With the preseason here and the start of the regular season less then a month away we thought this would be a great time to update the league rules. Below you will find the updated set of rules, one of the biggest changes comes in the way of scheduling your games. Other key changes come in the way of Free Agency and Off-season activities.
Since Madden offers an off-season now, player re-signing period, Free Agency, scouting etc.. we no longer had to resort to the now defunct League Manager. We still however have the rules in place in regards to how trades are approved and how free agent signings are conducted, something we had slipped away from a bit last season.
So that’s it for now, take a look at the rules, read them and let us know what you think. As always we are open to your ideas and feed back, if you guys feel changes are needed let us know in the comment section below.
2K Online Franchise League Rules
Weekly Progression
We will progress to the next week On Sunday at 10:00AM Pacific Time. All games must be played by this day and time. This is vital to keeping on schedule with our league.
Scheduling
This league has made the forums extremely flexible for all to view no matter what the device is. The forums are compatible with PC, MACs, Laptops, Smart-Phones, Non-Smart-Phones, Tablets and can even be accessed through Xbox via the Internet Explorer application.
Therefore, All scheduling must be done on the forums. Any scheduling done outside of the forums will not be supported, if you want to receive help/support getting in contact with your opponent you must schedule your game on the forums, there are no exceptions. When scheduling it is best to give a specific date and time, do not leave it open to “whenever”.
The league highly recommends scheduling your games as early as possible, doing so will give you and your opponent plenty of time in the event they cannot make it on the original specified date.
Do not schedule your game 24 hours prior to advance. Schedule as soon as possible, meaning as soon as you are done playing your game for this week, schedule your game for next week. If you follow that rule it should be 6 days prior to advance that you are scheduling your games, which is more than enough time for everyone to respond, no excuses!
Gameplay Rules
No-Huddle.
The use of no huddle is only allowed in the last 2 min of the 2nd quarter when you are losing in the last and 4th quarter and you are losing. Also the league will take a close look at your scores and stats vs the CPU. No-huddle can be used to gain XP in an unfair manner vs the CPU and will not be tolerated.
2 Pt. Conversions and on-sides kicks
2 Pt. Conversions and onside kicks are only to be used when needed, (ex- late in game to tie up when down by two, need to get ball back in 4th quarter.) DO NOT use it when you have the game completely out of reach.
Punts and 4th downs
Do not go for it on 4th down if you are in total control of your game!
Punt on 4th down or take the 3 points. Don’t go for it on 4th and 10 (unless you really need too if late in the game.) Basically just think of what a real NFL team would do in that situation. Teams often kick field goals in 4th and inches in the NFL and 4th and 1.
Play with class…
Do not run up the score on an opponent, or use hatred or vulgar language towards them.
If you have any issues with your opponent, you may let him know about it but you are NOT allowed to send messages that might be taken as direct insults. Any messages along the lines of this “You f***suck! F** *You for quitting, You’re an idiot” will not be tolerated and can result in an automatic one game suspension. If you truly have an issue with your opponent let us know and the league will take action against those who have violated any league rules.
Some of the games were a blowout which will happen, but I can’t think of any good excuse why if you are winning by more than 21 you go for it on 4th down, no excuse. If you are blowing out your opponent, don’t keep trying to score or at least back off a little.
Do not try and score if you have locked up the win. Anyone who tries to score when all they need to do is kneel to run out the clock will be given a warning.
Games vs the CPU
Play the CPU the same way you would an opponent, the above Gameplay rules are to be followed even when playing the CPU.
Don’t use the CPU games as a way to pat your stats and gain XP in an unfair manner. If you think of playing CPU games as practice then this league is not for you.
Take the loss vs the CPU DO NOT RESTART YOUR GAME!! This is something that unfortunately due to the technical limitations of Madden we cannot truly control. But if you truly value this league, if you truly understand what playing sim football is then you will understand that a loss against the CPU is part of the game.
Exploits
Do not use known exploits. For some of you that don’t know what those are; Basically any play that there is no way to stop, no matter what you do you cannot do anything about it because it is an exploit in the code. If someone does it to you, post the video to the site and I will give that person a warning if it is legit.
Microphone
Microphone is not required during games, but it makes it much easier to communicate with your opponent if you feel a rule has been broken or you get disconnected for some reason.
Quitting
Quitting on purpose will not be tolerated and can result in immediate removal from the league.
Trades and Free Agency Rules
Free Agency
You can sign 1 Free Agency pickup per week once the week has advanced. Your 1 player per week includes replacing retired players, injured player and players that were picked up by the actual NFL Teams after the season has started. Any free agency pickups that exceed the 1 player per week rule will be deemed illegal and the player or players will be removed from the team.
In addition the 1st illegal free agency pickup will result in a warning, the 2nd illegal free agency pickup will result in forfeiting 1 week of free agency eligibility and the 3rd illegal free agency pickup may result in removal from the league.
There is no carryover of weeks in free agency. If you do not pick up your 1 player per week you can’t carry that week into the next week and pick up 2 players. It’s a use it or lose it policy.
Trades
Once a trade has been submitted the trade will be reviewed by the league board. If the trade is deemed fair the trade will be approved. Each team is allowed 1 trade per week until the trade deadline. Once the trade has been submitted the league board will approve or deny them with a minimum of 48 hours to review the trade. As in free agency there is no carryover of weeks, use it or lose it policy.
Draft Picks
Trading of Draft Picks is allowed when we go to 2 or more seasons with the same version of Madden.
(Example: Madden 11 is just released we can trade draft picks if we play 2 or more season with Madden 11.)
Trading of Draft Picks is not allowed in a season prior to the New Madden release.
(It is very likely that we will do 3 seasons on this Madden if a new Madden is not released at the time of launch for next gen systems.)
Example: We are using Madden 11 and the following season will be with Madden 12, no trades with draft picks are allowed
The reason for this is the draft picks don’t carry over when we switch to a different version of Madden.
Trade Approval Criteria
Equal Value for Equal Value – Meaning Players Ratings need to be similar that are being traded and received. Teams involved in the trade can’t go over the cap regardless if it’s an Owner to Owner Trade or an Owner to CPU Team. Teams must be under the cap at all times. Final approval will be made by the league board.
Prizes
We offer prizes to the division winners and to the Super Bowl champion, the way we do is by all of us pitching in at least 5 dollars via Paypal(Paypal link is located at the bottom of our home page). Super Bowl champions will receive a brand new copy of the upcoming Madden game, a League Trophy and will not have to pitch in for next season prizes….yes you still eligible to win prizes. For more info contact us via email or post in the Commissioner Desk area.
Mediation
If you have a complaint or disagreement with an owner, a particular policy or a decision by the board you may submit via email your complaint to the league board listed below. Once the board has reviewed the complaint a final decision will be made within 1 week from submitting the complaint. Upon review if a user is found guilty of breaking a rule he will be given a warning, second warning will result in a one game suspension, third warning can result in a two week suspension or removal from the league.
League Board Members
Andres Perez (Nabakov94) 2K OLF Commissioner – info@2kolf.com
Mike Nguyen (Tapr0blem ) 2K OLF Co-Commissioner – taproblem@2kolf.com
Luis Llado (Latin King) 2K OLF Free Agency & Trade Commissioner – info@2kolf.com
NOTE: League rules are also available for view at all times on our league forums.