Fantasy Football Contingency Plans for a Shortened Season

There’s no escaping the multitude of negative possibilities coronavirus has cast on the 2020 NFL season. Can the NFL actually play a full 17 week season? Will it start late? Will it start on time and then be shut down? If shut down will the season be able to resume, or will it remain in limbo with this air of perpetual uncertainty matching the likes of what we’ve seen these last few months from the NBA, NHL and MLB? And there’s also no escaping the countless headaches fantasy football league commissioners might experience trying to deal with all of these scenarios.

The best FFL commissioners care about the integrity of their league far more than the success of their own team, because winning the league is never a satisfying feeling if mired in controversy. Thus as a commissioner of two leagues myself (one is a dynasty and the other a year to year redraft format), I’ve taken the necessary steps to insure all of these possibilities will be addressed ahead of time.

And with that, I’m happy to share with you my FFL Contingency Plans for an Interrupted NFL Season. Feel free to grab and go for your own leagues. Understand these guidelines were written based on the following parameters: 12 teams, 13-week regular season, six playoff teams during weeks 14-16, and the dynasty league (with a $50 per team entry fee) uses a lottery system for non-playoff teams to determine the top six rookie draft order for the following year, whereas the redraft league (with a $100 per team entry fee) rewards the non-playoff teams by strongest record in the draft order. You may find these details important if converting any parts below, such as the listed prize payouts to fit your league’s parameters.

Here goes …………………

Regardless of any NFL decisions, the 2020 FFL draft will still be held as planned, and the format remains the same as outlined in our league rules.

If there is no 2020 NFL season:

• 2020 league fees will be pushed back to 2021, 2021 to 2022, etc.
• In redraft format, the 2020 draft order will be used for the 2021 season.
• FFL 2021 dynasty rookie draft will try to emulate the 2021 NFL draft as follows:
• If NFL repeats the 2020 draft order, FFL will go worst to first based on 2019 records.
• If the NFL has a partial lottery for 2019 non-playoff teams, FFL will have a new lottery for the six nonplayoff teams.
• If NFL has a weighted lottery for all 32 teams, we’ll emulate that as close as possible across our 12 teams. The same goes for any other method of rookie player allocation for the 2021 season.

If the 2020 NFL season starts late and reduces the number of weeks:

• No matter how many weeks the NFL regular season runs (with or without byes for NFL teams), the final week of games will not be used for the FFL Championship game.
• In a 16 week NFL regular season, FFL week 13 games are eliminated from the schedule.
• In a 15 week NFL, regular season, FFL week 12 and 13 games are eliminated from the schedule (these two weeks are repeat matchups from weeks 1-11).
• In a 14 week NFL regular season, FFL week 1 games are eliminated now creating an unbalanced UDL regular season of 10 games followed by our traditional six-team playoff field over three weeks.
• In a 13 week NFL regular season, FFL week 2 games are eliminated resulting in a nine-game UDL regular season followed by the six-team playoff field over three weeks.
• In a 12 week NFL regular season, FFL week 3 games are eliminated resulting in an eight-game UDL regular season followed by the six-team playoff field over three weeks.
• In an 11 week NFL regular season, FFL week 4 games are eliminated resulting in a seven-game FFL regular season followed by the six-team playoff field over three weeks.
• In a 10 week NFL regular season, FFL wild card playoff games are eliminated resulting in a seven-game FFL regular season followed by a shortened four-team playoff field over two weeks.
• In a 9 week NFL regular season, FFL week 5 games are eliminated resulting in a six-game UDL regular season followed by the four-team playoff field over two weeks.
• In an 8 week, NFL regular season, FFL week 6 and 7 games are eliminated resulting in a four-game FFL regular season followed by an eight-team playoff field over three weeks.
• In a 7 week NFL regular season, FFL week 8 games are eliminated resulting in a three-game FFL regular season followed by an eight-team playoff field over three weeks.
• In a 4-6 week NFL regular season, the remainder of the schedule will be scrapped and there will be no FFL playoffs. We will implement a “Match All Teams” plan as follows. Each FFL team will match up against all other FFL teams each week to produce a weekly 11 game W/L record. The records from all NFL weeks played will be tallied. The final week of the NFL regular season will count. The FFL team with the best W/L record will be recognized as the FFL Champion and win 25% of the net prize money available. The FFL team with the most total points will also receive 25% of the net prize money available. The other 50% will be added to the prize pool in the following two years (25% in 2021 and 25% in 2022).
• A 1-3 week NFL regular season starting in December (if that’s even possible) will be recognized as no NFL season as outlined above.

