Bylaws

*All times included are Eastern

Article 1: OWNERSHIP / HOSTS

The League of Life (LOL) is a GM-style salary cap / auction / contract dynasty that consists of 20 franchises, who will unite every year to compete in the most unique, challenging, and rewarding fantasy football format ever imagined.

Each franchise will have 1+ owners with ownership rights to their franchise and its prizes earned, as long as required league dues are paid (see Article 6: DUES / PRIZES). However this league is not about the money. The LOL is designed for those unique people who will be dedicated for life, most motivated by their sheer love of the game. Unlike many dynasties, this format has the staying power and consistent excitement delivered on an annual basis to keep it going forever.

The league will be hosted year around on the Sleeper app, with added auction functionality support from the League Tycoon app (for about a month each year). 

The league also features a custom-built supplementary web app... which pulls from a spreadsheet... both operated by Commissioner @kzingo. The web app and spreadsheet will be intuitive and valuable reference tools that guide owners through the competitive process. While the LOL format may be complex at first glance, it becomes second nature (or a second language) the more it is understood. 

Article 2: ACTIVE ROSTER

Franchises will field an active roster of up to 20 NFL players to compete in weekly head-to-head matchups against each other during the Playing Season, encompassing weeks 1-17 in the NFL (September-December).

Every player will be assigned at least one position — either on offense [Quarterback (QB), Running back (RB), Wide receiver (WR), Tight end (TE)] or defense [Defensive lineman (DL), Linebacker (LB), or Defensive back (DB)]. Kickers and team defenses do not exist.

Franchises will be required to submit a 10-player starting lineup from their active roster each week at the following positions: 

Offense (6)

Defense (4)

Each player will be locked into the starting lineup when their game starts. Players not in the starting lineup will be placed on the bench, which will have a maximum of 10 spots.

Article 3: SCORING

Players in the starting lineup will earn "fantasy" points based on real-life NFL statistics earned that week, depending on which starting spot they are placed in (offense or defense), using a prolific, well-balanced, high-scoring system as follows:

Offense

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Miscellaneous

Defense

Special Teams (all starting spots eligible)

The decision to start a poor QB at the superflex will be strategic, because if a QB plays terribly, they could end up with very little or even negative points. On the other hand, a great QB performance can run well over 100 points. There is both risk and reward, as QBs have the easiest / most likely path to high scores, but their poor outings can be the most costly. 

The top score of the week at any given position will consistently be 85 to 100+ points (though DL will hit that range less often). Truly beastly performances can go over 120 and historical performances can even run north of 150. 

Who to start in the IDP flex will also be strategic, as LB consistently accumulate the most stats and are the safest bet to earn points. However DB will be more streaky from week to week, as their plays will come up big, but less often.

In each head-to-head matchup, the franchise who outscores their opponent will be credited with a win, while the other franchise will take a loss. Due to stat corrections put out by the NFL and / or Sleeper, weekly point totals and matchup results are subject to change up until the following week's matchups begin. 

Article 4: ALIGNMENT

Each year the franchises will align into four divisions (five franchises each), which are divided into two conferences. Divisional alignment among the teams in year 1 (2023) will based on a random draw as follows:

Conference TERRA

Conference ETHER

Beginning in year 2 (2024), franchises will realign every year based on season-long Maximum Points For (Max PF*) earned in the previous year, using the same sequence above. Thus, in year 2+, the highest Max PF from the previous season will join the Earth Division with the 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th highest Max PFs. 

*Max PF represents the maximum amount of points a franchise could have scored throughout the season, if they had started a perfect lineup every week — tracked by Sleeper in the standings area.

Franchises are also encouraged to create a fresh new / unique team name and logo each year on Sleeper, to represent the ever-changing nature of life.

Article 5: PLAYING SEASON

Each Playing Season will begin in September with a 14-week Regular Season, where franchises will face their four divisional opponents twice, and their five other non-divisional conference opponents once, across the first 13 weeks. Week 14 will be an out-of-conference game where each franchise will face the franchise from the other conference in the same place in their conference standings (i.e. 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, etc). 

Although the conferences won't be shown on Sleeper (it will only show four separate divisions), we will internally acknowledge the two conferences and conduct the league accordingly. Earth and Water divisional standings will always be at the top, with Air and Fire standings at the bottom. We will track two separate sets of conference standings, which group Earth/Water and Air/Fire together.

League standings will combine both conferences (all four divisions) into one standings list.

Divisional, conference, and league standings will be based on overall record first, with season-long point points for (PF) as the tiebreaker. In the rare event of a tie in PF, season-long points against (PA) will be used. No head-to-head tiebreakers will apply, in order to place a greater reward on scoring lots of points.

Postseason

After the Regular Season is complete, the four franchises highest in their divisional standings (2 from each conference) will become division champions and clinch a spot in an 8-team Postseason bracket across weeks 15-17. The two highest non-divisional winners in each conference standings will earn the final four places in the bracket as wildcards.

Each conference will represent one side of the Postseason bracket, four franchises each. The best division winner in each conference (at the top of the conference standings) will earn the 1-seed and the right to choose their Divisional Round opponent among the other 3 Postseason teams from their conference in week 15, with the other franchises facing each other by default. 

Two franchises from each conference will advance from the Divisional Round to the Conference Championships in week 16. The two conference champions will then square off in the LOL Bowl in week 17 to determine our league Champion. The loser will earn Runner-up.

The two losers of the Conference Championships will square off in week 17 for the Bronze Bowl (AKA "3rd place game") to determine 3rd and 4th place in the final standings.

Redemption Bracket

The two teams in each conference that lose in the Divisional Round of the Postseason will form a 4-team Redemption Bracket that will be conducted by Sleeper just below the Postseason bracket across weeks 16 and 17. Conference foes will be matched together in the first round, and the two winners will go on to compete in the Redemption Bowl (AKA "5th place game") to determine 5th and 6th place, while the losers will compete in the 7th place game to determine 7th and 8th place.

Mid Bracket

Sleeper will also carry out a supplementary 3-week Mid Bracket over weeks 15-17 for the eight best franchises in the league that missed the Postseason. They will be seeded 1-8 based on their positions in the league standings, regardless of conference. The bracket will then play out in the same fashion as the Postseason & Redemption bracket combined — the two teams that win in the first two rounds will square off in the Mid Bowl (AKA "9th place game") to determine 9th and 10th place. There will also be 11th, 13th, and 15th place games to determine 11th through 16th place.

