LEAGUE RULES & INFORMATION
Everything you ever wanted to know about the Sagebrush Cactus League...and then some.
GENERAL RULES
Rule #1: You do not talk about Sagebrush Cactus League.
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Rule #2: You do not talk about Sagebrush Cactus League.
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Pony Up, Cinderella: If you wanna play, you gotta pay. The league fee is $300 - plus gratuity for the Commish, of course.
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Get Off Your Ass: You must start a full roster of active players each week - no empty roster slots are allowed. Additionally, you may not start a player who is on bye, injured reserve or declared "Out" by the NFL at least 48 hours prior to kickoff. The penalty for a first offense is automatic forfeit of that week's matchup. The penalty for a second offense is expulsion from the league for one year and termination by your current employer so you can think about what you've done.
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No Spam: Do not continue contacting a league member over and over again about some ridiculous trade offer or idea you have. If they don't respond after two attempts or tell you "no", it means they're just not that into you. We don't need any "Me Too" moments.
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Because I Said So, That's Why: All trades are reviewed by the Commish to ensure the integrity of the league. The Commish will not evaluate or comment on the "fairness" of the trade, just that the trade was made in good faith with no collusion or deceit between the owners involved.
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Serious Applicants Only: The Sagebrush Cactus League is not a relaxed family-friendly league for kids and neighbors. It is for the obsessed fantasy player who is ready to test their skills among the finest players in the world - or at least those in the league.
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Teamwork Makes The Dream Work: Each week, every owner will send the Commish at least two interesting facts or highlights about their matchup. This is not optional and, no, you will not be paid for it. Consider yourself "volun-told".
LEAGUE FORMAT
Teams, Conferences & Divisions: There are 16 teams in the SCL and they're organized into 2 conferences: the Sagebrush Conference and the Cactus Conference. Within each conference, teams are further divided into 2 divisions, for a total of 4 divisions: Sagebrush East, Sagebrush West, Cactus East, and Cactus West.
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Schedule: The regular season is 14 weeks and each team will play their division counterparts twice as well as the remaining teams in their conference once. Additionally, four (4) inter-conference matchups between the divisions will rotate each year. Playoffs will begin in week 15.
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Playoffs: Division winners will each receive an automatic playoff spot and will be seeded #1 and #2 based on their record. Additionally, 2 wildcard spots will be awarded to teams within each conference that didn’t win their division. Wildcard teams will be seeded #3 and #4 based on their record. Wildcard teams can both be from the same division. The tie-breaker for all playoff seeding will be total points scored during the regular season. With the teams seeded in each conference, #1 will play #4 and #2 will play #3 in the first round. The first two rounds - week 15 and 16 - will determine each conference's champion and those two teams will face each other in week 17 for the Sagebrush Cactus League Championship Game.
GENERAL DRAFT
Draft Format: The SCL Draft will use a Salary Cap format (Auction) because snake drafts are for sissies and people that don't know how to play.
Draft Date & Time: Draft dates and times can be found on the ESPN league page.
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Budget: Each team will begin the season with a $200 budget to acquire players. All money used to acquire players through Franchise Tags and Restricted Tags in the Keeper Draft will be deducted from the team's beginning budget and the remainder will be available in the General Draft.
KEEPERS
Franchise Tag: Each team can apply a Franchise Tag to a maximum of 2 players that were on their roster at the end of the previous season and keep those players for the most recent price paid in the previous season, regardless of who paid it. Those players may not be tagged for consecutive seasons - they may only be tagged once, regardless of who tagged them, before they must be released or tagged with a Restricted Tag instead. Owners will declare their Franchise Tags at least 48 hours prior to the Keeper Draft and a list of those players will be shared with all owners.
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Restricted Tag: Additionally, each team can tag a maximum of 3 players that were on their roster at the end of the previous season with a Restricted Tag. Those players will be declared by nomination in the Keeper Draft where other owners will be given the opportunity to bid for them. No team will be allowed to keep and/or acquire a total of more than 3 players with Restricted Tags per season. There is no limit to the number of consecutive seasons a player can be tagged as Restricted.
KEEPER DRAFT
Before the General Draft, the Keeper Draft will be conducted via an in-person auction on a web conferencing platform (e.g. Zoom, GoTo, etc).
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HOW IT WORKS:
Draft Order: Teams will be placed in a random nomination order to begin the draft. The draft order will reverse each round and will last 3 rounds with each owner allowed 1 nomination per round, provided they’re still eligible to nominate.
