Contract Leagues

How to Play

Drafts

Contracts

Salaries

Waivers

Trading

Playoffs

Slots

FAQ

Timeline

Drafts

Contracts

Salaries

Waivers

Trading

Playoffs

Slots

FAQ

Timeline

This page covers the automated behavior and settings for League Tycoon. The commissioner has a full set of tools they can use to manually override or implement custom rules for your league.

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Drafts

Every new league starts with a Free Agent Auction Draft — a fun, interactive way to build your roster.In the first season, there is no separate Rookie Draft. All players — veterans and rookies — are part of the same auction pool. In later seasons, the FA Auction Draft includes:

  • Players no longer under contract
  • Any rookies not selected in the Rookie Draft

How It Works

  • Teams take turns nominating players for bidding.
  • Once nominated, any team can place bids, so draft order doesn’t limit you.
  • The player goes to the highest bidder — if you want a star, outbid the competition.

Why It Matters in Contract Leagues

  • The winning bid becomes the player’s salary, counting against your Salary Cap.
  • After the draft, you can:
    • Sign the player to a multi-year contract, or
    • Keep them on a 1-year deal — they return to next year’s FA Auction Draft unless you use a Franchise Tag to keep them.

Related Settings

  • Salary Cap — Default: $250. The total you can spend for the entire season.
  • Reserved Cap — Default: $50. The portion of your Salary Cap locked before/during the draft that unlocks immediately after the draft. Example: With a $250 Salary Cap and $50 Reserved Cap, you can spend up to $200 during the FA Auction Draft, leaving at least $50 for in-season moves (FAAB, practice squad promotions, trades).
  • Draft Date — When your draft begins.
  • Nomination Time Limit (seconds) — Default: 30. Time a team has to nominate before the highest-ranked available player is auto-nominated.
  • Initial Bidding Time Limit (seconds) — Default: 30. Time to place the first bid after a nomination.
  • Bid Reset (seconds) — Default: 10. How much the auction clock resets when a new bid is placed.
  • Draft Order — The order teams nominate players. The commissioner can adjust this before the draft.

 

Slow Auction Tutorial

Slow Auction Drafts [How They Work]

You can choose to replace your standard Free Agent Auction Draft with a Slow Auction Draft. The salary cap and contract rules remain the same, but the pace and structure create a unique experience that many leagues find more convenient and fun.

Slow Auction Drafts are ideal for leagues that can’t get everyone together at the same time, or simply prefer a more relaxed pace. The main differences from a standard FA Auction Draft are:

  • Nomination and bidding windows last hours or days instead of seconds.
  • Multiple players are up for bid at the same time (default max: 20 active nominations).
  • Drafts typically take 2–3 weeks to complete.

Nominating

  • Nomination order works the same as in a standard FA Auction Draft.
  • You do not wait for a player to be won before the next team nominates, so many players are nominated at once.
  • When the maximum number of active nominations is reached (default: 20), no new nominations can be made until a player is won.
  • When nominating, you enter your maximum bid, but the player starts at $1 (see Proxy Bidding below).
  • Note: If you are “on the clock” to nominate, you must nominate a player before you can bid again. This keeps the draft moving and prevents strategic delays.

Bidding

Slow Auction Drafts use Proxy Bidding, similar to eBay:

  • When you bid, you enter the highest amount you are willing to pay (your “max bid”).
  • No one can see your max bid — only the current high bid is visible.
  • The system automatically increases your bid up to your max as other teams bid against you.

Example: Team 1 has a high bid of $5 on Player A with a max of $40. Team 2 bids a max of $25. Team 1 remains the high bidder and the visible high bid becomes $25. Team 3 bids a max of $45, becoming the new high bidder at $41.

Adjusting Your Max Bid

  • You can modify your max bid at any time.
  • You may decrease your max bid down to the current high bid, but no lower.

Bid Timer Reset

  • When a new high bidder takes the lead, the bidding clock for that player resets (default: 24 hours).
  • If your bid does not make you the high bidder, the clock does not reset.

Example: Team 1 has the high bid at $10 (max $20). Team 2 bids $15 max. Team 1 remains the high bidder at $15, so the clock does not reset. A bid of $21 or more would make Team 2 the high bidder and reset the clock.

Related Settings

  • Active Nominations Allowed at a Time — Default: 20. Nominations pause once this number of players are actively being auctioned.
  • Nomination Time Limit — Default: 24 hours. Time a team has to nominate before the highest-ranked available player is auto-nominated.
  • Initial Bidding Time — Default: 24 hours. The bidding clock when a player is first nominated.
  • Bid Reset Time — Default: 24 hours. The time the clock resets to when a new high bidder takes the lead.

Contract Bidding is an advanced draft mode that can be enabled in your draft settings. The core idea is simple: players are willing to accept a lower average salary in exchange for a longer contract. If you’re willing to commit to more years, you can offer a lower salary per year and still outbid a shorter, higher-paying offer.
This option can fundamentally change how contracts work in your league. It adds extra strategy and complexity, so it’s best for experienced managers. It’s also not recommended to switch between Standard Auction and Contract Bidding unless your league understands how it will change player values and contracts.

How It’s Different

In a Standard Auction Draft, players go to the highest salary bid, regardless of how many years you plan to keep them. After the draft, assigning more years doesn’t decrease their average salary per year — there’s no way to say, “I’ll pay less per year if I give them more years.”

With Contract Bidding, you’re bidding on both the salary and the contract length at the same time. A longer contract lets you offer a lower annual salary and still beat a shorter, higher-paying bid.Example: Instead of a 1-year, $100 offer, you might win with a 4-year deal at $80 per year. The longer commitment can win the player even though the per-year amount is lower.

