using the latest Windows version of Action PC Pro Football Game and subsequent patches available as of August 15th. It is comprised of 16 league members, each of whom will act as Coach & General Manager for their TDFL team.
  
• The TDFL consists of two 8-team conferences, each divided into two 4-team divisions. Each club plays a 16-game schedule from September through December (8 Home & 8 Road games). The current TDFL alignment may only be changed by amendment.
  
• Annual dues are $10/year and shall be sent to the Commissioner by February 1st each year. Dues will go towards the purchase of league awards.
  
• Coaches receive copies of the Constitution, Record Manuals, mailings, etc.
  
• Each coach is responsible for saving Internet copies to his hard drive and/or printing out his own hard copy.
  
• Backup Coaches receive the Constitution.
  
• Backup Coaches take ownership of vacant TDFL teams in the order their dues are received by the Commissioner.
  
• The strength of any league is its members. If the TDFL is going to work, it needs all members working together and committing themselves to the League. Only then will the TDFL become an excellent Internet league. All members are expected to participate in the success of the League. Those not appointed to league offices will contact the Commissioner for duties that will strengthen the TDFL: serving as Interim Coach, helping with recruiting new Coaches, etc.

LEAGUE ORGANIZATION

POWERS & DUTIES OF THE COMMISSIONER

• The Commissioner shall serve at the approval of the membership. For any year there is no active Commissioner at the time of the Amendment voting, the Commissioner shall be that member who receives the most write-in votes, regardless of their number. For each succeeding year, there shall always be an opportunity for the membership to extend the current Commissioner's reign for another year (as an Amendment). If that Amendment fails, then there shall be a subsequent vote, with the member who receives the most votes becoming Commissioner.
  
• Other League Officers (Statistician, Secretary, Director of Player Personnel, Draft Coordinator) will be appointed by the Commissioner.
  
• The Commissioner shall, on a yearly basis, award Coach of the Year to the league member who, in the Commissioner's opinion, did the "most with the least" in the prior year. The Commissioner is ineligible for this award.
  
• The Commissioner shall be empowered to assess fines/penalties, at his discretion, for violations of the Constitution where no specific penalties for said violations are delineated in the Constitution.
  
• The Commissioner is also empowered to impose a lesser penalty than that specified in the Constitution, if he deems.
  
• The Commissioner shall be empowered to veto any trade that is in his opinion, a significantly unbalanced trade, or not in the best interests of the League.
  
• The Commissioner shall appoint members of the TDFL to League offices for lifetime terms. These offices may include, but are not limited to: Secretary, Statistician, Treasurer, and Director of Player Personnel. Duties not specifically delegated shall remain the Commissioner's responsibility.
  
  • Secretary: shall maintain the league Web site, as well as maintain & publish all transactions, the TDFL Constitution & Record Manual.
    
  • Statistician: shall be responsible for preparing a TDFL Master Season Disk with all 16 TDFL 53-man rosters, default lineups & coach files on that disk and for updating and distributing the weekly league files during the season. Files shall be distributed as needs arise in the off-season.
    
  • Director of Player Personnel (DPP): shall be responsible for maintaining each team's roster & notifying the Commissioner of same prior to the start of each season, pending receipt from each Coach of their respective Cuts, Trades, Roster, etc. Each Coach shall also maintain his own roster. By a due date determined by the Commissioner all roster information must be sent to the DPP. (NOTE: If disputes between a Coach and what the DPP reports cannot be resolved mutually, it shall be arbitrated by a neutral Coach selected by the Commissioner. That neutral Coach's decision cannot be appealed.)

RULE CHANGES

• Acceptance of TDFL membership means acceptance of this Constitution and a willingness to abide by its rules. Amendments to the TDFL Constitution can be made by writing to the Commissioner.
  
• A 2/3-yes vote of the membership is required for passage of any amendment (except expansion; see below).
  
• All Coaches must cast either a Yes or No vote on all Amendments. Abstention is not permitted.
  
• Before the TDFL can expand there must be an 80% approval vote by the membership.
  
• Amendments to the Constitution are effective one month prior to the start of the regular season.
  
