Overview
A contract dynasty league adds two key elements to traditional dynasty fantasy football: salary caps and multi-year contracts. Every player has a salary that counts against your team's cap and a contract that defines how many seasons they're under your control.
This creates realistic GM-style decision-making: who to draft, when to extend, when to cut, and how to build a championship roster within financial constraints. League Tycoon manages all contract mechanics inside the platform, with no spreadsheets required. All settings below show defaults, but commissioners can customize everything.
Season timeline
A contract dynasty league year follows a structured calendar. Here's when everything happens, from the offseason through the next league year.
Offseason
After Week 17 to April 1st
- •Franchise tag signing window opens after Week 17
- •IR players moved to bench
- •FAAB closes for the season
- •Trading reopens (if closed at trade deadline)
- •Draft lottery ceremony (commissioner schedules)
New League Year
April 1st
- •Player contracts reduced by 1 year
- •Player salaries increased (if salary increase % is configured)
- •Players with 0 years remaining become free agents and are dropped
- •Cap space rollover processed
- •Contract allocations reset (2yr, 3yr, 4yr, extensions)
- •Extension and rookie option signing windows open
- •Franchise tag signing deadline
Pre-Season
April to First Game
- •Sign contract extensions (deadline: first game kickoff)
- •Exercise rookie options (deadline: first game kickoff)
- •Sign drafted players to multi-year contracts (deadline: first game kickoff)
- •Rookie draft (commissioner schedules, e.g. July)
- •FA auction draft (commissioner schedules, e.g. August)
Regular Season
NFL Week 1 to Trade Deadline
- •Extension, rookie option, and contract signing deadlines pass at first game kickoff
- •FAAB waivers process weekly (default: Wednesday)
- •Free agent pickups available after FAAB processing
- •Trading open until trade deadline (default: Week 9)
Late Season
Trade Deadline to Week 17
- •Trade deadline passes. No more trades until after Week 17
- •FAAB waivers continue
- •Playoffs begin (default: Week 15 for 10+ teams)
- •Championship, Bankrupt Bowl, and Purgatory brackets play out
Cycle Repeats
After Week 17
- •Season results finalize, rookie draft order determined
- •Offseason begins: franchise tags, trading, and planning for next year
Drafts
Contract dynasty leagues use multiple draft types depending on the league's phase and settings.
Free agent auction draft
The primary startup draft. Teams nominate players and bid on them in real time. The winning bid becomes the player's first-year salary.
- •Draft cap = available cap − holdback ($250 − $50 = $200 available for draft)
- •Holdback unlocks after the draft for in-season moves
- •After the draft, players can be signed to multi-year contracts or kept at 1 year
- •Roster movements (drops, roster slot changes) are locked during the draft
Must fill roster
When enabled (default), teams must fill every roster slot before the draft ends. When disabled, teams can spend their entire budget on fewer players, end their draft early by choosing to stop nominating, and teams with less than $1 remaining are out of the draft even if open slots remain.
Default settings
Must fill roster
Enabled
Nomination timer
30 seconds
Initial bid timer
30 seconds
Bid reset timer
10 seconds
Slow auction draft
An asynchronous version of the auction draft that runs over days or weeks instead of a single session. Ideal for leagues with busy schedules or members across time zones.
- •Multiple players auctioned simultaneously
- •Proxy bidding: enter your maximum bid and the system auto-increments up to your max
- •Configurable pause/resume schedule for overnight or weekend breaks
- •Typically completes in 2-3 weeks
- •2-slot exception: owners with 2 or fewer open roster slots can bid on players already being auctioned before nominating, so they aren't forced to fill their last slots with nominations when they want players already on the block
Default settings
Nomination timer
24 hours
Initial bid timer
24 hours
Bid reset timer
24 hours
Max active nominations
20
Full guide to slow auction drafts →
Contract bidding
An advanced draft option where teams bid on both salary and contract length simultaneously. Longer contracts can allow lower per-year salaries via multi-year discounts. The system shows next eligible bid options automatically. Available as both live and slow formats. The slow format follows the same rules as slow auction drafts, including proxy bidding and the 2-slot bidding exception.