Standard Auction vs. Contract Bidding

  • Standard Auction: Draft a player for a salary, then assign contract length after the draft.
    • Top players usually get short contracts to reduce long-term risk.
    • Cheaper players often get long contracts.
  • Contract Bidding: Draft a player by bidding salary + years together, during the draft.
    • Top players often get long contracts, since longer deals allow lower per-year salaries.
    • Contract length becomes part of your bidding strategy.

How Bidding Works

  • When you bid, choose the salary and contract length together.
  • The system compares offers using your league’s Multi-Year Discounts (set in draft settings).
  • You don’t need to calculate discounts — the app automatically shows the next eligible bid that beats the current offer, factoring in the discount.
  • All you do is pick your contract length and click to outbid.

Example

Current bid: $99 for 1 year

League setting: 20% discount for 4-year contracts

  • You can outbid with a 1-year, $100 offer.
  • Or you can outbid with a 4-year deal at $80 per year (20% discount applied).

The app will automatically display both options as the “next bid” buttons, so you just click to choose your preferred approach.

Key Points

  • Advanced Option: Best for experienced managers who want extra strategic depth.
  • Integrated Signing: Contract length is part of your bid, not assigned after the draft.

Starting in year 2, leagues hold a Rookie Draft to bring in the newest NFL prospects.In the first season, rookies are part of the Free Agent Auction Draft instead. This ensures every team has a fair shot at rookie talent rather than giving an advantage to teams with early picks.

How It Works

  • The Rookie Draft is a linear draft — the order stays the same each round (no snake format).
  • Each draft slot has a set salary based on a pre-determined Rookie Pay Scale.
  • Every rookie drafted is automatically given a 3-year contract (this length can be customized in league settings).

Determining Draft Order

Your league can choose one of three methods in the settings:

Weighted Lottery (Default)

  • Non-playoff teams get a set number of lottery balls based on their regular-season finish.
  • Playoff teams are added afterward in reverse playoff finish (champion picks last).
  • The commissioner sets the date/time for the lottery ceremony after the season ends.
  • League members can join the live lottery on the league page when it begins.

Default Lottery Balls by Finish:

  • 100 (Worst Record)
  • 80
  • 60
  • 45
  • 30
  • 15
  • 13
  • 11
  • 9
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

Commissioners can override ball counts for any team — even playoff teams.

Standings

  • Non-playoff teams draft first in reverse order of the regular-season standings.
  • Playoff teams are added in reverse playoff results (champion picks last).

Manual

  • Draft order is set manually in league settings.
  • Commissioners can update the order at any time, even without using Manual mode.

Timing

  • The Rookie Draft happens before your annual FA Auction Draft.
  • You can run them back-to-back on the same day, or hold the Rookie Draft separately at an earlier date.

Rookie Pick Guarantee

All rookie picks are guaranteed — you don’t need cap space or an open roster spot to make your pick. However, you must get under the cap to set your lineup, make trades, or claim players from waivers.

Related Settings

  • Rookie Draft Rounds — Default: 3. The number of rounds in your Rookie Draft each season.
  • Rookie Draft Contract Years — Default: 3. All players taken in the Rookie Draft automatically get signed to a contract of the same length.

Unlike the FA Auction Draft, salaries for Rookie Draft picks aren’t determined by bidding. Instead, each draft position has a set salary based on the Rookie Pay Scale. The earlier a player is drafted, the higher their salary — and players taken later in the draft have lower salaries.

This approach keeps rookie contracts predictable and fair, while still rewarding teams with higher picks.

Example Salary Breakdown

With the default settings, a league with a $250 Salary Cap and a Rookie Pay Scale Start % of 4.5% would assign the first overall pick a salary of $12.

  • 1.01 — $12
  • 1.02 — $11
  • 1.03 — $11
  • 1.04 — $9
  • 1.05 — $9
  • 1.06 — $9
  • 1.07 — $7
  • 1.08 — $7
  • 1.09 — $7
  • 1.10 — $6
  • 1.11 — $6
  • 1.12 — $6
  • Remaining 1st-round picks — $5
  • 2nd Round — $4
  • 3rd Round — $2
  • 4th & 5th Rounds (if used) — $1

Related Settings

  • Rookie Pay Scale Start % — Default: 4.5%. The percentage of the salary cap assigned to the first overall pick. Salaries for other picks decrease from this starting value.

Contracts

Contracts allow teams to keep players for multiple seasons, adding long-term strategy to roster building. After the Free Agent Auction Draft, you can sign players to 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, or 5-year contracts — or leave them on the default 1-year contract.

Contracts work like keepers, but with extra layers of decision-making:

  • The player’s first-year salary is the amount you paid in the FA Auction Draft.
  • For each year that a player is under contract, salaries increase by a set percentage — default: 0% (customizable).
  • Dropping a player under contract creates dead money based on how many years remain on their deal.
  • By default, teams have a limited number of contracts they can use each year. These reset every April 1st when the new season starts. Contracts are “use it or lose it”, all teams will have the same number of contracts to give out when the new season starts.

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1: No Contract Assigned

  • You draft a player but don’t assign a multi-year contract — they stay on a 1-year deal.
  • After the fantasy season (Week 17), they are eligible for a Franchise Tag.
  • If you don’t tag them, on April 1st their contract length becomes 0 years and they are dropped into the next FA Auction Draft.
  • If you tag them, their contract becomes 1 year. At the end of that season, they’ll be dropped.

Scenario 2: Signed to a 2-Year Contract

  • You draft a player and sign them to a 2-year deal after the draft.
  • After the season, on April 1st, the contract decreases to 1 year.
  • From April 1st until the start of Week 1, they are eligible for a contract extension.
  • If you don’t extend them, they may be Franchise Tagged at season’s end.
  • If you don’t tag them, they are dropped into the next FA Auction Draft.

Note: Players on a 1-year deal can never be extended — you must give them a 2+ year contract to make them extension-eligible. Players drafted in the Rookie Draft automatically get a 3-year contract, which makes them extension-eligible.