• Amendments are usually published one month in advance of the annual draft, usually in March and voting is to be completed on a date set by the commissioner. Voting shall be completed and reported prior to the rookie draft.
  

FINES & PENALTIES FOR LEAGUE INFRACTIONS

• Failure to meet deadlines will mean the loss of your TDFL team.
  
• There is no penalty for over usage of players during the TDFL season.
  
• For further penalties that may result from being late with Game Results or failing to follow league mandated rules see section titled "Playing & Reporting Games."
  

PROTEST OF GAME

• Challenges to FTF/Internet game results must be emailed to Commissioner & opposing Coach immediately upon completion of game (maybe illegal players/plays were used). Challenges to game results where one or both teams utilized Robot must be sent to Commissioner & opposing Coach within 24 hours upon game file being sent out. (Maybe incorrect COA file was used, or one Human Coach utilized illegal players/plays, etc.)
  
• A Coach may protest any loss he feels resulted from the Host Coach's negligence, error, misinterpretation of his instructions, or violations of TDFL rules.
  
• A protest is initiated by sending the Commissioner a written statement detailing the reasons for the protest.
  
• The Coach against whom the protest has been lodged may send a written statement arguing why the protest should be disallowed.
  
• The Commissioner shall uphold any protest that really affected the game's outcome.
  
• A game in which a protest has been upheld will be re-played in its entirety by a neutral Coach as soon as possible, after the Commissioner's decision.
  
• A protest decision is not subject to appeal.
  
• A protest involving the Commissioner shall be arbitrated by a neutral Coach using the same procedure. His decision is not subject to appeal.
  
• The Commissioner reserves the right to expel any league member found to have acted in a way that threatens or damages the stability, reputation, or integrity of the league and/or its members.
  

STATISTICAL MAINTENANCE & DEADLINES

• The required statistical reporting for game stats, boxscores & year-to-date stats (YTD) is limited to what Action PC generates. (The "Export Game" function automatically selects all the required game & stat files.) Boxscores shall be the "Expanded". Always zip your game file.
  
• All deadlines imposed by the Constitution, or Commissioner, will be the Actual Due date.
  
• Due by 11:00 PM EDT (whichever is in effect) Monday night during the Regular Season is the Zipped Game File from any game you hosted. The Statistician may adjust the exact time.
  
• Coaches should retain all 16 individual Game Files, until after the Final Stats are posted. Further, Coaches are encouraged to regularly backup all these Files (after each game) onto a Backup Disk in the event of malfunctions with their computer, or that of the League Statistician. An entire season will fit onto a single disk.
  

PLAYING & REPORTING GAMES

All games are to be played head-to-head via the Internet, under the following rules:

• Coaches are allowed unlimited replacement games (your team coached live by another league member) during the regular and postseasons.
  
• No part of any game may be played against the computer. All games that cannot be played head-to-head will be auto-played.
  
• Any coach whose game is auto-played is subject to penalties, at the commissioner’s discretion, including loss of future draft picks and/or loss of franchise. If a coach quits the league as a result of a ruling that includes forfeited draft picks or is removed from the league having been previously penalized draft picks, said selections will be reinstated.
  
• Any game that is auto-played as a result of a failed game file submission shall be auto-played until the team who won the live game wins the replay. If it cannot be reasonably determined which team won, the game will be auto-played once and the results will stand.
  

REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

An example alignment, based on the previous season, is as follows:

• The Identifier (Example: AE1) before each team indicates the Division and the Finish from the prior season. Hence, the order of the above will change on a yearly basis.
  
• The TDFL uses Action PC's weather factors thus all Regular & Post-Season TDFL games are played corresponding to the following months for weather purposes in the pre-game setup:
  Month 1 = Sept, Month 2 = Oct, Month 3 = Nov, Month 4 = Dec, All Post-Season Games = Jan
  
• Each full season consists of a 16 game (8 home and 8 road) regular season.
  
