2026 Season

Foundational Rules + Format

League Overview & Foundational Contract

The operating format for Year Two: four leagues, 48 managers, promotion and relegation, and a $24,000 prize pool.

Fees, schedule dates, and draft date are subject to change. Rule change proposal deadline: July 16, 2026.

Returning Manager Join the Waitlist

Quick Read

Teams

Leagues

$24K

Prize Pool

$500

Buy-In

This page is the base layer for all 2026 rule discussions and proposal reviews.

1. League Description

How Year Two Is Built

The Gauntlet is a high-stakes, multi-league fantasy football system. Promotion and relegation are the connective tissue, so each manager is playing for this season and next season at the same time.

League 1 (Top Tier): 12 teams

League 2 (Second Tier): 12 teams

League 3 (Third Tier, Group A): 12 teams

League 4 (Third Tier, Group B): 12 teams

Teams are randomly assigned to leagues before the season, no later than one week before the draft.

Future expansions are added beneath the current lowest tier so upward movement always happens one tier at a time.

Promotion + Relegation

League 1

Up: Already top tier

Down: Bottom 6 move to League 2

League 2

Up: Top 6 move to League 1

Down: Bottom 6 move to League 3 or 4

League 3

Up: Top 3 move to League 2

Down: Already bottom tier

League 4

Up: Top 3 move to League 2

Down: Already bottom tier

Thresholds are determined by end-of-season playoff rankings, 1 through 12, within each league.

Teams outside the playoffs are ranked 7 through 12 using toilet bowl results.

League 2 teams relegated downward are assigned into League 3 or League 4 at random by the commissioner.

If a higher-tier manager drops out, the highest-finishing eligible team from the tier below fills the spot. Total regular-season points break ties.

2. Scoring Settings

Auction Draft, Deep Lineups, Balanced Scoring

The draft stays auction-based, the benches stay meaningful, and the scoring keeps multiple paths to building a strong team.

Roster

1 QB

2 RB

2 WR

1 TE

2 FLEX (WR/RB/TE)

1 DEF

6 Bench

2 IR

Draft format: auction, with a $200 budget for every team.

Passing

1 point per 25 yards

4 points per passing TD

2 points per passing 2-point conversion

-2 points per interception

Receiving

1 point per 10 yards

6 points per receiving TD

2 points per receiving 2-point conversion

0.5 points per reception

Rushing

1 point per 10 yards

6 points per rushing TD

2 points per rushing 2-point conversion

0.5 points per rushing first down

Defense & Misc.

-1 point per fumble

-1 point per fumble lost

6 points per special teams TD

1 point per sack

1 point per fumble forced

1 point per fumble recovered

2 points per interception

2 points per safety

6 points per defensive or special teams TD

2 points per blocked kick

1 point per 4th down stop

0.75 points per 3-and-out

0.5 points per tackle for loss

0.3 points per QB hit

-0.1 points per point allowed

-0.005 points per yard allowed

3–6. League Ops

Trading, Waivers, Schedule, and Playoff Logic

A few rules matter more than the rest because they shape the season rhythm. This is the operating backbone.

Draft

Auction format with a $200 draft budget per team.

Trades

Trades lock at the start of the first NFL game in Week 14. Trades go through unless collusion is suspected.

Waivers

FAAB waivers with a $200 seasonal budget. Identical bids break by rolling waiver priority.

Tiebreakers

Regular-season ties count as 0.5 wins each. In the playoffs, the higher seed advances from exact ties.

Schedule Format

Teams are randomly assigned into leagues and divisions no later than one week before the draft.

Weeks 1 to 3 are divisional matchups, one against each division opponent.

Weeks 4 to 11 are non-divisional games within the league.

Weeks 12 to 14 return to divisional matchups for the second round-robin.

Matchup order inside each block is randomized at season start.

Playoff Structure

Six teams per league make the playoffs. The remaining six go to the toilet bowl.

Seeds 1 through 3 are division winners ranked by wins, then total points.

Seeds 4 through 6 are the next three best records, again using total points as tiebreaker.

Top two playoff seeds receive first-round byes.

Toilet bowl bottom two seeds receive byes, with losing teams advancing.

Every playoff round is reseeded so the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed.

Final league rankings 1 through 12 also establish waitlist priority when replacing dropouts in higher tiers.

7. Payout Structure

Where the $24,000 Goes

League podiums still matter, but Year Two also pays for weekly performance and full-pool dominance across all 48 teams.

Per-league 1st place

$3,000 across 4 leagues

$12,000

Per-league 2nd place

$1,000 across 4 leagues

$4,000

Per-league 3rd place

$500 across 4 leagues

$2,000

Weekly cross-league prizes

14 weeks x $300

$4,200

Season-long scoring title

Regular season only

$1,000

Playoff top scorer

Weeks 15 to 17, all 48 teams

$800

Weekly Cross-League Prizes

Top weekly scorer: $150

Second-highest weekly scorer: $75

Biggest weekly blowout: $75

Weekly prize categories can be adjusted by the commissioner as long as the total weekly pool stays at $300 and top scorer remains $150.

Ties split the relevant prize evenly.

All payouts are sent by Wednesday of the week after the qualifying event. Default payout method matches the manager's buy-in method unless another arrangement is made.

8–10. Governance

Fees, Rule Changes, and Commissioner Authority

The system only works if the operating rules are clear and the fallback authority is defined in advance.

Governance Rules

Buy-in is $500 per team, with a tentative payment deadline of August 18.

Unpaid teams may lose their spot to the waitlist at the commissioner’s discretion.

Managers can submit rule change proposals throughout the year and offseason.

A proposal needs two-thirds support from active managers to pass.

The commissioner can make offseason rule changes without a vote if they are announced by June 1.

League structure for the following year must be finalized no later than Week 4 of the current season.

Expansion is capped at 24 additional teams per cycle, added to the bottom tier.

Commissioner Responsibilities

Random league and division assignment

Trade collusion review and adjudication

Announcing offseason rule changes by June 1

Finalizing promotion and relegation structure by Week 4

Managing the waitlist for expansion and dropout replacement

Administering weekly prize categories within the Section 7 payout parameters

Resolving contract ambiguities in good faith with league input when appropriate

Closing Clause

This document is the base from which all 2026 rule change proposals will be evaluated. It defines the starting format for Year Two and the standards managers are agreeing to play under.

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