Related Settings

  • Player Salary Increase Per Year — Default: 0%. Example with a 15% increase: Year 1: $20 Year 2: $23 Year 3: $27 Year 4: $32
  • 2-Year Contracts — Default: 3 per team, per season.
  • 3-Year Contracts — Default: 2 per team, per season.
  • 4-Year Contracts — Default: 1 per team, per season.

Players are eligible for a contract extension when they are entering the final year of their current deal. Players on a 1-year contract can never be extended — if you want the option to extend later, you must sign them to a 2-year, 3-year, or 4-year contract first. Rookie Draft players automatically start with a 3-year contract, making them extension-eligible.A player can only be extended once. When you extend a player, you can add 1, 2, 3, or 4 additional years to their contract, depending on your league’s settings.

Extension Salary Options

Extensions don’t affect the current season’s salary. Instead, they determine the salary starting the next season and onward. Your league can choose between two methods in the settings:

Stable Extension Salaries

  • The player’s salary continues using your league’s standard Player Salary Increase Per Year setting.
  • This is the simpler option and keeps all salary increases consistent.

Performance-Based Extension Salaries

  • The player’s new salary is calculated based on their recent performance and your league’s salary distribution by position.
  • Performance is measured with a weighted formula across multiple seasons, tailored to your league’s scoring rules, with a recency bias so recent performance matters more.
  • Salary distributions by position are updated after each FA Auction Draft, and performance scores are updated weekly during the season.
  • This approach allows for contracts to reflect actual on-field value and can make extensions more competitive in price.

See also: How are Performance-Based Contract Salaries calculated?

Related Settings

  • Extension Contracts — Default: 1. The number of extensions a team can use each season.
  • Minimum Extension Salary — Default: $10. No extension can be signed for less than this amount.
  • Performance-Based Salary Percent — Default: 85%.
    Tip: 100% would match the estimated “full price” for a player, but we recommend keeping it lower so there’s “room to grow” and managers have an incentive to sign long-term extensions.

The Rookie Option allows you to add one additional year to a player’s rookie contract. Players are eligible if they are entering the final year of their rookie deal and have the contract type “Rookie”. Each player can only receive a Rookie Option once.The current year’s salary does not change — the Rookie Option only affects the salary for the added year. Your league can choose from three methods for calculating that option-year salary:

Salary Calculation Methods

Stable Option Salaries

  • The option-year salary is the player’s current salary multiplied by your league’s Player Salary Increase Per Year setting.
  • Good for simply extending a rookie contract by a year, regardless of performance.

Performance-Based Option Salaries

  • The option-year salary is based on the player’s past performance. See also: How are Performance-Based Contract Salaries calculated?.
  • Uses your league’s Performance-Based Option Salary % setting to determine the cost.
  • Reflects actual player value and benefits all levels of players.

Franchise Tag % Option Salaries

  • The option-year salary is a percentage of the Franchise Tag cost for that position.
  • Uses your league’s Franchise Tag Option Salary % setting.
  • Same salary for all players at the same position, benefiting only top-tier players.

Note: Regardless of the method chosen, the option-year salary can never be less than the player’s current salary.

Impact of Each Method

  • Stable — Good if you are looking to simply increase the rookie contract by a year. Beneficial to all levels of players
  • Performance-Based — Ideal for those who want the option year salary to reflect the player’s performance. Beneficial to all levels of players.
  • Franchise Tag % — Good for those that only want the top players to be signed to rookie options. Beneficial to the top players.

Recommended Percentages

  • Performance-Based Salary % — 100% matches estimated free-agent value. We recommend less than 100% to give managers an incentive to keep the player instead of redrafting at a similar price.
  • Franchise Tag Salary % — The percentage of the Franchise Tag cost you want to apply to rookie options.

Additional Note: For rookies that has are optioned, when they are entering their option year can still be extended, just like any other player in the final year of their contract. However, once extended, they are no longer considered on a rookie contract and cannot receive a Rookie Option. (You can option a rookie and then extend them, but you cannot extend a rookie and then option them)

The Franchise Tag allows a team to keep a player for one additional season after their contract expires. Players are eligible if:

  • They have completed the final year of their contract.
  • They have never been franchise tagged before.

The option to tag a player becomes available after NFL Week 17, when the fantasy season ends. Teams must apply the tag before April 1st (the start of the new league year), or the player will be dropped from the roster.

Franchise Tag Cost

The cost is calculated as the greater of:

  • The average salary of the top players at that position (default: top 8, configurable in settings), or
  • The player’s current salary with your league’s annual Player Salary Increase percentage.

The exact tag price for each eligible player is shown on your Contracts screen so you can make informed decisions.

Note: Franchise tag prices are based on players rostered when your FA Auction Draft completes. This prevents manipulation of tag values by dropping or adding players late in the season.

Important Rules

  • You cannot extend a player after they’ve been tagged — the extension window has already closed by that point.
  • Commissioners can override minimum tag prices if your league uses custom rules.

Related Settings

  • Franchise Tags — Default: 0. The number of tags a team can use each season.
  • Number of Players For Tag Average — Default: 8. The number of players that determine the tag price.

Salaries

The Salary Cap is the total budget each team has to manage their roster for the entire season. This single pool of money covers everything — winning bids in the Free Agent Auction Draft, bidding on free agents during the season (FAAB), making trades, and promoting players from your Practice Squad.

To ensure teams keep funds available for in-season activity, leagues use the Reserved Cap setting. The Reserved Cap is a portion of your Salary Cap that is locked before and during the draft and becomes available as soon as the draft ends.

How It Works

  • Salary Cap – The total amount of money available for your team for the entire season.
  • Reserved Cap – The amount that is locked before/during the draft, unlocking immediately after the draft for in-season use.