Low Bracket

We will also conduct our own 4-team Low Bracket (which we will track separately on the web app and update in Sleeper's League Chat) for the four leftover franchises, which will play out across week 15-17. They will be seeded 1-4 based on highest to lowest Max PF, regardless of conference. The first round will be two weeks long, combining the scores from week 15 & 16 to determine the matchup outcomes. The two first round winners will then square off in the Low Bowl in week 17 to determine 17th and 18th place, while the losers will compete in the Toilet Bowl for 19th and 20th place.

Article 6: DUES / PRIZES

Franchises (with the exception of the Commissioner* — see section below) will pay annual league dues of $25, creating a $475 available prize pool for payouts each year. The prize pool will be paid out every year as follows:

Thus, the LOL Champion will win a minimum of $200 each year (collecting the league + conference champion payouts), but more likely $250 if they also won their division. The Runner-up will receive a minimum of $50 for winning their conference, but more likely $100 if they also won their division. 3rd place will win $25 to $75 depending on if they won their division. Any non top-3 placing division winner will receive a payout of $50.

Franchises will always cover league dues for two years in advance. Thus, in year 1, $50 must be paid upfront by each original franchise to join the LOL (to cover year 1 and 2). In year 2+, an additional $25 advance (to cover year 3+) will be due each year by the day after the NFL Draft.

Having already paid their advance for the following year, the champion will always pay in advance their next two available / unpaid years worth of league dues ($50 deducted from their payout). Thus, every champion will be paid out in advance a minimum of 3 years in the year they are defending their title, or more if they win multiple years in a row. 

$25 will also be deducted from (most all) payouts to any non-champions that owe an advance in the following year. This means that if 3rd place does not win their division and earns the lowest possible payout ($25), they will not receive a physical payout, as their full $25 winnings will be used to cover the advance.

LeagueSafe will be used to facilitate all payments and payouts. All funds raised via current and advance leagues dues will be housed in the same LeagueSafe purse, which will always payout prizes for the current year and roll over the remaining funds into the following year. Annual payouts from the LeagueSafe purse will be initiated by the Commissioner, but majority approval from the rest of the league on LeagueSafe is required to approve any and all payouts from the purse.

At any time, the league can majority-vote to dismantle the LOL. This must be done in the offseason only. Any and all current and advance league dues paid into the LeagueSafe purse would then be refunded in full to each franchise.

In the event owner(s) must leave the league and surrender their franchise (for any reason), their $25 advance will be retained by the league and used to attract replacement recruits, who will only have to pay $25 upfront to take over the franchise and cover their first two years of dues.

*Commissioner plays for the franchises

Operating and managing the LOL is an extensive part-time job and a critical duty to ensure the league's integrity and collective happiness. In generous exchange for his service, and for the countless hours poured into imagining and creating the LOL, the Commissioner will enjoy free entry into the league for life. 

However, the Commissioner is far more interested in the long term health and excitement of the league than prize money, and has opted to donate all future winnings right back to the league, for life. As such, any cash prizes won by the Commissioner will be automatically transferred into the following year's available prize pool (with all prizes that year rising proportionately), significantly increasing upside for remaining league ownership without any additional risk. 

If and when the Commissioner ever builds a dynasty and wins multiple years in a row, the prize pool will grow quite large for the remaining franchises!

Article 7: CONTRACTS

All players on active rosters will be under contract. Whenever a franchise acquires a player, they are either taking on the player's existing contract (or) signing the player to a new contract, where they pay a salary in each year of the contract that counts toward an annual payroll, which counts against an annual salary cap. 

The salary cap will be fixed at $200 Million per year. Franchises may also not have more than 40 total years of committed salaries on their payrolls at any time.

The length (# of years) and salary amount(s) (in each year) of a contract are determined by the franchise that originally signs them. When initially writing a multi-year contract, salaries must ascend (back-loaded), descend (front-loaded) or remain equal as years progress, but cannot move both up and down in both directions, nor can they be front-loaded or back-loaded more than 20% from the contract's average annual salary (AAS). 

The AAS multiplied by the length equals the total contract value (TCV) — the total amount being paid to the player (over time in multi-year contracts). Thus, all salaries in a contract will sum together to equal the TCV.

Non-rookies may be signed to veteran contracts up to five (5) years in length. After a veteran contract expires, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent available to be signed by any franchise. 

Rookies may be signed to rookie contracts up to three (3) years in length. When a rookie contract expires, the player will become a restricted free agent, and the franchise will be awarded contract rights to the player, giving them the opportunity to re-sign the player to a new veteran contract with an AAS that matches the highest bidder among the remaining 19 franchises at the upcoming Annual Auction (see Article 19: ANNUAL AUCTIONS). Contracts rights to players can also be traded (see Article 18: TRADES) between franchises.

The minimum annual salary in all contracts is $1M, at all times.

Article 8: OPTIONS

Franchises may designate the final year of any multi-year veteran contract as a team / self option, where they will get to decide in the final year whether they want to exercise the option and take on the final year salary, or decline it and allow the player to become an unrestricted free agent.

The option in an option contract will not count toward the 40-year total contract limit, until / unless it is exercised in the final option year. However, the option year salary will count against that year's salary cap, until / unless it is declined in the final option year.

Franchises can only ever write a new option contract when they don’t have any others on their payrolls. Though a franchise can end up with multiple option contracts via trade, they must wait until all options have been exercised or declined before they can write a new option contract.

Article 9: SIGNING BONUSES

For all multi-year contracts, franchises may convert up to 20% of the current year salary (rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M) into a signing bonus. This can be done once per year / per contract (can be done multiple times to the same contract) during the Preseason only (time period between the Annual Auction and the Playing Season, typically taking up most of August and the beginning of September), and cannot be done in the contract's final non-option year. 

Converting salary to signing bonus reduces committed salary and frees up cap space in the current year, but the franchise will pay it back in immediate future year(s), as the amount freed up in the current year must be applied as one or divided into multiple salary cap hit(s) in any or all of remaining non-option year(s) of the contract, however the franchise sees fit.

Franchises can announce signing bonuses in League Chat, and indicate how they want the cap hit(s) applied. The franchise just needs to have the available cap space in the year(s) they are placing the cap hit(s), in order for the transaction to be processed.

Note that in cases where there is only one non-option year available for a cap hit, the franchise does not have to indicate how they want the signing bonus applied, as the full signing bonus will automatically be applied as a cap hit in that year.

