KRFLConstitution

KRFL RULE BOOK

Last revised July 29, 2010

The Knute Rockne Football League exists to combine the most realistic football computer software with a realistic draft & salary cap scheme on a first-class website for the enjoyment of league members. The league hopes to attract 24 owners whose love and knowledge of football is only exceeded by their sportsmanship and mutual respect for their fellow owners. A special word of thanks to Mike Glander of BDBL baseball. Many of these rules are an attempt to duplicate the success Mike has had in using many of the same rules for his Big Daddy Baseball League (http://members.aol.com/bdbl1999/)>.

Founder and original commissioner Jim Doyle also used ideas from other leagues using Dave Koch's computer software including the Wasatch Football League, the Vince Lombardi Memorial Football League and the Off-Season Football League. Many thanks to the commissioners of these fine leagues.

Acting KRFL Commissioner	Ralph Fick
KRFL Webmaster	Steve Ward
KRFL Transaction/Stat Secretary	Jerry Banko
Acting KRFL Contracts Secretary	Jason Ley
Trade Commissioners	Jerry Banko, Cliff Dolgin, Jason Ley
Historian	Jim Rice

Table of Contents

1.0	Membership Requirements
2.0	The League Office
3.0	Dues and Fees
4.0	League Structure
5.0	Franchises
6.0	Roster Requirements
7.0	Free Agent and Rookie Drafts
8.0	Trades
9.0	Free Agents
10.0	Schedules
11.0	Game Instructions
12.0	Playoffs
13.0	Stadiums
14.0	Salary Cap
15.0	Protections
16.0	Contracts and Salaries
17.0	Pro Bowl Game
18.0	Expulsion

1.0 - MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

1.1 - All members must have a LEGAL copy of the most recent version of Action! PC Football Game that can be ordered at DKSPORTS.com.

1.2 - All owners are responsible for playing their HOME games (managed either by themselves or the computer manager when scheduled and e-mailing the results of these games and all necessary files to the Commissioner and the stat secretary by Monday 9 pm E.S.T. following the scheduled date for that week’s game.

1.3 - All members are encouraged to contribute to the league's web page, contributing news items, essays, a team logo or anything else remotely interesting.

1.4 - All members are responsible for creating and maintaining a team profile as outlined in various sections of Rule 11.

1.5 - All hosting owners are responsible for reporting the results of each weekly game. Owners should play head to head whenever possible but the visiting team can always elect to have the home team use the computer to manage his team for that particular week.

1.6 - All owners are required to meet all deadlines. All future deadlines and the league's upcoming calendar of events are always available on the league's website at the "Calendar of Events" link.

1.7 - All owners should be reachable by email and /or phone throughout the year, and should provide the league with an IM handle to facilitate game-play. The league will maintain and distribute a listing of email addresses, phone numbers, and IM's.

2.0 - THE LEAGUE OFFICE

2.1 - The Commissioner (Ralph Fick) oversees the operation of the league. He is responsible for ruling on any differences between league members and shall be the final authority on all rule issues. He is responsible for conducting and scheduling the drafts, dispersing the league's data disks and updating and revising the rulebook as necessary.

2.2 - The rulebook may not be altered except by amendment, or to codify or clarify procedures already in place.

2.3 - At the end of each season, owners are encouraged to suggest any changes and/or clarifications to the rulebook via the forum. Any amendment getting the support of three other owners shall be placed before the membership for a vote. Any amendment placed before the membership for a vote that gets a simple majority of owners voting (13 of 24, 10 of 17, etc.) is adopted into the rulebook for the next season or the season beyond.

2.4 - The Transaction/Stat Secretary is responsible for collecting transactions and stats from all members of the league as allowed in the rulebook. All issues regarding free agents, trades, stats or processing game results or game setups should be directed to the transactions secretary.

2.5 - The Contracts Secretary is responsible for collecting all contract decisions by KRFL owners, insuring owners meet the rules and guidelines stated herein, and reporting these decisions to the commissioner and Stats Secretary by the stated deadlines. The Contracts Secretary is also responsible for maintaining the master list of contracted players and ensuring all trades comply with salary cap rules, etc.

2.6 - The WebGuru is responsible for maintaining the league website and encouraging league owners to participate to the website.

2.7 - The current commissioner has a lifetime tenure and can only be removed by 10 or more owners voting to remove the commissioner. Any member can call for the vote at any time. In the event the 10 owners vote to remove the commissioner or the commissioner resigns, a replacement candidate must have the support of four other owners to be placed on the league ballot for commissioner. The league owners would vote on the nominees and a simple majority would win the election. In the event of a tie, a runoff election would be held between the two top candidates.

3.0 - DUES AND FEES

3.1 - There are no dues in the initial season other than the purchase of the football computer software at dksports.com.

3.2 - At the end of each season, following the KRFL Super Bowl, team owners will be asked to make voluntary contributions of $10.00 annually to defray the cost of the league website and message board.

4.0 - LEAGUE STRUCTURE

4.1 - The league is comprised of 24 teams divided into the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference. The American Football Conference includes the Shula, Halas, and Madden Divisions while the National Football Conference includes the Lombardi, Landry, and (Paul) Brown Divisions. The assignment of teams within a division will be based on the geographic location of the NFL stadium each franchise uses for its home games. Divisions will look like this:

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

MADDEN DIVISION: North Region

HALAS DIVISION: Central Region

SHULA DIVISION: Southern Region

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

LANDRY DIVISION: Eastern Region

LOMBARDI DIVISION: Central Region

LAMBEAU DIVISION: Western Region

4.2 - Teams in the AFC will remain in the AFC. Teams in the NFC will remain in the NFC.

