This league was formed in order to allow for strategies to play out over the course of many seasons, as teams can choose to keep as many players on their roster as they'd like. This nuance in the rules has far reaching implications in how we each decide to play the game, from evaluating and developing younger talent to trading future draft picks to having nearly any creative approach we can devise.

In order to focus on the core notion of dynasty play, the payout system will put 40% of each season's total prize fund into a jointly-owned savings account, and the first team to earn 30 Championship Points will receive the main prize, plus interest. This savings account will be jointly held by multiple owners. I think Scott and Bob were willing to do so?

Teams can keep as many players on their roster as they wish from season to season. They lose draft picks for each player that is kept, so if a team keeps 5 players then they don't have a draft pick until the 6th round.

There is no minimum number of players that must be kept from season to season.

These deadlines are in place from season to season:

January 1: Receive annual Quid deposit. Pay $60: annual $50 dues, $10 towards future seasons.

February 15: Free Agency bidding session.

June 15: Finalize rules updates, if any.

July 15: Declare list of kept players.

August 1: The Draft

Note that for this first season, we have a modified schedule. See Resetting the League, below.

The annual cost to play will be $50.

The end of season prize fund will be $600 and will be distributed in the following manner:

Master Prize Fund: $240
1st Place: $140
2nd Place: $100
3rd Place: $70
4th Place: $50

At the end of each season, the league bank account will add $240 for the grand prize plus $120 for future dues ($10 per team).

There will be 12 teams with the new league format, with the top six teams making it to the playoffs. In order to have the championship game happen in Week 16, the regular season needs to be 13 weeks long.

The league is divided into 3 divisions with 4 teams each. Each team plays everyone in their division twice and everyone else once, with the exception that there will be one random non-divisional team each year that does not have a matchup. This is to achieve the 13 week season, and yet also have divisions be large enough (4 teams vs 3 teams) that the playoff determinations really are the best teams.

In addition, every team plays against the entire league each week, with the top six scoring teams receiving another Win. This additional "meta game" will further help to reduce the role of "weaker" divisions as well as fairly reward teams that consistently score well but have that unfortunate circumstance of facing the highest scoring team that week, etc.

At the end of the regular season, the team with the best overall record in their division is the divisonal winner and makes it to the playoffs. The other three playoff teams are at-large and are also based on overall record. The three divisional winners get seeds #1-#3, and the wildcard teams get seeds #4-#6. Hometown advantage (+2) exists in the playoffs (but not the Championship game).

Teams rosters are limited to 24 players and one IR slot.

In addition, teams must have two IDP's for each position during the regular season. That means two DL's, two LB's and two DB's. This results in teams having no more than 18 offensive skill players at any one time. This is the only requirement in terms of roster composition - a team could have 18 Kickers if they wanted, but they still have to have two IDP's at each defensive position.

Owners have until midnight on July 15th to select the players they intend to keep for the upcoming season. Each player retained for the upcoming season is retained in lieu of the team's highest available draft pick (i.e., the 1st player retained takes the place of the owner's first round pick, the 2nd player retained replaces the owner's 2nd round pick, etc). All empty rosters spots after July 15th become draft picks.

If a team cuts a player after July 15 and before the draft, they do not get any extra draft picks as a result. Draft picks are set simultaneously at midnight on July 15 and are a zero-sum commodity going forward.

Once the rosters are set with kept players and the draft order is set, all draft picks become fixed commodities that can be traded for players, Quid, or other draft picks. This becomes a "zero sum" environment where each individual team's draft position remains as it was before any trade. Basically, a team's portfolio is fixed with commodities (players, Quid, picks) and those can be traded, but not created or destroyed out of thin air.

For example: if Team A kept 7 players, then their first pick in the draft is in round 8. If after July 15 and before the draft they trade away two of their players for Quid or other picks, they still have their first pick in the 8th round; they don't jump up to #6 just because they only have 5 players left.