Example: If your league has a $250 Salary Cap and a $50 Reserved Cap:

  • You can spend up to $200 during the Free Agent Auction Draft ($250 – $50).
  • The $50 Reserved Cap becomes available right after the draft ends — giving you the flexibility during the season to place waiver bids, make trades, or promote players from the practice squad.

Important Notes

  • It’s possible to get your team in a situation where you start the FA Auction Draft with negative draft cap space. This means you’ll be limited during the draft to filling open roster spots with $1 players that no other team bids on.
  • There are no separate budgets for different activities — everything comes from the same cap.
  • Rookie picks are guaranteed and can be made even if you have $0 cap space, but you must be under the cap to update lineups, trade, or sign players from waivers.

A player’s salary is determined by how they were acquired:

  • FA Auction Draft – Salary equals the winning bid amount for that player.
  • Free Agent Blind Bidding (FAAB) – Salary equals the winning bid amount.
  • Rookie Draft – Salary is based on the Rookie Pay Scale, determined by the player’s draft position.

Your league can set a Player Minimum Salary (default is $1), which is the lowest amount a player can be signed for in your league. This applies to all bids made during the FA Auction Draft and FAAB — any offer must meet or exceed this minimum.

Note: The Player Minimum Salary does not apply to rookies selected in the Rookie Draft. Rookie salaries are set separately using the Rookie Pay Scale Start % setting.

When a player is signed to a multi-year contract, their salary for future years is automatically calculated using your league’s Player Salary Increase %. By default, this is 0%, but commissioners can adjust this percentage in league settings.

Example: Salary Increase Over Time

With a 15% Player Salary Increase setting, a player signed for $20 on a 4-year contract would have:

  • Year 1: $20
  • Year 2: $23 ($20 × 15%)
  • Year 3: $27 ($23 × 15%)
  • Year 4: $32 ($27 × 15%)

Related Settings

  • Player Salary Increase Per Year – Default: 0%. Percentage increase applied to each future year of the contract.
  • Rookie Pay Scale Start % – Default: 4.5%. Percentage of the Salary Cap assigned to the first pick in the Rookie Draft, with salaries decreasing for later picks.

Example: Rookie Pay Scale

With a Salary Cap of $250 and a Rookie Pay Scale Start % of 4.5%, the first overall pick would have a salary of $12, with each subsequent pick costing less, and larger drops at the start of each round.

When you drop a player from your roster, there are two types of salary penalties to understand:

  1. Current Season Dead Money – The player’s full salary for the current season stays on your books, and you do not receive a refund.

    (This can be adjusted in settings using Current Season Dead Money Penalty.)

  2. Future Season Dead Money – A penalty applied to next season’s cap space based on the number of years remaining on the player’s contract.

    By default, this is 25% of the player’s salary for each additional year remaining.

Special Case: Dropping Players from the Practice Squad

Players dropped while in a Practice Squad slot use separate settings:

  • Current Season Dead Money: By default, 25% of the player’s salary (which often equals the Practice Squad salary percent). When the dead money % is the same as the PS salary %, the result is that a team’s cap space doesn’t change when dropping a player from a PS slot.
  • Future Season Dead Money: By default, 0% — meaning no penalty carries into future seasons.

Example: Future Season Dead Money Penalties

  • 1 Year Remaining: 0% penalty the following season
  • 2 Years Remaining: 25% penalty
  • 3 Years Remaining: 50% penalty
  • 4 Years Remaining: 75% penalty
  • 5 Years Remaining: 100% penalty

Once the future year penalty is applied next season, there are no additional cap hits after that season.

Related Settings

  • Dead Money Penalty Per Year Remaining – Default: 25%. Percentage of a player’s salary counted as dead money next season, based on years left on their contract.

Dead Money Examples

  • Drop a player with 4 years @ $20:

    – Current season: $20 stays on your books as dead money.

    – Next season: $15 penalty (75% of $20).

  • Drop a player with 1 year @ $20:

    – Current season: $20 stays on your books as dead money.

    – Next season: No penalty.

The Max Cap Rollover setting lets teams carry over unused salary cap space into the next league season. This rollover amount is added to your normal salary cap when the new season begins. This helps make sure cap space still matters for all teams during the current season, especially if you allow teams to trade cap space.How It Works: At the end of the season, your unused cap space will be added onto your available cap space for the next season. The amount carried over to the next season is capped by the Max Cap Rollover setting in league settings.

Key Details

  • IR Discounts Don’t Count: Salary discounts from injured reserve (IR) slots are excluded from unused cap calculations. After the playoffs, IR players are moved to the bench and the IR slot is closed until the new season begins.
  • Impact of Dead Money Settings: If your league refunds part of a player’s salary when dropped (less than 100% current season dead money penalty), rollover can be exploited—teams could drop players to artificially boost unused cap space. For this reason, most leagues that allow rollover keep the current season dead money penalty at 100%.

Example

League Salary Cap: $250
Max Cap Rollover: $25

  • Team 1: $40 unused before rollover date → $25 carried over (max allowed). New season available cap space = $275.
  • Team 2: $15 unused before rollover date → $15 carried over. New season available cap space = $265.

After rollover, the team’s contract costs and dead money for the new season are subtracted from their new salary cap to determine their available cap space.

Waivers / Free Agents

Once your FA Auction Draft is complete, any unowned players will immediately become eligible to be claimed from the waiver wire.

Players are acquired through Free Agent Blind Bidding (FAAB) when they are on waivers. Players who are free agents can be picked up immediately for $1.

Players are placed on waivers for two reasons:

  1. When a player is dropped by a team: They stay on waivers until the waiver time selected in league settings passes.
  2. When a player’s game has started: They stay on waivers until Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM CST.

