Welcome to the OIFL! If you're here, hopefully this is what you're looking for. If you're accidentally stumbling upon this page, hopefully you're interested enough to jump on board and get onto the OIFL waiting list! Feel free to email the OIFL front office (me) at oifloffice@yahoo.com at any time if this is confusing or overwhelming. If you couldn't guess, these are the OIFL's rules, broken up into four categories: general rules, the OIFL season, the OIFL offseason, and final notes. THE GENERAL STUFF Requirements to Play: To play in the OIFL, you need a working e-mail address and the internet. I would also strongly suggest you have AIM for greater workability with other owners. What is Arena/Indoor Football? Hopefully, wanting to play in an arena/indoor football based league, you would know what Arena and/or Indoor football is. But, if you have any questions, feel free to contact the OIFL Commissioner at oifloffice@yahoo.com Creating a Team's Name: A team's name needs to have the city/region and a mascot. It must be in good taste. You can use real indoor team names, provided that team doesn't play anymore (OIFL's London Monarchs is an example). Creating a Team's Logo and Uniform: Each team needs a logo and uniform. For the uniform, you can simply describe the colors that the team will be sporting. OIFL Webmaster Robert Cole does an awesome job with logos; we can hook you up with him when you join to get a good one. Your Team's Home Arena: Every team has its own arena to play in. You get to decide the name of the arena (it can be fictional), and its capacity in five types of seating. Sideline (first few rows), lower (behind the sideline seats), middle (second level), upper (third level), and club seats (the fancy ones with catering and stuff). There is no size limit to your arena, but 70,000 seat places aren't feasible for indoor football. Will the OIFL be running a team? No. You Need to Know This Page: http://www.oifl.net/stats/roster.htm - The Roster Page is where most of the damage is done. THE IN-SEASON STUFF Personnel Management: Preseason: Before the OIFL season starts, you will have to get a roster put together. The OIFL active roster has a maximum of 28 players, but for financial reasons may be smaller. The roster will be fully stocked via free agency, a dispersal draft and an annual entry draft. Following is a list of the different ratings a player has. Each of these has a rating between 0-10 (higher is better), with some being above 10 due to practices and other factors: *Pass Accuracy: How accurate a thrower is he? *Pass Strength: How strong is his arm? *Carry: Player's ability to carry and run with the ball. OFFENSIVE RATING *Speed: How fast is he? *Receiving: How well can he catch? *Blocking: Ability to block the other team from getting to your guy? *Blitzing: Ability to get to the opposing quarterback or runners in the backfield, around blockers. *Kick Strength: Strength of a kicking leg *Kick Accuracy: Accuracy of a kicking leg *Pass Defense: Ability to keep a receiver from getting to the ball (without committing pass interference) *Tackling: How well can this guy take down a ball carrier? *Fumble: Player's ability to force others to drop the football, and the ability to pick up loose balls. DEFENSIVE RATING *Leadership: The gel that holds a team together. A player's ability to lead his teammates, and a player's ability to respond to other leadership forces (practice strategies, other teammates). Note: with consistent practice, the 10 rating CAN be eclipsed. Please note the pass defense ability of Detroit DS Marlo Dadey, which has eclipsed 11. Check out every player's abilities at the OIFL's roster page, at http://www.oifl.net/stats/roster.htm OIFL Preseason: Each team will be in a four-team tournament (organized by the teams) and will play two games. The winners will play for that tournament title; the losers for third place. The week after these preseason tournaments will be OIFL Week One. OIFL Regular Season: The regular season consists of 16 games per team, and it will be played in 16 weeks. There are no bye weeks, except for the all-star game and in circumstances when the OIFL Commissioner has a conflict. For this to work, there will be an even number of teams. In-Game Information: Home field advantage depends on a couple of things. It depends on how good your team has done at its home field in the past. New teams will be given a bit of a reprieve. It also depends on the strength of the team, how well the team looks like it's doing, and the game's attendance itself. OIFL rules are almost verbatim like the rules of the National Indoor Football League. For that league's rulebook, please visit this site: http://www.oifl.net/stats/2005_NIFLRuleBook.pdf . The OIFL's rule differences are as follows: *In the OIFL, like the AFL used to be, there are six two-way players. You may sub them out and back in once per each quarter. If you don't use a substitution for one of the WRDBs in a quarter, it does not carry over to the next quarter. There is unlimited substitution for specialists (QB, OS, DS, K). * We allow defensive stunting * RB in motion can take handoff in the 'alley' * C can recover fumbled C/QB exchange - but otherwise the ball must be in possession of another player * Six players must play both ways. * An OL wearing an eligible number and not covered up on the line (note: a motion man perpendicular to the line DOES meet the 4-on-the-line requirement but it does NOT cover up a player!) is automatically eligible; he does not have to declare to go out for a pass. * I don't know if the NIFL says it...two RBs in the backfield = two LBs allowed in the alley. Three RBs in the backfield = three LBs allowed in the alley. 