League Constitution

1. Platform: Sleeper
2. Format: Dynasty, Full PPR
3. Quarterback Format: 1QB (single quarterback)
4. Teams: 14
5. Divisions: 2 (The North / The Deep South)
6. Playoff Teams: 8
7. Trade Deadline: Week 14
8. Playoff Weeks: 15, 16, 17 (single-game, win-or-go-home)
9. East Coast Dynasty is a competitive, long-term league. Roster construction is a multi-year commitment carried out through trades, rookie drafts, and FAAB waivers.
10. Unless a rule states otherwise, every league vote in this constitution passes by simple majority: 8 of 14. Abstentions count as no votes.

Each team carries 10 starters plus bench, taxi, and IR slots.

East Coast Dynasty uses full PPR scoring with bonuses for big plays, yardage milestones, and first downs. The complete scoring breakdown is set in the Sleeper league settings, which serve as the official source of truth. Managers are responsible for reviewing the settings in Sleeper prior to the draft.

1. Each team begins the season with $100 in FAAB, reduced from $1,000, to keep the waiver wire competitive throughout the year.
2. Waiver Type: FAAB blind bid
3. Minimum Bid: $1
4. Waiver Processing Day: Tuesday
5. Waiver Clear Time: 1 day after processing
6. Daily waivers are off. Standard weekly processing only.
7. Offseason adds are disabled.
8. Managers are advised to budget carefully, as exhausting FAAB early can leave a team unable to address bye weeks and late-season injuries.

1. Trade Deadline: Week 14
2. Trade Review Period: 3 days
3. Draft Pick Trading: Enabled
4. Veto System: League vote, 8 votes needed to veto
5. Veto Votes Visible: Yes
6. Auto Poll: Enabled
7. Dynasty trades frequently involve future draft picks. Managers are encouraged to evaluate moves on a long-term basis, as a first-round pick two years out may prove decisive in a future championship window.

1. Rounds: 3
2. Format: Slow draft
3. Draft Order: Determined by prior season finish. Non-playoff teams draft first.
4. Pick Trading: Enabled
5. Draft Date: June 22, 4:30 PM ET (confirm via the group chat vote)

1. Playoff Teams: 8 of 14
2. Playoff Start: Week 15
3. Round Format: Single game, no byes
4. Seeding: Based on regular season record
5. Consolation Bracket: Yes (losers bracket)
6. The bracket spans Weeks 15, 16, and 17. Every game is win-or-go-home.
7. Playoff game ties: If a playoff matchup ends in an exact score tie, the higher seed advances. No coin flip is used.

1. Buy-in: $100 per team. Co-owner teams pay the same $100 as solo owner teams; there is no additional co-owner buy-in.
2. Teams: 14
3. Total pot: $1,400.
4. All dues are due by Week 1 of the NFL regular season.

The Gauntlet is the league's only additional award beyond the championship. It is a weekly survival game funded out of the championship pot and pays the $400 prize listed in Article 8. It is separate from the head-to-head championship bracket: a team can miss the playoffs and still win The Gauntlet, and the League Champion can be eliminated from The Gauntlet along the way.

Tracking: The commissioner posts the surviving field and the weekly elimination in the group chat and on the site each week, so the bracket of survivors is always current. The Gauntlet page carries the live survivor board, weekly eliminations, and the projection model.

1. The team with the lowest score each week incurs a $10 penalty, and the commissioner places the parlay on that manager's behalf.
2. A manager may select any player and is not limited to their own roster, though selecting from the manager's own roster is strongly encouraged to avoid overlap.
3. If two managers submit the same pick, no additional pick is made. The pick stands as submitted and counts toward both managers' hit rates.
4. Hit rates are tracked throughout the season and posted in the weekly recap.
5. The parlay penalty runs through the end of the regular season (Week 14). It does not continue during the playoffs (Weeks 15 through 17).
6. Lowest-score tie: If two or more teams tie for the weekly low score, each tied team incurs the $10 penalty and each places a parlay. No tiebreaker is needed because the penalty simply applies to every tied team.

1. Rivalry Week is set for Week 9.
2. Matchups are scheduled based on manager requests and prior head-to-head history.
3. Full pairings are determined and announced by the commissioner ahead of Week 9.

1. The commissioner administers the league, places weekly parlays, tracks hit rates, posts recaps, and maintains the Sleeper settings.
2. The commissioner is a full participant and is subject to all the same rules as every other manager. No exceptions.
3. Any dispute that directly involves the commissioner or the commissioner's team is resolved by a league vote, not by the commissioner alone.
4. The commissioner may make routine administrative corrections (lineup glitches, scoring errors, processing issues) without a vote. Anything affecting competitive balance requires a vote.

1. Co-owner teams pay the same $100 buy-in as solo owner teams and count as one franchise with one vote.
2. Co-owners share full control of the roster, lineups, trades, and waivers. They must sort out internal decisions between themselves. If co-owners disagree on a vote, they must submit a single combined position. A team that cannot agree forfeits its vote on that matter.
3. Both co-owners are jointly responsible for the team's dues. If one co-owner leaves mid-season, the remaining owner is responsible for any unpaid balance.
4. Winnings split: Any championship or Gauntlet payout won by a co-owned team is split 50/50 between the co-owners unless both co-owners notified the commissioner of a different split in writing before Week 1. Both co-owners are listed as the team of record and both are eligible to appear on any trophy or Hall of Fame entry the team earns.
5. The league and other managers are not responsible for mediating co-owner disagreements. A team that cannot field a lineup because its co-owners disagree is treated under the inactivity rules in Article 15.
6. If one co-owner drops out, the remaining owner may continue solo or recruit a replacement co-owner, subject to commissioner approval. Dues already paid are not refunded.