After converting to signing bonus, the current year salary still must be at least $1M. Therefore $1.2M salaries are the lowest that can be converted at the maximum 20%.

Cap hits

Cap hits are logged separately from committed salaries for each franchise on the bottom of their payrolls. They are positive numbers that decrease cap room and count toward the payroll, and they always remain with the franchise that takes them on -- they cannot be traded as they are not considered part of a contract. Cap hits can be in $50K ($0.05M) increments.

Article 10: EXTENSIONS

For all multi-year veteran non-option contracts, franchises will be allowed to offer a contract extension during the Preseason of the final contract year only. 

A contract may only be extended once, even if it's traded away. Rookie contracts and option contracts may not be extended. 

When extending a player's contract, the franchise can opt for a one- or two-year extension, with the salary in the extension year(s) preset by first establishing a baseline salary, which is based on the player’s position. For WR and LB, the baseline salary will be equal to the 10th-highest committed player salary at that position in the current year, at the time the extension is being offered. For QB, RB, and DB, the baseline salary will be equal to the 8th-highest committed player salary. For DL, the baseline will be the 6th-highest, and for TE, the 4th-highest. If the player has been assigned multiple positions, the highest salary will be used.

In a one-year extension, the extension year salary will be the average between the baseline salary and the player's final year salary (if lower). In a two-year extension, both extension year salaries will be equal to that amount plus a 20% premium.

If the player's final year salary is already higher than the baseline salary, the extension salary in a one-year extension will simply be equal to the player's final year salary, with a 20% premium added to both salaries if extending by two years.

Any extension year(s) in a contract will never count toward the total 40-year contract limit.

Note that extension salaries will be rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M where needed.

Article 11: FRANCHISE TAGS

Beginning in year 2, franchises will have the right to franchise tag up to one (1) player per offseason coming off an expiring contract, including contracts that have been extended. The franchise tag window opens at midnight after the Super Bowl and closes at the end of June (just before the Annual Auction).

The franchise tag will act as a 1-year extension, with a salary that will be preset using a baseline salary equal to the average of the top salaries at the player's position from the previous year, plus a 10% premium (rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M). 

For WR and LB, the average of the top-10 salaries will be used for the baseline calculation. QB, RB, and DB will use the average of the top-8 salaries, DL will use the top-6, and TE the top-4. If the player has been assigned multiple positions, the highest salary will be used.

The second consecutive time a player is franchise tagged, the salary will be the baseline + a 20% premium. The third year in a row, it’ll be the baseline + 30%, and the premium will continue to increase by 10% per year in perpetuity, until it becomes too expensive to franchise tag the player any longer — at which point the player will become an unrestricted free agent.

Thus, the franchise tag is only meant to be used sparingly to retain franchise-level players for another year.

When an option is declined, the player will not be franchise tag-eligible — as they will immediately become an unrestricted free agent. However when an option is exercised, the player may be franchise tagged the following year after the contract expires.

Note that franchises technically can franchise tag expiring rookie contracts, but in doing so would be signing them to a very expensive 1-year contract and would surrender the player's restricted free agent eligibility. As such, it will likely never be beneficial to franchise tag an expiring rookie contract. 

Article 12: RESTRUCTURES

Franchises may restructure (re-arrange salaries up / down) any contract across its restructuring window, which is all remaining non-option years where the Playing Season has not started yet. 

The current year salary can also never be restructured in the same year a contract is extended (even if the Playing Season has not started), and thus will not be considered part of the restructuring window.

To restructure a contract, franchises must pay a percentage fee of the total summed salaries in the restructuring window. The fee will be based on how many years are remaining in the contract (excluding option years) at the time of the restructure:

The fee will be rounded down to the nearest $100K ($0.1M) and will always be realized against the current year salary cap, even if only future years are being restructured. Franchises must have the available cap room in the current year in order for the restructure to be processed.

Franchises must announce restructured contracts on League Chat and include full details on how they want the new contract structured, adhering to applicable contract writing rules within the restructuring window only. Thus, restructuring a contract can in some cases cause the entire contract to become uneven (moving both up and down, and / or having salaries more than 20% from the total contract's AAS), which is legal as long as the standard contract writing rules were adhered to within the restructuring window. 

All salaries in the restructuring window must sum together to the same exact amount before and after a restructure. Thus, the TCV and AAS of the entire contract will always remain the same. The franchise pays a separately-logged fee that counts toward their payroll and against their salary cap in the current year, in order to re-arrange the contract's salaries however they desire (back-loaded, front-loaded, or balanced) within the restructuring window. 

The same contract can be restructured multiple times (even in the same year), but the applicable fee will be applied each time it is restructured. 

The ability to restructure contracts will be closed from the conclusion of the final week 9 NFL game, through Midnight after the NFL Super Bowl, but will be open for the remainder of the year.

Article 13: INJURED RESERVE (IR)

During the Preseason and Playing Season, franchises will also have access to a near-limitless injured reserve (IR) with ten spots for players with the following tags: 

Long Term IR / Cap Credits

Franchises may designate any player on their IR to Long Term IR, in cases where the player is on a multi-year contract and reportedly out for the season, or placed on season-ending IR by an NFL team. 

Placing a player on Long Term IR will keep the player on contract (for future years) and free up cap space in the current year only, in the form of a salary cap credit (a negative number on the spreadsheet, increasing cap room). 

When placing a player on Long Term IR before their week 8 game begins (or before the week 8 Sunday games begin if player is on bye that week), the cap credit will be 50% of the player's current year salary. The credit will then reduce by 7% per week after (43% before week 9, 36% before week 10, etc.), until it is phased out for remainder of the year at the conclusion of week 14. The credit will always be rounded up to the nearest $50K ($0.05M). 

Franchises can place a player on Long Term IR by simply posting on League Chat. The player should already be in an IR spot before the post.

Once a player is placed on Long Term IR, they must remain in the IR on Sleeper for the remainder of the year. However, in the rare event a player placed on Long Term IR makes a surprise comeback at any point during the Playing Season (including the Postseason), franchises will be able to move the player back onto the active roster. In these cases, the cap credit will be removed, so the franchise must have or make the cap space available in the current year to take back on the player's full year salary. 

