MFL Position Changes for True Position Leagues

MyFantasyLeague (MFL) has opened up their 2020 league site, and that means it is time for True Position leagues to review all the custom position players and make sure everything is set up properly for the coming season.

As a quick review, True Position refers to an IDP format which groups players into 5 groups - defensive interior linemen (DI), edge players (EDR), stack or off-ball linebackers (LB), cornerbacks (CB), and safeties (S). NFL teams that designate their players with a 3-4 base list their edge rushers as LBs, and 2/3 of their defensive interior linemen (meaning they line up inside of the offensive tackle for a majority of their snaps), as DE.  True Position leagues correctly group players by their on-field role rather than by what moniker an NFL team uses.

Unfortunately, only ESPN currently allows for the DI and EDR positions.  Other league hosting services have hinted about supporting these positions, but have yet to do so.

MFL at least allows the ability to change a player's position in your league.  I thus change all the 3-4 DEs to DTs to group them properly with the 4-3 DTs; and change the 3-4 OLBs to DEs to group them properly with the other Edge players (or 4-3 DEs). 

So here are the custom position changes necessary to convert your MFL IDP league into one using True Position -

PLAYER	True Pos	MFL Default
Allen, Jonathan WAS	DT	DE
Allen, Zach ARI	DT	DE
Alualu, Tyson PIT	DT	DE
Anderson, Ryan WAS	DE	LB
Avery, Genard PHI	DE	LB
Barrett, Shaq TBB	DE	LB
Basham, Tarell NYJ	DE	LB
Biegel, Vince MIA	DE	LB
Blackson, Angelo HOU	DT	DE
Bowser, Tyus BAL	DE	LB
Brockers, Michael LAR	DT	DE
Buggs, Isaiah PIT	DT	DE
Carter, Lorenzo NYG	DE	LB
Casey, Jurrell TEN	DT	DE
Chubb, Bradley DEN	DE	LB
Correa, Kamalei TEN	DE	LB
Dupree, Bud PIT	DE	LB
Ebukam, Samson LAR	DE	LB
Fackrell, Kyler GBP	DE	LB
Ferguson, Jaylon BAL	DE	LB
Finch, Sharif FA	DE	LB
Floyd, Leonard CHI	DE	LB
Fowler, Dante LAR	DE	LB
Gary, Rashan GBP	DE	LB
Gholston, William TBB	DT	DE
Golden, Markus NYG	DE	LB
Gotsis, Adam DEN	DT	DE
Gunter, Rodney ARI	DT	DE
Gustin, Porter CLE	DE	LB
Hand, Da'Shawn DET	DT	DE
Heyward, Cameron PIT	DT	DE
Hicks, Akiem CHI	DT	DE
Hill, B.J. NYG	DT	DE
Hollins, Justin DEN	DE	LB
Ioannidis, Matt WAS	DT	DE
Jenkins, Jordan NYJ	DE	LB
Jones, Chandler ARI	DE	LB
Jones, DaQuan TEN	DT	DE
Judon, Matt BAL	DE	LB
Keke, Kingsley GBP	DT	DE
Kennard, Devon DET	DE	LB
Kerrigan, Ryan WAS	DE	LB
Killebrew, Miles DET	LB	S
Landry, Harold TEN	DE	LB
Lynch, Aaron CHI	DE	LB
Mack, Khalil CHI	DE	LB
Martin, Kareem NYG	DE	LB
Matthews, Clay LAR	DE	LB
McPhee, Pernell BAL	DE	LB
Mercilus, Whitney HOU	DE	LB
Miller, Christian CAR	DE	LB
Miller, Von DEN	DE	LB
Nelson, Anthony TBB	DE	LB
Nichols, Bilal CHI	DT	DE
Nwosu, Uchenna LAC	DE	LB
Okoronkwo, Ogbonnia LAR	DE	LB
Polite, Jachai LAR	DE	LB
Reed, Malik DEN	DE	LB
Robertson-Harris, Roy CHI	DT	DE
Scarlett, Brennan HOU	DE	LB
Shepherd, Nathan NYJ	DT	DE
Smith, Preston GBP	DE	LB
Smith, Za'Darius GBP	DE	LB
Suggs, Terrell KCC	DE	LB
Sweat, Montez WAS	DE	LB
Tuitt, Stephon PIT	DT	DE
Urban, Brent CHI	DT	DE
Wake, Cameron TEN	DE	LB
Watkins, Carlos HOU	DT	DE
Watt, T.J. PIT	DE	LB
Williams, Leonard NYG	DT	DE
Williams, Nick CHI	DT	DE
Wolfe, Derek DEN	DT	DE
Wormley, Chris BAL	DT	DE

How Best to Play IDP

A few months back I participated in a group discussion with several other fantasy football writers specializing in individual defensive players under the auspices of creating a standard set of rules for IDP leagues.  It was, of course, a fool’s errand, but I was happy to give my 2 cents.