4.3 - Teams will still be allowed to change stadiums every three years, if they wish (see "Rule 13 - Stadium Draft" for further details). New teams will be allowed to select a new stadium in the stadium draft the off-season they join.

5.0 - FRANCHISES

5.1 - Owners are responsible for selecting a name for their teams. Keep it short (Newark Bears, Salem Steers, etc.)

5.2 - Each team consists of a 52-man active roster and a rookie squad, which can exceed 10 rookies from the date of the rookie draft until the Final Cut Down date, generally a week or two prior to beginning of the next KRFL season. The rookie squad may not exceed 10 rookies on or after the Final Cut Down date.

5.3 - The active roster can only contain players listed on the player disk.

5.4 - The KRFL will allow returning players to be retained by their KRFL team on an inactive squad who missed the entire NFL season for whatever reason. A returning player is defined as a player whose rights were owned by the team the previous season (either on the active roster, the inactive squad or their rookie squad). Said player must be 'uncarded' by Dave Koch to be eligible for the inactive squad. These players should be designated by the owning team as inactive prior to or on the final cut-down date (typically in late April). While these designated inactive players salary will count against the cap, these designated inactive players will not count as one of the players on the team's 52-man active roster. Said player must remain assigned to the team's inactive squad for the entire season and cannot be traded or cut while designated as inactive. They will be flagged as 'inactive' in the game files and cannot play a down for the team. These player’s salaries and contracts (if any) remain the same and their salaries will count against the team's cap during the season they are inactive.

5.5 - The rookie squad can consist only of players taken in that year's NFL college draft.

6.0 - ROSTER REQUIREMENTS

6.1 - Players eligible for play within the KRFL shall be players listed in the current version of Action! PC Football for that season.

6.2 - At the start of each season, each owner must have at least the following number of attempts by skilled players on their rosters:

a. 400 pass attempts

b. 300 rushes

c. 200 receptions

d. 20 field goal attempts

e. 40 punts

f. 20 kickoff returns

g. 20 punt returns

6.3 - At the start of each game, each roster must include 52 players including the following minimum number of players at the following positions:

2 QBs

3 RBs

6 Rec (minimum of 1 TE)

7 OL (minimum 1C, 2OTs and 2OGs)

1 PK

1 Punter

6 Def Linemen (min of 2DTs and 2DEs)

6 LBs (minimum 1 ILB and 2 OLBs)

7 DBS (minimum 2CBs and 2Ss)

1 KR

1 PR

H backs can be used as TEs or RBs and LB/S can be used for either position

The purpose of this rule is to make sure that minimum requirements are met for each team to remain competitive but also to allow flexibility teams must have in constructing their 52 man roster, especially given the Action! game has positions for holders, and long snappers.

6.4 - Player Usage: The computer software will determine the extent of each player's usage given it automatically factors in durability, over-usage, injury, etc. and the league rulebook requires rosters to have a minimum number of attempts at the skilled positions. There is no league-mandated penalty for over-usage other than the fatigue rules built into the game.

6.5 - Teams which do not comply with Rule 6 roster requirements will be penalized $500K at the end of the draft period for next season's draft for each infraction, and the league office will assign players to team rosters that are not in compliance with rule requirements. Players will be assigned by alphabetical listing of free agents at the given position and players will be cut on the basis of the lowest salaried player and then by alphabetical order. Teams which make no reasonable attempt to comply with the roster requirements will risk expulsion from the league.

7.0 - FREE AGENT AND ROOKIE DRAFTS

7.1 - Only players appearing on the Action! PC Football disk are eligible to be drafted during the free agent draft.

7.2 - The free agent and rookie draft will occur each on a date or dates selected by the commissioner. Drafts will be conducted on-line via Aol Instant Messenger, forum or some similar communication.

7.3 - During live drafts, all owners are responsible for being in the draft room at the specified time and date. If an owner is not in the room at the time of his pick, the league will have the computer make the pick. After each round of the draft, if an owner does not make his pick by the prescribed deadline, the league will have the computer make all missed picks for the owner in order that the rest of the draft may proceed without delay.

7.4 - An owner may have someone else make a pick for him if he is unable to be present.

7.5 - In the initial year draft, there will be a random order of selection for league teams. In all future years, all non-playoff teams will be ranked on the following tie-breaking factors:

a. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games among the clubs)

b. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division

c. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games

d. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference

e. Strength of victory

f. Strength of schedule

g. Best net points in common games

h. Coin toss

7.5a - The bottom four teams of this tie-breaking formula will use a lottery system involving the NY State lottery numbers to determine the final draft order for the poorest four teams.

Each team will be assigned every fourth number from 1-56 based on their seeded position, and the NY State lottery drawing on a date to be announced in advance will determine the draft order. For example, let's assume Newark is the poorest team. Newark would be assigned the numbers 1-5-9-13-17...etc. Hedonic might be assigned the numbers 2-6-10-14-18... Manchester might be assigned the numbers 3-7-11-15-19...Kendall might be assigned the numbers 4-8-12-16-20...etc.

Now let's assume the lottery date was January 3rd. The actual numbers in the actual lotto drawing for that drawing were: 3 - 13 - 19 - 31 - 32 - 34

Thus, the team assigned the number 3 would draft first in this example (Manchester). The team assigned the number 13 (Newark) would draft second. The team assigned the numbers 19 and 31 (Manchester) is already drafting first, so we skip those numbers. The team assigned the number 32 is Kendall, so they would draft 3rd. The team drafting 4th must then be Hedonic, under this example.

If we need additional numbers to determine all four places (unlikely), we could use the following week's lottery numbers for the remaining teams.

