Here is the first draft of an official constitution for our league. Many thanks for Doug and Fonzie for their valuable input and help! Also, I would like to thank the eNFL, HFL, and IHOF where many of these ideas came from.

Please give feedback here about this draft. After a reasonable amount of discussion time I will post a 2nd draft. Then after some more discussion we will post an official vote to ratify the constitution. We need to get this done before the end of this season.

[b1224e1a]CFL Constitution[/b1224e1a]

The CFL is a multiplayer league for Front Office Football 2004. The CFL was the very first multiplayer FOF league to form with the announcement made on 10/21/03 and the first regular season game simulated on 1/15/04.

[b1224e1a]Leadership Team[/b1224e1a] [i1224e1a](One team to rule them all...)[/i1224e1a]

The league is run by a 3-person team made up of the Commissioner and two Conference Presidents. This team is responsible for keeping the league fair and fun. This involves simulating the games, listening to suggestions from owners, and having the final decision on interpretation of league rules.

The Conference Presidents are elected by the owners of their conference prior to each new season. Nominations will be accepted during the playoffs and voting will be confidential and handled by the Commissioner.

[b1224e1a]Owner Participation[/b1224e1a]

Owners must remain involved in the league by submitting exports regularly and participating in discussions on the discussion board. If an owner is unable to participate for an extended period of time then they must inform their Conference President and the league Commissioner. Owners in this situation are allowed to find an interim owner to fill in for them during their absence.

If an owner has not participated in the league for an extended period of time and did not inform anyone of their absence, the Leadership Team will attempt to contact that owner. If the Leadership Team is unable to contact that owner after a reasonable amount of time then the owner will be removed from the league.

[b1224e1a]League Rules[/b1224e1a]

Have fun and play fair. If you are unsure about whether an action is "fair", you should ask the Leadership Team before taking that action.

Violating the rules below will result in a penalty determined on a case-by-case basis by the Leadership Team. Penalties may include loss of draft picks, releasing certain players, and/or removal from the league.

1. [u1224e1a]Staff Hiring[/u1224e1a] - The salary cap for signing coaches and scouts is 10% of the league's salary cap. If a team is over the cap at the start of the Staff Hiring Stage then it may remain over the cap as long as it does not make any staff moves.

2. [u1224e1a]Roster Size[/u1224e1a] - A team may never have more than 70 players under contract at one time.

3. [u1224e1a]Position Changes[/u1224e1a] - Position switches are allowed, but may not be made for the purpose of significantly lowering the player's ratings. All position switches must be posted in the Position Changes forum.

4. [u1224e1a]Contract Negotiations[/u1224e1a] - When making a contract offer, owners may not double or exceed double a player's base salary from one year to the next, except from the first year of the contract to the second. "Cap Out" contracts are exempt from this rule. Also, all contract offers must be "sportsmanlike" as determined by the Leadership Team.

5. [u1224e1a]Trades[/u1224e1a] - Trades must be confirmed by both teams in the Confirmed Trades forum. If a trade of questionable fairness occurs, any owner may challenge the trade and the Leadership Team will resolve the issue.

6. [u1224e1a]End of Season Roster Moves[/u1224e1a] - A team cannot sign free agents or release players from the time of their last game of the season (regular season or playoffs) until the free agent period of the following season.

7. [u1224e1a]Play to Win[/u1224e1a] - Teams must try to win every game and may not intentionally lose games in order to get a better draft pick.

[b1224e1a]Constitution Changes[/b1224e1a]

Changes to this Constitution require a 2/3 vote from league owners.

[b1224e1a]Overturning Decisions[/b1224e1a]

If an owner strongly disagrees with a decision made by the Leadership Team, that owner may challenge that decision. Such a challenge will lead to a league vote on the matter where a 50% majority of votes cast will determine the proper course of action.

A schedule of the league would be nice in the opening - sims on monday and fridya morning.

As for the rules- I dont think we should need to post them if they are just little switches that do not change a player. However, big changes- T to G, DT to DE, S to LB and those types should be posted.

End of season roster moves- I think we should be allowed to cut players during the staff hiring stage, and the pre-FA stage. It is a good time to clear up cap space and get ready for free agency, however the game will not allow us to sign players. But I would say cutting players then should be allowed.

play to win- hard to enforce but obvious violitons will be dealt with somehow.

Rule 8 should simply be have fun, and remember its just a game.

_________________


Home of Marvin "Muddy Waters" Raffo

I would also suggest stipulating what exactly the period of inactivity is for the current ownership to be removed. You'd hate to get into an argument if the period of time isn't explicitly stated.

[quote95cb328="Craigsca"]I would also suggest stipulating what exactly the period of inactivity is for the current ownership to be removed. You'd hate to get into an argument if the period of time isn't explicitly stated.[/quote95cb328]

My thoughts exactly. 'after a reasonable amount of time' just opens the door to arguments IMHO. We need to define this time more precisely

I also agree with Doug re the end of season roster moves. I think this should be changed to 'until the start of the following season, ie after the CFL Bowl'

Otherwise, good work guys.