On one side was Jordan Rains (@50shadesofdrunk) who was strongly arguing in favor of a credo computer programmers call KISS, which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid (not that he was using that term, but that’s what it boiled down to).  He wants just 3 positions (DL, LB, and DB), and for a basic, easy to understand, scoring system.  He has since been pushing his IDP123 rules, and more power to him.  If he succeeds in bringing in more people to playing IDP then I’ll be happy to applaud him for it.

I was the most prolific in arguing against, but pretty much everyone else was.  The rest of us argued that keeping it simplified was not the best way to play IDP.  In fact, you should do the opposite of that.  Playing IDP isn’t for someone who thinks they can just dip their toe in the water.  Instead, take a running leap and cannonball into the deep end.  Yes, there may be sharks in there.  So arm yourself as best you can.  But if you’re considering playing IDP then you at least recognize that football is an incredibly complex game, and you are ready to embrace that complexity in your fantasy leagues.

So here are my strong recommendations of the types of league settings, roster and lineup requirements, and scoring rules you should be looking for when you join an IDP league.

Use 5 IDP Positions

Ideally, leagues would use True Position settings, as that properly groups all players by their roles on the football field rather than just what their team happens to call them.  Unfortunately, those positions aren’t supported by a majority of league hosts.  But at the minimum, IDP leagues need to break out defensive linemen into tackles and ends, and defensive backs into cornerbacks and safeties.  To do otherwise relegates tackles and corners to having little, if any, fantasy value, which is like offense-only leagues grouping tight ends into a receivers category.  If the fantasy is being a NFL general manager, then don’t ignore parts of the game.

Use Big Play scoring rules rather than Tackle-heavy scoring rules

There are few things defensive players do on the field that accrue countable statistics.  Making a tackle is the most common of these things, and thus in the early IDP leagues it became the main measurement used to determine how good IDPs were.  In retrospect, this was a mistake, because a tackle is not necessarily indicative of the player making a good play that helps his team.  For example, a cornerback gives up a 30-yard catch to a WR and then pushes him out of bounds.  Yes, there is some value to the team in that the tackle prevented the WR from scoring a touchdown, but the offense’s expected points for this drive just shot way up because of this one play.  If anything, the CB should be penalized with negative fantasy points for that play, rather than be rewarded with points for the tackle. 

Instead, use a Big Play scoring system, defined as a set of rules where sacks score at minimum 4x the number of points as a tackle (though the total points may be accrued over multiple stat categories such as sack, sack yards, tackle, and tackle for loss), and where turnovers score at least 5x the number of points as a tackle (though again, this may be divided over forced fumble and fumble recovery stats, or interception and pass defensed stats).  There is no question that sacks, turnovers, tackles for loss, and passes defensed are positive plays for the defense.  Additionally, turnovers are the single most valuable type of play to a team behind only actual scoring plays.  Don’t be hesitant to score them highly as a result.  But keep in mind the comparative value of the offensive scores for touchdowns in your scoring rules.

Tackle heavy scoring systems will lead to teams acquiring a bunch of really bad defenders that are targeted by QBs, as they will have much higher opportunities for tackles.  That defeats the purpose of the fantasy, doesn’t it?  You want to beat your opponent because you did the better job of identifying and acquiring good players, not by collecting the worse group of defenders.

Adjust Scoring by Position

To enhance strategy, each position ideally should score about the same range of points.  That way you will be focused on acquiring the best and most talented players rather than focusing on, say, getting a decent third LB before bothering with a DT.  Unfortunately, that will require scoring certain stats differently by position.  The best way to do this is to focus on the stats that demonstrate particularly good play by each position.  DEs (or Edges) should focus on sacks; DTs (or Dis) on Tackles for Loss; LBs and Ss a good balance amongst categories; and CBs should focus on passes defensed and minimize points for tackles (for the example discussed above).

Balance IDP Lineup and Roster Requirements against OFF

Just accept the fact that teams will care more about rostering their stud RB’s backup more than a safety to cover a bye week.  I’ve experimented with rules to deter or even penalize this to no avail.  It’s just a fact of FF existence.  But depending on your lineup and roster settings, this can destroy relative IDP value. 