Since the NY lotto lottery uses numbers from 1-59, we would exclude numbers 57-58-59, otherwise the teams assigned number 1, 2, or 3 would have an extra chance of winning.

7.5b - The 10 middle teams (non-lottery and non-playoff) will be ranked based on the tie breaking factors noted above.

7.5c - The 10 playoff teams will be ranked based on the reverse order of where they finished in the playoffs. Playoffs teams, which finished at the same level, will use the tie breaking factors to determine order. Therefore, the Super Bowl winner drafts last, the Super Bowl loser next to last, etc.

7.6 - Cut Down Day is approximately one week prior to the draft. Rosters must be trimmed to the number of players and the total salaries defined in Rule 15.1. All contracts are to be announced by this date or the owner loses his rights to the team.

7.7 - On Cut Down Day, each owner must decide whether to activate any players from his prior year's rookie squad or release them into the free agency pool for the upcoming free agent draft. Activated rookies will be assigned a salary based on the round they were drafted in per the scale listed in rule 16.4a.

7.8 - Each draft (Rookie and Free Agent) will proceed in the same order for every round until the draft is completed.

7.9 - An owner may pass during any round of the free agent draft, but must eventually fill all 52-roster spots while staying under the salary cap. For examples, if you do not wish to pay $10 million for a franchise player or you cannot afford to pay $10 million for said player, you can pass during round one.

7.10 - The free agent draft will continue for as many rounds as needed until all teams have filled their rosters.

7.11 - The rookie draft will precede the free agent draft and proceed in the same manner as the free agent draft with the exception that college players drafted in the rookie draft will not have a salary assigned to them that counts against the cap in the year they are drafted.

7.12 - All owners are responsible for keeping track of their team's total salary during the draft. During the draft, each team's salary will also be tracked by the league. If any owner exceeds the salary cap limits, the owner will lose the fewest number of free agent players just drafted necessary to get under that salary cap maximum limit. For example, if an owner goes $200,000 over the cap, he will lose two $100,000 players. If he goes $1 million over the cap, he will lose one $1 million dollar player. The last player chosen in the draft at the required salary range will be the first player released.

7.13 - Any player automatically released due to the infraction described in Rule 7.12 above may not be re-acquired by the same owner as a free agent during the remainder of the season.

7.14 - If a new owner inherits a team from an owner who incurred salary cap penalties for any reason, then those penalties will be eliminated.

7.15 - Trading is not allowed between Cut Down Day and Draft Day. Trading may resume the split second the free agent draft ends.

7.16 - The KRFL Rookie Draft Picks are limited to NFL rookies actually selected in that year's NFL draft.

7.17 - All teams are assigned 1 pick per each of the 10 rounds in the rookie draft as allowed under rule 7.7.

7.18 - Draft choices may be acquired by trade, and teams may draft as many rookies as they have draft choices.

7.19 - Once the free agent draft ends, teams may trade the rights to any drafted rookie if they so choose.

7.20 - On the final cut-down day, shortly before the beginning of the next KRFL season, on a date to be announced by the commissioner (see the league calendar of events), teams will freeze their respective rookie squads. This will occur approximately three months after the KRFL rookie draft. At this point you cannot trade nor release rookie players. The season will be played with the rookie rosters frozen. Then after the completion of the season, and after the Super Bowl and before the new trading period opens, on a date to be announced by the commissioner (see the league calendar of events), teams that acquired over 10 rookies, must cut down to 10.

8.0 – TRADES

8.1 - The deadline for all trades (and waiver claims) is Monday, noon E.S.T. Those transactions are effective for the next scheduled week's games. All games must be played and results reported by Monday evening at 10 pm Eastern time of each week.

8.2 - No trading will be allowed after week 6 in a given season. Trades will be next allowed on a date announced by the commissioner after the KRFL Super Bowl.

8.3 - No trading will be allowed between the preliminary Cut Down Day and the end of the free agent draft.

8.4 - Any trade may be vetoed by the trade commission, if, in their judgment, the trade is not in the best interest of the KRFL. The veto must be unanimous.

8.5 - Players may be traded for other players or for draft picks. No money (real or fantasy) or players to be named later or other gimmicks or loopholes will be allowed.

8.6 - One manager should place the unofficial trade on the forum page and the other manager will confirm the trade. The trade will become official when a member of the trade commission confirms the trade on the forum page. If the forum is not functioning, the same process will take place by email and the commission will confirm the trade to all league members via email and/or via the transaction page. Participants in a trade should notify the trade committee when posting a trade.

8.7 - Teams may discuss trades at any time but trades can only be made official and final during trading periods.

9.0 - WAIVER CLAIM FREE AGENTS

9.1 - Once the season starts, any player appearing on the most recent Action! PC Football disk that does not appear on any team's 52-man roster is considered a potential waiver claim free agent. Waiver claims are not allowed prior to the first week of the season. Wavier claims prior to the trade deadline (currently week 6) are permanent. Players selected prior to and including this deadline may be retained on a team's roster for possible signing as a FA the next year. Waiver additions after the trade deadline are temporary. These players will return to the FA pool at the conclusion of the season.

9.2 - All waiver claim free agent must meet the Monday, noon E.S.T. deadline to be considered valid for the next week's games.