Default settings
2-year discount
8%
3-year discount
16%
4-year discount
24%
5-year discount
32%
Rookie draft
Begins in Year 2 (Year 1 rookies enter through the FA auction). A linear (non-snake) draft where each slot has a set salary per the rookie pay scale.
- •Rookie picks are guaranteed regardless of cap space
- •Available as live, slow, or offline formats
- •Commissioner can allow or disallow skipping picks
Default settings
Rounds
3
Contract length
3 years
Selection timer
90 seconds
Rookie pay scale
Salaries are based on a percentage of the salary cap, scaling down by draft position. Example with $250 cap:
| Pick | Salary |
|---|---|
| 1.01 | $12 |
| 1.02 | $11 |
| 1.03 | $11 |
| 1.04 – 1.06 | $9 |
| Remaining 1st round | $5 |
| 2nd round | $4 |
| 3rd round | $2 |
Draft order
- •Weighted lottery (default): non-playoff teams get lottery balls based on finish (worst = 100 balls, best non-playoff = fewer). Playoff teams in reverse order (champion picks last).
- •Standings: reverse order of regular season, then playoffs reverse.
- •Manual: commissioner sets order.
Contracts
Contract lengths & allocations
Contracts range from 1 to 4 years by default. 5-year contracts are available if the commissioner increases the 5-year allocation from 0. Longer contracts provide roster stability but lock in salary cap commitments. Each team has a limited number of multi-year contract slots per season:
| Length | Allocations / Season |
|---|---|
| 1-year | Unlimited |
| 2-year | 3 |
| 3-year | 2 |
| 4-year | 1 |
| 5-year | 0 (must be enabled by commissioner) |
Allocations reset on April 1st each year. Unused allocations do not carry over.
Salary increases
The default salary increase per year is 0%. When configured (e.g., 15%), a player's salary increases automatically each season on April 1st:
Example: 15% annual increase
$20 salary → Year 2: $23 → Year 3: $27 → Year 4: $32
Extensions
Players in their final contract year are eligible for extension. Extensions add years to the contract. The extension window opens on April 1st and closes at the first game kickoff.
- •1-year contract players cannot be extended (contract must be 2+ years originally)
- •Each player can only be extended once per contract
Default settings
Extensions per team
1 / season
Max extension years
3
Min extension salary
$10
Extension salary calculation
- •Stable: continues the existing salary increase percentage
- •Performance-based (default): salary based on recent performance and position salary distribution (85% factor by default). Can optionally allow salary decreases.
Rookie contracts
Rookies drafted in the rookie draft receive contracts at their pay scale salary with a default length of 3 years.
Rookie option year
An optional mechanic (off by default). When enabled, teams can exercise a rookie option to add one year to a rookie's contract in their final year. Can only be exercised once. The option window opens April 1st and closes at the first game kickoff.
- •Stable: current salary × salary increase %
- •Performance-based: based on past performance and position rankings (70% factor by default)
- •Franchise tag %: percentage of position franchise tag cost (50% by default)
Default settings
Rookie options per team
0 (must be enabled)
Option salary method
Stable
Franchise tags
A franchise tag retains a player who has completed their final contract year. The tag salary is the average salary of the top players at the position.
- •Tag window: after Week 17 through April 1st
- •A player can only be franchise tagged once
- •Tag salary cannot be lower than what the salary increase setting would produce
Default settings
Franchise tags per team
0 (must be enabled)
Tag pool size
Top 8 at position
Salaries & cap management
Salary cap
Each team operates under a salary cap. The total of all player salaries on your roster cannot exceed the cap. You must be under the cap to set lineups, trade, or claim from waivers.
Default settings
Salary cap
$250
Holdback
$50
Cap rollover
$25
Max cap
$10,000
- •All salaries are whole dollars (no decimals)
- •The system prevents going over the cap in the current season but allows future-season overages (unless future cap enforcement is enabled)
Dead money
Dead money is the cap charge that remains when you cut or trade a player before their contract expires. It prevents teams from signing players to long, cheap contracts and dropping them without penalty.