Here’s an example – A 12-team league starts 8 offensive skill position players and 11 IDPs, and has a 30-man roster size.  8 RBs/WRs/TEs times 12 teams is 96 players, or the top 3 players from each NFL team.  Assuming 2 viable fantasy RBs per NFL franchise, 3.5 WRs, and 1.5 TEs, that’s 96 out of 224 offensive players, or 43% of the viable non-bye week players are in teams’ starting lineups.  For IDPs, 11 starters sounds like a lot, and it was set to mimic the fact that NFL teams have 11 defenders on the field at a time (ignoring that no NFL team has 8 combined offensive skill players on the field together).  That’s 132 starting IDPs.  Assume 11 viable fantasy IDPs per team (it’s even more with DL rotations and nickel/dime usage, but this is just an example), that’s 352 available IDPs.  132/352 is 37.5%.  So just from your starting lineup requirements, you have greater demand for IDP starters (11 vs 8), but less supply for offense (224 vs 352), leading to a greater share of available offensive players in your starting lineup (43% vs 37.5%).  Assuming IDPs score about the same per player as offensive players (which is often not the case), then the starting lineup requirements are going to create greater value to be placed on the offensive players.

Now let’s look at the example league’s roster requirements.  There are 10 bench spots per team, or 120 total over the league.  There are 128 fantasy-viable non-starting offensive players, and 220 fantasy-viable non-starting IDPs.  Having a smaller supply of offensive players makes acquiring them more valuable, so teams will snatch them up, leaving the IDPs on the waiver wire.  And having plug-and-play IDPs available for in-season pickup decreases the need to spend sufficient draft capital to acquire IDPs during initial player acquisition. 

There are several solutions, and you should strongly consider combining several.

     A) Increase roster size – the surest way to increase IDP value is to make them scarce.  And the easiest way to do that is to increase the roster size to 50+, and depending on the number of teams maybe even 60 or 70.  In a 12-team league, assume the first 11 bench spots will be filled by only offensive players and plan accordingly.  Yes, that all but eliminates in-season free agent pickups.  I never said there was a perfect solution.
     B) Increase the number of teams in your league – I prefer 16-team leagues as it is exactly half the number of NFL teams and it makes the ratios nice and even.  This is another way to get more players on team rosters and decrease the supply of available IDPs.  16 teams with 55-man rosters equals 880 total players, which accounts for every fantasy viable player on every NFL team as well as several young backups with potential (and yet there’s still weekly transactions because of injuries).
     C) Consider roster limits on your offensive players – Everyone hates this rule, but if you want there to be offensive players available on the waiver wire with the same scoring value as available IDPs, this is how you do it.  If you’re not going to have large rosters, then you absolutely have to have position roster limits or you can kiss any value for your IDPs goodbye.

Conclusion

IDP league settings are messy and complex.  As I have learned the hard way, making one small adjustment can shift the entire setup out of balance with huge unintended results.  Therefore, the absolute best thing to look for before joining an IDP league is an experienced Commish who has put real thought and care into the league rules.  But I strongly encourage you to play IDP leagues, and stop limiting yourself to less than half the players on the field.  If your fantasy is to be a NFL General Manager, then just imagine choosing to draft Nick Bosa over DK Metcalf, and having that choice pay off as the correct long-term team building decision.

Here is the current list of all players needing their position changed in MFL leagues to correspond with True Position (where we make all Edge players as DEs and all Interior Defensive Linemen as DTs):