Once a player clears waivers, they become a free agent and can be immediately picked up. The default behavior is to process the FAAB auction on Wednesday morning and then open it up for teams to pick up players immediately for the remainder of the week. This approach is preferred as it allows FAAB auctions to take place after a weekend of games while also allowing teams to pick up players immediately on game days.

Free Agent Blind Bidding (FAAB) is a method used in fantasy sports leagues to acquire players who are not currently on any teams. In this system, teams have a budget (your available budget is simply your available cap space) and they bid on players using a blind auction process. The team that submits the highest bid wins the player, and the winning bid amount is subtracted from the team’s budget. The process is called “blind” because teams do not know how much other teams are bidding.

In the event that two teams bid the same amount for a player, the tie is broken by the team that is lower in the league standings. The league standings are determined by:

Standings are determined by:
1. Record
2. Total Points For
3. Total Points Against

In the unlikely event that the standings criteria are exactly tied, the team with the most available cap space will win the tie. If both teams have the same amount of available cap space, the tie will be decided by a coin flip.

Free Agents picked up after your FA Auction Draft will be assigned a 1-year contract with a salary that matches the winning bid amount. This means that they will become free agents and available in the next FA Auction Draft unless a Franchise Tag is used on them at the end of the season.

Trading


Why do a trade auction?

How many times have you put a player on the trading block only to receive little response? This is because a deal rarely gets done so league mates don’t want to deal with it. When the creator sets the first “Current Winning Offer” it is guaranteed that a trade will be completed. The auction can no longer be canceled and league mates are motivated to beat the “Current Winning Offer.”

Do people in your league gripe about trades that they aren’t involved in? After every trade there’s the guy who says: “I can’t believe you gave him that player, I would have given you XYZ!”

With Trade Auctions, no one can complain about the results of a trade because everyone has the same opportunity.

How do they work?

  1. Select the player, cap space, or rookie pick that you want to auction off for the trade.
  2. Select the types of assets that you are most interested in receiving.
  3. When an offer comes in either set it as “Winning”, to replace the “Current Winning Offer”, or “Reject” it.
  4. When the auction expires the “Current Winning Offer” is accepted as a trade.
    – If there are pending offers when the auction expires, the auction creator will have up to 12 hours to review pending offers. If the review clock runs out then the “Current Winning Offer” is accepted as a trade.
  • Everyone will see the list of offers.
  • The auction creator can choose to reject all offers and never accept a trade.
  • As soon as the auction creator sets an offer as the “Current Winning Offer” it becomes guaranteed that a trade will be accepted.
  • A Trade Auction cannot be canceled after the creator sets an offer as the “Current Winning Offer.”
  • A Trade Offer cannot be canceled after it is set as the “Current Winning Offer.”
  • Your league mates have the option to add additional players/cap/picks from your team to their offer, but they don’t have the option to modify any of the players/cap/picks that you selected for the auction.
  • It’s good strategy to quickly set an offer as “Winning” or “Rejected” as they come in. This gives your league mates time to improve their offer to beat the “Current Winning Offer.”
  • If the Time Remaining is less than 12h when a new “Current Winning Offer” is set then the Time Remaining will reset to 12h.
  • Trade Auctions must be STARTED before the trade deadline. They will be allowed to complete after the trade deadline if they were created before the trade deadline.

When a player is traded, their existing contract and status remain exactly the same with their new team. Nothing resets or changes upon trade, including:

  • Contract length and salary

  • Eligibility for extensions, franchise tags, or options (if already used, they cannot be used again)

  • Practice Squad (PS) eligibility

Because of this, always carefully review a player’s full contract status before making a trade:

  • What is the salary?

  • How long is the contract?

  • Is the player eligible for an extension?

  • Can the player be placed on the PS?

These contract factors add depth and excitement to trading in contract fantasy football leagues.

Trading is permitted year-round, except during the period from the trade deadline through the final week of the season.

In addition to trading players, trading future rookie draft picks is also allowed and can be a valuable tool for teams. The trade window includes the option to include rookie draft picks as part of a trade offer. This can add an extra layer of strategy to trades, as teams can acquire picks in upcoming drafts to secure the rights to top prospects. Additionally, teams are able to trade picks two years in advance, giving them the ability to plan for the long-term. Trading future draft picks is a great way to build a strong team for the future, and it is highly encouraged in many leagues.

There is a trade setting called “Allow cap space trading” which allows teams to trade cap space along with players and draft picks. This allows teams to manage their salary cap more effectively, by acquiring additional cap space to sign free agents or make trades.

However, it’s important to note that when a team trades cap space, it will only affect the current season unless a “Max Cap Rollover” amount is set in the salary cap settings. This allows teams to roll over a certain percentage of unused cap space to the following season, providing more flexibility to manage their salary cap in the long-term. This setting enables teams to have more control over their finances and make more informed decisions when trading.

There are three options for approving trades in a league, which can be set in the league’s settings:

  1. Commish Approve/Veto: In this option, the commissioner of the league has the sole authority to approve or veto trades. The commissioner will review each trade proposal and determine whether it should be approved or rejected.
  2. League Vote: In this option, a vote is conducted among league members to approve or reject a trade. The number of vetos required to reject a trade can be set by the commissioner. If enough members vote to veto a trade, it will be rejected. This option allows for more democratic decision-making and gives league members more input on the trades that occur within the league.
  3. Automatic Approval: Trades instantly go through with no trade review period.

Playoffs

There are several playoff configurations that can be chosen in the league settings. However, these options are limited by the NFL schedule, which includes bye weeks through Week 14. This leaves a maximum of three weeks for fantasy playoffs: Weeks 15, 16, and 17.

It is important to note that the final week of the NFL season should always be excluded from fantasy playoffs, as NFL teams may rest their starters if the game does not affect their playoff standings. The last week of the fantasy playoffs is the most important game of the season and it is not ideal for it to fall on a week when starters are not playing.