The reasoning behind this is pretty simple. Team A made valuation decisions when determining how many players to keep, and that determines the worth of the resulting draft set. So did every other team. This can best be seen in another example: let's say that Team A traded away every one of their 7 players to other teams for a total of 300 Quid and some future draft picks. In such a case, it is ridiculous to say that Team A should then get the #1-5 (or more) picks in the draft, PLUS 300 Quid in their bank, PLUS future/later draft picks. All of a sudden, their net value of players, picks, and Quid would triple or quadruple. It has to be a zero-sum system.

The draft order is based on the performances of teams in the previous season. For the top six teams that made the playoffs, they will fill out spots #7 - #12. The top four seeds will be playing for draft spots #9 - #12 and the prizes, and Seed 5 and Seed 6 will use their regular season YTD for their draft position (slot #7 and slot #8).

For the other six slots in the draft (#1 - #6), these will be determined by calculating the optimum regular season YTD for each team. This is done by fielding the best team possible for each week of the regular season, and then adding them up. By using this method, we can fairly allocate the top picks to the worst teams, and it has the added benefit of nueutralizing any attempts at sandbagging.

Each team can keep as many players from their last year's roster as they wish, but they lose that same number of draft picks. For example, if a team keeps 4 players on their roster, then they would not pick until Round 5 of the draft.

There are no preset ratios of positions that need to be drafted, with the exception of having two players at each IDP slot. Owners can fill their team as best they see fit. Of course, they can only start 1 QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR's, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DL, 1 LB, 1 DB, and 1 Coach...

The draft is a non-serpentine draft.

The draft is NOT serpentine style, due to the fact that we keep a substantial core set of players from year to year. The purpose of a serpentine style in traditional (non-dynasty) leagues is to distribute the top talent since there is a huge dropoff with the blue-chip players.

If a team has elected to keep 3 players on their roster, then they would not pick until the 4th round. If a team trades away a future season's draft pick, then they are capped in how many players they would keep. For example, if Team A traded away next season's 5th round pick, then they could not keep more than 4 players on their roster for the following season.

Teams are allowed to trade draft picks up to three years into the future.

In order to make final preseason adjustments to rosters, a free agency bidding process will take place on the Wednesday prior to the first game, at 8 pm. This will help teams make final tweaks in order to account for injuries since July 15 as well as filling any empty slots caused by trades, etc.

Each week, your team faces one other team (determined by the season schedule posted before the season starts), and every owner submits their starting rosters (the 11 positions defined below) prior to kickoff in that week's first game (usually Sundays, but sometimes Thursdays or Saturdays; for weeks with early games, Sunday's players can be declared on Sunday). The 11 starters each week are always in the same positional ratio: 1 QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR's, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DL, 1 LB, 1 DB and 1 Coach (C).

These players earn points for their fantasy team through actual real-life scoring and yardage bonuses. The total points earned by those 11 players is that fantasy team's final score, and the winning team is determined by highest score between the two teams which faced each other. There are no ties (see below).

Teams accrue Victory Points throughout the season in an attempt to qualify for the playoffs.

Teams earn Victory Points throughout the season and these are the primary determinant for divisional rankings (followed by YTD points). A VP is earned by any head to head victory. Another VP can be earned if the team scores in the top 6 scoring teams for that given week.

If the score of a game is a tie, the first level tiebreaker is total points by starting IDP players. after that, the tiebreaker becomes Head Coach. The third tiebreaker is total bench points. Fourth tie-breaker is total defensive points by bench players. This also applies to the playoffs.

As of kickoff of Week 11, there is no trading. Free Agency ends as of kickoff of Week 13.

After January 1st, all trading is once again legal.

All statistical adjustments for the first 12 weeks must be made prior to the Sunday kickoff of Week 13.

Game outcomes can be reversed as a result of any scoring correction.

The winners of each divisio get the top 3 seeds in the playoffs. The other 3 playoff spots are at-large and also based on overall record. Seeds 1 and 2 get byes in the first week of the playoffs.

In determining playoff qualifications, the order is: Victory Points, YTD points by starters, overall record, then a vicious game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, 3 out of 5.