Player	True Pos	MFL Pos
Acho, Sam CHI	DE	LB
Adams, Keion NYG	DE	LB
Adams, Montravius GBP	DT	DE
Adeniyi, Ola PIT	DE	LB
Alexander, D.J. PHI	DE	LB
Alexander, Maurice SEA	LB	S
Allen, Jonathan WAS	DT	DE
Allen, Zach ARI	DT	DE
Alualu, Tyson PIT	DT	DE
Anderson, Ryan WAS	DE	LB
Avery, Genard CLE	DE	LB
Bailey, Allen KCC	DT	DE
Barrett, Shaq DEN	DE	LB
Barwin, Connor LAR	DE	LB
Basham, Tarell NYJ	DE	LB
Bell, Quinton OAK	DE	LB
Biegel, Vince NOS	DE	LB
Blackson, Angelo HOU	DT	DE
Bowser, Tyus BAL	DE	LB
Brailford, Jordan WAS	DE	LB
Brantley, Caleb WAS	DT	DE
Brockers, Michael LAR	DT	DE
Broughton, Cortez LAC	DT	DE
Brown, Andrew CIN	DE	DT
Buggs, Isaiah PIT	DT	DE
Bullard, Jonathan CHI	DT	DE
Carter, Lorenzo FA	DE	LB
Casey, Jurrell TEN	DT	DE
Chickillo, Anthony PIT	DE	LB
Chubb, Bradley DEN	DE	LB
Cominsky, John ATL	DT	DE
Copeland, Brandon NYJ	DE	LB
Correa, Kamalei TEN	DE	LB
Cowart, Byron NEP	DT	DE
Cox, Bryan CAR	DT	DE
Crawford, Tre' ATL	DE	LB
Dickerson, Matt TEN	DT	DE
Dogbe, Michael ARI	DT	DE
Dupree, Bud PIT	DE	LB
Ebukam, Samson LAR	DE	LB
Edebali, Kasim CIN	DE	LB
Edwards, Mario OAK	DT	DE
Elliott, Jayrone PIT	DE	LB
Fackrell, Kyler GBP	DE	LB
Ferguson, Jaylon BAL	DE	LB
Finch, Sharif TEN	DE	LB
Fitts, Kylie CHI	DE	LB
Floyd, Leonard CHI	DE	LB
Fowler, Dante LAR	DE	LB
Fox, Morgan LAR	DT	DE
Franklin-Myers, John LAR	DT	DE
Gary, Rashan GBP	DE	LB
Gholston, William TBB	DT	DE
Gilbert, Reggie GBP	DE	LB
Golden, Markus ARI	DE	LB
Gotsis, Adam DEN	DT	DE
Grissom, Geneo IND	DE	LB
Gunter, Rodney ARI	DT	DE
Gustin, Porter NOS	DE	LB
Hand, Da'Shawn DET	DT	DE
Heath, Joel HOU	DT	DE
Henry, Willie BAL	DT	DE
Heyward, Cameron PIT	DT	DE
Hicks, Akiem CHI	DT	DE
Hill, B.J. NYG	DT	DE
Holland, Jeff DEN	DE	LB
Hyder, Kerry DAL	DE	DT
Ioannidis, Matt WAS	DT	DE
Irving, Isaiah CHI	DE	LB
Jenkins, Jordan NYJ	DE	LB
Jones, Chandler ARI	DE	LB
Jones, DaQuan TEN	DT	DE
Jones, Nazair SEA	DT	DE
Joseph-Day, Sebastian LAR	DT	DE
Judon, Matt BAL	DE	LB
Kamalu, Ufomba NEP	DE	DT
Kaufusi, Bronson NYJ	DT	LB
Keke, Kingsley GBP	DT	DE
Kennard, Devon DET	DE	LB
Kerr, Zach DEN	DT	DE
Kerrigan, Ryan WAS	DE	LB
Killebrew, Miles DET	LB	S
Landrum, Chris HOU	DE	LB
Landry, Harold FA	DE	LB
Langi, Harvey NYJ	DE	LB
Lanier, Anthony LAC	DE	DT
Ledbetter, Jeremiah TBB	DT	DE
Ledbetter, Jonathan MIA	DT	DE
Longacre, Matt LAR	DE	LB
Looney, James GBP	DT	DE
Lowry, Dean GBP	DT	DE
Lynch, Aaron CHI	DE	LB
Mack, Khalil OAK	DE	LB
Malveaux, Cameron ARI	DE	LB
Martin, Josh NOS	DE	LB
Martin, Kareem NYG	DE	LB
Mata'afa, Hercules MIN	DT	LB
Matthews, Clay GBP	DE	LB
Mauro, Josh NYG	DT	DE
McClain, Terrell ARI	DT	DE
McGee, Stacy WAS	DT	DE
McIntosh, RJ NYG	DT	DE
McPhee, Pernell WAS	DE	LB
Mercilus, Whitney HOU	DE	LB
Miller, Christian CAR	DE	LB
Miller, Von DEN	DE	LB
Mingo, Barkevious SEA	DE	LB
Morgan, Derrick TEN	DE	LB
Nichols, Bilal CHI	DT	DE
Nwosu, Uchenna LAC	DE	LB
Obada, Efe CAR	DT	DE
Odenigbo, Ifeadi MIN	DE	DT
Okoronkwo, Ogbonnia LAR	DE	LB
Orakpo, Brian TEN	DE	LB
Orchard, Nate MIA	DE	LB
Perry, Nick GBP	DE	LB
Philon, Darius ARI	DT	DE
Pierce, Michael BAL	DT	DE
Polite, Jachai NYJ	DE	LB
Ray, Shane DEN	DE	LB
Reed, Brooks ARI	DE	LB
Reed, Malik DEN	DE	LB
Robertson-Harris, Roy CHI	DT	DE
Scarlett, Brennan HOU	DE	LB
Shepherd, Nathan NYJ	DT	DE
Sieler, Zach BAL	DT	DE
Smith, Marcus WAS	DE	LB
Smith, Preston WAS	DE	LB
Smith, Sutton PIT	DE	LB
Smith, Za'Darius BAL	DE	LB
Spence, Noah TBB	DE	LB
Suggs, Terrell BAL	DE	LB
Sweat, Montez WAS	DE	LB
Taumoepenu, Pita FA	DE	LB
Taylor, Jullian SFO	DT	DE
Thomas, Solomon SFO	DE	DT
Tuitt, Stephon PIT	DT	DE
Urban, Brent BAL	DT	DE
Wake, Cameron TEN	DE	LB
Walker, D'Andre TEN	DE	LB
Walker, DeMarcus DEN	DT	DE
Wallace, Aaron DEN	DE	LB
Walton, Leterrius PIT	DT	DE
Watkins, Carlos HOU	DT	DE
Watson, Dekoda SFO	DE	LB
Watt, T.J. PIT	DE	LB
Wilber, Kyle OAK	DE	LB
Wilkerson, Muhammad GBP	DT	DE
Williams, Leonard NYJ	DT	DE
Williams, Nick CHI	DT	DE
Williams, Tim BAL	DE	LB
Winn, Billy DEN	DT	DE
Wolfe, Derek DEN	DT	DE
Wormley, Chris BAL	DT	DE
Young, Trevon LAR	DE	LB
Zombo, Frank KCC	DE	LB

Every 10th player underlined for organizational purposes.