0 RBs in the backfield still = 1 LB allowed in the alley. * OIFL overtime is played like NCAA overtime, except that each overtime possession begins with a kickoff (opposed to placement on the 25-yard line), and onsides kicks are not permitted in overtime. Your Squad and Lineups: A team's active roster can have up to 28 players on it. The bare minimum is 8 players, but you'd be stupid to try that. Of those players, up to 11 will start. Each team's roster can be viewed at http://www.oifl.net/stats/roster.htm Practice Squad: The OIFL no longer has a practice squad. Active rosters have been expanded from 24 to 28 players for this. Loans: Teams are permitted to loan players to other teams. These play as recallable trades, and must be consummated by Week 12 of the OIFL season as if they were trades. Trading: Teams can trade all they want. If a trade is particularly unethical in nature, the league office reserves the right to refuse it. Salary Cap and Luxury Tax: The OIFL has no maximum player or team salary. Teams in the top 25% of salaries will be taxed at a rate of $0.75 per $1.00 over the line between the eighth and ninth-highest team salary (including bonuses and cut penalties). This money is allocated to teams in the bottom 25% of salaries at a rate consummate to the amount into that bottom 25% the team has spent. The roster page tab 'luxurytax' will have a good diagram of where teams stand and what they'll owe over the course of the season. Tax Allocations: I'm a CPA (wheeee!). Cut penalties issued to players that have two or three years LEFT on their contracts will be equally allocated over however much time is left for tax purposes (the cash payment goes out immediately). The same principle applies for signing bonuses, perhaps making it tax-beneficial for teams to give bonuses. Game Strategy: Each week, you are to send me your starting lineup. For general strategies, you need a quarterback, three skill position players (generally a FB/LB and two WR/DBs), three linemen (OL/DL), the offensive specialist, two defensive specialists and a placekicker. The other (up to 17) active players are available in case of substitution or injury. You can play unorthodox positions, like using the OS as a fullback in the game and having three WRDBs. The possibilities in OIFL brand football really are endless. Every week, along with that lineup, you need to send a strategy for that game. It doesn't have to be complex, but it can be. Note: Players CAN switch positions while playing in a game. For example, your backup FB/LB can play on the line if you so desire. The position names both for the roster page and for your strategy submission are nominal. If you get right down to it, there are six two-way players and two offensive and defensive specialists. You may play your quarterback on defense (only Anthony LaPetri, and when the league stunk for talent, has ever done this with any regularity). You may play guys listed at "WR/DB" as an OS or a DS. That's perfectly fine. For the strategy, you can send in a strategy where the team is to "do the same things as last week." It will be processed as such, but it quickly loses effectiveness week by week. This also must be emailed as the strategy, just so I know you haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Weekly Practices: Each week, a team has the opportunity to set up a practice session/practice schedule for that week. When setting up a practice, please explain what the practice's focus will be. These practices are very useful, as they allow the players to work on what the team will focus on in their next game, therefore making your game strategy much more focused. Teams that practice will play better, and it could be the difference between a division title and missing the playoffs altogether. Film Sessions: Obviously, there is no actual "film" of the OIFL games. However, to imitate the ability to watch film, teams are able to ask me questions about their opponent. Examples include how many players played when, general strategies, and things to that nature. The text of these film sessions will be placed online AFTER that week's games have been played. This will likely encourage teams to shuffle around their strategies. Injured players: This is football. Injuries happen a whole lot more than we'd ever really want. Each week, there will be a number of injuries equal to half the number of games played that week. Players could miss anywhere from no time up to the entire remainder of a season. All injuries are dissolved once a team's season is over (postseason as well, if applicable). With a 32-team league, there are 16 games every week. Despite fewer teams than last year, the OIFL is keeping at 9 injured players per week. The