2012 MFL League Website

Previous League Websites
2011 MFL League Website
2010 MFL League Website
2009 MFL League Website

Summary:

This league is our only annual league. Each year, every team that plays starts over from scratch.  Owners are not committed to this league for multiple years although it's expected that more than half the owners will return each season. In other words, this is a perpetual annual league. 12-16 teams will participate, depending on interest, although it's expected that this league will usually field 14 teams.  Acquiring players, instead of a typical draft, is done via an online auction, using the league website tools.  It's a relatively fast, fun, and exciting process, sort of like buying things on eBay.  The beauty of an auction is that every player is available to every team at the price set by the market so no one can feel that luck is involved.  When your team is constructed, you set your rosters each week and compete against your team-mates with the top 5 teams advancing to our unique playoff system at the end of the season.  All 5 teams share in the prize pool, comprised of all of the teams' $200 buy ins, less only a $70 fee we pay to myfantasyleagues.com for their great site.  It's a fun season with no long-term consequences so we find that many owners that play in our dynasty leagues enjoy this one annual league as they get to own players and employ strategies that they don't usually use in their other leagues.

The details for our Annual Auction league are as follows:

12-16 teams (no divisions), $200 buy in.

The playing rosters will decided based on live auction via proxy bidding held on the MFL League Website based on a salary cap of $1000.

Rosters:
1 QB
2 RB
3 WR
1 TE
1 RB/WR/TE Flex
1 PK
2 DL
2 DB
2 LB
1 DL/LB/DB Flex

16 Starters, 16 bench. No IR or taxi squad

Auction/Salary Cap/Free Agency details:

Each team will have a $1000 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.

The auction will begin 72 hours after the league is filled or 2nd August 2010 (Whichever is later).  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 available for bidding.

The commissioner can, at his discretion, submit players into 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 statistics 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 32 positions, they be 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. If you need to free up cap space, you can cut players from your active roster, and then that cap space will be available to spend on other free agents or on players acquired during trade.  Please note that once a player has been acquired for a certain price via auction or blind bidding, if he is later cut from that team, no other team may acquire that same player for less than his original salary.

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

Free Agency will commence after the auction is completed. 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.

A trading deadline for all teams will be imposed at the commencement of Week 6 games.

In all leagues, from the commencement of Week 16 games, there will be no free agent pick-ups. Each owner will be allowed to bid on unlimited Free agents based on their roster size and cap room available. In the event of a tie, the team with the worse overall record (followed by total points) wins the blind bid.  Owners will bid using their available salary cap money.

Based on our experience with annual leagues, there is the possibility that towards the end of the regular season, a team owner might be inclined to give up on their teams and not submit lineups or log in regularly.   The Paragon Common Rule book defines clear rules which will result in a franchise to be deemed abandoned by the league commissioners.  For all annual Paragon leagues, if this scenario takes place then the abandoned team will be left with last submitted lineup by the team owner.  All abandoned franchises lose the right to any prize money, which will be added back into the overall pool.

Scoring System:

Details will be also contained on the league website.

Regular Season:

Weeks 1-12, our 12 Week regular season will see all 15 teams play exactly once with three doubleheader weeks. The doubleheader weeks are in Weeks 3, 10 & 12 to avoid NFL bye weeks.

Playoffs:

Weeks 13-16. 5 teams with Week 16 League Championship Game. This playoff format is the fairest playoff structure we have found and interestingly enough is modelled on international Rugby playoffs. Essentially, it gives a slightly greater reward to the team with the very best record while still giving all 5 teams a chance to win the championship. It may seem slightly complicated but if you follow the logic below, we're confident you'll realize it's an ingenious playoff system. Essentially, the 1st seeded team just needs to win 2 games, and the 4th & 5th seeded teams need to win 4 games, to win the championship. Teams placed 1st, 2nd & 3rd also do not get eliminated if they lose their first playoff game. This gives a real incentive to each team to do their very best not only to reach the playoffs, but to be seeded as high as possible when the playoffs start.

Round 1 (Week 13)

Game A - Seed #4 vs Seed #5 (Loser is eliminated, Winner advances to Game C)

Game B - Seed #2 vs Seed #3 (Loser advances to Game C, Winner advances to Game D)

Round 1 bye for Seed #1

Round 2 (Week 14)

Game C - Winner of Game A vs Loser of Game B (Loser is eliminated, Winner advances to Game E)

Game D - Seed #1 vs Winner of Game B (Winner advances to Super Bowl Game F, Loser advances to Game E)

Round 3 (Week 15)

Game E - Winner of Game C vs Loser of Game E (Loser is eliminated, Winner advances to Super Bowl Game F)

Round 3 bye for Winner of Game D

Super Bowl (Week 16)

Game F - Winner of Game D vs Winner of Game E

View Playoff Tree

Prize money payouts for top 5 teams,

1st - 50% of prize pool
2nd - 25% of prize pool
3rd - 15% of prize pool
4th - 7% of prize pool
5th - 3% of prize pool

Specific details of the league rules and format all form part of the Paragon Common Rule Book.