If a franchise does not wish to move a surprise comeback player on Long Term IR back onto their active roster, their Sleeper roster will be locked, as Sleeper does not allow players without an injury designation to remain on IR. In these cases, the franchise will be allowed to drop the player to unlock their roster, while maintaining ownership over the player's contract. The franchise should post in League Chat, informing the rest of the league of the purpose for the drop. In doing so, the franchise will forfeit their right to have the player back on their Sleeper roster for the remainder of the year, but will keep the contract on their payrolls for the future.

If a player already had an IR, PUP, OUT, or DOUB tag at the time they were signed to a contract, the franchise will be ineligible to place them on Long Term IR in the current year.

Article 14: BUYOUTS

Franchises may buyout any player not on Long Term IR, freeing themselves of the contract in exchange for a cap hit in each remaining contract year. When buying out a player before their week 8 game begins (or before the week 8 Sunday games begin if player is on bye), the cap hit in the current year will be 50% of the player's salary. The current year cap hit will then increase by 7% per week after (57% before week 9, 64% before week 10, etc.), until it becomes 100% (no relief) for remainder of the year at the conclusion of week 14. 

When buying out a contract with multiple years left, any future year(s) will incur a 50% cap hit. Buyout cap hits will always be rounded down to the nearest $50K ($0.05M). 

When buying out an option contract early, franchises will still take the cap hit in the option year, and the option year will count toward the remaining length of the contract.

Franchises may buy out players at any time year around, except for a one-month window from the end of the Playing Season (Early January) through Midnight after the NFL Super Bowl.

Players can be bought out simply by dropping them on Sleeper. The contract will be eliminated and the cap hit(s) recorded, freeing up cap space in each remaining contract year. Although the franchise will take the cap hit(s), the original contract is removed, net increasing cap room. The player will then become an unrestricted free agent. 

During the Playing Season, players even can be bought out and dropped after their games have already started (before Sleeper has transitioned to the next week). Dropping a bench player will immediately remove them from the active roster, freeing up an open roster spot that can be used in that week. 

When buying out a player in the starting lineup after his game has started (perhaps in fury), the player’s points for the week will still count toward the franchise's weekly point total, as Sleeper will temporarily keep them on the active roster with an “OFF ROSTER” tag until the next week rolls in, which is when the open roster spot will become available. However, the cap room resulting from any buyout will always be available right away.

Article 15: RETIREMENT

In the event a player retires while still under contract, franchises may buyout the player for a % discount against the regular buyout cap hit in each remaining year of the contract based on the player’s age at the time of the buyout:

The discount will always be rounded up to the nearest $50K ($0.05M).

In the event a player comes out of retirement after a franchise has already bought them out, that franchise will not have any rights to the player, nor the original contract, and the player will be treated as an unrestricted free agent. As such, it's always up to each franchise to determine whether it's worth holding onto the original contract in case their retired player decides to return to the game, bearing the full cost of the contract in the meantime.

Franchises may also opt to hold onto option contracts of retired players until the option year arrives, giving themselves the ability to decline the option and get full relief of the option year salary (instead of buying it out at the time of retirement and taking a cap hit in the option year), while bearing the full cost of the contract in the meantime.

Article 16: DISASTERS - DEATH / TRAGIC INJURY / SEVERE ILLNESS / BAN / SUSPENSION / CRIMINAL / HIATUS / ETC.

In the event of a player’s death, franchises will be immediately freed of the contract with a 0% cap hit in all contract years.

In the event a player has been banned or suspended from the NFL for at least a one full Playing Season or has been tragically injured or is critically ill,  or anything else beyond retirement that can prove / establish that the player will miss 1+ full Playing Seasons, franchises may submit a request to the Commissioner for a reduced buyout in some or all remaining contract years. They can propose a new buyout package that they deem is fair, up to full 100% relief (in extreme cases), based on how unfortunate / unexpected the circumstances are.

The Commissioner will seriously consider all reduced buyout requests and may ask for guidance from the rest of league ownership before acting on them. Franchises are asked to be cordial and unbiased in jointly deciding what’s fair in these cases. 

Whenever a franchise is granted a reduced buyout request, they will be unable to sign the player to a contract until the following year, while any other franchise will be allowed to sign the player in the meantime. 

Article 17: WAIVERS

Before buying out a player, franchises may attempt to offload them to another willing franchise in the league by first placing them on waivers. As with buyouts, players on Long Term IR may not be waived.

If a player is waiver claimed, the original franchise (that waived the player) will be 100% freed of the contract, getting full cap relief in each contract year. If a player clears waivers without being claimed by another franchise, the original franchise will be forced to buyout the player’s contract. 

To waive a player, franchises must post on League Chat something like: “I am waiving Chad Ochocinco” and then immediately drop the player on Sleeper. The rest of the franchises will have until the following day at 7 PM to place a waiver claim on the player, committing to take on the player’s full remaining contract. 

Waiver claims must be made by posting on League Chat as well — they can just say: “I claim Chad Ochocinco” and the moment that happens, the original franchise will be freed of the contract, and the contract will transfer to the franchise that claimed them. 

There is no waiver order. Waiver claims are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first franchise to post a waiver claim on a player will be awarded the contract. 

Franchises will be given 24 hours to restructure for free any contract they claim off waivers. The typical restructure fee that would have to be incurred in the current year will not apply. 

If a waiver claim puts a franchise over the active roster limit, total contract year limit, or over the salary cap in any given year(s), they must make space (via any transaction(s) they'd like) within 48 hours — only after can the player be added to their Sleeper roster. If they also make a waive to free up space, additional time may be given to allow the franchise to see if the player is claimed. Failure to make the necessary transaction(s) within 48 hours may result in forced transaction(s) by the Commissioner, who will make the required decision(s) in the franchise's best interest (including a possible buyout of the claimed player) and may ask for guidance from the rest of league ownership if needed. 

Waivers will be closed at the conclusion of the final NFL week 9 game, through Midnight after the NFL Super Bowl, but will always be open the rest of the year.

Article 18: TRADES

Trades can be proposed and accepted directly on Sleeper, and the private "messages" feature is useful for negotiating. When a player is traded, their contract transfers from the original franchise to the new franchise.

Cap room / money may not be directly traded, but franchises do have the option to retain up to 35% of any non-option year salary whenever trading a contract away, as an incentive to get another franchise to take the player. The franchise trading the player away will receive cap hit(s) equal to the retention amount(s) in the year(s) specified, and the franchise receiving the player will take on a newly decreased contract, which might be "uneven" as a result, which is fine, as long as all salaries are $1M or higher after the retention(s) are taken away.