- •Current season: player's full salary stays on books (100% default)
- •Future seasons: 25% of salary per remaining year
Example: $30 salary, 3 years remaining
Player is cut with 3 years left on their contract:
- Current season dead money: $30 (100% of salary)
- Next season: $15 (2 years remaining × 25% = 50% of $30)
- Year after: $8 (1 year remaining × 25% = 25% of $30, rounded up)
| Years Remaining | Future Dead Money % |
|---|---|
| 1 year | 0% |
| 2 years | 25% |
| 3 years | 50% |
| 4 years | 75% |
| 5 years | 100% |
Cap rollover
Unused cap space can carry over to the next season (up to the rollover limit), adding to your available cap. IR discounts are excluded from the unused cap calculation. Cap rollover is most effective when paired with 100% current-season dead money penalties.
Waivers & free agents
FAAB (free agent acquisition budget)
In contract dynasty, your FAAB budget is your available cap space. Teams bid on free agents using a blind auction. The winning bid amount becomes the player's salary.
- •FAAB auction processes on Wednesday morning (default)
- •After FAAB processing, remaining free agents available for $1 pickups
- •Players who have started an NFL game go on waivers when dropped
- •Players must be owned for at least 24 hours before being eligible for waivers
Default settings
Waiver type
FAAB bidding
Waiver duration
1 day
Min time owned
24 hours
FAAB tiebreakers
- 1.Team lower in standings wins (record → total points for → points against)
- 2.Most available cap space
- 3.Coin flip
Free agent contracts
Players picked up via FAAB or $1 claims receive 1-year contracts at their acquisition price. They become free agents the following year unless franchise tagged.
Trading
Trade auctions
League Tycoon's signature trading mechanism. When you want to trade a player, you put them on the auction block. All league members can see the player is available and submit competing offers.
- •The auction creator sets the first “Current Winning Offer” to guarantee trade completion
- •Once a winning offer is set, the trade is guaranteed to complete
- •If time remaining is less than 12 hours when a new winning offer is set, the timer resets to 12 hours
- •After expiration, the auction creator has 12 hours to review pending offers
Full guide to trade auctions →
Player trades
When a player is traded, their contract length, salary, extension status, franchise tag eligibility, rookie option, and practice squad eligibility all transfer unchanged to the new team.
Pick trades
Rookie draft picks can be traded up to 2 years in advance.
Cap space trading
When enabled (on by default), teams can trade cap space. Traded cap space applies to the current season only (unless max cap rollover is configured).
Trade approval
Default settings
Trade deadline
Week 9
Review period
2 days
Cap space trading
Enabled
- •Commissioner approve/veto: commissioner reviews each trade
- •League vote: league members vote with a customizable veto threshold (default: 4 votes to veto)
- •Automatic: trades process immediately
Practice squad
A separate roster section for developing young talent at reduced cap cost.
- •Eligibility: only rookies drafted in the rookie draft
- •Salary discount: only 25% of the player's salary counts against the cap
- •Players can move freely between bench and practice squad without losing eligibility
- •Once moved to a starting lineup, a player permanently loses practice squad eligibility
- •Practice squad drops: 25% current-season dead money, 0% future
Default settings
Practice squad slots
7
Salary discount
25% counts
PS salary increase
0% / year
Injured reserve
Traditional IR (default)
Players with eligible injury designations (Out, Doubtful, Injured Reserve, PUP) can be placed on IR. Players must be moved off IR before updating your lineup once they become ineligible. You need cap space to move a player off IR if a salary discount applies.
Full-season IR
An alternative mode where any player can be placed on IR regardless of injury status. Only a percentage of their salary counts against the cap, providing strategic cap relief. The trade-off: the player must remain on IR for the rest of the season and cannot be dropped until playoffs complete.
Default settings
IR slots
1
IR salary %
100% counts
Playoffs
Playoff configuration is customizable: start week, number of teams, lower bracket type, re-seeding, and two-week matchups. The final week of the NFL season should always be excluded.
Default settings
Playoff start
Week 15 (10+ teams)
Playoff teams
6 (10+ league)
Round duration
1 week
Seeding
Division winners get the highest seeds. Remaining spots filled by overall standings (record → total points for → points against). Higher seed advances in tiebreakers.
Brackets
- •Championship: standard playoff bracket for top teams. Results impact rookie draft order.
- •Bankrupt Bowl: loser-advances bracket, often used for punishments.
- •Purgatory: bracket for mid-tier teams who missed the playoffs but avoided the Bankrupt Bowl.