The playoff seeding is determined by the standings. If your league has divisions, the division winners are seeded the highest, followed by those highest in the overall standings. If your league has a custom rule for who makes the playoffs, you can use the “Edit Schedule Matchups” commissioner tool to set custom playoff matches. This allows you to create custom playoffs that are tailored to the specific needs of your league.

In the case that the NFL schedule allows for 4 week playoffs, we will add more configurations to choose from.

Standings are determined by:
1. Record
2. Total Points For
3. Total Points Against

There are 2 or 3 playoff brackets depending on your league size and playoff configuration:

Championship

  • The bracket for those that make the playoffs and are competing for the championship.
  • Unlike the other brackets, results in this bracket DO impact rookie draft picks unless your league implements a custom rule.

Bankrupt Bowl

  • Loser Advances
  • It is common for leagues to use the results of the Bankrupt Bowl bracket to determine last place punishments.
  • Has no impact on rookie draft picks unless your league implements a custom rule.

Purgatory

  • Teams finished too high in the regular season standings to compete for last place, but finished too low in the standings to compete for a championship.
  • Every team will have a final tournament standings position.
  • Has no impact on rookie draft picks unless your league implements a custom rule.

Ties are uncommon due to the use of fractional points, but if a tie does occur during the playoffs, the higher seed will advance to the next round. The seed is determined by the regular season standings, so the team that performed better during the regular season will have the advantage in the event of a playoff tie.

Standings are determined by:
1. Record
2. Total Points For
3. Total Points Against

Practice Squad & Injured Reserve

Practice Squad slots, also known as “Taxi Squad” slots, are a valuable type of roster slot for fantasy football teams. They are designed to provide a salary cap advantage and additional roster space for players taken in the Rookie Draft that the team does not want to start immediately. This allows teams to keep a player on their roster without using a valuable starting slot, while also preserving salary cap space.

When a player is placed in a Practice Squad slot, only a portion (25%, configurable in Contract Settings) of their salary counts against the team’s cap space. This allows teams to keep more expensive players on their roster without exceeding the salary cap. Additionally, teams can easily move players from the Practice Squad to the active roster when they are ready to contribute to the team. This is a great way to manage your team’s salary cap and to keep a close eye on the development of young players, especially when you have a limited salary cap.

By default, players in the Practice Squad slots have less risky contracts than other players. Their salary will not increase when they are on the Practice Squad on league rollover (configurable in settings). Additionally, when players are dropped from Practice Squad slots, there is no next season dead money penalty, which means teams will not incur any financial penalties for releasing them (configurable in settings).

PS Eligibility

  • Only player’s taken in the Rookie Draft can be placed in a PS slot. Rookies taken in the Auction Draft are not eligible.
  • Once a player has been moved into the starting lineup, they are no longer eligible to be placed in a PS slot (there is a warning when a PS eligible player is put into the starting lineup for the first time).
  • A player can be moved back and forth freely between the Bench and PS slots without losing eligibility.
  • A player can be put on the Practice Squad for the whole duration of his contract as long as he has never been moved into the starting lineup.

Note: When a player is moved off the Practice Squad (PS), their full cap hit is applied. You must have enough available cap space in the current year to move them off your practice squad.

In Roster Settings, one of the options available is to choose the IR Slot Configuration for your league.

Traditional (Default)

  • Eligible Players: Out, Doubtful, Injured Reserve, PUP, Covid-19
  • Not Eligible: Suspended, Probable, Questionable
  • When a player is no longer eligible for the IR slot, you must move them out of the IR before you are allowed to modify your lineup.
  • If your league settings give a discount to IR Slot players, then your team must have the available cap space to move them out of the IR Slot.

Any Player / Full Season

  • In this configuration the IR slot is a special slot designed to provide cap space in exchange for not being able to use that player.
  • You can put ANY player in the IR slot regardless of their injury status and only a percentage (depending on settings) of that player’s salary counts against your cap space. The trade off is that the player must remain on the IR for the rest of the season, so you won’t be able to use that player again until the following season. This allows teams to use this slot strategically, instead of it just being an extra roster slot for hurt players.
  • You won’t be able to drop a player that is on the IR until after the playoffs complete. You will still be able to drop the player before the new season on April 1st if you need to for strategic reasons.
  • If your league settings give a discount to IR Slot players, then your team must have the available cap space to move them out of the IR Slot.

The setting IR Slot Salary Percent under Contract Settings is meant to be used with the Any Player / Full Season IR setting. This gives you cap space back in exchange for not using the player.

If you reduce the “IR Slot Salary Percent” below 100% with Traditional IR, beware that a team can end up in a tricky situation. In a league that uses Traditional IR and less than 100% IR Slot Salary Percent, they could place a player on IR and gain cap space > Then they spend that cap space > The following week that player is no longer hurt and is ineligible for the IR slot > They won’t be able to update their lineup until they move this player out of the IR slot, and they won’t be able to move that player out of the IR slot if they don’t have cap space to do so.

*Note – Player’s that are dropped from IR slots are dropped for their full salary, not the reduced salary of the slot.

*Note – IR Slot Salary discounts do not count towards Unused Cap Space if your league uses Cap Space Rollover. IR Players are moved to your bench before the rollover.

FAQ

General FAQ

League settings in League Tycoon offer a wide range of options to customize your league. Alongside these settings, there is a collection of Commissioner Tools that allow for further customization and flexibility. These tools enable the commissioner to manually manage and adjust various aspects of the league, such as players, contracts, teams, schedule, playoff matchups, draft, and more. Whether you want to implement a unique rule or handle a situation differently than the default settings, the tools make this possible.

Check out the playoff configuration section under Playoffs .

