NO MERCY RULES
I. LEAGUE STRUCTURE
A. Every individual No Mercy league will follow the rules below. Each league will consist of 12 teams split into 3 divisions of 4 teams. They will operate independently of each other, except as noted below.
B. No Mercy Football is divided into seven leagues with membership based on performance.
C. Promotions will be handled as follows:
1. When a team drops out, each team in his previous year’s league that has a lower ranking will be promoted by one rank to a maximum of two.
2. No team will be promoted in a manner that allows that team to skip over a League. (for example, a D League team cannot be promoted higher than C league.)
3. If no team from the same previous year’s league is eligible for promotion, the team from the next lowest current year league that scored the most points the previous year that is eligible for promotion will be promoted.
4. If there is no team eligible for promotion, rule IC2 will not apply.
5. On June 15, league management will be transferred from the governors to the league commissioners. If any owner drops out for any reason past this date, the commissioner will be responsible for replacing that owner with a new owner. New owners will be drawn from the No Mercy waiting list. Any owner joining No Mercy after June 15 will be assigned to the lowest league the following year.
E. Annually, teams will be organized as follows (Note: This rule goes into effect following the 2011 season.):
1. League A (Great White): A1-6, B1-4, C1, D1
2. League B (Hammerhead): A7-9, B5-8, C2-4, D2, E1
3. League C (Barracuda): A10-11, B9-10, C5-8, D3-4, E2, F1
4. League D (Piranha): A12, B11, C9-10, D5-8, E3-4, F2, G1
5. League E (Kestrel’s Flight): B12, C11, D9-10, E5-8, F3-4, G2-3
6. League F (Guppies): C12, D11, E9-11, F5-8, G4-6
7. League G (Bait Bucket): D12, E12, F9-12, G7-12
F. The 1st team in each league is the league champion. The 2nd team is the league runner-up (title game loser). The 3rd team is the semi-final loser with the best record (not including playoffs). The 4th team is the other semi-final loser. Teams 5-12 are determined by record. The tiebreakers to determine the wild card apply here also.
F. Divisional alignment: The commissioners will use a random die roll by the owners to determine division alignment. The division die roll will be non-tradable and be totally independent of the die rolls used to determine draft order. The highest four die rolls will be the first division, rolls five through eight will be the second division, and rolls nine through twelve will be the last division. Commissioners will roll the bones for any owner that does not report his die roll by the deadline established by the commissioner.
G. Commissioners:
1. Commissioners will be nominated from a list of volunteers gathered by the league Governors .
2. The Governors will use the following criteria in picking nominations:
a) Previous performance as a No Mercy commissioner
b) Discussions with league members from the previous years
c) Seniority in No Mercy
II. SCORING
A. Offense:
6 points per passing, rushing, receiving and return touchdown.
0.1 point per 2 passing yards.
0.1 point per 1.0 rushing and receiving yards combined.
(For example: 75 rushing yards plus 75 receiving yards is 150 total yards and 15 points.)
2 points per passing, rushing or receiving two-point conversion.
-2 points interception thrown or lost fumble.
1 Point per reception
3 points per field goal made of 39 yards or less.
4 points per field goal made of 40-49 yards.
5 points per field goal made of 50 yards or longer.
-3 points per missed field goal of 29 yards or less.
-2 points per missed field goal of 30-39 yards.
-1 point per missed field goal of 40-49 yards.
1 point per extra point made.
-1 point per missed extra point.
B. Defense./Special Teams
6 points per defensive or special teams touchdown.
(For example: if a player returns a punt for a touchdown both he and team are awarded 6 points.)
2 points per interception or fumble recovery.
4 points per safety.
1 points per sack.
3 points per blocked field goal.
2 points per blocked punt.
10 points for a shutout.
8 points for 2-4 points allowed.
6 points for 5-8 points allowed.
4 points for 9-12 points allowed.
1 point for 13-16 points allowed.