Any salary retention(s) must be promptly posted on League Chat with the trade. Franchises must indicate the retention amount (in dollars) for each contract year a retention is being applied (can be up to 35% of the player's salary in each year, rounded down to the nearest $100K - $0.1M).

All trades will be reviewed by the Commissioner and immediately approved and processed if the trade does not put either franchise over the active roster limit, total contract year limit, or over a salary cap in any given year. In cases where a franchise is over, the Commissioner will not process the trade until the franchise has made the necessary space (via any transaction(s) they'd like). If they are unwilling or unable to do so within 24 hours, the trade will be vetoed. 

Franchises will be given 24 hours to restructure for free any contract they trade for, after the trade has been processed. The typical restructure fee that would have to be incurred in the current year will not apply. 

In cases where a trade includes a player in a starting lineup whose game that week has already started, the trade can be considered approved, but the Commissioner will wait to process the trade until Sleeper transitions into the following week. In the meantime, franchises will not be able to back out of the approved trade, and it will go through the following week, regardless of what occurs in the games.

In the rare / specific case where a franchise drops a starter after their game started, and then makes a trade before the transition to the next week, the dropped starter (with the "OFF ROSTER" tag on Sleeper) will not count toward the franchise's roster limit when the Commissioner reviews the trade.

Trades will be closed from the conclusion of the final NFL week 9 game, through Midnight after the NFL Super Bowl, but will always be open the rest of the year. Spring and Summer (especially leading up to and during the Annual Auctions) will be the most active trading period of the year.

Article 19: ANNUAL AUCTIONS - OPEN BIDDING

Beginning in year 1, the LOL will hold a highly anticipated mega auction every summer (just after the 4th of July), known as an Annual Auction. They will typically be over a month long, lasting up until the first full pre-season week (after the Hall of Fame game) in August. 

The league will use League Tycoon to conduct Annual Auctions until Sleeper's auction software adds more functionality. League Tycoon allows for max bids (eBay style / proxy bidding), and for multiple players to be up for auction at once, which are two critical features necessary to conduct successful and efficient "slow" mega auctions in our league.

Trades, buyouts, waivers, and restructures will all be open during Annual Auctions. Any players bought out during an Annual Auction will immediately go into the auction player pool, available to be nominated by the next franchise on the clock. 

Despite using League Tycoon for the Annual Auction bidding, all moves (including trades) and transaction-related posts must still be conducted on Sleeper.

Franchises will take turns nominating players for auction from the auction player pool on League Tycoon based on the nomination order. Each franchise will have 12 hours to nominate a player once they go on the clock (OTC). If a franchise times out, the CPU will nominate a player for them on their behalf. 

After a player is nominated, a 12-hour bidding timer will be triggered, during which all franchises can submit max bids on the player. Whoever currently has the highest max bid will own the current high bid. No franchise will be able to see another franchise's max bid, only the current high bid. The system will then automatically increase the current high bid up to the max bid as other teams try to outbid it. This type of bidding is known as “Proxy Bidding” which is also used by eBay. Example: Franchise1 currently has a high bid on PlayerA for $5M and a max bid of $40M. Franchise2 puts in a max bid of $25M. Team1 is still the high bidder and the high bid is now $25M. Team3 puts in a max bid of $45M. Team3 is the new high bidder and the high bid is now $41M.

Whenever a bid is placed on a player, it is an AAS offer — for average annual salary. For all bids, $1 represents $1 Million AAS being offered to the player. Thus, AAS bids can only be made in $1M increments. The Commissioner will effectively assign infinite auction cash to every franchise on League Tycoon because these limits are always erroneous. We will track the true salary caps separately as we go, through the web app / spreadsheet.

The franchise with the highest max bid can always make changes to their max bid (raising or lowering if its above the current high bid) while the bidding timer is still going. 

Any time the current high bidder changes in the final 8 hours of the bidding period, the bidding timer will reset back to 8 hours.

When the bidding timer runs out, the franchise with the highest bid will win the rights to sign the player to a contact (rookie or veteran) with the terms of their own choice. They set the number of years, and the salaries in each year, so that they sum together to equal the TCV (AAS multiplied by the # of years), without it being front-loaded or back-loaded beyond the 20% loading buffer. Note that when assigning salaries in multi-year contracts, as low as $100,00 increments can be used ($1.3M, $5.9M, etc).

As the Annual Auction progresses, multiple players will be able to be nominated at the same time, and all will have their own unique bidding timers. Franchises will be allowed to bid on as many as they'd like conveniently via League Tycoon.

When a player is won at auction, the Commissioner will add the player to their Sleeper roster and initially place them in franchise's payrolls with a 1-year contract (with the salary equal to their AAS bid), however this is not an official contract signing. The franchise will have until the player's first NFL game starts in September to sign them to a multi-year contract if they desire, simply by posting the player's name and contract terms in Sleeper League Chat. The franchise must have salary cap room in all applicable years and must enough contract years available to accommodate the multi-year contract, or it will not be accepted by the Commissioner.

Players can be traded, waived, or bought out as soon as they appear on a Sleeper roster. Any unsigned player can still be traded, waived or bought out, even immediately after they are won at auction. If an unsigned player is bought out, they will first be automatically signed to a 1-year contract, with the franchise taking a cap hit in the current year only, equal to 50% of the AAS.

Any franchise that receives an unsigned player via trade or waiver claim will still have until their first NFL game starts that year to sign them to a multi-year contract. If a franchise does not offer a multi-year contract to an unsigned player by that time, they will be officially signed to their assigned 1-year contract.

If a franchise does not have the cap space in the current year to sign the player to the initial 1-year contract assigned by the Commissioner, or if they are already at the roster limit or contract year limit, they must make the necessary space (via any transaction(s) they'd like) within 48 hours. This may include signing the player (or other players) to a backloaded multi-year contract. 

If a waive is made to make space, additional time may be given to allow the franchise to see if the player is claimed. Failure to make the necessary transaction(s) within 48 hours may result in forced transaction(s) by the Commissioner, who will make the required decision(s) in the franchise's best interest and may ask for guidance from the rest of league ownership if needed. Franchises may also not make any additional bids on players in an Annual Auction when they are over the roster limit, contract year limit, or current year salary cap. 