9.3 - After the first week of play only, Waiver Claim Free Agents will be awarded based on the previous season's standings, with the poorest team drafting first, etc. After the second week of play, Waiver Claim Free agents will be awarded based upon each teams current:

a. winning percentage

b. head-to-head

c. division wins

d. conference wins

e. net points

f. power rankings

9.4 - Teams are limited to obtaining a maximum of two waiver claim free agents after KRFL weeks one thru sixteen during the KRFL regular season. No waiver claims are allowed during the playoffs. Before each deadline, each owner should submit a list in order of preference of any number of waiver wire free agents he wishes to choose and the 2 players he wishes to release from his active roster. Transaction requests should be emailed to the transaction secretary and commissioner. Any owner who fails to post a list by the deadline forfeits his right to participate in the waiver claim process for that week.

9.5 - There is a 24-hour period directly following the transaction deadline where owners may appeal any decisions made by the Transaction Secretary. No appeals may be made after the deadline has expired.

10.0 - SCHEDULES

10.1 - The regular season will consist of 16 games.

10.2 - Each team will be assigned an abbreviated ID for the schedule based on the Division (Lombardi, Landry, Lambeau, Madden, Halas, and Shula) and the place where they finished within the division. In the first year, teams will be assigned a divisional number. Once all teams have been assigned, a complete schedule with team names will be published. The schedule will require everyone to play home and away games against divisional foes and allow for inter-conference play. The schedule will rotate every year so that each team will face every team in the league at least once every three years (assuming no movement from division to division due to stadium changes).

10.3 - See the website link "Future Schedules" for the projected schedule for all future years. Please note that as teams move from one division to another (due to stadium changes); their projected schedule will change as well.

11.0 - GAME INSTRUCTIONS

11.1 - The commissioner or transaction secretary will send the disk containing the league organization to each coach. This league disk must be used to play league games. The league disk must not be altered in any way except by direction of the commissioner, or the non-hosting coach for team unit moves.

11.2 - The configuration Screen should be set as follows:

Configuration Setting

Visiting Team Human

Home Team computer/human

Comp v Comp Speed Regular

Game Type League

Box Score Expanded

Play Speed Optional

Zoom None

Stadium Home team

Month Scheduled month

Receive/Kick First Half Receive

11.3 - Fill Out your lineups

11.4 - Click Coach to program your Offensive and Defensive Coaches.

11.5 - Click Coach/Player Usage and designate the usage for your players.

11.6 - When completed, please recheck your team, coaches and player usage to verify it is correct.

11.7 - Make sure the commissioner has a zip file for your team to use as default instructions for the league disk.

11.8 - Goal Posts are set behind the end line.

11.9 - Field Goals miss-line=Spot Kickoff

11.10 - Home field Advantage = Set at 3 for all teams.

11.11 - Two Point Conversions=Yes

11.12 - Injuries=Yes

11.13 - Special Teams Usage Penalties=Yes in regular season, Yes in post-season

11.13a - QB Game Usage Penalties=No in regular season, Yes in post-season

11.14 - Game Fatigue=Yes (both game and season usage penalty boxes should be checked)

11.15 - Ten Minute Ticker=No

11.16 - Audibles are permitted, and shall be set at 3/Half in the Game Engine’s rules window.

11.17 - Weather effects will be used for all games.

11.18 - All stadiums will be assigned a Home Field Advantage varying from 1 to 4. See rule 11.10 above and this link: http://krfl.org/AllTimeRecords.html

11.19 - No limits on onside kicks, hurry up, or slow down offenses. If the play clock is clicked, unclick it; the play clock should not be used.

11.20 - Overtimes will be used in the KRFL.

11.21 - At the start of each solo game, BEFORE any plays are called, the hosting team MUST make any requested roster and lineup moves requested by the non-hosting team before the computer makes decisions. Obviously, the hosting team can make its own changes when playing face-to-face. All teams are encouraged to play face-to-face given the software has an Internet function that allows Internet play without the use of any 3rd party software. These rules will apply:

11.22 - The home team is designated the host team and has the right to host the game. If for some reason the home team does want not to, or cannot host the game, the visiting team may host. The team that ends up hosting the game is responsible for emailing the commissioner with the game file on time.

11.23 - Both teams are responsible for contacting, scheduling, and playing their game with their opponent each week by the deadline.

11.24 - Teams having trouble contacting, scheduling, or playing their opponent a particular week should notify the commissioner ASAP and seek a substitute (and please do NOT wait until the last minute). Rule of thumb: If you contact your opponent via email, and do not hear back in 48 hours, seek a substitute on the forum. If you get stood up once, seek a substitute on the forum. If the team has missed internet games in the past, and you contact them by Wednesday, seek a substitute on the forum by Thursday. Any game that has not been played by the Monday night deadline regardless of the circumstances will be *simmed*.

11.25 - This is a head-to-head league but there are going to extenuating circumstances when owners will be unable to play their game a particular week. Please let your opponent know ASAP if you will not be able to play them head-to-head a particular week.

11.26 - A substitute coach may be used for your team if you are unable to coach your game a particular week. If you plan on needing a substitute coach please let the commissioner and your opponent know as soon as possible. Only other members of the KRFL may be used as substitute coaches. Please use this rule sparingly. A game played via the internet utilizing a sub counts as an internet game played for both coaches for the purposes of the penalties spelled out below.

11.27 - While an occasional occurrence of "not being able to play due to extenuating circumstances (like "my dog ate my internet access") will be accepted, absentee ownership will not. Any team that makes a *practice* of not playing their games head-to-head will be subject to removal from the league by the commissioner DURING THE SEASON. No owner will be removed from the league for this reason without a written warning first. Emergencies come up and certain situations arise that are beyond our control. That's not what this is referring to. Rule of thumb, after your third miss, expect to hear from the commissioner.