Football Revenooers League

Franchise Financial Model

Proposal: To have a separate “game within a game” of profit/loss calculation associated with a fantasy football league, modeled after the NFL.

This will be included into a new 16-team, 53-man roster, TE/DT premium, start 13 IDP, complex scoring, salary cap contract league I am starting for the 2018 season,

*** WARNING *** The profit/loss model is intentionally complex in order to make it more difficult to game, but the two most important factors regarding whether a team is profitable is how often they win games, and what and when they make decisions regarding improving their stadium.

I. Franchise Revenue

Franchise Revenue will be derived from broadcast rights, national sponsorships (together being fixed amounts shared by all teams amounting to 55% of overall revenue), ticket revenue, luxury suite and club seat revenue, local sponsorships, and other gameday revenues (such as parking and concessions).

Broadcast rights and National sponsorships: Will change each year by the % change of the NFL’s salary cap.  For example, from 2017 to 2018 the salary cap increased from $167M to $177.2M, or 6.1%.  These will initially produce 55% of total revenue but may change as fantasy league revenue growth and NFL revenue growth diverge.

Ticket Revenue: Each team will be able to keep 75% of home game ticket receipts, 50% of neutral site receipts, and 25% of away game receipts.  The game receipt value will be calculated by a formula using both teams’ fan base support, and stadium size and viability (see Revenue Points and Stadium Multiplier below).  This will initially compose approximately 15% of total franchise revenue.

Luxury Suite and Club Seat Revenue: Each team will keep 100% of their home games’ revenue generated by luxury suite and club suite sales, using a similar formula as ticket revenue.  This will initially compose approximately 10% of total franchise revenue.  In subsequent years, it will increase at least 2% times the stadium multiplier, times an adjustment of the team’s end of year RPs.

Other Gameday Revenue:  Consisting of revenue generated by concessions, parking, and other auxillary services and products sold during games.  Teams will keep 100% of such revenue generated by their home games.  This will initially compose approximately 5% of total franchise revenue, but will be highly dependent on fan turnout for home games.

Local Sponsorships:  Consisting of stadium naming rights, stadium signage, and similar corporate partnerships.  As such agreements are normally formalized prior to the season, the amount will be based on the team’s prior season’s results, adjusted by stadium size and viability.  In the initial season, all teams will receive the same amount, totaling $50M.  In future years, the team will be assigned an amount ranging from $20M to $80M, subject to the stadium multiplier, though this range will be increased by 2% per year for inflation.

Rk	Local Sponsorship Revenue (Baseline)
1	$80M
2	$75M
3	$70M
4	$65M
5	$60M
6	$55M
7	$55M
8	$50M
9	$50M
10	$45M
11	$45M
12	$40M
13	$35M
14	$30M
15	$25M
16	$20M

Additional revenues include any relocation fees paid by other franchises and distributed to the other team owners, and carry forward dollar amounts from one year to the next (explained in greater detail under expenses).

II. Franchise Expenses

Franchise Expenses will consist of player signing bonuses, player salaries, coaching and scouting salaries, team administration, gameday operations expenses, stadium and field maintenance, and debt repayment.

Player Signing Bonuses – When a player is acquired by a team either in the rookie draft or veterans auction, 40% of the total contract amount will be the player signing bonus.  For example, a player who receives a 4-year contract with a first year salary cap figure of $10M will have a signing bonus of $18.5M (40% of the first year $10M cap amount plus 40% of the second year $11M number, 40% of the third year $12.1M number, and 40% of the fourth year $13.3M number).  The cumulative new player signing bonuses will be it’s own line item on the team financial report.

Player Salaries – Total team player salaries will be calculated as 60% of the total roster salary cap dollar amount at the conclusion of the veterans auction.

Coaching and Scouting Salaries – All franchises will begin with coaching and scouting salaries totaling $25M.  This total will increase by 5% each year.  When a franchise announces a coaching change, these salaries will by increased $5M that year. 

Team Administration – All franchises begin with team administration expenses of $10M.  This total will increase each year by a multiplier consisting of 10% times the city ownership percentage.  For example, a franchise in New York will increase $1M in the second year whereas a franchise in Denver will have these expenses increase $0.7M.  When a franchise announces a city relocation, team administration expenses will increase $5M.

