League Rules

How Matches Work

Generally speaking, each player will have no more than one match per week per sport. Sometimes a player might be asked to take on an extra match. However, they have the right to refuse without penalty. If the player competes in multiple weight classes or multiple sports then they will have multiple matches per week. Some of our leagues, the players have two matches per week.

Some players might have zero matches. However, you will never go more than a week without having a match UNLESS you request so. Champions only defend once every 3-5 matches to allow time for the other competitors to move up the rankings and earn a title shot. So if you are a champion you may go a number of weeks without having a match if that is the only site and/or weight class you are playing in.

If there is any week where you know you cannot have a match, I will need at least 3 days notice. Otherwise, you will either have to draft that match or lose by forfeit. Draft and Drafters does allow you to pre-rank your players and autodraft so consider that option if possible. DraftKings and FanDuel allows you to set your matches anytime up until the time that the contest locks. Winning matches is how you move up the rankings and get a shot at the championship.

When matches are announced in our league Facebook Messenger chat, the commissioner will also announce who is responsible for creating the contest on the fantasy site. That person is responsible for creating the contest and posting in the chat that the contest has been created. Once the match is created and the opponent is alerted in the chat, the opponent is responsible for joining the contest. If they fail to do so, they lose by forfeit according to the same procedure as listed above.

Regular matches will be 3 rounds. Each round consist of one contest on one slate for that sport. Each round will be a different slate. The player who wins the most rounds wins the match! If there is a tie and both players won equal number of matches, the match will be considered a draw.

However, there is a catch!

If in ANY round you beat your opponent by more than a certain number of points, that is considered a KNOCKOUT and you automatically win! Even if your opponent won the first 2 rounds and you score a knockout in the 3rd!

ALSO

If in ANY round you have more points ANd your opponent has a player on their team that fails to score a minimum amount of points, that is considered a SUBMISSION and you automatically win! Even if your opponent won the first 2 rounds and you score a submission in the 3rd!

The knockout and submission criteria for each sport is as follows:

NBA (Drafters): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 225 FP total and their opponent scores the minimum gets submitted.

NBA (DraftKings): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 225 FP total gets submitted.

PGA (DraftKings): Team loses by 100 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 300 FP total gets submitted.

PGA (Drafters): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 225 FP total gets submitted.

NHL (DraftKings): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 70 FP total gets submitted.

NASCAR (DraftKings): Team loses by 100 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 170 FP total gets submitted.

MMA (DraftKings): Team loses by 100 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 300 FP total gets submitted.

MLB (Drafters): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 50 FP total gets submitted.

MLB (DraftKings): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 80 FP total gets submitted.

MLB (FanDuel): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 80 FP total gets submitted.

NFL (DraftKings): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 100 FP total gets submitted.

NFL (FD Snake Draft): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 80 FP total gets submitted.

NFL (Drafters): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 80 FP total gets submitted.

NFL (FanDuel Salary): Team loses by 50 points or more gets knocked out. Team that fails to score a minimum of 100 FP total gets submitted.


If both teams meet submission criteria, the team with the most points total wins by submission. If there is a tie, the tiebreaker is the individual player with the most fantasy points. Finally, knockout criteria ALWAYS supersedes submission criteria. So if both criteria’s are met, the team that scored the knockout wins even if they have a player that caused them to meet submission criteria. In addition if only one person has a player that meets submission criteria, their opponent does not, but their team also achieved knockout criteria, the knockout will stand and submission criteria will be ignored.

The same rules apply for matches where the championship is up for grabs. The only difference is that championship contests are 5 rounds instead of 3. All knockout and submission rules apply to championship matches.

At the league we recognize that sometimes real life gets in the way. As a result, you are allowed to miss one round of a match. Your opponent will automatically win that round. However, you still have a shot in the other rounds. However, if you miss a 2nd round in a match, the match is declared a forfeit. Your opponent wins the match and it goes down as a 1st round knockout for their record. It will go down as a first round knockout loss for your record.