If the 2020 NFL regular season does not finish as planned:

• If shutdown before week 16 – the FFL Championship Game, most total regular-season points receives the allocated prize amount of $110 and the two remaining teams will equally split the remaining $420 ($210 per team), and be declared co-champions.
• If shutdown before week 15 – the FFL semi-finals (or at any point with four FFL teams remaining in the playoff field), most total regular-season points receives the allocated prize amount of $110 and the four playoff teams will equally split the remaining $420 ($105 per team). The league’s remaining top seed based on W/L record (followed by total points as a tie-breaker) will be declared the league champion.
• If shutdown at any point before week 14 – the start of the FFL playoffs and at least seven weeks of the FFL regular season have been played, the FFL team with the most total points will receive 50% of net prize money available and be recognized as league champion.  The other 50% will be added to the prize pool in the following two years (25% in 2021 and 25% in 2022).
• If only 3-6 weeks of the NFL season is played, FFL W/L records will be scrapped and readjusted based on the “Match All Teams” plan. Each FFL team will match up against all other FFL teams each week to produce a weekly 11 game W/L record. The records from all NFL weeks played will be tallied. The FFL team with the best W/L record will be recognized as the FFL Champion and win 25% of the net prize money available. The FFL team with the most total points will also receive 25% of the net prize money available. The other 50% will be added to the prize pool in the following two years (25% in 2021 and 25% in 2022).
• If only 1 or 2 weeks of the NFL season is played before a shutdown, FFL W/L records will be scrapped and the FFL team with the most total points will receive the allocated prize amount of $110. There will be no league champion for the 2020 season and the remaining net prize money will be added to the prize pool over the following two years (1/2 in 2021 and 1/2 in 2022).

If the 2020 NFL regular season gets interrupted and then resumes:

• Protocols outlined above will best be adhered to regarding scheduled weeks to eliminate and any possible playoff format.
• The playoff format will be determined based on how many games have been played, and how many remaining weeks can be utilized upon resumption.

FFL Dynasty 2021 Draft Lottery:

• Six nonplayoff teams if the six-team playoff field is established.
• Eight nonplayoff teams if the four-team playoff field is established.
• The lottery will be equally weighted regardless of six or eight teams.
• Two non-playoff teams (a coin toss for the #1 overall pick) if eight-team playoff field is established.
• Worst to first FFL 2021 draft order with no lottery based on total points, not W/L record, if no FFL playoff field is determined. Tanking will not be tolerated if it becomes apparent that there will be no FFL playoffs. Commissioner will make adjustments accordingly if inactive players remain in lineups or productive players are benched for suspect reasons.

Additional Notes:
Any NFL games postponed must be played within the Thursday through Monday cycle to count for that week’s fantasy matchup (or through and including that Tuesday and Wednesday if the website allows). Postponed games not played within this weekly window will be treated as a bye week for fantasy players and count during the week the NFL game is played (assuming it is rescheduled and played later in the season).

Commissioner will try to rule fairly and in the best interest of the integrity of the league should any concerns, conflicts or issues arise. Commissioner may call for a league-wide vote under any of these circumstances. Commissioner has final say on all-league related matters.

Good luck this season, and let’s cross our fingers and hope none of these guidelines will even be needed.

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