Every once in a while an NFL team will change the position of a player. We most commonly see this with Defensive Ends and Outside Linebackers because players often play both positions. This situation has a different impact on contract leagues than it does for standard league types. Let’s say your league has 1 DL slot and 1 LB slot. You sign a defensive lineman to a 3-year contract and a linebacker to a 3-year contract. The following season the defensive end changed to outside linebacker. It feels bad to be forced to play that player in a linebacker slot and now having 2 linebackers under contract and no defensive lineman.

By default, the software takes the approach that you can continue to play a player in the position that they had when you drafted them. However, the commish can change a player’s position using the Modify Player commish tool. At the bottom of the modify player screen there is a drop down where you can change a player’s position.

We have carefully simplified the calculation to make it more intuitive and easier to understand. We believe this strikes the right balance; further simplification could compromise results, while adding complexity offers little additional value.

Step 1: Calculate the Player’s Adjusted PPG

  1. Gather the player’s most recent 30 games that they PLAYED IN.
  2. Compare the PPG from the most recent 15 games to the previous 15 games:
    • If the most recent 15-game PPG is higher, use that as the adjusted PPG.
    • If the previous 15-game PPG is higher, calculate the average PPG across all 30 games (or all available games if fewer than 30).

Step 2: Collect Position Salaries

  • At the end of your Free Agent Auction draft each year, we record your league’s salaries at each position.

Step 3: Rank Players and Salaries

  • Sort players at each position by their Adjusted PPG, from highest to lowest.
  • Sort the salaries for each position from highest to lowest.

Step 4: Calculate the Salary

  • Match the player’s adjusted PPG rank with the corresponding salary rank. For example, the quarterback with the 3rd highest Adjusted PPG corresponds to the 3rd highest quarterback salary.
  • Average the corresponding salary with the salary above and below it to determine the player’s Performance-Based Salary.

Step 5: Apply the Percentage

  • Apply your league’s “Performance-Based Salary %” to the result from Step 4 to finalize the Performance-Based Salary.

Additional Notes:

  • “Why is the performance-based salary for a certain player not matching up to their Auction value?” – Auction values are “Projected Performance” (what someone anticipates the player will do going forward), whereas Performance-Based Salaries are “Actual Performance” (what the player has done up to this point). It’s good to understand that there is sometimes a difference between Actual Performance and Projected Performance.
  • If the salaries are lower or higher than you would like, adjust the Performance-Based Salary % in your settings.
  • In Step 4, if a player is ranked #1, average their salary with the 1st and 2nd ranked salaries to account for outliers.
  • If a player’s adjusted PPG rank is lower than the number of listed salaries after the draft, we assign the lowest salary for that position.

Often players don’t “officially retire” and so the official data for them won’t reflect that they are retired. Some of the names in the active list haven’t played in the NFL for several seasons. On the other hand you have people who retire and then come back.

We leave this up for the commissioner to manage how they see fit. Commonly, the team is released from the retired player’s contract with no penalty. The commissioner can do this by removing the player from the team in the Commissioner Tools, giving the team back their salary space and avoiding any dead money. If the player returns to play after retirement, they are available in the draft.

Draft FAQ

We’ve designed the format with a focus on keeping things user friendly. A big goal is to prevent scenarios where teams find themselves in such tough spots that managers feel the need to throw in the towel, causing the league to fall apart.

When we consider holding the Free Agent Auction Draft before the Rookie Draft, several concerns come up. For starters, what if a team blows all their budget during the FA Auction Draft and then can’t afford their rookie picks? Also have to consider trades that occur in the time between the two drafts (or during the rookie draft). If teams can’t pay for their picks, it leads to difficult situations. Should they be forced to forgo their rookie picks? That won’t go over well. Should they draft their rookie picks and then be in cap hell?

We then put those concerns up against the benefits of having the FA Auction Draft first. The problem is that we haven’t come up with a benefit.

Having the Rookie Draft first means that the money you have leftover after the Rookie Draft is what you have available in the FA Auction Draft. It also means that undrafted rookies can be acquired in the Auction Draft.

In the best case, having the FA Auction Draft first adds no benefit to your league, while the worst-case scenario could endanger the entire league’s stability. We’d rather not take that risk, aiming instead for a setup that encourages enjoyment and longevity for all involved.

No, dropping players during the draft is not allowed. Allowing this would create an unfair advantage—managers could drop a star player at the end of the draft and immediately redraft them for $1, securing them to a long-term contract at a bargain.

It also disrupts the flow and strategy of the draft. Teams make decisions based on the current player pool. If players are constantly being added to the player pool during the draft, it creates unpredictability, making it nearly impossible for teams to plan their budgets and picks effectively.

When using the default settings, teams are given a $250 salary cap and a $50 reserved cap. Reserved Cap is the portion of your total salary cap that is locked before/during the draft and unlocks as soon as the draft is complete. This means that teams will have $200 of available cap space to use during the draft ($250 – $50 = $200).

Now let’s say a team has $40 available. When the $50 reserved cap is locked, that team has negative draft cap space ($40 – $50 = -$10). If a team has negative draft cap space, they cannot bid on players during the FA Auction Draft. Instead, they must complete their roster by nominating players at the minimum bid of $1. Those players will only be added to their roster if no other team bids on them.

It’s important to keep in mind that all rookie picks are guaranteed and teams will be able to make their rookie picks regardless of their cap space. However, they might have limited options to fill the rest of their roster due to the limited cap space. Teams should manage their salary cap effectively, to ensure they have enough cap space to make necessary moves during the draft and the season.

Salary Cap FAQ

The system generally prevents you in the current season from going over the salary cap, but it will allow you to go over the salary cap in future seasons.

Keep in mind that if your league sets a Reserved Cap it is unlikely that you will go over the cap on season rollover.

When a team is over the cap they will not be able to update their starting lineup, or pickup players. They will only be able to make trades that don’t increase their negative cap space.