• Each team's 16 regular season games include the following:
  • Division: Home & Road series vs. 3 division opponents = 6 games
  • Conference: 4 games vs. 4 opponents
    • All teams in one division play all teams in other division, 2 Home & 2 Road
  • Non-Conference = 6 games vs. 4 opponents
    • Home & Road series vs. same seed = 4 games vs. 4 opponents
    • Alternate seeds (1 vs. 2 & 3 vs. 4) play 1 Home & 1 Road = 2 games vs. 2 opponents
  • All Home/Road sites rotate annually
    
• The regular season is divided into 16 intervals or "Weeks." Each week involves the playing of a single game, either at home or on the road. The intervals including Thanksgiving (U.S.) and Christmas will be 2-week intervals in which the games can be played at any time during those two weeks.
  
• For additional information, see Appendix A: Calendar of Events or Appendix B: Schedule Templates
  

TIE-BREAKING RULES

Official NFL tiebreakers, as found on NFL.com, will be used.

PLAYOFF FORMAT

• The two Division Winners (DW1 & DW2) plus two Wild Card teams (WC1 & WC2) from each conference will qualify for the playoffs.
  
• The scheduled Home Teams and Seeding are determined as follows:
  • 1st Round Games
    • Division Winners
    • Best Win Pct
    • NFL tie-breakers
  • b. 2nd Round Games
    • Division Winner
    • Best Win Pct
    • NFL tie-breakers
  • c. Super Bowl
    • Best Win Pct
    • Division Winner
    • Head-to-head
    • Best Win Pct vs all common opponents
    • Best Win Pct vs the other Conference
    • NFL tie-breakers
      
• 1st Round Playoff Matchups, for each Conference, are as follows:
• 4th Seed (WC2) @ 1st seed (DW1)
• 3rd seed (WC1) @ 2nd seed (DW2)
  
• 2nd Round Playoff Matchups, for each Conference, are as follows:
• Remaining highest seeded team hosts the Conference Championship game.
  
• The Conference Champions will play in the Diesel Bowl.
  
• "Home Field Advantage" (HFA) will be set to "Yes" for all Playoff games, except the Super Bowl where it must be set to "No", and played in any neutral DOMED stadium (so neither team gains a weather advantage).
  

PLAYER ACQUISITION, RETENTION & LOSS

TRADING

• Trades may be made only during the four designated transactions periods:
  
  • 1st Transaction Period: April 1st through July 15st
    
  • 2nd Transaction Period: Draft Day
    
  • 3rd Transaction Period: August 8th through August 31st
    
  • 4th Transaction Period: Week 1 through Week 6 of regular season
    
• Trades on Draft Day must involve Draft choices. Trades on Draft Day must be posted and confirmed in the chat room as soon as completed and before included draft choices have been made. Failure to make such notification in a timely manner will result in the trade being voided. Coaches are cautioned to conduct all Draft Day trade discussions outside of the Draft Chat Room.
  
• Trades must be free of contingencies and take place immediately when agreed upon.
  
• Draft choices for the "following year's" Rookie Draft (that after the upcoming Rookie Draft) may not be advertised for, nor solicited, nor traded, until the 1st Transaction Period of the year. Draft choices beyond the current draft and following year's draft are not available for trade.
  
• In-season trades are permitted effective for Week 2 games, and close at 11:00 PM EDT on the Monday concluding Week 12. The absolute drop-dead deadline, without exception, each week during the regular season for posting trades is 11:00 PM EDT each Monday effective for the upcoming new league file.
  
• Both coaches must notify the league via email (tdflpost@yahoogroups.com) immediately upon agreeing to the trade. Failure to do so will void the trade.
  

PLAYER CUTS & CLAIMS

• Players may be cut at any time during open transactions periods.
  
• Unclaimed cuts from the first transactions period (April 1st through July 15th) are added to the draft pool. All undrafted players may be claimed starting with the third transactions period (post-draft), then again starting with Week Two of the regular season (4th transactions period) through the end of the week of the Diesel Bowl. Only playoff teams may claim players during the postseason.
  
• Player claims are awarded on a 1st come, 1st serve basis, FOLLOWING the full 24-hour league-wide posting of their availability. If two or more teams place a claim on the same player at the exact same time, the team with the worst W-L record (Tie Breakers apply if required) shall be awarded the player.
  
• All Cuts & Claims MUST be posted league-wide (tdflpost@yahoogroups.com). Teams posting a Claim shall also include the player(s) they may be cutting themselves to make the available roster slot(s) should they be awarded their claims.
  