Gameday Operations Expenses – Each team begins in year zero with $10M in annualized gameday expenses.  These are adjusted at the end of the year by a 2% increase due to inflation, as well as half the new year’s stadium multiplier and half the previous year’s end-of-year RP.  For example, after the first season, a team has an end-of-year RP of -10 and invests in a major renovation.  The new season’s gameday operations expenses will be $10M * 1.02 (inflation) * 1.15 (half the new stadium multiplier) * 0.95 (half the end-of-year RP) = $12.60M.

Stadium and Field Maintenance – All franchises begin with stadium and field maintenance costs of $20M.  These expenses increase 2% each year, unless a new stadium, or stadium improvement is completed, which will increase these expenses by half the stadium multiplier as a one-time increase.  For example, a major renovation has a stadium multiplier of x1.3, so that year the maintenance expenses will increase 1.15, or 15%.

Debt Repayment – Whenever a franchise declares a stadium improvement, they also declare the timeframe for financing that improvement over a number of years, interest free.  Additionally, the team must pay 5% on cumulative franchise monetary losses over the prior two seasons.  For example, if a franchise has lost $50M and $10M over the prior 2 seasons, they have an interest expense of $3.0M in the current year. 

For the initial two years, each franchise will have a debt amount of $50M multiplied by their city’s debt %.

Relocation Fee – A team that relocates to a new city pays the league a relocation fee of $90M per year over three years.  This fee is distributed to the other teams equally.

Carry Forward Amount , or Debt Payoff – At the beginning of the league year, each franchise may announce an amount of money between $0 and $50M, in increments of $10M, to either pay down their current debt, or to be placed aside for future stadium improvements.  This dollar amount is counted as a current year expense and thus affects the determination of end-of-year profit prizes.

Stadium Ownership and Debt Percentages

Each franchise will be based in an actual city capable of supporting a major sports franchise.  The more populous a city, the greater the potential for ancillary revenue associated with hosting games, but the less they are willing to provide financial support for stadium construction and renovation.  For example, a franchise based in New York will keep 100% of all game-related revenue, but will be responsible for 90% of all construction and renovation costs, whereas the city of Denver will cover 40% of costs, but in return demands 30% of all gameday revenue to cover that investment.  The percentage difference is because studies have shown that cities end up paying for significant hidden costs associated with infrastructure improvement and waste cleanup that average to about 10% of the total project costs.

When building a new stadium, franchises can declare an ownership / debt % amount within 10% of the base value in the table below, so long as the debt % is 10% less than the ownership %, and ownership % cannot exceed 100%.

Rk	Cities	Ownership %	Debt %
1	New York	100.0%	90%
2	Los Angeles	100.0%	90%
3	Chicago	95.0%	85%
4	Dallas	95.0%	85%
5	Houston	90.0%	80%
6	Washington	90.0%	80%
7	Philadelphia	85.0%	75%
8	Miami	85.0%	75%
9	Atlanta	85.0%	75%
10	Boston / New England	80.0%	70%
11	San Francisco / Oakland	80.0%	70%
12	Phoenix / Arizona	80.0%	70%
13	Detroit / Toronto	75.0%	65%
14	Seattle	75.0%	65%
15	Minneapolis / Minnesota	75.0%	65%
16	San Diego / Anaheim	70.0%	60%
17	Tampa / Orlando / St. Pete	70.0%	60%
18	Denver / Colorado	70.0%	60%
19	St. Louis	65.0%	55%
20	Baltimore	65.0%	55%
21	Charlotte / Carolina	65.0%	55%
22	Portland	60.0%	50%
23	Pittsburgh	60.0%	50%
24	Cincinnati	60.0%	50%
25	All other cities	55.0%	45%

The higher the ownership percentage the higher the risk but greater the reward, whereas teams in cities with a lower ownership percentage have a smaller range of possible outcomes, but everything else being equal they will have a small advantage over higher ownership percentage teams. 

Stadium Multiplier

New stadiums and stadium improvements dramatically increase the scale and variety of potential revenue streams to a team.  Because the salary cap increases as a percentage of overall league revenues, franchises must compete not just on the field, but in maximizing local revenue streams in order to stay competitive.  Otherwise, player salaries may increase faster than team revenue, and they will find themselves losing quite a bit of money.  Unfortunately (at least in this game), these stadium improvements are expensive.   

Franchises can declare they are performing renovations somewhat frequently.  Both minor and major renovations have no lead time.  A stadium, however, does have lead time, depending on the size of the stadium.  Yet construction expenses begin the year the declaration is made.  No stadium improvements may be performed the year after a minor renovation, the two years following a major renovation, or three years following construction of a new stadium.