injuries are randomized as to who gets hurt with a minor slant toward teams with >10 non-ldsp ratings and aging players. In 2009 with this system, out of 180ish die rolls (rounding), no team ever had more than 8 rolls of 181, and that only happened for one week. The average will be 5, and it will usually roll between 3 and 7. Medical Facilities - OIFL teams can spend $250,000 per week per player to earn a 1/6 shot at reducing that player's injury status by a week. Call it "expanded medical facilities" or something. Fatigue: Playing just the starters all game every game will wear them out during the games, and during the season. This will increase the risk of those injuries coming to haunt your team. Each team has 28 roster spots...it would be a good idea to use a lot of those 28 players in games to make sure your team doesn't get plagued by fatiguing. How games will be decided: Games will be decided upon the stats of the players, as well as age, injury, strategies, etc... using a set of equations on an outcome maker I have put together using Microsoft Excel. Don't ask for it, you will not receive it. Revenue: After each game, revenue from ticket sales, merchandising, television, etc... will be added to your total profits. Salaries will be taken away from that total profit amount. The home team will receive 80% of revenues from their games, and the away team will receive 20%. Ticket prices for the five seating sections will be decided by the owner of the home team. Season Tickets: Teams are selling season tickets. Last year's excitement plus press releases this year will give the team some major operating capital for the season. Teams can also offer discounts to get more people in the door. Concessions: The OIFL has a long list of concessions to make money from. The OIFL has set up sweet deals with the arenas to give the teams 50% of the profits. When you are admitted into the OIFL, the list of concessions will be provided. Teams figure out their own prices, and they even can have one concession of choice. Club seating adds their own special concession revenues to the equation. Merchandising: The merchandising list includes 10 items. After the original cost of making/selling them, all of the money (80% home share) goes to the team. As with concessions, they'll be given to you when you get a team put together. TV/Radio Revenue: Teams can set up local radio contracts to generate revenue. Amounts will depend on how well the team did and how many people are around to listen and watch. The league has a league-wide television contract with the "Miller Sports Network" to air all OIFL games. Teams will receive $750,000 per year with this deal. Advertising: Teams may sell advertising to companies for dasherboard ads, banners around the arena, and ads right on the field. Parking: Teams will receive 50% of parking revenue for their games. Debt: Being in debt carries severe repercussions. For one, teams cannot sign free agents while they are in debt. Two, teams can not add salary in trades while they are in debt. Three, the OIFL will force player moves by teams if they are continually in debt (four consecutive weeks during the season), unless there is a true and concerted effort by the team in debt to fix that problem. Loans: The OIFL will provide loans for all teams in debt. These loans will be administered during the offseason, and will be at an 8% interest rate with 16 payments. If the team can't seem to make money after being given a loan, the OIFL will help search for alternate methods to reduce debt (such as forced player moves). OIFLCup Playoffs: The annual OIFL Championship Game has always been known as The OIFLCup Game. With 32 teams in the OIFL, the playoffs will be single-elimination with no bye weeks, so 16 teams will make the OIFL playoffs. Playoff games up to OIFLCup (which is held at a neutral site) will be held at the higher seed's home arena. OIFLCup X is to be held at Brinkhaven's Bombing Square, as will every cup number multiplied by 5. This was nearly unanimously voted in by the owners in order to honor one of the original (and now deceased) OIFL franchises, the Brinkhaven Bombers. Otherwise known as the one I ran. 2010 OIFLCup Playoffs: There will be 16 teams in the OIFLCup Playoffs, amounting to a full half the league. To ensure a deserving ninth-place team isn't screwed by a surprise 6-10 eight seed, the OIFL has a crossover rule where a 9th place team with 2 more wins than the other conference's 8-seed will assume that role. Numerous teams have earned crossover berths, though it seems less likely with 32 opposed to 36 teams. Also, playoff games net a fair bonus from the OIFL on top of ticket sales. The OIFL gives a percentage of its funds to teams that make it to each round and win in each round, including roughly 5% of the OIFL's total value to the OIFLCup champion. These amounts compound through each round, so it's feasable that the OIFLCup winner could net over $3 million on top of what they already got from other revenues. OIFLCup Ticket Prices: The OIFLCup ticket prices will be 150% of the average ticket price at each seating section in the OIFL. OIFLCup is held at a neutral site each year. OIFLCup I: Cleveland's Gund Arena OIFLCup