11.28 - Penalties for failure to play sufficient internet games:

11:28.1 - Guidelines for scheduling games
The typical KRFL week runs from Tuesday to Monday with league files distributed on Tuesday. Since the weekly schedule is available both on the website and in the game, initial contact between members for the upcoming week's games should be made prior to midnight Wednesday of the current week. Game times should be agreed upon and scheduled by midnight Thursday to be considered as good faith attempts to schedule a game. Good faith attempts at scheduling require two emails and a minimum of three possible suggested game times. Note: When contacting an opponent, please use private email so that your message isn't sent to the entire league. E-mail addresses are readily available in the game file and on the website

11:28.1.1 - Simply stated, if you've emailed your opponent twice with a minimum of three suggested game times, AND you haven't received ANY reply, you may seek a substitute as per rule 11:28.2.

11:28.1.2 - If BOTH members have made good faith efforts to communicate but are unable to negotiate a mutually compatible scheduled game time by the midnight Thursday deadline, they BOTH forfeit the opportunity to seek a substitute as per 11:28.2. That leaves BOTH teams with 96 hours between midnight Thursday and midnight Monday to negotiate a mutually acceptable game time.

11:28.2 - Seeking a Substitute
If a member has met the deadlines in rule 11:28.1 and not received a reply by midnight Thursday, they can seek a substitute by posting on the league website or by posting an email via the KRFL yahoo group. This leaves a public record available to the Commissioner in case of disputes. Requests should include a range of a possible game times. Such requests should be made by midnight Friday at the latest to be considered as good faith attempts to find a substitute.

11:28.2.1 - If a member seeking a substitute gets multiple offers to sub they should sort volunteers accordingly:

a: first choice should be a player from another conference.
b. second choice should be a player from another division in the same conference.
c. last choice should be a player from the same division.

11:28.2.2 - Members who have made good faith but unsuccessful attempts to schedule a game where their opponent has failed to reply are not obligated to seek a substitute and will not be penalized for non-play that week if they inform both the commissioner and league statistician by email of the situation by Saturday of that week. They still retain the option of seeking a substitute but aren't obligated to do so. If they do choose to seek a sub but are unable to find one at a compatible time, no penalty will be incurred.

11:28.3 - Getting Credit for playing as a Substitute
To gain credit for playing as a substitute, a member should send an email to BOTH the Commissioner and the League Statistician noting that they filled in that week. Due date is the same as the deadline for submitting game files. Format: Week "X", "Team" subbed for "Team." Example: "Week 2, Rolling Green subbed for Green Bay."

11:28.4 - Tabulating the Non-Play/Substitute members
The league statistician will keep a running tally of reports made as per 11:28.3 that will be posted quarterly through the season and at the conclusion of the regular season. This report will also include games where both teams fail to play and had to be simmed by the commissioner.

11:28.5 - Challenging a non-play assessment
Members have one week after the quarterly posting of the Non-Play/Substitute tally to appeal a non-play assessment to the commissioner by providing email and website documentation. Appeals must meet the requirement of "good faith attempts" as noted in 11:28.1 and 11:28.2. The commissioner's decision is final.

11:28.5.1 - In the unusual event that two members have made sufficient attempts but fail to reach a mutually acceptable game time, they should both inform the Commissioner to avoid the non- play penalty.

11:28.6 - Penalties for non-participation
These penalties are cumulative:

If you play only 13 games via the internet you will lose your 5th round rookie pick and $.5 million off your cap.

If you play only 12 games via the internet you will also lose your 4th round rookie pick and another $.5 million off your cap.

If you play only 11 games via the internet you will also lose your 3rd round rookie pick and another $1 million off your cap.

If you play only 10 games via the internet you will also lose your 2nd round rookie pick and another $1 million off your cap.

If you play only 9 games via the internet you will also lose your 1st round rookie pick and another $2 million off your cap.

If you play fewer than 9 games via the internet you will dropped from the league.

11:28.7 - Guidelines for Substitutes
Substitutes are expected to play as if they were the team owner, taking into consideration reasonable usage of personnel and giving a full effort to win, Substitutes who violate the standards of good sportsmanship and the trust they have acting as temporary caretakers of a team will be subject to penalty determined by the Commissioner that may include loss of future salary funds and/or rookie draft choices.

11:28.8 - Rewards for Volunteer substitutes
After the conclusion of the season and before the rookie draft, the commissioner will hold a lottery using the information provided by the league statistician (11:28.5). For each game played as a substitute, the member who volunteered will be given one credit. Credits earned will be entered into a random lottery to distribute rookie draft choices given up by teams penalized for non-participation.

11:28.9 - Waiver of Penalties for New Owners
New members assuming the ownership of a penalized franchise are absolved of all accumulated penalties. Rookie draft choices given up by the previous owner through penalty will be added as supplemental picks in each applicable draft round. Example: Round 1 draft choices awarded in the random lottery (11.28.8) will be added as picks 25, 26, etc.

11.29 - If you do not have the rookie pick to lose (because it was previously traded), you will lose the next best pick (e.g., if you should lose your fifth rounder, but don't have a fifth rounder, you lose your fourth instead). If you have two picks in a given round, you will lose the lesser of the two in that round (e.g., if you have the 3rd and 15th pick in the fourth round and the penalty is loss of a fourth round rookie pick, you lose the 15th pick).

11.30 - The Action game counts the number of internet games and includes them in the standings in the form of a won-loss record under the "internet" column. The sum of the wins and losses in the "internet" column at the conclusion of the season will be utilized to determine the number of games played via the internet for the purposes of the penalties above. If you believe there is an error in that total, please report it to the commissioner ASAP along with your internet opponent for the game in question (standings are updated weekly during the season). The commissioner will investigate and credit you with an additional game played if your opponent confirms the game was played via the internet.

11.31 - KO Line: 30-yard line.