• The absolute drop-dead deadline, without exception, each week during the regular season for Claims is 11:00 PM EDT each Monday effective for the upcoming new League file.
• All players claimed during the 4th Transactions Period (in-season), including those subsequently traded and players originally on a Week 1 roster later cut and claimed, are automatically released following the completion of the Diesel Bowl.
  

ROOKIE DRAFT

• On the first Saturday of August, there will be an Eight (8) Round Rookie Draft by AIM Chat. Generally, it begins at 12:00 Noon EDT, with an exact date to be set by the Commissioner. Teams draft in the following order of their record from the previous TDFL season (team with the poorer record drafts 1st):
  
  • Non-playoff teams draft at the beginning of each round (1 thru 8), in inverse order of record.
    
  • Wild-Card game losers (if any) draft after non-playoff teams, in inverse order of record.
    
  • 1st Round Game losers draft after Wild-Card game losers, in inverse order of record.
    
  • 2nd Round Game losers draft after 1st Round Losers, in inverse order of record.
    
  • Super Bowl loser will draft 19th, and Super Bowl winner will draft 20th.
    
• All computer-carded players not on any TDFL roster at the end of the previous season are eligible for the Draft. Unclaimed cuts from the first transactions period (April 1st through July 15th) are NOT added to the draft pool. The DPP usually prepares and distributes the list of eligible players for the Rookie Draft.
  
• Players drafted become immediate property of the drafting team until traded or released.
  

ROSTERS

• By a deadline set by the Commissioner each Coach must submit to the DPP their Final Cuts and 53-man roster for the start of the TDFL season.
  
• Roster must contain, at least, players and positions (i.e. ELDER, Bobby, DT), listed in alphabetical order by last name.
  
• Teams must carry exactly 53 players on their roster throughout the regular and post seasons. A trade that puts a team over the max must be accompanied with other transactions (trades or cuts) to get at 53.
  
• The offseason roster limit shall be set at 60 players, included any uncarded carry-overs. At no time during the offseason, except for the days immediately following the draft and preceding the third transactions period, may any team have more than 60 players on its roster.
  

GAME PLAYING RULES

• Minimum Active Roster staffing for Week One: 3 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE or 1 H-Back, with an aggregate TOTAL for those positions of AT LEAST 9 players, (H-Back may count towards RB or TE but NOT both), 2 QBs, 8 OL, 1 PK, 1 Punter, 6 DL, 6 LBs and 7 DBs. That's 40 players. That leaves each team with 13 spots to fill, as they need them. NOTE: 7 DBs are required for the "quarter defense" so you should carry 8 in case of injury.
• Minimum Active Roster staffing for Week Two through Diesel Bowl: 2 active QBs & 1 active kicker (punter or PK).
  

GAME SETUP & GENERAL

• While the League File should have all the Rule settings, before starting a game verify your "Game Configuration" are set properly, as follows. All rules are for the regular and post seasons unless noted otherwise.
  • Rules Year = 2007
  • Season length = 16 weeks
  • Home field Advantage = Yes; Diesel Bowl = No
  • 2-point conversion = Yes
  • Allow Audibles = Yes
  • Play Overtime = Yes
  • Replay Challenges/Team = 2
  • Minutes/Quarter = 15 minutes
  • League Type = Draft League
  • FG Miss line = Kick Spot
  • KO line = 30 YL
  • Goal Post Location = Endline
  • Injuries = Yes; Injury Frequency = Normal
  • Game Era = Standard Off/Def Blend
  • Usage & Fatigue Rules
    • Special Teams Usage Penalties = Yes; Postseason = No
    • QB Game Usage Penalties = No; Postseason = Yes
    • Game Fatigue = Yes
    • Season Usage Penalties = Yes; Mild, Moderate & Major all set to 100%; Postseason = No
    • Game Usage Penalties = Yes; Mild = 10%, Moderate = 15%, Major = 20%; Postseason = all set to 10%
• Stock stadiums and stadium settings will be used.
• In all Regular Season games one Overtime Period will be played. If teams remain tied at the end of this period the game ends as a tie.
• The game cannot end in a tie in any postseason game.
  

