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Welcome to Fantaball.com. We have designed Fantaball.com fantasy football with years of experienced fantasy game play and research to ensure your complete enjoyment of the fantasy season. We strive to make our games the most competitive and the most rewarding that you will find on the Internet or in your backyard.
Our features include several price categories and game styles to satisfy different levels of skill and risk takers. We have minimized the "dumb luck factors" that are inherent in the standard head to head leagues’ structure, scoring, and playoff determination. We understand that from time to time your team loses because you played the highest scoring team of that week. Our system rewards these weekly high scores by qualifying two of the playoff teams based solely on total points. We have also adjusted scoring to more accurately reflect fantasy performance values and don’t want you to be beat by an unpredictable kickoff return for a touchdown because the special teams were combined with the defense.
Our prize structure is designed to award the deserving and not for just showing up. We don’t pay off to six places or give petty prizes if your quarterback is the highest scorer of the week. If you are sure enough of your fantasy knowledge and skill, and desire an added adrenaline rush to your season, you must participate in our "Winner Takes All" prizes leagues. "In this league either you're first or you're last. There is no second place," Vince Lombardi.
If you desire a sneak peak at early season player performance, or need to have all position battles decided before drafting your fantasy squad our "Second Chance Early Season Leagues" are for you. Maybe your draft did not quite end up the way you intended or an early season injury has greatly effected your team competitiveness, now you have an opportunity for a second chance. This league is also great for the late to the game fantasy owners that need to be a part of all the action that their friends are buzzing about.
The following are the rules needed to play our fantasy games. If you have any other further questions once read these please email us at customerservice@fantaball.com.
To get started simply choose what cost league you desire to compete in. Next, you will need to decide on your method for roster development. This is accomplished by drafting players by live or email submission or done with our live auction process. Now, choose your starting lineup preference, which is either Standard, Flex, TE Optional, or Individual Defensive Players (IDP). Free agent acquisition is accomplished either in a "worst to first" ranking priority or a blind bidding style. You can choose to play in a "no trade allowed" league to add strategy and piece of mind. Your last decision is to play in our standard prize paying leagues or the "Winner Takes All" prizes leagues.
The league features to choose from are listed below:
- Entry fee amounts with corresponding prize payout
- Draft or Auction Player Acquisition
- Live or E-mail style
- Roster style(STD, FLEX, TE Optional, IDP)
- Worst to First (WTF) free agent acquisition or Blind Bidding (BBID) free agent acquisition
- Trading or No Trading
- Standard or "Winner-Takes-All"(WTA) prize
Members must carefully read all league specifics before signing up for a league to ensure your desired style of play is met. Leagues become available as leagues are filled and are on a first-come-first-served basis. League frequency and availability is based on popularity.
The initial league entry fee is the only fee that is required to play the entire season and there are no additional costs for transactions. The fee is non refundable once paid and members are asked to pay in full when registering for a league. Payment is done through Paypal.com. Members can use their credit/debit cards here without the need to apply for an account with Paypal.com.
Members are limited to only one entry per individual league, but are able to join multiple different leagues. In the event your league cannot be filled before the draft deadline, the teams are given the option to reduce the league to ten teams or join another league. Members are issued a full refund if we are not able to accommodate this in a reasonable time frame or by your draft start time.
These leagues are for the owner that wants all of the fantasy decision making done at the time of the draft with no weekly decision making. Your draft determines your fantasy success. There are no transactions(trades or waivers). You draft a roster of 25 players and receive points based on the most optimal lineup out of your team. The Standard Roster (1QB, 2 RB’s, 3 WR’s, 1 TE, 1 FLEX {RB, WR or TE}, 1 K, 1 DEF) is used. You get your optimal lineup every week without need of second guessing your weekly submissions. Scores are tabulated through week sixteen with prizes payed in the same manner as the regular prize schedule with the exception of paying through 4th place. The 4th place payout is the same as the total points award paid in our Regular Prize schedule.
In the event of ties, we will use the following tie breaking schedule:
- The average score of your team for the sixteen-week schedule minus the two highest and lowest scores of the year.
- Total points week 13 through and including week 16.
- If the teams are still tied they will split the prize due to absolute equality.