11.32 - Penalty Factor: 3

11.33 - The Replay Challenge rule will be used in the KRFL. Set Replay Challenge to YES. Exception: If both coaches agree not to use it, then it may be turned off.

11.34 - The HOST team (generally the visiting team) is responsible for reporting all stats to the league office.

11.35 - EXPORTING GAME RESULTS

Exporting computer coach:

On the opening game screen (the white with green rectangles).

1--at top, click on 'utilities'.

2--when that opens, click on 'export coach'.

3--click on your team until the * (asterisk) appears by it

4--choose the export location (for this example, I will choose 'My Documents'. You can get there by double-clicking on the 'C:\'. You can save it wherever you wish; but this is more accessible for the second phase, so I prefer it.

5--click on 'begin export'.

6--go to your computer desktop (your opening screen) and click on the 'My Documents"

icon

7--inside, you should find an icon with your team name under it followed by .COA; right click on this and choose 'zip and e-mail'. It is best to zip it, because unzipped files have tended to corrupt in the past. On the e-mail created, send it to -email-and -email-.

8--click on 'KRFL' in the box to save it there....

9--click on 'begin export'

10--go to computer desktop and click on 'My Computer', then on 'C' (assuming C is your hard drive), then on 'Program Files', then on 'Action 2008', then on 'KRFL', inside that folder you should find an icon labeled with your team name followed by .COA; right click on this, and choose 'zip and e-mail.

Exporting game files:

The process is exactly the same as exporting coach above, except that under 'utilities' you will select 'export game' and follow the same procedures. The file you will be looking for in step 6+7 will be an icon labeled like SD19 BAL10.XBX. This file will only appear on the host computer, so they are the only ones that can export it; it will not exist on the opponent's computer.

Importing computer coaching file or game files:

You rarely will need to do this since all managers and game files will be included on the master file sent out each week. If your opponent makes a last-second change and sends you a revised coaching file, When you get that and unzip it, click extract and choose C:\Program Files\Action2008\KRFL as the destination. Then under utilities, click on Import Coach and navigate to the saved file from the brouse pop-up box. If you really want to import games as people send them, save them to the location of your choice, then under 'utilities' again, click import games and choose from the list it provides.

12.0 - PLAYOFFS

12.1 - The three divisional champions in each conference and the two teams with the top winning percentages of the remaining conference teams qualify for the playoffs. Ties will be broken using the following tie-breakers:

a. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games among the clubs)

b. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division

c. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games

d. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference

e. Strength of victory

f. Strength of schedule

g. Best net points in common games

h. Coin toss

The three divisional champions in each conference will get a bye the first playoff week. The two remaining wildcard teams in each conference will face each other with the wildcard team that has the better record (seeded 4th) being the host team. The following weekend, the division champion with the best record in each conference will host the conference wildcard team that won the preceding weekend. The remaining two divisional champions in each conference will play each other, with the higher-ranked divisional winner hosting the remaining divisional winner. In the event teams have an equal winning percentage, the tie breaking factors mentioned in Rule 7.5 will be used for tie breaker determination. Divisional champions retain home field priority throughout the playoffs until the Super Bowl, which will take place at a neutral field. The neutral field will be the same field the NFL used for the Super Bowl for the NFL season we are replaying. For example, after the NFL 2007 season, the NFL Super Bowl was held in Arizona. Therefore, the KRFL Super Bowl following the KRFL 2008 season will likewise be played in Arizona. Of two divisional champions meet in the playoffs, the team with the better record is the home team.

12.2 - These changes will be made to the setup spelled out in rules 11.0 thru 11.27.

Season Usage Penalties = Yes in regular season, No in post-season***
Mild - 110%
Moderate - 115%
Major - 120%

Game Usage Penalties = Yes in both regular season & post-season
Mild - 15%
Moderate - 30%
Major - 45%

Injuries – Yes to all in regular season & post-season
Realistic multi-game
Temporary in-game/fatigue
Pre-set injuries
Post-game injuries

Clarification: *** Some leagues re-set their stats to zero but then you must manually adjust for the carry-over injuries into playoffs. Other leagues don’t re-set their stats, which insures no issues with carry-over injuries. Whatever is recommended by the person responsible for the League File should be followed.

12.3 - Given the league relies on the software to prevent overuse of players, injuries will carry over throughout the regular season, the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

12.4 - The Super Bowl will be played on a neutral field. The field will be chosen by a majority vote of team owners out of 2 fields nominated by the commissioner. In the case of a tie, a coin flip will determine the field.

12.4 - No site will be used for two consecutive Super Bowls.

13.0 - STADIUMS

13. 1 - In their first off-season opportunity, new coaches may select any stock stadium available with the Action Game Engine as their Home Field (becomes effective in upcoming season) that is not already claimed by an existing KRFL team.

13.2 - A team must play in the same stadium for a minimum of 3 years absent a change in the KRFL team owner.

13.4 - KRFL owners cannot use the same NFL stadiums.

13.5 - The name and weather effects of the given NFL stadium will be used during the KRFL

season.

13.6 - PLEASE REVIEW THE GAME RATINGS FOR EACH NFL STADIUM GIVEN EACH STADIUM HAS UNIQUE WEATHER EFFECTS, WHICH MAY DETERMINE WHAT TYPE OF TEAM YOU DRAFT, ETC.

14.0 - SALARY CAP

14.1 - A strict off-season salary cap shall be set at $83 million for each team. A team may go above the cap during the season but their in-season salaries must not exceed $93million during the season or post-season, and it must be at or below this cap following the completion of the season. In other words, at the conclusion of the Super Bowl, teams over the cap must release the minimum number of players necessary to go below the cap and to be permitted to begin off season trading. A team can wait to go below the $83 million salary until the next season disk comes out but it will not be allowed to make any off season trades until it goes below the $83 million salary cap.

