1. The league will be known as the American Football Congress (AFC). It will consist of 28 teams representing 28 of the current NFL franchises. The league will feature a 16 game season and a salary cap system. The league is a completely 100% head to head league, and all games must be played either via the Internet or face to face.

2. The league will feature the exclusive use of the Action! PC pro football game. It is considered the official league policy of the AFC that everyone is required to purchase the most current edition game disk AND the most current NFL season disk from Dave Koch Sports for use in the AFC (if you have a previous season you can purchase the upgrade to the new game and NFL season disk). Anyone found not doing this, or using a copied or pirated disk, will be removed from the league immediately and permanently. All owners are required to have and maintain an active AOL Instant Messenger account, and have an active e-mail client that can be registered with the Yahoogroups newsgroup that you will be able to receive file attachments as well. Each team will have a maximum of 53 players. If you should exceed the 53 man limit during the rookie/free agent draft you must immediately after the draft release enough players to get back down to the 53 man limit. You are required to have a full 53 man roster by completion of the rookie draft every year, and to maintain such throughout the season.

3. GAMEPLAY: All rules of the current NFL season with regard to goal line placement, field goal miss spot, kickoff yard line, etc., will be followed. Home field advantage will be used and will be set to 3 for all games, excluding the Super Bowl, where no home field advantage will be used. Other game settings will be as follows:

PLAY CLOCK: The Play clock will be turned on in the League Rules and set to 45 seconds. However, by agreement from BOTH teams, the play clock may be turned off at any time. Likewise, the Play clock may be resumed/turned on at any time by EITHER team requesting such, and cannot be turned off until both teams agree to the suspension of the clock.

NO HUDDLE/HURRY-UP OFFENSE: No huddle offense may be used at any time. The Hurry-up may only be used in the following situations: when behind by 21+ at any time, in the 4th quarter when down by 14+ at any time, in the 4th quarter when down by 8+ in the last 6:00 of the game, or anytime in the last 4:00 of either half. Hurry-up rules will apply as if it were the 4th quarter in any and all OT's.

4. SALARY CAP SYSTEM: The AFC will use the salaries as determined by the Action! PC Football game each year to determine the salary for each player. The salary for each player can and probably will change each year dependent upon the player's performance from that season. The salary cap for each season will be set at $76 million (effective with the 2010 season). If DKSports changes or modifies their salary structure at any point in the future the cap will be set upon the release of the newest season's ratings, and will be determined as the salary exactly halfway between the average team salary and the highest team salary + $2 million, rounded up to the nearest million. So if the high team salary was Tampa Bay at $105,831,000 and the league average team salary was $75,107,000, halfway between these salaries is $90,469,000, making the salary cap $93 million for that season.

Teams can be over the cap until the Free Agent draft each year, at which point all teams must be at or under the cap and at or under 53 players (minus the number of Rookie picks they have) before the start of Free Agent draft, and before any future picks can be traded, and remain as such for the remainder of the season in progress. Teams over the cap may release players as they see fit to get under the cap as well. This will allow teams over the cap to deal with it as they see fit, but still not allow for the hoarding of talent as they will not be able to trade excess for draft picks 2 or 3 years down the road.

A minimum salary cap will be enforced in the league. The minimum will be $30 million below the Max. salary cap allotted for each season.

5. ROSTERS: All teams must carry a full 53 player roster at the completion of the Rookie and Free Agent Drafts, and must stay there during the regular season. You may be below this before the Rookie and Free Agent Drafts, but upon completion of the Draft you must be at 53 players and within salary cap limits. Each team must carry a full 53 player roster. Injury replacements can be signed only in cases where the injured player is put on the IR, which would disqualify him for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. Teams would have no rights to any players acquired as injury replacements under this rule beyond the season in progress. You must also have enough cap room to add the acquired player's salary to your team's salary and remain under the salary cap. If any team does not have enough cap room to sign a replacement for a player that goes on to IR they may sign a minimum salaried player only to fill the opening. To place a player on IR he must be injured for at least 2 games and be injured the entire remainder of the season in progress.