All of our Second Chance Leagues have the same rules, regulations, and payout as the rest of our leagues. The only differences are the first game of this fantasy season begins in week four and there is no trading allowed. The regular season is eleven weeks long with every team playing everyone in the league once. The playoffs start in week fifteen with the Super Bowl in week sixteen as in our other leagues. This league is ideal for the player who’s other fantasy teams are not competitive either to poor drafting or injury and desires a second chance to get back in the proverbial game. You don’t have to wait until next year to get your opportunity. This league is also great for the fantasy owner wanting to take a look at the player’s early season performance to better evaluate them before drafting. This lessens some of the guesswork that always occurs in a traditional draft time frame.
The games are played in the standard weekly head-to-head (HTH) format using Fantaball.com’s performanced based scoring system. We have chosen to use MyFantasyLeague.com for all of our league hosting duties. Fantasy points are awarded based on your player’s real on-field performances. These points are accumulated for your starting positions and tallied against your opponent’s score for the weekly HTH victory point. The weekly HTH victory points determine the division standings. Each league consists of twelve teams that are divided into two divisions of six. This division placement is assigned randomly by our league host software at MFL. To make the playoffs starting in week fifteen, members must win their division or be one of the two remaining teams with the highest total points scored regardless of division standings.
Once your league is full, you may access your team home page by logging in at Fantaball.com. A list of all of your leagues is posted and access supplied to them on this page. Once logged on your team’s home page you can find the draft order and its start time by using the toolbar on the top of the page and mousing over the "For Owners" tab and selecting the "Draft" option. You can create your own individual team identity (name and logo), along with customizing the information displayed on the team page. Please keep all team names and logos respectable. Your team names may be displayed on the site for high scores and other achievements. We reserve the right to change any team’s name that can be construed as offensive or disruptive to game play.
Members will assemble their rosters before beginning play by Draft or Auction, scheduled to be done live or by e-mail depending on the league. Toward late August we will offer email draft leagues that will start drafting the day they are filled. We won’t start email drafts with less than 10 days before the kickoff of the season unless there is a specific reason or request. The dates are listed in our sign up section and more are added as filled.
Live auctions and drafts can take up to and around four hours to complete while email drafts can take up to twelve days or less depending on the effective time use by the drafters. We reserve the right to decrease the amount of time allowed for picks if there is an issue with getting the draft completed before the season starts. Ensure that you are available for that date and time as refunds are not issued after joining a league once filled and drafting begins.
All drafts take place on your team’s home page that is accessed by logging into the member’s desired league login link at Fantaball.com. To draft, once on your home page, go to the top toolbar and mouse over "For Owner’s" tab, select Draft, and log in using your team name and password. Follow the steps for drafting as described on that page. The randomized draft order is also viewable at any time by choosing "Reports," then selecting "Fantasy Reports," and then "Draft Report."
Drafting is done in the standard serpentine manner with the team having the first pick starting round one and the team with the twelfth pick ending it. The order is reversed the following round with the twelfth pick starting it. The order is reversed every round in this fashion until all rosters have been filled. In our non-IDP leagues the draft will last eighteen rounds. If your league starts IDP, the draft lasts twenty-eight rounds.
In order to draft live you must log into the draft page from the "For Owners" tab (as above stated) and on the draft page you must click on "Live Draft" to enter this mode. You have a maximum two and a half minutes to choose your selection when it is your turn or the computer chooses it for you. Predrafting is highly recommended to ensure your desired player’s selection is attained.
When email drafting, the selections are emailed to all members of the league as they occur. This email report lists the previous picks, upcoming selection order, and if a member has predrafted future picks. Drafting will commence from June up to the start of the season allowing ample time to complete. (About 10 days for email and a day before the season starts for live).
Predrafting is a highly recommended whether you are participating in a live or email draft. This feature ensures you will not miss out on your desired selection and greatly speeds up the draft time. Predrafting is done on your draft page the same way as regular drafting by using the tab on the lower part of the page that says "or, you may go immediately to round . . . " Pick the specific round for the predraft selection and make it here. The predraft selections are only good for that specific round and will expire after its completion. You are encouraged to predraft a few rounds out and it is always best if you predraft multiple players in case your primary choice is gone by your turn. If you are the first pick in the draft, you are not able to predraft for the first round, and you must make your selection once the draft begins.