PLAYER INJURIES & USAGE RULES

• Injuries carry over into following weeks, including Playoffs. There are no bye weeks during the regular season. The two-week windows for Thanksgiving & Christmas are to accommodate those holidays only, and are not considered byes. No injury extends beyond the Super Bowl.
  
• Occasionally an injury/ejection may leave you without an adequate backup, in which case the game itself will make a substitution, that may conflict with TDFL Rules but you are "helpless" to do anything about. When this happens note it and the circumstances in your email to the league.
  
• The game engine's durability ratings, season & game fatigue penalties along with sound coaching are all that shall be utilized to "control" player usage in either a single game or entire season, or playoffs. Players are essentially unlimited in their number of pass attempts, rushing attempts, receptions and special teams usage, with the following exception: A QB, once substituted for, cannot re-enter the game except due to injury/ejection to all other active QBs. Injured QBs forced to leave can re-enter the game.
  

GAMEPLANS & FTF GAME RULES

• Prior to the start of each season all teams shall "export" their COA file (coach file) to the Statistician as their Default Gameplan (DGP), which by design includes their lineups & customized offensive & defensive robot coaches. These may be updated at any time during the season by exporting a revised one to the Statistician.
  
• Coaches should make every effort to schedule a mutual time to play their game live.

TRICK PLAYS & OTHER OFFENSIVE OPTIONS

• There are no limits on the use of trick plays, nor QB rushing plays. Coaches are cautioned QBs are subjected to more injury opportunities each time they run the football, be it by scramble or as a planned rushing play.
  
• Game pace may be altered at any time. There are no restrictions on the use of slow down or hurry up modes.
  
• QB audibles are permitted at any time.
  
• Review your Action PC Game Manual to ensure you know how to use above options, and the risk/reward of utilizing each.
  

SPECIAL TEAMS

• There are no limits on the use of onside kicks, fake kicks, quick kicks or two-point attempts.
  
• There are no limits on the usage of returners or special teams players. The game engine's durability ratings and special teams fatigue along with sound coaching are all that shall be utilized to "control" special teams player usage.
  
• Coaches are cautioned that special team's fatigue can be quite severe, and are encouraged to utilize bona fide special teams players & sound coaching at all times to avoid those effects.

APPENDIX A: CALENDAR OF EVENTS

• March
  
  • 31st - Initial league files for upcoming season posted (by Statistician)
  • 31st - Preliminary amendment proposals requested (by Commissioner)
  • 31st - Dues for upcoming season must be received by 12:00 Midnight EDT (to Commissioner)
• April
  
  • 1st - First Transactions Period opens at 12:00 Noon EDT
  • 1st - First day next year's draft picks can be discussed or traded
  • 30th - Preliminary amendment proposals posted (by Commissioner)
  • 30th - Draft-eligible players list posted (by DPP)
• May
  
  • 31st - Final amendment proposals posted (by Commissioner)
• June
  
  • 30th - Amendment votes due (to Commissioner)
• July
  
  • 1st - Amendment results posted (by Commissioner)
  • 15th - First Transactions Period closes at 12:00 Midnight EDT
  • 31st - Updated constitution posted (by Secretary)
• August
  
  • First Saturday - Rookie Draft starts at 12:00 Noon EDT & Draft Day Transaction Period opens
  • 8th - Third Transactions Period opens at 12:00 Noon EDT
  • 31st - Third Transactions Period closes at 12:00 Midnight EDT
• September
  
  • 1st - Final rosters & cuts due (to DPP & Statistician)
  • 1st - Default game plan (DGP) due (to Statistician)
  • Start of Week 2 - Fourth Transaction Period opens
• October
  • End of Week 6 - Trading portion of Fourth Transaction Period closes
• November
  
  • Thanksgiving Holiday - Two-week interval
• December
  
  • Christmas Holiday - Two-week interval
  • End of regular season - Rosters frozen for non-playoff teams
• January/February
  
  • Completion of Diesel Bowl - All rosters frozen
  • One week after Diesel Bowl - Pro Bowl

APPENDIX B: SCHEDULE TEMPLATES

REGULAR SEASON - ODD NUMBERED YEARS

REGULAR SEASON - EVEN NUMBERED YEARS