Upon release of the initial files in March each team will be given a text copy of his team's roster from the previous season. It is each owner's responsibility to double check his team's roster for accuracy and errors, and to report any discrepancies immediately to the league office. Failure to do so can result in penalties that include, but are not limited to, a cap fine, loss of draft picks and up to disqualification from the league.

Teams must carry the following minimum number of players at each listed position:

ATTEMPT MINIMUMS: Each team must have a minimu of 300 pass attempts, 250 rush attepmts and 175 receptions to open the season. There are no exceptions.

6. FREE AGENT DRAFT: At the issue of the new season disk each year any players on the new season disk that are not on any roster, will be put into the draft pool for the Free Agent Draft. The draft order will be determined by using the tie-breaking system listed in article 17. Trading will be suspended during the time of the draft. All teams must be at 53 players minus the number of Rookie Draft picks they have for that season after completion of the Free Agent Draft. For example, if Carolina has 3 Rookie Draft picks for this season's draft, so they must have 50 players on their roster and be under the cap upon completion of the Free Agent Draft. Free Agent Draft picks are not tradeable.

7. ROOKIE DRAFT: After completion of the Free Agent Draft and after the NFL's rookie draft every year we will have our Rookie Draft. This will consist of any player chosen by the NFL in its just completed Rookie Draft that year. Undrafted players are not eligible. It will be a 5 round draft with the order determined by the tie-breakers as listed in article 17. When DKSports puts out it's annual Projection Disk each season we will use the ratings from that disk to rate the players chosen in the Rookie Draft for use in our season. Thus, NFL rookies will play their first season in the AFC the same year they are drafted by the NFL, rather than waiting a year for them to be "carded". Trading will be suspended during the time of the draft. All drafted rookies will be "cap-free" for their first year (have a salary of $0) as long as they remain on the team that drafted them with that team's original pick. Once a pick or a player drafted with that pick is traded he will count full salary as defined on the projection disk issued by DKSports each September, even if reacquired by the original team. All rookie picks must be made and cannot be "passed" on.

EFFECTIVE WITH THE 2010 SEASON: All rookies drafted in the annual rookie draft will be held accountable to the salary cap for that season based on the following chart. PICKS is the pick round and number, as 1.1 is round 1, pick 1. SKILL is the salary of any skill position players (QB, RB, WR & TE) chosen in those picks and NON-SKILL is the salary of any non-skill players chosen in those picks. For example, a RB chosen with pick 1.3 would have a salary of $2.00 million, while a DT chosen with the same picks would have a salary of $1.40 million:

Players that are drafted in any draft cannot be cut or traded until after completion of that draft, but not during. Any team missing any pick by more than 1½ hours in the 1st five rounds of any draft will have his pick made by the League Office and will be stuck with the layer chosen, with fines applying in all cases (fines are doubled if the league offcie has to make your pick for you). This is to keep a team from being downgraded by a bad owner who then quits the league.

DRAFT LOTTERY: Each year there will be a lottery of the bottom 6 picks plus ties, evenly weighted so all teams have the same odds as the other, to determine the order of the Rookie Draft. These lottery picks will go in serpentine fashion each round of the draft, meaning it will go from 1 to 6 in the odd numbered rounds and from 6 to 1 in the even numbered rounds. The lottery will be determined using a confirmable source, such as a published lottery result as the deciding factor for the draft order. For lottery purposes all lottery teams will be treated as having the exact same win-loss record, with only the lottery results determining draft position. Lottery teams with fines cannot be in the lottery and will draft after all non-fined lottery teams in all rounds.