C. In case of a tie in the playoffs, fractional points will be used, then if still tied, the tiebreakers in Article IX will be used.
D. If you start a player on a bye week you will receive 0 points for that player.
E. All leagues will accept statistics changes announced by MFL at all times. If a stat change is published after blind bids are processed, the change will affect points and scores only.
III. ROSTERS
18 roster spots, position must match those listed on mfl.com, only roster restriction is to have at least 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 PK, 1 TEAM D/ST at all times, including when draft is completed.
IV. LINEUPS
A. Starters consist of 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 PK, 1 TEAM D/ST.
B. Players are locked when their games start.
C. Not submitting a lineup will result in the previous week's starters being the present week's starters. The hosting site will automatically place previous week's starters in your lineup as soon as the previous week's final results are available
V. ABANDONED TEAMS
A. A team can be considered abandoned if:
1. An owner misses a draft pick and does not report in to the commissioner before his next pick is due.
2. An owner does not set a week one line up.
3. An owner fails to log onto the league website for two weeks, or fails to set a lineup for two weeks.
B. If an owner abandons a team during the draft, the commissioner will recruit a new owner from the waiting list. That new owner will automatically receive a team in the Bait Bucket the following year.
C. If an owner abandons a team and sets no lineup in week 1, the commissioner will set a lineup for that team using FBG cheat sheets and then recruit a replacement owner from the waiting list. That new owner will automatically receive a team in the Bait Bucket the following year.
D. During the season, if an owner abandons a team, the commissioner will set lineups for that team while he finds a replacement owner. That new owner will automatically receive a team in the Bait Bucket the following year.
V. SCHEDULE & PLAYOFFS
A. The regular season will be 14 weeks with 2 games verses each divisional opponent and a game each verses every other team in the league.
B. The schedule will be automatically generated by the hosting site software as per (A.) above.
C. The playoffs will consist of the 3 division winners and a wildcard. The division winner with the best record will face the wild card in week 15 as the other two division winners face off. Week 16 is the championship game.
VI. STANDINGS TIEBREAKERS
A. To determine standings within division:
1. Overall Record
2. Head to Head (best winning percentage in games between the teams.)
3. Division Record
4. Total Points
5. Total Points in Division Games
6. Head to Head Points
7. Points Against
8. Division Points Against
9. Virtual Dice Roll
B. The above division tiebreakers apply even if more than two teams are tied. Also, division tiebreakers will be used to eliminate all but the highest ranked team in each division before applying the wild card tiebreakers.
C. To determine wildcard and rankings for re-organization:
1. Overall Record
2. Head to Head (best winning percentage in games among the teams)
3. Total Points
4. Head to Head Points
5. Points Against
6. Virtual Dice Roll
VII. PLAYER DRAFTS
A. The draft will be 18 rounds long (standard serpentine.)
B. There are no position maximums.
C. You must at least draft a valid starting line-up.
D. Trading of picks and already drafted players during the draft is allowed.
E. Drafting will be an email draft conducted at the league site.
F. Pre-drafting is encouraged. However, if you do not pre-draft, and if you will not be available to make your pick, send a list of players the commissioner of the league who will pick for you without anyone in the league you are drafting with knowing who you want. Commissioners are not league members!
G. All picks, whether made by the owner or his appointee, are final.
H. For e-mail drafts, the time limit per pick is 12 hours not including overnight hours (1am-9am EST). The maximum penalty for missing a pick is to drop 12 draft slots (ex. from 2.1 to selecting between 2.12 and 3.1). Each league’s commissioner has the power to be more lenient, but the penalty cannot be harsher.
I. By June 21, all commissioners will contact their owners and get a commitment to a draft date. Owners will have one week to respond. The Great White draft must begin no later than July 15. Once all Great White owners have committed and the Great White draft begins, then Hammerhead will begin their draft, and so on. If an owner does not respond in the time allotted, he will be dropped and an owner from the next league will be promoted. According to promotion rules.