The Wasted Years grand champion will be the first team to accrue 30 Championship Points. Each season, Championship Points are awarded based on both regular season prowess as well as how deep a team goes into the playoffs:

1st place: 10 Championship Points
2nd: 6pts
3rd: 4pts
4th: 3pts
5th: 2pts
6th: 1pt

Having a team strong enough to make the playoffs will result in at least 1 earned Championship Point, vs before when it was a "winner take all" mentality. This new point system will practically eliminate the huge luck factor that exists in our current rules set, replacing it with a graduated system that more accurately reflects team performances over the years.

Homefield advantage only takes place in the playoffs, prior to the championship game. The final game is held on neutral ground.

The home team gets 2 bonus points to start the game with, reflecting their home-field advantage.

One extra slot is available for each team: Injured Reserve.

There are no legal definitions for qualifying a player for IR, but it is a one-way street, where any player placed on IR cannot be reactivated without cutting them first and trying to reacquire them through Free Agency.

This results in owners having to carefully consider placing a player on IR. If one player is on IR, and another player becomes injured and the owner would prefer to keep him instead, then the second player can take the place of the first, and the first IR player would be a Free Agent.

IR players can also be arbitrarily cut, and placed into Free Agency.

IR players can also be traded, but they still remain on IR with the team that just acquired them, and the same restrictions apply to the new team.

On January 1st of each year, all players on IR are placed back onto the active roster. If a team then has over 24 players, they must cut a player in order to achieve a legal roster size.

Players can be put onto IR in the offseason, and if a player is on IR on July 15 then they are not factored into the draft pick calculations.

Quid is the currency of the realm, and Quid are used when bidding on free agents each week and they can also be part of trades.

Each team will receive an annual deposit of 30 Quid.

After the first game of the regular season, there will be a free agent list posted every week and all owners can look it over and bid on any player on the list.

All bids have to be submitted by 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. At that time, all bids are resolved simultaneously.

Each week, teams submit a list of secret bids for free agents, and all bids are simultaneously resolved, with the highest bids getting the players; in case of a tie, the team with the worse record gains the player.

If there is still a tie, then both teams submit rounds of secret and simultaneous bidding until it is resolved.

Quid can be traded amongst teams anytime, except for the lockdown that takes place between Week 12's kickoff and January 1st.

Owners can bid on as many players as they would like, but keep in mind the following important considerations:

The total amount of money that is bid cannot exceed the total amount of money held by the team. One cannot bid "2 Quid on Alfred Pupunu, only if my bid of 4 Quid on Mathew Hatchette is unsuccessful." For successful bids, the respective bid amounts are deducted from that owner's bank account.

For every player that is bid upon, consideration has to be given towards keeping a legal roster size. Each bid can either point to specific player that would be cut, or it can be linked to the team's cut list.

Using a cut list allows you to bid on multiple players, and define your waive strategy as "regardless of who is acquired, waive players in this order: Player A, Player B..."

Trading in a dynasty league can be nearly as robust and imaginative as the real NFL. Teams can trade multiple players among multiple teams, they can trade Quid as part of any deal, they can trade future draft picks, and they can even make "conditional" trades. A conditional trade involves having the future draft pick be based on their performance during the current season; for example, a team could make a trade and then say that if that traded player gets X yards during a certain time period, then the compensation for that player would be a 4th round draft pick, otherwise it would be a 7th round pick, etc. This can be as complex or as simple as the teams would desire.

Note that any future trades of draft picks will affect the number of players that can be kept by that same team. For exmaple, if a team trades away their 4th round pick next season, then they can only keep 3 players on their roster, at most.

Teams are not allowed to "loan" or "trade for a day" players to other teams.

All trades are pretty much legal and are automatically approved, but they are subject to any other team calling for a "Shenanigans" vote. In that case, all league owners will hold a vote on whether the trade should be approved or not, with a veto taking place if 50% or more of voting owners are against it. Any teams involved in the trade in question are prohibited from voting.

This rule exists only because it asks as a checks and balances mechanism, and it is the hope and expectation of everyone that this rule should never need to be applied. It does need to exist, however, because of the longevity of the league and the impact that a bad-faith trade can have on everyone else for years to come.

If one is called for, then all owners not involved in the trade will vote, even if it takes the rest of the day to get everyone's vote. The vote is resolved and the trade is either approved or disapproved; 50% is considered a veto.