8. LEFTOVER PLAYERS ("MINI-DRAFT"): After completion of the Free Agent Draft each season any players leftover and not on any roster will be put into a pool of players for the leftover player "mini-draft". This will be held in the league chat room on a date set by the Commissioner in advance each year. The order for this draft will be in order of the total team salaries of all AFC teams immediately after completion of the Free Agent Draft, with last year's win-loss record the #1 tiebreaker. After completion of the "mini-draft" you can any claim player not on an AFC roster that is " carded" in the current season player disk on a first come, first served basis until the start of week 1 each year, by requesting to add the player via the AFC newsgroup (you must include the player you will cut to make room for the new player, if necessary). The mini-draft will only be one round.

9. WR/TE RUSHING RULE: Due to their not being game fatigue during the regular season the following rule will be used for all AFC games, including playoffs. The rule for rushing and/or passing attempts for WR/TE will be as follows: Players with 1-10 real life attempts can rush/pass no more than once per game. Players with 11-20 real life attempts can rush/pass no more than twice per game. Players with 21+ attempts are unlimited per game, but keep in mind that season fatigue will still effect these players. No WR/TE can exceed his real life rush/pass attempts in any given season (effective with the 2010 season this becomes 110% of his real life attempts). Failure to adhere to this rule can result in a protest by your opponent and having the game replayed if upheld. Stiffer penalties can be levied in cases of deliberate and intentional overuse.

KO/PUNT RETURNER RULE: For any player to be listed as a #1 Kick Off and/or Punt Returner on your Coach File he must have had at least 20 real life attempts (for a Punt Returner this is defined as Returns + Fair Catches). Any player that meets this minimum can be listed as the #1 returner. If a team has no one with 20+ returns then they must list their order by the number of real life returns. The #2 & #3 KO returner will always be listed by order of the number of real life attempts. This will keep a team from over using a guy who may have had one long return.

For kick-off and punt returns any player that had a KO or punt return can be listed as your #1 returner at any time during a game, up to the point where he has used all of his real life return opportunities (for punt returners this is defined as his number of returns and does not include fair catches). At that point the returner is no longer eligible to be listed as the #1 returner unless he has 20+ returns (for punt returners this is defined as returns + fair catches) or has the most returns in that area on his particular team. The #2 and #3 returners for kickoffs should always be listed by the number of real life returns. Any team found to be overusing a returner that does not have 20+ returns or is not the #1 returner in real life attempts for his team will be fined a 1st round rookie pick, with no exceptions! All teams must list their returners on their coach file as per the current return rules above, but the return order may be modified during any league games as per this new rule.

KICKER/PUNTER RULE: At the start of the regular season at a deadline set by the Commissioner no team may carry more than one Kicker with 20 or more FG attempts, nor more than one Punter with 50 or more Punt Attempts. You may carry as many as you'd like up to the start of the deadline, but then you must be in compliance with the above rule.

PLAYING PLAYERS OUT OF POSITION: Players may play out of position only when there are no other rated players at that position.

QB USAGE ATTEMPT LIMITS (effective with the 2010 season): No team can enter any season with more than one QB with 400 or more pass attempts. The only exception would be where 1st year rookies that are drafted in the rookie draft and rated via
the projection list would be exempt from this ruling, and their attempts would not count against a team is using this ruling.

10. GAME REPORTING: All game reports are due on the Sunday following the release of the league files for that week. Game reports are due at Midnight Eastern time, and should be reported to the league newsgroup at AFC_Football@yahoogroups.com. Each owner is responsible to see that his game results & stats are reported on time on a weekly basis. If an owner should fall behind in the playing and/or reporting of his games and/or stats to a point where the Commissioner should doubt his ability to finish the season that owner can and will be replaced. Constant missing of deadlines is cause for removal from the AFC without notice. All games must be reported to the newsgroup and game files submitted to the Commissioner within 48 hours of completing the game.