1. Due dates are set in Article 8. All buy-ins ($100 per team) are due by the Week 1 deadline.
2. A team that has not paid its buy-in by the Week 1 deadline is not eligible for any payout (championship or Gauntlet) and may have its roster moves restricted at the commissioner's discretion until paid.
3. Repeated or season-long nonpayment is grounds for removal under Article 15 and forfeiture of the franchise.
4. If the League Champion has not paid into the pot, the $1,000 champion's share passes to the highest-finishing paid team in the championship bracket, starting with the runner-up (loser of the championship game) and continuing in order of playoff finish until a paid team is reached. Any private runner-up arrangement under Article 8 is void if the champion did not pay, since there is no champion's share to draw from.
5. A provisionally won Gauntlet prize passes to the next qualifying team as defined in Article 9 (reverse elimination order) if the winning manager has not paid into the pot.

1. A team is considered inactive if it repeatedly fails to set a valid lineup, leaves starting slots empty, or stops responding to league communication for an extended stretch during the season.
2. When a team is flagged as inactive, the commissioner notifies the league and brings it to a vote that determines whether the team is declared abandoned and any corrective action.
3. While a vote is pending, the commissioner may set the inactive team's lineup to its highest-projected starters to protect competitive integrity. The commissioner may not add, drop, or trade players for that team.
4. An abandoned franchise is offered to a replacement owner under Article 16.

1. When a franchise opens, the commissioner sources a replacement owner. Preference may be given to anyone on a league waitlist or recommended by current managers, subject to a league vote if the choice is contested.
2. A new owner inherits the existing roster and all future draft picks as they stand. Rosters are not reset or redistributed.
3. Any unpaid dues attached to the franchise must be settled before the new owner gains full roster control, or waived by league vote.
4. Buy-in for a mid-season replacement is handled case by case and confirmed with the league before the transfer is finalized.

1. Every manager is expected to field a competitive, legitimate lineup every week, whether contending or rebuilding. Starting players who are on a bye, ruled out, or otherwise known to be inactive in order to deliberately lose is prohibited.
2. Rebuilding is legitimate. Trading veterans for youth and future picks is a normal dynasty strategy and is never on its own a violation. The test for any trade is whether the value exchanged is fair, not whether a team got worse.
3. Intentional tanking is prohibited. This means deliberately fielding a non-competitive lineup to lose, as distinct from a fair rebuild.
4. Collusion of any kind is prohibited. This includes lopsided trades designed to strengthen one team at no real cost, dumping players or picks to a specific manager, or coordinating lineup decisions between teams.
5. Suspected violations are brought to the league. A majority vote may reverse a transaction, void a result where feasible, or in severe cases remove an owner under Article 15.

No tie in East Coast Dynasty is ever settled by a coin flip or random draw. Every ranking, award, and bracket terminates in a permanent, unique value so that exactly one result is always produced.

1. Division standings and playoff seeding: head-to-head record first, then total points for, then total points against. Final backstop: the team with the lower original rookie-draft slot ranks higher. This unique value guarantees a strict order with no ties.
2. Playoff and championship games: an exact score tie is won by the higher seed (Article 7.7). No coin flip.
3. The Gauntlet: resolves through its own tiebreaker chain in Article 9, which ends in the lower original rookie-draft slot. The Gauntlet always produces exactly one survivor and is never split.
4. Master backstop: for any tie not expressly covered above, the commissioner resolves it using, in order, total points for, then total points against, then the lower original rookie-draft slot. Because the draft slot is unique to one team, this always yields a single result without a coin flip.

1. Votes are conducted in the group chat or through Sleeper's poll feature, at the commissioner's discretion based on the nature of the vote.
2. Every vote opens with a stated deadline consisting of a specific date and time by which it must be completed. The window varies by vote depending on urgency, but no vote is opened without a posted deadline.
3. Routine or low-stakes votes are allotted a minimum of 48 hours. Major votes, including rule changes, removals, and franchise transfers, are allotted a minimum of 72 hours to allow every manager a fair opportunity to participate.
4. The commissioner may extend a deadline when turnout is too low to reach a fair result, in order to ensure sufficient participation. Any extension is announced in the group chat together with the revised deadline.
5. Because passage requires 8 yes votes (Article 1, Rule 10) and abstentions count as no votes, low turnout makes a proposal harder to pass. This is the basis on which the commissioner may extend a deadline rather than allow a proposal to fail on participation alone.
6. Votes are tallied at the deadline and the results are posted in the group chat. The threshold for passage is the standard league vote in Article 1, Rule 10 unless a specific rule provides otherwise.

1. Any manager may propose a rule change at any time by submitting it to the commissioner, who puts it to a league vote.
2. A proposed amendment passes by the standard league vote (Article 1, Rule 10) and follows the procedure in Article 19.
3. Amendments passed during the offseason take effect the following season unless the league votes to apply them immediately.
4. No rule may be changed mid-season except by league vote in a genuine emergency (for example, a Sleeper setting error or an integrity issue). Routine rule changes wait until the offseason.
5. Once passed, an amendment is recorded in this constitution and the updated version is re-pinned in the group chat.

This constitution is the official rulebook of East Coast Dynasty for the 2026 season. Where it is silent, the Sleeper league settings govern, and the commissioner rules on anything not covered until the league can vote.

Any questions or disputes are directed to the group chat.