VIII. TRADES
A. Within the season, trades are allowed prior to until midnight prior to the date of the first game in week 12.
B. A trade must be confirmed by both teams by Friday at midnight EST to provide active players for that week (a separate board thread will be provided for trading) or by Wednesday if there is a Thursday game.
C. Trades concluded after the deadline will not be recorded until the following week.
D. After the conclusion of the draft, trades can be for week 1, up until midnight EST preceding the game.
E. Trades will be brought to question by the commissioner only if collusion is apparent. Then it would be subject to approval by the governors.
IX. FREE AGENT AUCTION
A. Each team receives a pool of 100 points with which they use to bid on players throughout the year.
B. The bidding period is on Tuesday beginning at 12:01 AM EST and ending 11:59 PM EST Wednesday. NOTE: Commissioners have the option to open blind bidding earlier if they chose, but cannot open it later.
C. You may bid on as many players as you like each week. For each bid you make, you must specify the player you are bidding on, the player you will drop should you make the winning bid and the amount of points you bid. An owner may place as many free agent bids as they would like each week, as long as they have the money/points to cover all of them. For each bid you make, you MUST specify the amount of bidding points for each player you are bidding on. Blind bids are processed on a round by round basis. You will be awarded a maximum of one player per round of bidding. The system awards the first successful bid on the list each round, whether or not that is the highest bid in the list. After a player from that round has been awarded the round has ended and the next possible winning bid will come from the next round in succession. It is the responsibility of the owner to make a proper bid. If an owner submits a bid that is not proper and the system cannot distinguish the owners’ intentions, the bid will be invalid.
D. No bid can be retracted once the bid deadline is past for any reason. If you miss out then you need to utilize the waiver wire at the end of the week.
E. The waiver wire is not available after the beginning of the first game of the week.
F. The first bidding period will take place on Tuesday of the week prior to opening day. The first bidding period of the season will begin on the Tuesday following the last preseason game and will end the Thursday of that week.
G. A tie in that first bidding period will be broken by a blind auction. The commissioner will e-mail those involved in a tie and they must respond within 48 hours with their new bids. If there is still a tie, then the player will be awarded randomly (dice roll).
H. During the season, if two or more teams make the same highest bid, the team with the worst record ("to determine standings") will be awarded the player. If there is a tie, then the player will be awarded randomly (dice roll
I. The minimum bid is 1, the maximum is the remaining points that the team has remaining. A team may not exceed their point pool in combined bids. If they do, all of that team's bid that week will be voided.
J. If a team uses up all of their points they will not be allowed to make any additional team changes (trades still allowed) unless a player on their team goes on the official NFL Injured Reserve. They may then bid 1 point on a player to replace that player. The player picked up must play the same position.
K. FYI, the player must be on THE OFFICIAL NFL INJURED RESERVE, not on the injured list but THE OFFICIAL NFL INJURED RESERVE
L. The player dropped by the winning bidder will not be available to be picked up by other owners until the next bidding period. . Any player awarded to an owner must stay on their roster until the next free agent auction.
M. You may bid on as many players as you would like each week. For each bid you make, you MUST specify the player(s) you will drop should you make the winning bid and the amount of bidding points.
N. All players picked up are immediately available for the weekend's games.
O. Bidding points are an asset, and as such may be traded. Trades involving bidding points must be emailed to the commissioner so he can adjust the team account.
P. The highest bid will win the player. If you bid 34 points on a player and beat a bid of 22 by someone else, you still pay 34 points.
Q. Following the Wednesday blind auction, free agents will be awarded via waiver wire. There will be no maximum of player pickups. There is no charge for FCFS pickups. A pick up request must be accompanied by a drop (if necessary).
S. The waiver wire will close at kickoff of the first Sunday game of the week.
T. Free agency ends at the kickoff of the first game of Week 14
U. In the MFL system, the path Reports>Franchise>accounting displays a report that details each owners transactions. It is the responsibility of each owner to ensure that he maintains a non-negative balance. If an owner makes a transaction that results in a negative balance, the commissioner will void that transaction. The owner making the illegal transaction will lose not only the illegally acquired player and any points that player may have scored, but he will also lose all rights to the player he dropped when he made the illegal transaction. This rule applies no matter when the commissioner becomes aware of the illegal transaction.