Each week the HOME team is required to submit to his opponent and to Brad Fletcher a list of dates and times that he will be available for his game during that week by no later than Tuesday at midnight Eastern. This list should include all of the available times that the home team owner could play that week, and not just one or two times. Please be as accommodating as possible.
The VISITING team is required to send to both his opponent and to Brad Fletcher a response to the Home team's suggested times by Wednesday at midnight Eastern, either by agreeing to a time the home team has proposed or by replying with a list of days and times he is available. Again, please be as accommodating as possible. If by Wednesday no POC is received by the visiting team from the home team then an e-mail should be sent to the home team's owner, Brad Fletcher and the Commissioner with a list of dates and times he is available for play.
BOTH teams must send a mutually agreed upon time of game (POT) to Brad Fletcher by Thursday at midnight Eastern. The Home team must submit confirmation of this time.
If the two teams for any reason cannot agree upon a time for the game to be played then the Home team takes precedence over the visiting team. In other words, the home team has the right to request the visiting team accept one of his suggested times, and if that cannot be agreed to, then the home team can request a sub for the visiting team.
If two teams have an greed upon time of game that has been confirmed by both parties, and for any reason either team cannot keep that time, then the team that was available at the original game time has precedence for all further times for that game. For example, Kansas City and Buffalo have a confirmed time of game and Buffalo, being the home team, cannot keep the originally scheduled time for any reason, then the availability of the visiting team (in this case KC) takes precedence if the two teams cannot agree on a time to reschedule the game. However, I expect to have to exercise the above two provisions in the rules rarely, if ever. It is expected that both teams will make a good faith effort to schedule the game at a time and day that is mutually acceptable in all cases, and it has been my experience that this is easily accomplished in almost every case if the two parties truly want to "get 'er done".
On the first instance in any given year of a team missing POC or POT they will be given written notification of such by the League Office. Offense #2 in any given year will result in a fine of $1 million towards the salary cap for the following season. The 3rd offense in any given year will result in an additional $1 million cap fine towards the following season's cap and loss of a 2nd round Rookie Draft pick. The 4th offense in any given year will result in expulsion from the league.
The home team is obligated to host his games. In cases where the visiting team can host and the home team cannot for whatever reason then the visiting team is required to host the game. But in cases where neither team can host it is incumbent on the home team to do so, or to request a sub for his team for that game.

12. GAME SUBS: Each team is allowed the use of a sub for a league game twice in any given year. Use of a sub has to be requested through Brad Fletcher and must be requested at least 8 hours in advance to be valid (this is to give Brad enough time to line up a sub for the game). Sub use in excess of 2 per season will result in a salary cap fine of $1 million for use #3, and an additional $1 million cap fine and loss of a #1 Rookie Draft pick for sub use #4, and could result in expulsion from the league, at the Commissioner's discretion.

SUB INCENTIVES: In order to reward those who willing sub for another team the following incetives are in place:

13. PENALTIES: All owners are expected to meet all league deadlines established by the League Office. Penalties shall be given on the following basis unless stated otherwise in these bylaws: first offense in any season will result in a $500,000 fine towards the salary cap. The second offense will result in an additional $1,000,000 fine towards the cap and loss of a 3rd round rookie pick. The 3rd offense will result in an additional $1,000,000 fine towards the cap and loss of a 1st round rookie pick. Any further missing of any deadlines will result in removal from the league without warning. If an owner is removed from the league for being habitually late, or for any other reason, his fines will be deleted and not be passed on to the new owner. An exemption from any penalties can be granted by the League Office, but will be issued very sparingly if at all, and only in cases of extreme emergencies. All monetary fines towards the cap will remain in effect for the balance of the season accrued plus the entire following season.

In any and all drafts, missing your assigned time slot for your pick will result in a cap fine of $1 million for any picks not made within 30 minutes of its assigned slot for rounds 1 thru 6, $750,000 for round 7 thru 10, and $500,000 for rounds 11+. Any owner missing 3 time slots in any given draft will be removed from the league.