Nominating Players: When it’s their turn, owners will nominate a player they wish to apply the Restricted Tag to. Other owners will prepare to bid for that player. If an owner nominates a player and no one bids on that player, the nominating owner automatically retains them at the ESPN “keeper” price. If an owner chooses, they can opt not to make a nomination and forfeit that round’s nomination.
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Bidding: The auctioneer will open the bidding for a player at the most recent price paid for that player - their “keeper” price shown on ESPN. Any interested team at that value will raise their hand to indicate their intent to pay that price. The auctioneer will continue raising the bid amount and owners will keep their hand raised if that price is acceptable or lower their hand if they’re not interested. When there is only one owner left, the auctioneer will begin a three-count to confirm there are no other interested owners. During the bidding process, owners may remove themselves and re-enter the bidding any time before the high bid is finalized by the auctioneer. For example, an owner can lower their hand when the current bid is $20 and then re-enter by raising it again when the bidding reaches $35.
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Keeper Decision: Once the high bid has been established, the owner that nominated the player will have the option to pay that price and keep them or release the player to the highest bidder.
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Player Limit: No team may nominate or acquire a total of more than 3 players with Restricted Tags. Once a team acquires 3 Restricted Tag players, they will no longer be able to nominate or bid on players - they will be a spectator only. Any team that has acquired less than 3 Restricted Tag players will still be allowed to bid and/or nominate players if they still have nominations available.
Entering/Exiting The Bidding: During the bidding process, owners may remove themselves and re-enter the bidding any time before the high bid is finalized by the auctioneer. For example, an owner can lower their hand when the current bid is $20 and then re-enter by raising it again when the bidding reaches $35.
CONTESTS
GOLDEN TICKET
Before the season begins, each owner selects a starting lineup of NFL players that will represent them for the entire season. Owners may choose any player at their respective position and the same player may be featured on multiple lineups. There is no draft. There are no bench players so bye weeks, injured players, suspensions, etc are worth 0 points - if a player is out, they're out.
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Rosters must only include players from the same conference: NFC or AFC, not both.
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No roster may include more than one player from the any NFL team.
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Scoring system used is the Sagebrush Cactus scoring system.
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Select players are eligible for a score multiplier. See the Golden Ticket page for details.
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In the event of a tie, the first tie-breaker will be total points for FLEX position. Second tie-breaker will be total points for K position.
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The contest ends at the conclusion of week 17 of the NFL season.
SURVIVOR CHALLENGE
Each week, the Sagebrush Cactus team(s) with the lowest score is eliminated from the contest. The team with the highest score for the week is given immunity for the following week.
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In weeks 1 through 3, two teams will be eliminated each week. In weeks 4 through 11, one team will be eliminated each week.
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Only one team will be given immunity in any eligible week.
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When only 4 teams remain, immunity is removed from the contest.
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When only 2 teams remain, in week 12, the contest becomes a best-of-three series. The team with the highest score twice within the final 3 weeks is declared the winner.
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Tie-breakers are as follows:
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Weeks 1-13: First - QB points scored, Second - FLEX points scored.
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Week 14: Total points scored over the final 3 week series.
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PIGSKIN PICK'EM
Owners will create an entry in ESPN's Pigskin Pick'Em Challenge and select the winner of every NFL game each week, straight-up with no point spreads. The owner with the most correct picks during the season wins the contest. Contest lasts the entire NFL regular season.
BONUS PRIZE: If anyone correctly predicts the winner of each game in a single week, every league member owes that person $10.
ELIMINATOR CHALLENGE
Owners will create an entry in ESPN's Eliminator Challenge, and choose one NFL team each week that they think will win their matchup. The last contestant standing wins the prize. In the event of a tie, the prize will be split evenly among the teams.
SCL PRO BOWL
The winners of the Sagebrush Championship and Cactus Championship will each select a starting roster of the most talented players from the teams in their conferences to compete for league supremacy in the SCL Pro Bowl Game played during week 18 of the NFL season.
PRIZES
One of the greatest qualities of the Sagebrush Cactus League, beside the incredible Commish, is the fact that there are a slew of opportunities for owners to win prizes. In fact, there are over 165 ways that owners can win something. For a current list of prizes, please view the SCL Prize Schedule.
ASK THE COMMISH
Have a question? A ridiculous idea? A beef with someone? If you think you're worthy, hit up the Commish and you might get a response.