It’s a common question — especially since the NFL often raises its salary cap. But keep in mind: the NFL cap goes up because teams are required to share a percentage of growing league revenue with the players (NFL Salary Cap can also decrease). In your fantasy league, there’s no such requirement — and the cap can stay the same from year to year.

Our platform gives you full control, so you can raise or lower your league’s salary cap whenever you want. But if it feels like teams don’t have enough money, we actually recommend lowering the “Player Salary Increase %” instead of raising the league’s salary cap.

For example, instead of doing a 10% Player Salary Increase % and a 10% Salary Cap increase each year, you could simply do 0% for both. It keeps things clean, simple, and avoids adding complexity just for the sake of it.

We get several variations of this question. The question itself is a misunderstanding, so let’s clear this up.

Available Cap Space: How much total cap space your team has.

Reserved Cap: The amount that is locked before/during the draft, unlocking immediately after the draft for in-season use. This is a predetermined amount set in your league settings. (Helps teams to have cap space after the draft for in-season transactions like FAAB Waivers, promoting players from the practice squad, and making trades.)

Draft Cap = Available Cap Space – Reserved Cap

Therefore, any action that decreases your Available Cap Space—such as trading for players, trading cap space, or drafting rookies—will likewise decrease your Draft Cap. It is not a different pool of money; rather, the Draft Cap is simply a term to express the amount you have when the Reserved Cap is locked.

Example:

You have $112 in cap space. Your league has a $50 reserved cap. You currently would have $62 to use in the draft.

You trade for a player or draft a rookie that reduces your total cap space to $98. You now would have $48 to use in the draft.

Draft Cap = Available Cap Space – Reserved Cap

Contracts FAQ

These are generic rules of thumb that don’t take into account your league’s full settings.

0% Player Salary Increase & League Salary Cap stays constant. Low roster turnover. High number of players under contract. Low amount of high ranking players available each year in your auction draft. Strategy: You should give longer contracts to players as long as you don’t predict them decreasing in value next year. You can sign contracts for players that you paid full price for. Their value needs to stay the same or increase by next season for it to be the correct decision.

10% Player Salary Increase & League Salary Cap stays constant. High roster turnover. Low number of players under contract. Lots of high ranked players available each year in your auction draft. Strategy: You should only give contracts to players that you are predicting will increase in value. You don’t want to sign contracts for expensive players that you paid full price for. Their value needs to increase 10% by next season for it to be the correct decision.

10% Player Salary Increase & League Salary Cap increases 10% per year. Low roster turnover. High number of players under contract. Low amount of high ranking players available each year in your auction draft. Strategy: You should give contracts to players as long as you don’t predict them decreasing in value next year. You can sign contracts for players that you paid full price for. Their value needs to stay the same or increase by next season for it to be the correct decision.

Signing a free agent that was picked up during the season to a long-term contract is not the typical practice in contract leagues, however, the commissioner tools do allow for custom contract rules to be executed.

So, why is this not allowed by default in Contract Leagues?

What happens is someone in your league picks up a free agent during the season, and by the end of the season the player is really breaking out so they want to sign them to a long contract (of course). This idea is fine in non contract leagues, but in contract leagues it’s not balanced compared to other contract commitments. All the other contract commitments took place before the season started, some of which will certainly be bad and lead to regret.

Let’s compare the drafted player’s contract commitment to the in-season free agent contract scenario.

Team 1 drafts an up-and-coming player that they believe is going to break out and gives the player a 4-year contract before the season starts. If the player breaks out then it pays off big for Team 1. If the player flops then Team 1 is stuck paying the player for 4-years or has to take a big dead money penalty next season to drop him.

Team 2 picks up an up-and-coming player cheap in week 3. Team 2 then gets to watch and see if the player breaks out during the season, and then by the end of the season determine if they want to give the player an extended contract or not. There is no risk or tradeoff in this scenario. They simply sign a long contract if the player breaks out, or they don’t sign a contract if the player doesn’t.

This would make in-season free agent contracts substantially better(easier, less risky) than the contracts given to drafted players. This type of imbalance is bad for the overall picture of contract leagues. BUT if your league has a custom in-season free agent contract rule, the commish tools allow you to update player contracts.

Trading FAQ

No, a player’s contract status does not change in any way when they are traded.
All aspects of the contract status remain exactly the same, including:

  • Salaries
  • PS Eligibility
  • Eligible for a contract
  • Eligible for an extension
  • Eligible for a Rookie Option
  • Eligible for a Franchise Tag
  • Has been extended
  • Has been tagged
  • Has been rookie optioned

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Timeline

August 28th (Example Draft Date)

FA Auction Draft
Opens – Signing drafted players to contracts
Opens – Free Agent Blind Bidding (opens when your draft is complete)

NFL Week 1 - First Game Kickoff

Deadline – Signing contract extensions
Deadline – Signing rookie options
Deadline – Signing drafted players to contracts

NFL Week 9 Ends (Set By Commish)

Deadline – Trade Deadline. All trades must be accepted before week 10 begins

NFL Week 17 Ends

Current season completes
IR Players moved to bench
Closes – Free Agent Blind Bidding
Opens – Signing Franchise Tags
Opens – Trading
Draft Lottery ceremony (Date set by commish)

April 1st

Deadline – Signing Franchise Tags
New league season begins
Player contracts are reduced by 1 year
Player salaries are increased
Players with 0 years remaining are dropped
Cap Space Rollover
Opens – Signing contract extensions for players with 1 year remaining
Opens – Signing rookie options for players with 1 year remaining and contract type “Rookie”

July 1st (Example Rookie Draft Date)

Rookie Draft – Rookie drafts can be on a separate date like this, or done back to back with the Auction Draft as one draft event.

August 28th (Example Draft Date)

FA Auction Draft
Opens – Signing drafted players to contracts
Opens – Free Agent Blind Bidding (opens when your draft is complete)