Technical Difficulties & Extenuating Circumstances

From time to time we recognize their might be technical difficulties & Extenuating circumstances that were not accounted for. The app or site not letting you draft. A game is cancelled unexpectedly. The reason why we do not allow our commissioner to play is because we need an unbiased third party to make these decisions. Therefore in these situations the following process will occur:

  • The grieved player will bring the issue up to the commissioner.

  • If the opponent of the player also agrees with the grieved player, the affected round will be thrown out and a new round will be scheduled at a later date. For scheduling purposes both parties also accept that this could potentially require them to have multiple matches going on at one time if the situation occurs at the end of the week.

  • If the opponent of the player disagrees with the grieved party, the commissioner will make a ruling and the commissioners decision is final.

What factors will the commissioner use to make the ruling?

  • If the ability to swap the player/players out was available and the grieved party did not use that swap feature, the match result stands.

  • If the site played on offers the grieved party an unconditional refund, the commissioner will rule in the favor of the grieved party and the round will be thrown out.

  • If the site played on offers the grieved party a conditional refund (i.e we will give you a refund IF a certain condition is met) the round will NOT be thrown out UNLESS it is either a round in a championship match OR it is a round in a match that has championship implications. However, knockout and submission criteria will be suspended for that round. In addition, the final result of that match cannot be the sole reason why that player does not get a shot at a championship.

  • If the site played on does not offer the grieved party a refund then the round result will stand as is.

Finally, we use the Facebook messenger group chat to coordinate details for the game. If you turn notifications off but do not check the chat and you forfeit a match because of it, the result will stand. In addition, leaving the chat without an explanation to the commissioner will be considered a resignation from the league. As a result any booked matches will be forfeited. You will not be booked for any matches in the future and if it is past your first 30 days a refund will not be granted.

How Rankings Work

Ok so the final piece of The World Daily Fantasy Sports League is the rankings. Here’s how the rankings are going to work. All rankings will be decided by The WDFS League Commissioner. All records and rankings are based on weight class. So if you’re in multiple weight classes only what you do for that particular weight class will determine what your ranking is for that weight class.

The following factors are used to determine rankings:

  • Career Record

  • Season Record

  • Head to Head Record Against Opponent with similar record

  • Finish Percentage (Percentage of matches you won by knockout or submission)

  • Knockout Percentage

  • Former Champion (Since champions play less matches this is factored in the rankings so if it's close former champion gets it.)

  • # of matches (In close rankings, player who played more matches gets the higher ranking)

All of these elements factor into the ranking. Generally speaking career record and season record have the biggest overall factor. However, how they factor in varies depending on where we are at in the season. At the beginning of the season, career record factors in heavier than season record. However, as the season progresses, season record begins to have a higher impact. Once the players have all played each other at least once that season, it flips and season record factors in heavier.

Championship match is usually rewarded to the #1 contender at the time. However, if the championship is vacant, it is rewarded to the #1 and #2 contender. If the champion cannot defend when it is time to defend, an interim champion will be crowned and whoever wins will play the champion when the champion is able to defend. However, if the champion cannot defend for longer than one month, the title will be vacated and the winner will be crowned the new champion.

Finally, weight classes are dependent upon number of players in a given league. In order to launch multiple weight classes for a single sport/site, we need one of the following two scenarios:

  • At least a minimum number of players. That number varies based upon the length of the sport. For instance in sports with a typical 6 month regular season like NBA and MLB we need a minimum of 17 players in order to do multiple weight classes without charging extra.

  • If a league has less than the minimum number of players it takes to support a second weight class, we need players who are willing to compete in multiple weight classes AND willing to pay an additional fee to compete in that weight class.

How Prizes Work

Currently, the prizes work as follows:

  • If you become World Champion, you get your name listed in the "Hall of Champions" section of our website.

  • If you become World Champion and successfully defend the championship in at least two consecutive matches after acquiring the championship, you win a trophy!

  • If you become World Champion and successfully defend the championship in at least five consecutive matches after acquiring the championship, you win a championship ring!

As the league grows, the prizes will become better. For instance, one day we hope to be able to actually have a championship belt as a prize! However, that requires a lot more players to join the league as those belts are not cheap!