When announcing a stadium improvement, a franchise will declare the number of years in which they are spreading out the costs.  Renovations can be paid all at once in the first year or spread out up to 5 years with no interest costs.  Stadium financing may be up to 10 years in length.  For example, a team in Pittsburgh is responsible for 50% of all stadium-related expenses, and declares that they will construct a new Large Stadium, with 8 years financing.  They will begin paying $50M per year ($800M x 50% / 8 yrs) immediately, but will not receive the x2.0 multiplier on all stadium-related revenues until Year 3, as the first two years will have the new stadium being under construction.

Improvement	Cost	Multiplier	Construction Time	Frequency
Minor Renovation	$75M	x1.1	0 years	1 per 2 yrs
Major Renovation	$200M	x1.3	0 years	1 per 3 yrs
New Standard Stadium	$400M	x1.5	1 year	1 per 10 yrs
New Large Stadium	$800M	x2.0	2 years	1 per 10 yrs
New Mega Stadium	$1,600M	x2.5	3 years	1 per 10 yrs

Revenue Points

Each team earns or loses Revenue Points (“RPs”) based on their game results and season achievements.  Each Revenue Point corresponds to a 1% adjustment in game-related revenue.  At the league start-up, all teams begin with 0 RPs.  Teams may accrue both positive and negative RPs.

During the season, a Home victory increases the team’s RPs by 2, an Away victory by 1, a neutral site win by 1.5 RPs, and a bonus 1 RP for the length of the current win streak.  For example, a Team wins their 4^th game in a row at home.  Their RPs increase 2 points for the home win, plus a bonus 3 points for the 4-game win streak, or 5 RPs total. 

Likewise, a Home loss changes the team’s RPs by -2, an Away loss by -1, a neutral site loss by -1.5 RPs, and an extra penalty -1 RP for the length of the current losing streak.  So if a team loses its 4^th game in a row at home, they decrease their RPs by -2 for the home loss, and another -3 RP penalty for the 4-game losing streak, or -5 RP total change.

Game Revenue Adjustment

Game revenue is adjusted by a percentage based on the combined RPs of both teams.  Each RP corresponds to a 1% adjustment in revenue.  For example, the Home team has +12 RPs, but the Away team has -8 RPs.  They combined RPs between the two competing teams is +4, so game-variable revenue will be 104% of the base amount.  If the Home team has positive RPs, then the adjustment cannot fall below 100%.  Likewise, there is a cap in how much of an adjustment can take place, between a minimum amount of 50% and a maximum of 200%.  So if both teams combined for less than -50 RPs, the 50% adjustment would be used.  Similarly, if they combined for more than 100 RPs, the max 200% would be used.

Based on this, you can see that a game featuring two bad teams will have little fan interest, and thus lower game-related revenue.  Whereas, a game featuring two good teams, such as a playoff game, can a big payday for the home team.  A team that wins home field advantage for the playoffs can really separate themselves in this area from the rest of the league.

The league championship game is played on a neutral field, as are all Bidet Bowl and Toilet Bowl games.

Other In-season RP awards

+3 Clinch Division Title

-1.5 Eliminated from Playoffs

+10 Win Championship

+ 4 League Runner-up

-5 Lose first round of Toilet Bowl

-1 Lose first round of Bidet Bowl

-2 Lose second round of Toilet Bowl

Off-season RP Changes and Awards

At the beginning of a new league year, each team’s RPs are adjusted by 75%.  For example, a team with +100 RPs will have them reduced to +75, and a team with -100 RPs will have them increased to -75.

A team may announce the hiring of a new head coach if their team is 8 games below .500 over the prior two seasons or 10 games under .500 over the prior three seasons.  A team may only announce two head coaching changes every five seasons.  A coaching change produces a one-time 20 point increase in the franchise’s RPs, or cuts their negative RP total in half, whichever is better for the franchise.

A team may also relocate their franchise to a new city.  Once they make the declaration, they immediately lose 50 RPs.  However, once the relocation is complete and they are in their new stadium, their RPs are re-set to zero.

Prior to the beginning of the regular season, the following RP adjustments will be made:

+15 RPs to team that uses the 1^st overall rookie draft pick

+10 to team that uses the 2^nd overall rookie draft pick

+5 to team that uses the 3^rd overall rookie draft pick

-10 to team that is the last to use a rookie draft pick
-5 to team that is the second to last to use a rookie draft pick

+15 to team that spent the most $ in the veterans auction
+10 to team that spent the second most $ in the veterans auction
+5 to team that spent the third most $ in the veterans auction

-5 to team that spent the third least $ in the veterans auction

-10 to team that spent the second least $ in the veterans auction

-15 to team that spent the least $ in the veterans auction

+10 to team that has the highest scoring returning QB from the previous year (weeks 1-16)

+5 to team that has the 2^nd highest scoring returning QB from the previous year

+2.5 to team that has the 3^rd highest scoring returning QB from the previous year