14.2 - Players drafted in the college draft and placed on the rookie squad do not have a salary while on the rookie squad, as they are drafted one year prior to first playing in the KRFL. Therefore, rookie salaries do not count against the $83 million offseason cap or $93 million in-season cap because they are not yet signed by their respective teams, the teams own their rights only. At the completion of the KRFL season following their draft, rookies become the property of their teams, and their salaries count against the in-season and off-season cap.

14.3 - The cap really isn't all that complicated if you think about it. You can't have more than $70 million in future contracted salary at any time, you can't have more than $83 million in present-day salary during the draft and you can't have more than $93 million in present day salary from the end of the draft to the end of the season. That's all there is to it.

15.0 - PROTECTIONS

15.1 - A team must protect a minimum of twenty-two players from the previous season at a total combined salary of not more than 70 million.

15.2 - If a team is unable to protect the minimum number of players as defined in 15.1, the team will be penalized $1 million from the salary cap for each player under the minimum.

15.3 - Any player whose contract has not expired must be protected except as noted in Rule 16.10.

15.4 - All rookies from the preceding year must be signed to their option year rookie salary or be released into the free agent pool.

16.0 - CONTRACTS AND SALARIES

16.1 - A player's initial salary is determined by the manner in which the player was acquired.

16.2 - Players acquired through the Free Agent draft (either inaugural or subsequent) are assigned an option year salary as follows:

Round 1: 10 million

Rounds 2-3: 7.5 million

Rounds 4-6: 5 million

Rounds 7-9: 4 million

Rounds 10-12: 3 million

Rounds 13-17: 2 million

Rounds 18-22: 1 million

Rounds 23-27: 500K

Rounds 28-32: 300K

Rounds 33-50: 100K

16.3 - There are 3 types of players on a KRFL roster:

a. contract players under contract (identified as 'VET'on the team contract page)

b. Option year players playing in their option year ('FA' or '05 Rookie')

c. Rookie players drafted in the college draft with no salary ('06 Rookie')

16.4a - No rookie free agents will be allowed to be acquired during any season. The only way to acquire a rookie is via a trade with another owner who has drafted the given rookie. However, given a team should have the right to rebuild a team by acquiring already drafted rookies via trade, the rookie squad's maximum may exceed 10 rookies prior to the final cutdown date. It must not exceed 10 players on or after the final cutdown date.

All rookies drafted in the initial 2001 draft shall have 500k salaries.

As for future rookie drafts, all future rookie drafts will be held for 10 rounds. Salaries will be assigned as follows:

Round 1	Selection 1 - 4	$1.5m
	Selection 5 - 8	$1.25m
	Selection 9 - 12	$1.0m
	Selection 13 - 18	$800k
	Selection 19 - 24	$700k
Round 2	Selection 25 - 36	$600k
	Selection 37 - 48	$500k
Round 3		$400k
Round 4		$300k
Round 5		$200k
Rounds 6-10		$100k

Said salaries will go into effect the KRFL year following the rookie draft.

The Preliminary Cut Down Day will occur on a date to be announced by the commissioner (generally late April or early May), before the next rookie and free agent drafts and KRFL owners will have to either place the prior year's drafted rookies on their active rosters or release them into the free agent pool.

KRFL owners are not required to carry any minimum number of rookies on their rookie squad but the maximum number may not exceed 10 after the Final Cutdown Date immediately prior to the beginning of the season.

Players eligible for the annual KRFL rookie draft will be those players actually selected in the NFL draft that year. The rookie draft will be held on a date or dates announced by the commissioner, generally in mid-May.

The draft order of KRFL teams will be based on the same formula stated in Rule 7.5a above.

16.4b - A Player's option year salary expires at the end of the season in which his option year began. The KRFL owner has three options, which he may exercise between the end of the season and the preliminary cutdown date:

a. Release the player into the free agent draft

b. Sign the player to a multi-year contract starting at the same initial salary or

c. Sign the player to a one-year contract at the same initial salary.

16.5 - Players signed to a contract will automatically become free agents at the expiration of their contracts, unless the Franchise tag is applied to the player or the Free Agent Tender Offer is invoked .

Franchise Tag:
One player may be tagged as a franchise player per year, per team. A player under contract for a minimum of 3 years, and has zero years remaining, can be afforded the franchise tag. This would happen before the start of the FA draft. The franchised player gets a salary equal to the average of the 5 highest paid players at his position, according to KRFL salaries. If that averaged salary is lower than his previous year's salary, the previous year's salary will be used instead. If the player is carded at multiple positions, the position that has the highest average will be used. The franchised player then becomes just like the players marked in white at the bottom of the spreadsheet (FA). The salary average for the 5 highest paid players per position will be calculated after the FA draft for the next season.

Free Agent Tender Offer - Allows teams to keep select veterans whose contract has expired (effective following 2004 KRFL season):

16.5a - This rule only applies to players who have been signed to contracts of 3 years or more, who will be called "eligible players".

Proposed: 16.5b - When the contract of one of these eligible players is up, and the player would otherwise re-enter the free agent pool as an unrestricted free agent, the team that owned his contract is allowed to make a successful "tender offer" to no more than 2 of these eligible players in a given year. If a tender offer is made, the player then becomes a restricted free agent. Either 2 successful tenders or 1 franchise tag and 1 successful tender are allowed.

16.5c - The two players to be tendered (but not the dollar amount of the tender) must be announced the same day that the team submits its final roster cuts and contracts to the league.