Any invalid multi-year contracts posted will not be accepted by the Commissioner and new terms will be requested. Franchises can use the CONTRACT CHECKER to ensure a contract is valid before posting and accepted by the Commissioner. Keep in mind when setting salaries close to the loading buffer, you must round to the nearest $0.1M increment that doesn't fall below the "Low salary" or above the "High salary".

Year 1 Inaugural Auction

The 1st Annual Auction (also known as the Inaugural Auction) beginning in July 2023 will be unique from all future Annual Auctions in that franchises will arrive with empty rosters, and the auction player pool will consist of all available veterans and rookies in the NFL. As always, veterans will be signed to veteran contracts up to 5 years, and rookies will be signed to rookie contracts up to 3 years.

The nomination order will mirror (1-20) the blind draw order used to initially align the divisions. 

At the beginning of the Inaugural Auction, players will be nominated one at a time, but eventually multiple players will be allowed to be nominated at once, according to the following schedule:

Year 2+ Annual Auctions

In each subsequent Annual Auction after the Inaugural Auction, franchises will arrive with players already on their payrolls, so the auction player pool will be smaller, and will consist of three types of players: new rookies, unrestricted free agents (UFA), and restricted free agents (RFA). Franchises may nominate any player (among the three player types) when it's their turn, even another franchise's RFA.

The schedule will be similar to the Inaugural Auction, where one player at a time can be nominated at the very beginning, with a progressively larger number of players being nominated at the same time as the days progress.

RFA nominations

When a RFA is nominated for auction in year 2+, the franchise with contract rights will not participate in the bidding, and will wait for the highest bid among the other 19 franchises. 

In any RFA auction, the franchise with the current highest bid can (if they desire) increase the current bid, in order to make it harder on the franchise with contract rights to match them. Since only max bids are used, if a franchise wants to increase their current high bid, they must set their max bid to what they want to increase it to, and then post the player's name and the bid amount in Sleeper League Chat. The Commissioner will then set a max bid $1M less on the player than the indicated amount, so that the franchise's current bid will be increased to their desired amount.

Once the timer runs out and the highest bid is determined, the franchise with contract rights will be given 12 hours to decide if they intend to re-sign the player at the highest bidder's AAS. They can do so simply by posting their intent to do so in the Sleeper League Chat. After this, the player would be added to the franchise's Sleeper roster as unsigned, with an initial 1-year contract for the player placed in the franchise's payrolls. As always, the franchise will be allowed to sign the player to a multi-year contract up until their first NFL game begins.

If the franchise with contract rights does not state their intent to match the bid and re-sign the player in League Chat within the 12 hours, the player will be conceded to the highest bidder, who will get to sign the player instead. The original franchise can also openly concede in League Chat well before the deadline if they are content to simply let the player go (this is much preferred over saying nothing and letting the deadline pass).

However, the two franchises involved (the highest bidder and the original franchise) may have incentive to trade during the initial 12-hour window, as the franchise with contract rights ultimately has leverage in deciding the player's fate, and may be more willing to let them go to the highest bidder if they can receive value in return. Contract rights to the player can also still be openly traded during this window, so there may even be trade opportunities with other franchises that weren't the highest bidder.

Rookies & UFA nominations

In year 2+, nominated rookies and UFAs will be standard open nominations handled the same way as the Inaugural Auction, except for when a compensatory nomination or special nomination is used (see sections below).

Compensatory nominations

If a franchise openly concedes a RFA (without letting the deadline pass) to an AAS bid of $20M or higher during an Annual Auction, they will receive a compensatory (comp) nomination, which will apply to the next rookie or UFA the franchise nominates in the Annual Auction. However, the RFA's original rookie contract must have been bid at $20M AAS or less in order for the franchise to be eligible to receive a comp nomination.

If a franchise has a comp nomination on hand, the franchise will be given contract rights to the next rookie or UFA they nominate, meaning they will not have to participate in the bidding after they make the nomination. Once the bidding is complete, the franchise with contract rights will be given a 12-hour option to sign the player to a contract (rookie or veteran) with an AAS that's $1M higher than the highest bid among the other 19 franchises, or they can concede the player to the highest bidder. 

Note that unlike regular open nominations and RFA nominations, the franchise with contract rights will not be able to take on the player as unsigned — they must immediately sign the player. However, if they concede, the highest bidder will be allowed to take on the player as unsigned, and will have until their first NFL game to sign the player to a multi-year contract, if they choose.

Comp nominations and contract rights to comp nominated players both cannot be traded. The franchise with contracts rights to a comp nominated player will also be locked out of making any trades (including with the highest bidder) during the 12-hour time window. They must simply choose to sign the player, or concede.

It is possible to acquire multiple comp nominations in the same Annual Auction if the franchise concedes multiple RFAs (that $20M AAS or less rookie contracts) to $20M+ AAS bidders. 

At any time before using a comp nomination, the franchise can choose to roll it over into the next year's Annual Auction, giving up their ability to use it in the current Annual Auction. The same comp nomination(s) can continue to be rolled over (and not used) each year, as long as the franchise wants.

To roll over a comp nomination, the franchise must post in Sleeper League Chat before nominating their next rookie or UFA. 

Special nominations

In year 2+, the first seven places in the nomination order will be locked in each year, based on the previous year's final standings:

These seven franchises will also be given a special nomination that they can use on their first nomination (only) in the Annual Auction (and it cannot be rolled over). 

Comp & special nomination procedures are identical — a special nomination also enables the franchise to nominate any rookie or UFA in the auction player pool and they will immediately be given contract rights to the nominated player, not have to participate in the bidding, and will have the 12-hour option to sign the player to a contract with an AAS that's $1M higher than the highest bid. As with comp nominations, special nominations and the contract rights to special nominated players cannot be traded. The franchise with contracts rights to a special nominated player will be locked out of making any trades (including with the highest bidder) during the 12-hour time window. They must sign the player, or concede.

Any franchise that openly concedes a special nominated player (without letting the 12-hour deadline pass) will immediately be awarded a comp nomination.

Any comp nomination(s) a franchise has on hand while using a special nomination (rolled over from the previous year) will carry over to their next rookie or UFA nomination(s) in the Annual Auction, after using their special nomination first.

Remaining nomination order

The remaining 13 spots in the nomination order (8th through 20th) will be based on the previous year's final standings, as follows:

Opting out

Toward the end of any Annual Auction, once franchises feel content with their roster, they may opt out of participating for the remainder of the Annual Auction. Franchises do not have to fill their rosters at any Annual Auction. 