Auto-pick is a function that is employed either by the members choice or due to previously expired time limits. It is designed to ensure a more efficient draft. The software chooses its highest ranked player remaining on the board (from hundreds of previously run drafts) once the allotted time limit expires. It does not take into account your present roster and may draft too many players for a specific position or not enough. For this reason we do not recommend this unless you have no other option or desire. A second twelve-hour delay resulting in an auto-pick activates the auto-drafter for all future rounds and it will immediately make each and every pick for the offending team when it is their selection turn until overridden by future predrafting selections made by that team’s owner. Again, it is highly recommended that you use the predrafting option for future picks to avoid any technical delay or other reason that may cause you to miss your turn and have the picks chosen for you by the computer.
All draft and auction player transactions are final. You are urged to familiarize yourself with the draft/auction process before your event start time by participate in a mock draft/auction. It is also necessary for live drafters to arrive fifteen minutes early on your draft homepage to ensure an on time start with no missed picks. We reserve the right to lower the timer for the email drafter as needed to ensure the draft’s completion before the season starts.
All live auctions or drafts will have a scheduled time for the event that can be reviewed once logged in at Fantaball.com. Unlike a draft, auctions allow you an initial equal opportunity to acquire any player that you desire. If you have not yet participated in one, we strongly recommend you do so. We believe this offers the most fair method for roster development. For the live auctions, we are employing FantasyAuctioneer.com to handle the process. Please participate in a mock auction to make yourself familiar with the auction software.
Owners have a salary of $500 that cannot be exceeded when bidding on players. All roster spots must be filled with at least the minimum bid amount of $1.00 and there is no dropping of players and their cap money at any time during the auction. The minimum bid increment is $1.00. and all successive bids are in whole dollar amounts.
In the live auction, players are brought up for auction one at a time by teams in the serpentine manner as in drafting. Our software selects this order randomly. You have 10 seconds to place a bid and for every bid there is another 10 seconds allowed to for possible outbid. Players are won when the team’s bid has not been exceeded for this 10 seconds. The team that is next in line for player nomination has one minute to do so or the computer will nominate one for him. This process continues until all rosters are filled with their required allotments. Trades are not allowed during the auction process.
If you are using the live auction for roster development, you must visit this link for procedures, requirements, "how to’s," tips and strategy that is in detail describing the auction process to ensure your complete understanding for a successful auction.
Explanations and Strategies
The maximum number of players allowed on the roster is 18 except in the IDP leagues were it is 28. The only requirement is at the end of your draft or auction you must have at least a full starting lineup. There is no injured reserve or taxi squad.
All lineups must be submitted online. Members must submit desired players into the starting lineup before the kickoff of that player’s specific weekly game. All players are frozen either in the starting lineup or in the reserves after the kickoff of the weekly game that player is involved in. If no lineup is submitted, the default lineup is the previous week’s starters. No partial lineups are accepted by the computer. If you are trading a player, he must be out of the starting lineup in order to execute the trade. Only players in the starting lineup accumulate stats for that week’s contest. The requirements for the starting lineup based on the league’s particular set-up are below.
- Standard Lineup
1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF
- Flex Lineup
1 QB, 1 RB, 2 WR, 2 FLEX(RB, WR), 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF
- Standard Lineup with IDP
1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 2 DL, 2 LB, 2DB
- TE optional
1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR/TE, 1 K, 1 DEF
Your weekly schedule is listed on your league’s homepage. Every team will play every team in their division twice and four teams in the opposing Division once. The schedule is based on the division seeding which is determined randomly by our league management company.
The scoring system is performance based. This means points are not only gained by yards and touchdowns but by on-field fantasy performance value. Points are tallied for your offensive team by scores, yards, rushes, receptions, and completions, while points are subtracted by turnovers (lost fumbles and interceptions). On Defense, points are tallied by scores, recovered turnovers, sacks, total yards allowed, and total points allowed. All points scored in the game are counted as points scored against the respective defenses. Negative points are scored for the Defense if the total points scored against the defense exceeds 30 or yardage totals reach the negative goals.
Special teams’ scoring is not a category, but the scoring player will accrue points for the score on special teams if he is in your starting lineup. Special team scoring combined to the Defense is too random to be considered a valuable fantasy position and therefore not a part of our scoring system.
IDP players obtain points by tackles, assists, forced fumbles, recovered fumbles, interceptions, sacks, blocked kicks/punts, passes defensed, punt and kickoff returns for touchdowns, safeties, and defensive touchdowns.