16.5d - The tender offer is the dollar amount that the team is willing to sign the eligible player to a contract (10 million, 7.5 million, 5 million, etc.). Or, put another way, the tender offer is the dollar amount corresponding to the round in which the team declares they would pick the player (10 million - 1st round; 7.5 million - 2nd round; 5 million - 4th round; etc).

16.5e - The restricted free agent then becomes eligible to be taken during the free agent draft by any team willing to pay MORE than the tender offer price.

16.5f - A tender offer is treated as a legally-binding contract. Therefore, once the original team makes the tender offer, it cannot be rescinded or modified in any fashion. The team making the offer will automatically keep the restricted free agent (or agents) at the tender offer amount, unless another team has drafted the player at a higher dollar amount.

16.5g - The tender offer dollar amount must be announced during the free agent draft, and before the player is selected by another team. Effective for 2008 Free Agent Draft: No tender offer greater than $7.5m can be offered (in other words, all players must go through at least the $10m free agent round [round one of the free agent draft]). A tender offer of $10m should be announced prior to the start of the free agent draft, or during the first round, as long as the player is not yet selected by another team. A tender offer of $7.5m should be announced at the conclusion of the lone $10m round, or during the $7.5m rounds, as long as the player is not yet selected by another team. A tender offer of $5m should be announced at the conclusion of the $7.5m rounds (at the end of round three), or during the $5m rounds, as long as the player is not yet selected by another team. The same procedure would apply for all subsequent rounds.

16.5h - For purposes of salary cap configuration, an accepted tender offer will be treated as if the team that made the offer drafted the restricted free agent in the corresponding round (Example - a $7.5 million accepted offer is treated as if the player was taken in the 2nd round; a $5 million accepted offer is treated as if the player was taken in the 4th round, etc.)

16.5i - No team can make a tender offer which, if accepted, would put their total salary amount over the $83 million cap.

Here is an example to explain it. I have three players who were signed to 4-year contracts that have now expired, Player A, Player B and Player C. When I submit my roster and cutdowns, I indicate that I will be making a tender offer to Player A and Player B. Player A and Player B are now "restricted free agents" and re-enter the draft. Since I made no tender offer to Player C, he re-enters the free agent pool as an unrestricted free agent.

The day of the draft comes along, and the $5 million dollar rounds come and go, and no team selects Player A. At the end of the 5 million dollar rounds, I announce I will tender Player A at $4m. Player A automatically is added to my roster with a $4 million salary (as if I drafted him in the first $4 million round). I intend to tender Player B at $3m, but during the $4 million rounds, Manchester selects Player B (seeing an opportunity to select a player who we both like very much at an appropriate price). Manchester then gets Player B at $4 million, and my intended tender for Player B at $3 million is not accepted.

16.6 - Multi-year contracts may be for as many years as an owner desires.

16.7 - The salary of a player with a multi-year contract of no more than four years will increase 1 million per every additional year. For example, a player with an initial salary of $500k signed to a four year contract will have salaries of $500k, $1.5 million, $2.5 million, and $3.5 million during the four years.

16.8 - Players signed to contracts of 5 years or more will have yearly increases of 1.5 million per year. So a player with an initial contract of $500k signed to a 5-year contract will have salaries of $500k, $2 million, $3.5 million, $5 million and $6.5 million for the relevant years.

16.9 - There is a $10 million cap on all salaries in the KRFL. Therefore, players with an initial salary of $10 million may be signed for as many years as a KRFL owner desires at the $10 million salary level. Another example would be a $5 million initial salary player signed to a 7 year contract would have salaries of $5 million, $6.5 million, $8 million, $9.5 million, $10 million, $10 million and $10 million for the respective years.

16.10 - An owner may only release a player under contract if:

a. The team pays a fine equaling half of the player's salary over the life of his contract (Payable and deducted from the cap at the next draft).

b. The player may be released without fine if the player played in no more than 3 NFL games in the prior disk season.

For example, if a player played in 4 NFL games in the prior season and had 2 years remaining on his contract for 4 million and 5 million, the owner may release him by paying a 4.5 million fine.

16.11 - Players retain their contract status upon trade.

16.12 - Any new owner who inherits a team from another owner may terminate any player's contract without penalty. These players will be immediately released into the free agent pool. This applies only to players on the owner's team at the time the new owner takes over. The owner must announce any contract-terminated players before the start of the next transaction period. Note: For an owner taking over after the free agent draft or during the season, cuts of this nature will be allowed only after the season. This is to encourage the new owner to attempt to field a competitive squad for the remainder of the season. Cuts of veterans in-season by new coaches will be fined as per rules 16.10 above. Trades of veteran players in-season by new owners renders them ineligible to utilize this rule at the end of the season (again, to encourage the new owner to attempt to field a competitive squad).

16.13 - Any player who is playing under his initial salary and not under contract will retain his initial salary through the end of the year regardless of whether or not the player has been released to the free agent pool.

16.14 - The salary and contract status for any player not occupying a spot on a KRFL roster at the end of the season will be reset. No player acquired through the free agent draft will have a prior contract or salary attached to him.

16.15 - Any player acquired as a free agent after the initial free agent draft (e.g. a waiver claim free agent) and not subject to an existing assigned salary will be assigned an initial salary of $500k.

17.0 - EXPULSION

17.1 - Intentional disregard for the articles and bylaws of this rulebook will result in immediate expulsion from the Knute Rockne Football League.

17.2 - Throwing games on purpose in order to gain a better draft position the following year will result in a 1 million dollar fine against the cap, a loss of between five and ten positions in the draft and possible expulsion from the League.