To opt out, franchises can simply post on the Sleeper League Chat. After doing so, they should no longer engage with League Tycoon (though they can continue to follow the action). When it's their turn in the nomination order, the Commissioner will manually nominate the next highest player in the player pool on their behalf. If the player receives no bids other bids, the opted out franchise will NOT take on the player, even though it will appear that they won the player on League Tycoon. That player will again become available in when free agency opens after the Annual Auction.

Once all franchises have either opted out or filled their 20-player active roster (IR will not yet exist), the Annual Auction will be complete.

Franchises are encouraged to leave themselves salary cap space (at least in the current year) by the end of each Annual Auction, so that they can continue to sign players in free agency (see Article 20: FREE AGENCY) through week 17 of the Playing Season if needed. The ability to convert current year salary to signing bonuses will open up immediately after each Annual Auction, which can be helpful for franchises who are capped out after the Annual Auction, but they will still need the cap room in immediate future year(s) to cover the cap hit(s) and pay for those signing bonuses.

Article 20: FREE AGENCY - SILENT BIDDING

The Preseason will begin at the conclusion of every Annual Auction, when the IR will be added, and the league will begin to have "silent" free agent auctions, where all free agents in Sleeper's player pool will be up for grabs each time. The league will conveniently utilize Sleeper’s built-in waiver cash system to facilitate this process.

To silent bid on a player in a free agent auction, simply find the player in the Sleeper player pool (they’ll be showing as on waivers), add them and enter a “waiver cash” amount on that player. Sleeper will showcase the silent bidding results in League Chat each time the waivers execute. This will allow for a true silent bidding system as Sleeper does not show any pending transactions in the backend commissioner tools.

Similar to Annual Auctions, all silent bids in free agency will be AAS max bids, with $1 representing $1 Million AAS being offered to the player. Thus, the franchise that submits the highest max bid will win the player for $1M more than the second-to-highest max bid. The contract gets written by the franchise based on the winning AAS with all the same rules and procedures when acquiring players in an Annual Auction. 

Rookie free agents will continue to be offered rookie contracts at silent free agent auctions, even after the Playing Season has started (for the entirety of their rookie year), and even if they were previously bought out by another franchise.

As with auction cash budgets on League Tycoon, waiver cash budgets on Sleeper are erroneous and the Commissioner will effectively assign an infinite amount to each franchise. As always, we will track the true salary caps separately through the web app / spreadsheet.

As with Annual Auctions, players won in free agency will be initially placed on payrolls with a 1-year contract with the salary equal to the AAS bid, however the player will be unsigned. The franchise will have until the start of the player's next game (or the start of the Sunday games if the player is on bye) to sign the player to a multi-year contract. At that time, any unsigned player will be officially signed to the assigned 1-year contract already on the franchise's payrolls.

If a franchise does not have the cap space in the current year to sign the player to the initial 1-year contract assigned by the Commissioner, or if they are already at the roster limit or contract year limit, they must make the necessary space (via any transaction(s) they'd like) within 48 hours, or before the player's next game starts (or before the Sunday games start that week if the player is on bye), whichever comes first. This may include signing the player (or other players) to a backloaded multi-year contract. 

If a waive is made to make space, additional time may be given to allow the franchise to see if the player is claimed, if time allows. Failure to make the necessary transaction(s) within the allotted time may result in forced transaction(s) by the Commissioner, who will make the required decision(s) in the franchise's best interest and may ask for guidance from the rest of league ownership if needed.

Any invalid contracts attempted to be signed will not be accepted by the Commissioner and the franchise will be asked to submit new terms, if time allows. As always, franchises should ensure a contract is valid before posting, double-checking with the CONTRACT CHECKER.

There will be one free agent auction per week every Wednesday throughout the Preseason, until week 1 arrives, when a second Friday auction will also be added for the entireity of the Playing Season. The Sleeper waivers system will be set to execute at 8 PM on the day of each free agent auction, revealing the silent bidding results in League Chat.

After a Friday auction executes, waivers will be immediately unlocked and all free agents who haven’t started a game yet will be available for open-adds on a first-come, first-serve basis for the remainder of that Friday evening, all of Saturday, and into Sunday or Monday, locking when each player's game starts. 

Whenever you open-add a player, you can sign them to whatever contract you want. The most common open-add contract will be 1 year / $1M, which will be the assumed default contract initially assigned to payrolls by the Commissioner whenever an open-add is made.

Franchises must have the cap space available to write a minimum 1 year / $1M contract before an open-add is made, or else it will be reversed by the Commissioner. The franchise must also have the cap space available to cover any custom contract submitted for an open-add player, or else the terms will be denied, and the player will remain at 1 year / $1M.

Free agency will remain open for the entirety of the Playing Season, until after open-adds are over in championship game week.

After buyouts

During the Preseason, any player bought out within 24 hours of the Wednesday auction will not be available for silent bidding until the following week.

During the Playing Season, any player bought out within 24 hours of the Wednesday auction will not be available until the Friday auction. Any player bought out after 8 PM on Thursday will have a 24-hour silent bidding period that carries over into the open-add period. Thus, during open-adds, players who were recently bought out may still be showing as "on waivers" and able to be silent bid on. The waivers will execute individually for each of these players, exactly 24 hours after they were dropped. 

If a player is bought out within 24 hours of when their game starts (or within 24 hours of the start of the final game of the week, if the player is on bye), that player won't be available for silent bidding until the following week. 

Tiebreaker bidding

When franchises tie for the highest bid in a free agent auction, Sleeper will immediately award the player to the franchise highest on their internal “waiver priority list”. However, that franchise will not have rights to the player, they will simply hold the player in the meantime, while the tie is sorted out. If they end up losing the player in the tiebreaker, the player will be transferred to the winning franchise by the Commissioner. 

Any franchise involved in the tie can be the first to post a tiebreaker bid (in League Chat) indicating the number of years they want to sign the player. Any other franchise(s) involved in the tie can then concede, call (match) the bid, or raise the bid to a higher number of years. 

When a tiebreaker bid is called by at least one franchise (and conceded by the rest), the original franchise that raised can (1) raise the number of years (again), (2) raise the AAS by at least $1M, or (3) defer (to the next franchise who called first, who will be given the same three options). 

Once the AAS is raised in the tiebreaker process, the contract length will now be locked in, and the tied franchises will shift to breaking the tie by bidding on AAS over the contract length. Each AAS bid must be $1M higher than the last (no more calling).