II: Dallas' American Airlines Arena OIFLCup III: New York City's Madison Square Gardens OIFLCup IV: Denver's PepsiCenter OIFLCup V: Brinkhaven's Bombing Square OIFLCup VI: New York City's Madison Square Gardens OIFLCup VII: Salt Lake City's Delta Center OIFLCup VIII: Washington, D.C.'s Verizon Wireless Arena OIFLCup IX: Las Vegas's Thomas & Mack Center OIFLCup X: Brinkhaven's Bombing Square Owner Participation: Team owners are strongly recommended to make a website, etc... to get involved with the game more than just sending lineups in. Press releases do this very well. For weeks you are not available, you can send in a default strategy. These strategies are good for as long as you're gone, but lose effectiveness as time goes on. If you do not send any updates, lineups, strategies, etc... for an extended period of time (4 weeks), the OIFL will take over your squad and you will be given the boot. If you have a legitamate reason to be gone, please tell us, and we'll sit tight with your team, doing whatever you want us to do with it. If you continually miss strategies here and there from year to year, you will also run the risk of getting the dreaded "Thank you for being in the OIFL!" email. Press: Teams can submit press releases about anything, as long as the articles are in good taste. Press releases do have a positive impact on attendance. Teams that submit press often will have better attendance, even if they're not quite so good on the field. There is a special press release section on the OIFL message board. AFTER THE SEASON - AND OIFL ROSTER MOVE RULES Resigning players: OIFL football players are professional athletes. That means they want their money. That said, if a player's been overpaid for awhile, he will usually be willing to get a long-term deal at a lesser salary. Anything in terms of contracts is basically allowed in the OIFL, including any sort of incentive. The league imposes a maximum 3-year contract, though team/player options could in theory extend that. There are a few issues that players may have when it's resigning time (though usually players will resign): *Arguments on contract size/length *Desire to leave a city *Incentives (players will haggle those, too) Do note, OIFL players will not hold out. They will honor their contracts, though you'll hear grumblings. OIFL Owners Meetings: The OIFL holds owners meetings after each season to discuss rule changes. The OIFL's owners (within reason) can change rules around to make the OIFL a more competitive league. If the Commissioner deems a topic potentially useful and worth discussion, it will be discussed and voted on by the league. They usually last around two weeks. Personnel Movement: Except in the Free Agency Free-For-All (FAFFA), players will be signed from free agency via a waiver system. After FAFFA, the waiver system is reset to the previous year's standings (same as the draft order). If a team wants a player, it makes a claim. After a 24-hour period, the team that has the highest spot on the waiver wire will be able to claim that player. Any team that claims a player will then be moved to the bottom of the waiver wire position. The contract amount on the FA page will be what that player makes. Trading is also an important piece of putting an OIFLCup caliber team together. Teams are always (sometimes too) willing to trade for picks, players, cash, or whatever else. BOTH TEAMS must submit trades to the league office when one is consummated. The OIFL's trade deadline is after Week 12 of the Regular season. Teams may complete trades after that, but they will not be processed until the offseason. FAFFA: The biggest free-for-all in fantasy sports, FAFFA is where players that didn't get resigned by their teams, or players that were on now-defunct teams, get their cash. And do they get paid. FAFFA has four closed bidding sessions. Contracts offered can include any sort of incentives that offering teams would like. The only restrictions: Contracts signed in the first session MUST be three-year deals. Contracts signed in the second session MUST be at least two-year deals (three-year deals may be offered, and some players may require it to sign somewhere). For the first time ever, players may decide to sign with teams after just the first bidding session. OIFL DRAFT RULES AND PROCEDURES *All trades involving OIFL draft picks must be processed to the league office. *Trades must be approved by the OIFL (I've only very very rarely disallowed a trade) *MAKE SURE YOU OWN THE PICKS YOU'RE DEALING! The roster page is very clear now on what picks teams own. *There are FIVE rounds of the OIFL Entry Draft. OIFL Entry Draft: There are five rounds in the OIFL Entry Draft. Each team will get one pick in each round, and that pick will be placed by the team's standing in the previous season (as in the NFL). Each draft will have sleeper players; players that look like their ratings stink but turn out to be potential superstars. The number of sleepers in each draft will be around 1/10 the number of teams in the league. The sleeper players are picked before the draft, so in theory one team could pick all of them. The 2006 and 2007 OIFL Entry Drafts both had four sleepers. Cut Penalty: Any player