Oh, and where is the 'Tucson and Tulsa Rock' article?

[quotebd14b41="fantastic flying froggies"][quotebd14b41="Craigsca"]I would also suggest stipulating what exactly the period of inactivity is for the current ownership to be removed. You'd hate to get into an argument if the period of time isn't explicitly stated.[/quotebd14b41]

My thoughts exactly. 'after a reasonable amount of time' just opens the door to arguments IMHO. We need to define this time more precisely

I also agree with Doug re the end of season roster moves. I think this should be changed to 'until the start of the following season, ie after the CFL Bowl'

Otherwise, good work guys.

Oh, and where is the 'Tucson and Tulsa Rock' article? [/quotebd14b41]

Overall, I'm a huge fan of the consitution, but I agree with craig and FFF here... we need an exact inactivity guideline... and inactivity would mean no contact, not no export...

I agree that an activity time limit needs to be set to avoid ambiguity.

Also, would like some clarification on the last rule(7). I agree that nobody should try to intentionally lose for a better draft pick. However, I think that a team that's having a crappy season has the right to put in some younger players to get them some xp. That doesn't mean that you're throwing the game. It means that you're building for next year.

_________________

Deep South Division Champions
2006, 2009-10, 2019, 2023-24, 2027, 2031-32, 2034-35, 2040, 2044, 2046-47, 2051-53, 2055-56, 2058-62
Eastern Conference Champions
2009, 2031, 2055
CFL Champions
2031, 2055
Hall of Fame
Joshua Mask, Douglas Hartman, Carl Bradford, Leland Wellins, Wally Wooden (#80), Brantley Gilmore (#9)

I think I can answer the questions with the inactivity and the lack of an exact time- When making my rough draft of it- I know I wanted to leave it more of a lose 'inactivity' period to not make owners feel forced to submit a file once every two weeks or something like that. My interpertation of it was something like not being heard from in 2 weeks (real time weeks) at all, maybe we could put something like that in there.

As for rule 7- Yes that is a hard one to clarify, I know I have put young guys in to get them playing time since my team does suck and is always the first out of the playoff race. This would be a hard rule to really enforce, but if it was something VERY obvious then it should be dealt with. Like for instance take my team with Donnie Lowe, the great young QB (much better than Dustin Hayes)- if I were to bench him, butch fulton, basically all my good young players and start undrafted guys who have no potential, that could be considered tanking a season. Again this one would have to be very obvious to enforce any punishment.

_________________


Home of Marvin "Muddy Waters" Raffo

[quotee1f6c7b="Doug5984"]Like for instance take my team with Donnie Lowe, the great young QB (much better than Dustin Hayes)...[/quotee1f6c7b]

*cough*bullshit*cough*

_________________


El Paso Rockets
2016, 2037 Wild Card Team
2005, 2006, 2015 Cavalry Divison champs

For the Inactivity...

Activity would not require a file..

It could be a file or an e-mail contact every two weeks... so the e-mail could be, "no updates"...

[quote252ae29="wademoore"]For the Inactivity...

Activity would not require a file..

It could be a file or an e-mail contact every two weeks... so the e-mail could be, "no updates"...[/quote252ae29]

that sounds good to me, or atleast a post on the board saying no file needs to be sent. Also, if a team is inactive for those 2 weeks their team will not be taken away that moment- they will be sent an email or something and given a little time to respond before a new owner is found.

_________________


Home of Marvin "Muddy Waters" Raffo

[quote84141b9="Doug5984"][quote84141b9="wademoore"]For the Inactivity...

Activity would not require a file..

It could be a file or an e-mail contact every two weeks... so the e-mail could be, "no updates"...[/quote84141b9]

that sounds good to me, or atleast a post on the board saying no file needs to be sent. Also, if a team is inactive for those 2 weeks their team will not be taken away that moment- they will be sent an email or something and given a little time to respond before a new owner is found.[/quote84141b9]

Agreed... a proactive message from the commish or whoever makes sense.. so maybe 1 1/2 weeks of inactivity, a message is sent, and then a week after that message is sent they are booted?

Bump. Doug or someone else, can you go ahead and incorporate the feedback into a new draft? I would do it but this is going to be an extremely busy week for me and I won't have time. I would like to get this taken care of before the end of this season. Thanks!

[quotecb00af8="Taco"]Bump. Doug or someone else, can you go ahead and incorporate the feedback into a new draft? I would do it but this is going to be an extremely busy week for me and I won't have time. I would like to get this taken care of before the end of this season. Thanks![/quotecb00af8]

I have a pretty busy week coming up, and then finals are next week- but after that if no one can get around to it, I will have plenty of time to work on it.

_________________


Home of Marvin "Muddy Waters" Raffo