When a tiebreaker bid is raised to 5 years, it cannot be called. The next bid must not only match the 5 years, but raise the AAS by at least $1M. 

Franchises are free to ‘duke it out’ in this manner right there in League Chat, until all but one franchise openly concedes (this is encouraged), or the bidding ‘times-out’—one hour after the last bid was posted, or at 2 PM that evening, whichever comes later.

If bidding is still active at 5 PM, the time-out period will shorten to 30 minutes after the last bid was posted, and if still active at 7 PM, the time-out period will shorten to just 10 minutes, to encourage a resolution within 24 hours. However, it should really never go this far, as most ties can and will be resolved relatively quickly in the immediate aftermath of the auction via franchises conceding. 

Conditional drops

Franchises can place bids on players in silent auctions when they are at the roster limit, as long as they include a conditional drop, where they're specifying a player for Sleeper to drop from their active roster if they are the highest bidder. Whenever including a player as a conditional drop on a bid, the franchise will automatically buyout that player's contract if the bid wins. 

Franchises can actually always include conditional drops on all their free agency bids, even when they’re not at the roster limit, because Sleeper will always allow franchises to select any player to drop when submitting any silent bid, even when empty roster spots are available.

Multiple bids

Franchises can submit multiple bids on multiple different players in the same free agent auction, and a single franchise can win multiple players if they have the roster room / contract years available / cap space and are the highest bidder for each.

But if a franchise doesn't have the roster room, contract years, or cap space in all years to honor all the bids they're making, they may consider making a change to their bids, or else they're taking a risk… because if they end up not being able to take on all the players they win at a given silent free agent auction, and they are unwilling to make the necessary space via buyout(s), waive(s), or restructure(s) only (within 24 hours), they will forfeit their right to sign each of the players they won at the auction, and the next highest bidders in those silent auctions will be offered those players at their bid level.

Invalid bids

When submitting multiple bids simultaneously, franchises can prioritize a group of bids top-to-bottom in the pending transactions area on Sleeper, which informs Sleeper which bids they want executed first.

The ability to submit multiple bids at once can lead to "invalid bids"—an actual Sleeper functionality (as described and shown HERE) that franchises can use to set up bids in such a way to purposely invalidate and (in effect) rescind a bid (even if they are the highest bidder) if they already won another bid in the same auction that was more important to them.

A bid will come back invalid, even if it’s the highest bid, in two scenarios:

Therefore, when franchises only have one (or few) open roster spot(s), or if they have at least one player they're willing to drop from their active roster, they can leverage this for greater bidding flexibility across multiple players without risking winning them all.

Article 21: OFFSEASON 

Each offseason will begin immediately after the champion is crowed. All moves will initially be paused through Midnight after the NFL Super Bowl, after which buyouts, waivers, trades, and restructures will all open back up, while free agency will remain closed for the entirety of the offseason. 

The league will also move into the following year salary cap, and all players who were in the final year of an expiring veteran contract will be removed from payrolls and dropped from Sleeper rosters, becoming UFAs in the player pool. 

However, many of these UFAs may be franchise tag-eligible, and will be documented for each owner. Up until right before the Annual Auction, owners may franchise tag up to one of these players by physically adding the player back onto their Sleeper roster. The Commissioner will then add the player back onto their payrolls with that year's position-specific 1-year franchise contract.

RFAs coming off expiring contracts will be placed on each franchise's temporary taxi squad (which only exists during the offseason and Annual Auction), which will allow franchises to conveniently trade their contract rights to their RFAs simply by trading them from their taxi squad. If a RFA re-signed, they will go back onto the active roster. If they are conceded, the player will be transferred from the original franchise's taxi squad to the new franchise's active roster. 

IR spots will also be eliminated during the offseason, so any player still on contract who ended the year in IR will be moved back to the active roster. If this puts an owner over the active roster limit, they will immediately be required to cut their roster down to 20 players, via buyout(s) or waive(s). However this will not be necessary in most cases, since players with expiring contracts will not be returning to rosters at the beginning of the offseason, typically freeing up plenty of spots on the active roster to absorb players ending the year in IR. 

Franchises that have a contract in its final option year will have until right before the Annual Auction to decide if they want to exercise the final year option. Owners can exercise their option by simply holding the player on their Sleeper roster through the end of June. To decline an option, simply drop the player on Sleeper at any point in the offseason before the June 30 deadline.

Article 22: ACTIVITY 

Franchises are required to be active and check Sleeper on a regular basis, as one of their priorities in life. 

The LOL is designed to be fun, challenging, easy-to-follow, affordable, and exciting every single year, built to be rewarding for people who are willing to be invested and committed. 

There will be a 6-month Offseason (January-June) each year where franchise owners can rest up and check out, but during the 6 months when the league is in-season (July-December), at least 1 owner from each franchise is expected to be active, available, and engaged, especially in July for the Annual Auctions.

While in-season, franchises that may go through extended periods of unavailability or limited internet access should notify the league, as both a courtesy to the remaining franchises, and to ensure good standing.

Thankfully, even when computer access is not available, the combination of the web app + Sleeper mobile app will make it easy to access the league and manage franchises from anywhere owners have mobile access. The League Tycoon mobile app will make participating in the Annual Auctions easy and convenient on-the-go as well.

Inactivity

Continued owner inactivity is against the spirit of this league, and will ultimately be grounds for surrendering the franchise. 

Franchises cannot be surrendered during the Playing Season, because as paying participants on LeagueSafe, the league owners do have a right to their team for the current year that has already started, and will receive any payouts they might earn despite their inactivity.

During the offseason (after the Playing Season is over) prior to the NFL Draft payment deadline, an inactive franchise can only be replaced by recruit(s) willing to front the full $50 for the first two years league dues. In this case, the original owner(s) will be fully refunded their $25 advance.

If a franchise remains inactive and a payment deadline is missed (after the NFL Draft), the inactivity will then become grounds for surrender without refund of advance league dues.

Article 23: COLLUSION / FOUL PLAY 

Collusion among owners of competing franchises and / or the operation of multiple franchises by the same owner(s) is highly illegal in the LOL and grounds for immediate franchise surrender, without refund of current or advance league dues. This means that any owner(s) suspected of collusion can lose immediate rights to their franchise, even in the current year. 

Any evidence of collusion will be presented to league ownership. At least 10 franchises (excluding the Commissioner) must vote in favor of a franchise surrender for it to be executed.