that is dropped from his contract before the total length of it has been served must pay that player 1/5 (20%) of what he was entitled to. There are two exceptions, including: *Players with one-year contracts (YC, not YL on the roster page); this cut is free. *Players signed in FAFFA; this cut costs 100% of what the player was due. This FAFFA cut penalty INCLUDES players with one year contracts. Offseason Roster Limit - In the offseason, OIFL teams will be able to keep 45 players under contract. After the OIFL Entry Draft, teams will have a week to whittle their roster back down to 45. The preseason limits are 40 players for Pre-1 and 35 players for Pre-2. The in-season roster limit is still 28 players. Relocation & Expansion: 36 teams is all I want and all I can handle. So if the league loses owners, I will likely pull from the waiting list to fill holes. As for relocation, teams can move to another city, but they must pay the same price to expand seating capacity in their arena. There are discounts for moving into arenas that used to host OIFL or OIF2 teams: 50% if within a year, 40% within two years, 30% within three, 20% within four, and 10% within five. I have a list of cities and arenas eligible for this. Be sure to not move often, though. It does show instability. ALSO, all team relocations must be approved by the league during the offseason owners meetings. Player Aging: Each season, a player will age by the roll of a 12-sided die, divided by 10. When the player reaches the age of 8, he will be retired. All rookies begin at the age of 0. If the player reaches retirement age and still has a year or more left on his contract, the player will serve out his contract and then call it quits. Players will age on a schedule determined by rolls of the die, but averaging a loss of the following ratings on an annual basis: *Age between 5-5.9: 2% *Age between 6-6.9: 5% *Age between 7-7.9: 10% *Age 8+: 20% Non-"physical" ratings will decline at half the normal rate. Kickers won't start the aging process until age 6, and they will retire at age 9. 20% of all ratings drops (rounded to the nearest tenth) will be added to the player's leadership, as well. The following ratings will not experience drops: Pass Accuracy, Kick Accuracy, Carrying Ability, and Fumble. OIFL MVP: The owners vote on the OIFL's MVP award after the season. The player with the highest vote is voted OIFL MVP. Past OIFL MVP winners: 2001: OL/DL Gary Boddy, Fort McMurray Fatmen 2002: WR/DB Perry Tuttle, Lexington Knights 2003: RB/LB Grayson Norman, Wichita Warlords 2004: RB/LB Kevin Mintz, Detroit Gargoyles 2005: QB Brice Pennington, Mobile Seamen 2006: RB/LB John Avery, Memphis Crusaders 2007: QB Matt Sauk, Vancouver Island Vengeance 2008: RB/LB Marlin Otis, Arkansas Outlaws 2009: QB Montrel Dilworth, Tampa Bay Marauders Training Camp: Before preseason games are played, teams are able to get their players together for offseason training camp. This is a great way to get the team acclimated to one another, as the OIFL seems to have a pretty good player turnover rate in places not named Lincoln. Each player on a roster is given 10 attempts to improve any rating in multiples of 5 attempts. Five players on each team are given 20. To determine what chance there is of that occuring, use the following formula: 12 + rating - leadership (leadership over 12 counts as 12). The rounded whole number is the lowest hit number for the rating improvement by using a 20-sided die. Each hit also has a 15% chance of being worth an 0.2 upgrade and 10% chance of being an 0.3 upgrade. Players can also be grouped together by relevant ratings to average out hit numbers and add 20% more attempts to whatever was allocated. Scrimmages: Teams may schedule two inter- or intra-squad scrimmages, or one of each, or one, or none. Lather, Rinse, Repeat: After camp and scrimmages comes the OIFL Preseason and its two games. After that, it's the Race to the next OIFLCup Game! If you've made it through, congratulations! Now go back and do it again! FINAL NOTES Got a question? Good. We're here to help. If there's any trouble understanding any of these rules, feel free to contact the OIFL at oifloffice@yahoo.com. That's what we're here for. Authority: The OIFL Commissioner has the final authority over all matters pertaining to the OIFL. This rule will not be changed, ever. If you have a legitimate question or beef about a rule, please contact the OIFL office at oifloffice@yahoo.com, and we will figure something out. If you just want to complain about everything, go play Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. DISCLAIMER The OIFL is a fantasy league. That means it's totally fake. Yeah, there are real players. Two ways this can happen: One, guys created in 2001 and 2002 were created by team owners, so there will be real names (see Tennessee Valley Vipers and Los Angeles Xtreme). Two, I use phone books to create these. My wife's boss is a third-string quarterback that just got retired. Met the man. Didn't play a lick of sports in his life, guaranteed. If you really have a problem with a fake league where I lose $60 every year for this website using your name, let me know. Otherwise, come on. This is a fantasy league.