-5 to team that has a presumptive starting QB that is the lowest scoring from previous year in comparison to all other teams’ presumptive starting QB (determined by previous year’s week 1-16 point totals)

-2.5 to second worst presumptive starting QB

+3 to team that has the highest scoring returning RB from the previous year

+3 to team that has the highest scoring returning WR from the previous year

+5 to team that has the previous year’s Defensive Player of the Year

Sample Franchise Accounting:

Revenues		2014	2015	2016
Broadcast Rights		$130.40	$149.05	$170.37
National Sponsorships		$50.00	$57.15	$65.33
Relocation Fee, rec'd		-	-	-
Money Carried Forward		-	-	-
Ticket Revenue		$50.00	$56.92	$69.99
Club/Suite Revenue		$32.50	$37.95	$35.89
Parking/Concessions		$17.10	$18.97	$17.95
Local Sponsorships		$50.00	$57.15	$65.33
	Total Revenues	$330.00	$377.20	$408.70
Expenses
Player Salaries		$(133.00)	$(143.28)	$(128.24)
Player Bonuses		$(50.00)	$(73.73)	$(48.09)
Coaching/Scouting		$(25.00)	$(26.25)	$(27.56)
Team Administration		$(10.00)	$(10.20)	$(10.40)
Gameday Expenses		$(10.00)	$(10.50)	$(11.03)
Stadium/Field Maintenance		$(20.00)	$(25.00)	$(25.00)
Relocation Fee, paid		-	-	-
Carry Forward Amount		$(20.00)	-	-
Debt Repayment		$(50.00)	$(30.00)	$(25.00)
	Total Costs	$(318.00)	$(318.96)	$(275.32)
	Net Profit/Loss	$12.00M	$58.24M	$133.38M

Relocation: A team may announce they are relocating to a new city that does not currently have a franchise at the beginning of the league year.  They cannot make such a move if their team built a new stadium that opened within the previous 5 years (or 3 years if the prior stadium was built when a different owner owned the franchise).  A relocation can only be performed no more frequently than once every 10 years.  When announcing the relocation, they must also announce a new stadium construction in the new city, and they may not move to the new city until the new stadium is complete.  The new city will give the franchise a sweetheart deal, as they are so excited to have a pro franchise, and will pay 25% more of the costs than they normally would.  For example, Toronto covers 60% of construction costs instead of their normal 35%, leaving the franchise to only cover the remaining 40%.

The franchise must pay a relocation fee to the league of $90M per year for 3 years.  This money will be distributed evenly amongst the other non-relocating franchises.  The team also receives an immediate -50 RPs, but the team's RPs will re-set to zero once they are in the new city.

Other ideas:

• Teams may adjust the cap numbers of two contracts per season, either by front-loading the deal to decrease the cap numbers on the later years, or by converting salary into a new signing bonus and decreasing the cap hit in the current year by pushing that money into future years.  In either case, the team may not cut the player for the remainder of that season.
• Exclusive right free agents – players starting the league year with an expiring contract, and with experience of 3 or less, may be kept for minimal salaries of $600K for year 1, $650K for year 2, and $700K for year 3.  Such a player entering their 4^th year may be kept as a restricted free agent (“RFA”), with minimum salaries of $1.2M for Right of First Refusal (“R1R”) Only; $1.2M or 110% increase of prior year’s salary, whichever is higher (“or 110%) for R1R and original draft round pick in compensation; or $1.8M or 110% for R1R + 2^nd rounder; or $2.6M or 110% for R1R + 1^st rounder.
• Teams must have a minimum number of 28 contract years for offensive players and 32 for defensive players on their roster at the conclusion of the veterans auction.
• Players acquired via the Veterans Auction who are given a 4-year contract must have a minimum of $4.0M cap number, 3-year contracts must be at least $2.5M, and 2 year contracts must be at least $1M..  If the player was won with a cap # lower than this minimum, their cap number will be increased to the minimum with the assignment of the contract length.
• Rookie contracts will mimic the prior year’s NFL rookie contract at double the draft slot.  For example, the 1^st overall 2018 draft pick will receive a contract commensurate with the 2^nd overall 2017 NFL rookie contract.
• Annual prizes will be divided half towards on-field performance, and ½ to profit/loss performance.  Initially, these will overlap, although a slight edge in profit/loss goes to teams with higher schedule difficulty (better matchups brings in higher gate receipts).  With stadium improvements and new debt payments, along with a significant amount of team revenue dependent on the prior year’s performance, these numbers will depart quickly in year 2.
• The first year will have a rookie draft.  Considering the advantage in acquiring the higher round 1 picks (especially this year), the draft order will be reversed for round 2 through 7 (i.e. the team picking 1.01 will also acquire the 2.16, 3.16, 4.16, 5.16, 6.16, and 7.16 picks).  Additionally, the teams will select their base cities in reverse order of the first round.