When statistical changes occur to NFL scoring, they are changed. If stat changes do not occur and they are in error you must report that discrepancy prior to the kickoff of the first game of the following week. No changes are made after this deadline.
Fantaball.com Scoring
Throughout the season, team owners will improve their team by replacing underperforming players through trades and free agency. Free agents are players currently not on a team’s roster. Free agent pickups and trading between teams is allowed until the kickoff of week twelve, unless you are in a "no trade" allowed league. There are no fees associated with any type of transaction.
The two methods for free agent pickup are the Worst to First (WTF) and Blind Bidding (BBID) waiver systems. In the WTF waiver system, teams are ranked for player pickup by the team’s won/loss record with the worst team having the first claiming priority followed by the second worse and so on. At the time you are making waiver claims you must also designate a player to drop if your claim is successful.
In the WTF system, there are two waiver claim opportunities per week which are done in a two round serpentine manner as in the original draft. In the BBID system, there is one opportunity per week were teams try to outbid other teams for the available free agents. In this system your yearly free agent spending cap is $500 and it cannot be exceeded. This BBID is only done once per week and there is no following first come first served pickup period. There is only one chance to claim free agents in the BBID leagues.
The "First Come First Served" periods allow an unlimited ability to acquire non-roster players without team claiming priorities. Dropped players during the first come first served period can be immediately picked up without having to go through waivers.
Trading allows teams to acquire players on another team by giving up players on their team in a mutually agreeable swap. This is highly monitored both by the commissioner and the other league members to ensure no foul play. Trading is not permitted in a few specified "non-trade" leagues.
In the Worst to First free agent waiver system, the week’s first free agency claims process begins on Sunday night at 11:00 p.m. ET and ends on Wednesday at 11:00 p.m. ET. All claims placed during this first waiver window are not executed immediately but are held until that waiver’s conclusion on Wednesday at 11:00 p.m. ET before being transacted in the teams’ free agent acquiring priorities. All players dropped from the roster at the completion of this first free agent period are placed on waivers and go through a second waiver claiming process with the same priorities as the first. This second waiver window lasts 12 hours and ends the following morning at 11:00 a.m. ET. There is a two player pickup limit in each round for a total of four waiver additions allowed per team per week. This second waiver window is intended for an organized distribution of players that may have been dropped in the first waiver process or for remaining free agents.
All remaining non-roster players after this second waiver wire is processed become unrestricted free agents and can be attained on a first come first served basis until the kickoff of the first game of the week. All players dropped during the first come first served period do not go through waivers and may be claimed immediately. Members cannot add to rosters after the kickoff of the first game of the week and must wait until the next weeks free agent waiver period occurs.
The available free agents are searched by using the tool bar on the top of your league home page by mousing over "Reports" tab, then "Players," then "Free Agents." You may search by individual positions or you can do a full player search. Players are ranked according to fantasy points accrued to date.
In the Worst to First system you are allowed to submit two selections per claim window per week that are prioritized by the team with the worst winning percentage in the league having the right to the first selection followed by the next worst team percentage and so on with the order of selection reversing in the second round as in the serpentine draft. If there is a tie for worst records, the team that receives the player is determined by priority of:
- Lowest total points scored.
- Least points scored against.
- Head to Head record
In the other free agent pickup system called Blind Bidding, players are awarded to the highest bidding team that week. The team’s season spending cap is $500. The bids are in a minimum of one whole dollar. The winning bid amount is subtracted from the team’s bidding dollars and no bids are accepted higher than the team’s remaining dollars. Once the team’s cap money is spent that team may no longer acquire players, so spend wisely because there is no first come first served claiming process. The status of the remaining bidding dollars and amount spent is displayed on your league home page. You may submit one conditional bid to take effect if your primary bid is not successful. These conditional bids are void if the player in the primary or higher bid slot is attained. These bids are tabulated after Wednesday at 11:00 p.m. EST. Owners may submit bids until that time. All bids must include a designated player to drop if a bid is successful. After the bidding process ends, all remaining non-roster players including the week’s dropped players are unavailable for pickup until the next week’s the waiver process.
Immediately after the draft/auction, there is an Open First Come First Served free agent period that lasts until the kickoff of the first game of the season in both the WTF and BBID leagues. These non roster players can be acquired with no limits and no team acquiring priorities.
Members cannot add to their rosters after the kickoff of the first game of the week. All free agents after this time must go through the following week’s free agent’s waiver claiming process. There are no fees associated with any type of transaction.