X. PLAYOFF GAME TIEBREAKERS
A. If the teams are in a tie after the starters scoring, and after fractional points, the win is awarded to the owner with the highest scoring bench player.
B. If still tied, the win is awarded to the owner with the highest score from his two highest scoring bench players.
C. If still tied, the win is awarded to the owner with the highest score from his three highest scoring bench players.
D. If still tied, then playoff rankings will determine winner.
XI. PLAYOFF RANKINGS
A. Teams will be ranked as follows:
1. Division winner with best record
2. Division winner with 2nd best record
3. Division winner with worst record
4. Wild card
B. In case of a tie between division winners, wildcard and reorganization rankings will apply
XII. LEAGUE ADMINISTRATION
A. Governors:
1. A governor can be removed by a majority vote of the leagues. Each league gets one vote, to be determined by the majority vote of that league. If the league removes a governor, a new one will be appointed by a majority vote of the league commissioners.
2. The Governors will be responsible for league re-organization, recruiting new owners, nominating commissioners for the following year and conducting all off-season activity.
B. Commissioners:
1. Commissioners will be appointed by the Governors. It is a voluntary position. Commissioners are assigned to leagues other than the one where they are an owner.
2. Commissioners will be nominated after league re-organization.
3. Commissioners are responsible for all decisions regarding their individual leagues, subject to review, as discussed below.
4. Commissioners are required to find replacement owners for "dead" teams when necessary.
5. In the case a commissioner will not be available to meet a particular deadline in a given week, he may appoint an alternate, with notification to the Governors.
6. An owner must be in No Mercy one year in order to be eligible for Commissioner, unless no one else can be found.
C. Owners
1. Teams may be owned by more than one person, and an owner can acquire a co-owner at any time. However, if an owner drops out and his co-owner has not been in No Mercy for at least six weeks of the regular season, that team will be assigned to the Bait Bucket league the following year, regardless of its ranking.
2. A co-owner who has been in No Mercy for over one year and who wishes to have his own team will be moved to the top of the waiting list. (Note: this rule is proposed so that we have some flexibility in dealing with medical and other emergencies that crop up from time to time. Rather than having a dead team, a co-owner can be found to run the team until the emergency situation has passed. The rule rewards someone for helping out and keeps an otherwise loyal owner in the fold.)
D. Rule Changes
1 Any owner or co-owner can propose a rule change at any time.
2. The league commissioners and governors will decide whether to bring the issue to a vote in the League Administration Forum. The decision will be posted under league information with an explanation and, if appropriate, a call for a vote.
3. Proposed rule changes will be posted in the appropriate forum in league information (only one proposal per thread). A proposal will be accompanied by a statement of merits by its poster.
4. Any changes to Articles I, II and IX will require a 2/3 majority of those voting. All other changes will require a simple majority of those voting.
5. All rules changes will be enacted at the beginning of the next year.
E. Arbitration
1. During the season, questions regarding rules interpretations or challenges to commissioner’s decisions must posted in the league information forum, and an e-mail must sent to the No Mercy Governors and the league commissioner. It is the responsibility of the person requesting arbitration to do this.
2. The commissioner of the league in question will have 48 hours to respond to the post.
3. After 48 hours, the Governors will have another 48 hours to arbitrate the complaint and post their decision. Decisions of the Governors will be final, though any matter brought up in arbitration can be submitted as a rule change proposal.
XIII. NO MERCY RULES PREVAIL
A. If an owner is able to circumvent No Mercy rules using the site, whether through peculiarities of the site or because of an error in league setup, No Mercy rules still prevail. The commissioner will reverse any illegal transaction made by any owner, and penalize the owner according to No Mercy rules.
END