The Farley Rule

Managers are expected to maintain their rosters and lineups on a weekly basis. Starting a competitive lineup maintains the integrity of the league, and ensures that we have an enjoyable and fair fantasy football experience.

Failure to do so may result in punitive actions, up to and including: monetary fees, expulsion from the playoffs, draft order adjustments for the following season, and severe public shaming. In the event it can be proven that the violation occurred due to purposeful intent to influence and/or affect other league Managers, and/or involved collusion with other league Managers, the violating Managers may be expelled from the league.

Examples of Rule Violations

Starting a player who has been designated Injured/Out within 30 minutes of their teams kickoff.
Starting a player who is on a Bye week
Starting a Free Agent
Starting a player who has been benched, and is not expected to play a significant role in the game
Leaving a roster spot empty in your starting lineup

Possible exceptions to the examples listed above

Starting an Out or Bye week player, or leaving a roster spot Empty, when doing so can be interpreted as a strategy to win your matchup. For example, if a Manager is winning their matchup by 1 point, and the Manager has one player yet to play, the opposing Managers players have completed their games and the opposing Managers final total is set, and the Manager removes the one player yet to play from their starting lineup leaving an Empty roster spot to avoid the possibility of that player receiving negative points, which would result in the Manager losing their matchup.
Late Window/Monday Night Games: A Manager has a player who’s game is in a late Sunday or Monday night game, all other players in the Managers roster have started or completed their games and are locked, the late window players injury status changed from Active or Questionable to Out, and there are no reasonable replacements available on the waiver wire, or the Manager does not want to drop the Out player for a replacement due to the players high value compared to available replacements and the Managers IR spot is already filled with a similarly high valued player.

Adjudication

The Farley Rule, and all exceptions to The Farley Rule, are subject to interpretation and deliberation by the League Commissioner. Any Managers found in violation of The Farley Rule will be allowed an opportunity to make a case for exception to the League Commissioner before adjudication. The verdict and subsequent punitive action(s) may be overturned by a vote among all league members, requiring 7 votes in favor to overturn. In the event a violation involves the League Commissioner, and 3rd party deliberator, agreed upon by all league members, will be used to adjudicate.

Punitive Actions

Standard Punitive Actions

Level 1: $5 penalty, which will be applied to the prize pool.
Level 2: $10 penalty, which will be applied to the prize pool.
Level 3: $25 penalty, which will be applied to the prize pool
Level 4: $50 penalty, which will be applied to the prize pool
Level 5: $100 penalty, which will be applied to the prize pool

The Level of Punitive Action is up to the sole discretion of the League Commissioner, or the appointed Deliberator, and is not subject to debate or appeal. The League Commissioner, or appointed Deliberator, reserves the right to issue a warning to the offending Manager in place of any Punitive Action.

Other Punitive Actions

The punitive actions listed below may be enforced in conjunction with, or in place of, the Standard Punitive Actions listed above.

Disqualification of the Manager from the Play Offs. This will result in either the opposing Manager effectively having a Bye week in their playoff match versus the offending Manager, OR the promotion of the 7th place Manager into the Playoffs.
Draft Order Adjustments: The offending Managers draft position for the following season may be adjusted by the League Commissioner as they see fit, including but not limited to;
- Offering the offending Managers draft position to swap with other Managers. The order of offering may be determined in several ways, including but not limited to:
  - Offering a draft position swap to all other Managers, in reverse order of the draft order ( #10 - #1)
  - Offering a draft position swap to all other Managers, in reverse order of the previous seasons final standings.
  - In the event the violation directly affected one Manager specifically, that Manager will be offered the draft position swap.
- The offending Managers draft position will be adjusted to the 10th position after all other draft positions have been randomly selected.
Draft Pick Swaps: In the event the violation directly affected one Manager specifically, that Manager will be offered to swap one Draft round in which they can swap their player pick with the offending Managers player pick. This action will occur after the entire draft has concluded.
Expulsion from the league.