The dropping of players (quality fantasy performers) from rosters that are deemed intentionally designed to sabotage the league are prohibited and league members must report the suspected dropping as soon as possible for corrective action. If the team owner is found to be willfully sabotaging the league, he is suspended and loses all rights to his team and future possible winnings. All intentionally dumped players used to sabotage are restored back to the original team.
(In allowed leagues)
Trading is available in leagues until the week twelve kickoff unless specified as a no trade league.Please be sure to read all league specifics before registering. Members place trade offers on their league web page and once a trade is proposed and accepted it is executed immediately. A trade cannot occur until the said player is out of the starting lineup. All trade offers stay open until cancelled or accepted so be sure to cancel all undesired trades. You may counter a trade with different players. All trades are final once completed but may be vetoed by the commissioner if deemed collusive. League members can both nullify the commissioner’s veto and block trades that are believed in collusion by a vote of at least 80% against the transaction. Email as soon as you believe collusion in a trade has occurred for review to determine if a veto or vote is necessary. The teams in question do not have a vote. All abstaining votes are counted as "for allowing the transaction."
Trading of draft picks is allowed up to 48 hrs before your draft start to ensure proper review. Trades are not allowed during the draft or auction due to the difficulty in ensuring fair trade review. Trades are also not allowed that can be construed as "loaner trades." This is the loaning of a player for a period only to be traded back at some time in the future. If deemed as such, the trade of the player back to his original roster is voided. The trading of a player(s ) that ends up being traded back to his original team is subject to revue and possible reversal if deemed a "loaner trade." It is advised you avoid making this type of trade because it will come under a great deal of scrutiny. When any trade appears to be a "loaner" please email the commissioner for revue.
The playoffs begin in week fifteen with your league’s Fantasy Super Bowl following on week sixteen. The two division winners get guaranteed playoff births and the two remaining teams with the most total points scored receive the final two wildcard births. The wildcard births are awarded regardless of won loss records and division standings. Four teams in total make the playoffs. In week fifteen, the top seeded team will play the last seeded team and the second and third seeded teams will play in the other game. The winners of these two games play for the league championship in week sixteen while the losers play for third place. The seeding of the playoff teams is done on the team’s overall season won/loss record regardless if they were division winners. A division winner may be seeded less than a wildcard birth if they have a worse won/loss record. Winning the division only guarantees making the playoffs. In the event of a tie in playoff determination and playoff seeding the following priorities are used:
- Total overall winning percentage
- Highest total points scored in the regular season
- Highest total points scored against in the regular season
- Head to head records
Tiebreakers in the Playoffs and Super Bowl games are broken by the team’s initial playoff seeding with the highest seeded team being awarded the victory.
The total score prize is played through week sixteen and if there is a tie the prize is equally divided.
Prizes are paid out within four to six weeks of the contest’s conclusion once we have confirmed your mailing information. Payment of prizes is done through Paypal and also by check if the member paid using their credit card without an account through Paypal when originally registered. All prizes are awarded in US dollars and are payable only to the registered email addressee. Prizes are not transferable and written proof may be required for an affidavit of eligibility and/or liability release before payment of prizes. Prize winners are solely responsible for all taxes associated with prize payment’s and a form 1099 is required for all prize winners of more than $600 before payment is processed.
Team owners agree that by joining a league, all transactions, roster moves, and starting lineup submissions must be executed with the intent to improve your team and team standings. Any purposeful attempt to lose a game, stock another roster, or dump players to corrupt a league will result in limiting the guilty owner’s playing privileges, complete owner’s deactivation, forfeiture of the team, and other measures the commissioner deems necessary to restore fair play. Team owners are requested to help with policing their leagues and reporting suspected foul play to the commissioner for investigation.
The commissioner is there to ensure fair, appropriate, and worry free fantasy play for all contestants. If any member’s actions appear suspicious, offensive, illegal, collusive, or conspiratory, email the commissioner at commissioner@fantaball.com. This email address is to be used for all scoring and general league questions. All email questions are answered in a timely fashion. When supplying questions please include the suspected issue, team(s) in question and the league the problem is in.
We are here to ensure your fantasy season is the best that you have experienced. Please email the commissioner at commissioner@fantaball.com for all game issues and for all other questions please email us at customerservice@fantaball.com.
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