14. DRAFT PICK AND MONETARY FINES: In any case where it calls for the loss of a draft pick and that pick has already been traded or otherwise deleted from that team, then that team will lose the next two highest of their remaining draft picks. For example, the penalty calls for loss of a #1 pick and that pick has been traded, then that team will forfeit their #2 and #3 picks instead. If the penalized team has traded all of their draft picks then the cap fine will be doubled and that team will lose it's #1 draft pick for the next available draft. In all cases where a penalized owner quits the league all draft pick and monetary fines will be rescinded for the new owner, who will start with a clean slate.

15. TRADE PROCEDURE: In the event of two or more owners agreeing on a trade the following procedure must be adhered to: all trades must be reported by both parties within 48 hours by via e-mail only to the AFC newsgroup at AFC_Football@yahoogroups.com, unless given express permission by the Commissioner to do otherwise, or the trade will be ruled invalid. The Commissioner has & will use the power to overrule any trade he feels is detrimental to the balance of the league for any reason. In-season trading is allowed in the AFC is allowed up to the end of week #4 of the schedule.

16. PLAYOFFS: At the close of the regular season the AFC's playoffs will begin. Six teams from each league will make the playoffs---the 3 divisional winners and 3 wild card teams with the best records. The two divisional winning teams with the best records will get first round byes, and all playoff play will continue as per the NFL up to and including the AFC Super Bowl. The Super Bowl will be played at a neutral site designated in advance each year. 10% will be added to the seasonal fatigue for each round of the playoffs, and injuries will carry over into the playoffs from the regular season. The six post-season participants from each conference will be seeded as follows:

17. TIE-BREAKERS: The following procedures will be used to break standings ties for post season playoffs and to determine regular-season schedules. NOTE: Tie games count as one-half win and one-half loss for both clubs.

TIE-BREAKER FOR DETERMINING PLAYOFF TEAMS AND SEEDINGS:
1. Monetary Fines: team with the most money accumulated in fines over the season just completed as listed on the website will lose the tiebreaker in all cases.
2. Use of subs and missing POC/POT: this will be done on a points basis. A team that misses POC or POT will be given 2 point for each violation, and one point will be given for each use of a second and all additional subs. The team with the most points accumulated will lose the tiebreaker in all cases.
3. Head to Head Games (winner of head to head game receives priority)

4. Best Record in Divisional Games (if all teams in same division)

5. Best record in Conference Games

6. Best Record in games with Common Opponents (minimum of 4 games each to use this qualifier)

7. Strength of Schedule (strongest strength of schedule gets the tie-breaker)

8. Random Draw tied to a confirmable source, such as a lottery result

TIE-BREAKER FOR DETERMINING DRAFT ORDER:

1. The Super Bowl winner is last and the Super Bowl loser next-to-last.
2. Any non-Super Bowl playoff club involved in a tie shall be assigned priority within its segment below that of non-playoff clubs and in the order that the playoff clubs exited from the playoffs. Thus, within a tied segment a playoff club that loses in the Wild-Card game will have priority over a playoff club that loses in the Divisional playoff game, which in turn will have priority over a club that loses in the Conference Championship game. If two tied clubs exited the playoffs in the same round, the tie is broken by using below.

3. Monetary Fines: team with the most money accumulated in fines over the season just completed as listed on the website will lose the tiebreaker in all cases.
4. Use of subs and missing POC/POT: this will be done on a points basis. A team that misses POC or POT will be given 2 point for each violation, and one point will be given for each use of a second and all additional subs. The team with the most points accumulated will lose the tiebreaker in all cases.
5. Head to Head Games (winner of head to head game receives priority)

6. Best Record in Divisional Games (if all teams in same division)

7. Best record in Conference Games (if all teams in same conference)

8. Best Record in games with Common Opponents (minimum of 4 games each to use this qualifier)

9. Strength of Schedule (strongest strength of schedule gets the tie-breaker)

10. Random Draw tied to a confirmable source, such as a lottery result

19. The Commissioner reserves the right to make any rulings necessary that are not expressly covered in these bylaws. This includes, but is not limited to, interpreting rules, defining loopholes, and any other ruling that may become necessary.