How to Join a Fantasy Football Cash Money League

Joining is the easy part. Choosing which fantasy football leagues to join is much harder, and we'll cover that next.

Once you've picked out a league, though, just click the JOIN button on the left. Note that this only expresses interest; you haven't paid any money yet. You can leave at any time by clicking the LEAVE button which appears after you join.

When you're ready to pay, you have to deposit money into your account first. Once you've done that, return here to the lobby and click the PAY button. You can still change your mind anytime prior to the league filling by clicking LEAVE. This will put the money back into your account, where you can withdraw it or use it for a different league.

It's important to understand that until you pay for a league, you're not guaranteed a spot in the league. The first people to pay get to play. However, sometimes it helps to fill a league by joining, because it shows you're interested, even if you aren't ready to pay yet. Join as many as you wish.

What if My League Doesn't Fill by the Draft Date?

It's not a problem. Leagues will never begin before the date shown in the Draft column for the available leagues, but once that draft date passes, the leagues start quickly after filling:

• Live drafts and auctions will have the draft date set by agreement of all team owners within a week of the date it fills. Each owner will be able to specify available dates and times, and the commissioner will choose from among the list of agreed-upon dates. If no agreement can be reached, owners will have the option of converting to an email event or disbanding the league for a full refund.
• Email drafts and auctions will generally begin at 10a.m. central time the next day. Don't worry, you'll have eight hours to make your pick, even if you go first.

A Large Variety of Leagues are Available

DataForce boasts perhaps the largest variety of fantasy football leagues on the internet. We have so many types of leagues that our lobby may be a little intimidating. You may wish to filter your lobby results by checking only the types of leagues that draw your interest.

Leagues Hosted in Two Locations

• DFF - DataForce Fantasy Football hosts most of its own leagues, right here on this site. DFF leagues are cheaper by $6, since there is no hosting fee
• MFL - MyFantasyLeague is a popular hosting site that we partner with to run many of our leagues. Choose this option if you're already a MyFantasyLeague groupie.

Our Entry Fees

• Tin Baby - $20
• Copper - $50
• Bronze - $100
• Silver - $200
• Gold - $500
• Platinum - $1000

Note that most multi-year leagues require a deposit equal to the entry fee, and that leagues played on MyFantasyLeague require a $6 hosting fee.

Various Roster Sizes

• Standard - DataForce's standard roster format is 1QB/2RB/3WR/1TE/1flex/1PK/1DE. Don't think that the word "standard" means there is no flex spot! Yes, there is one, and there are ten players in the starting lineup, and eight on the bench.
• Flex - These leagues have two flex positions rather than just one. The format is 1QB/1RB/2WR/1TE/2flex/1PK/1DE, and there are only nine starters, so nine players sit on the bench.
• Superflex - These leagues are unique in that they allow a second quarterback to play in one of the flex positions. The lineup is identical to "flex" with an extra roster spot called a "superflex," which can hold a QB, RB, WR or TE. Thus there are ten starters, with eight bench slots.
• Deep - Want to play with huge rosters? Deep leagues feature a starting lineup of 2QB/2RB/3WR/2TE/2flex/2PK/1DE. Your 26-man roster puts fifteen players in the starting lineup and eleven on the bench.
• Standard-10 - These are identical to standard leagues, except that there are only ten teams per league rather than twelve.
• Flex-10 - These are identical to flex leagues, except that there are only ten teams per league rather than twelve.

Types of Fantasy Drafts

• Live Drafts - These events take place in an online draft room with all other members of the league. You'll have 75 seconds to make each pick. Drafts follow a snake draft format, so the order is reversed with every even round, with the exception of rookie/freeagent drafts for multi-year leagues. The pick order for these drafts remains constant each round.
• Email Drafts - When drafting by email, you'll receive a notification of every pick, and when it is your turn to pick. You generally have eight hours to make a selection, though we encourage a reasonably faster rate.
• Live Auctions - Fantasy football auction drafts can be intense. You'll take turns nominating players in an online draft room, and then bidding on the nominations, using $200 in play money.
• Email Auctions - When drafting by email auction, several players are on the auction block simultaneously, in order to complete the auction within a reasonable time. Please see the rules for DataForce email auctions and for MyFantasyLeague email auctions.

Types of Fantasy Football Games

• One Year Leagues - Often called Redraft Leagues, these games end at the conclusion of the NFL season.
• Keeper Leagues - These leagues continue from year to year, and let you retain up to five players from your team for the next year.
• Dynasty Leagues - Intended for fans who desire to build a dynasty, these are keeper leagues that allow you to keep as many players as you wish from year to year.
• Salary Cap Leagues - Each player on your team will have a salary, and you'll have a cap of $200. You can't roster more players than the $200 cap allows. The salary for each player is dependent upon what you spend for him at auction or during blind bidding on waivers. These are multi-year leagues.
• Contract Leagues - Nothing in the world of fantasy sports is more challenging than a league that lets you buy and sell player contracts. Your player contracts last from one to five years.
• Contender Leagues - If you want to quadruple your prize fund, you're looking for a one-year contender league. These are really quads of four leagues, combined into one playoff race, so the prizes can get quite big.
• Legacy Leagues - Another way to win big prizes is to join a legacy league. These leagues last until one team has won two superbowls. Each year, half of the prize fund is set aside into a purse, which goes to the lucky person to win a second superbowl. The league is then over.
• Playoff Fantasy Football - These leagues aren't played during the NFL regular season, but during the NFL playoffs. Postseason fantasy football leagues are an elimination contest, where all the players you draft continue to contribute to your total score as long as they last in the NFL playoffs.

You'll want to read more about each of these types of leagues in the rulebook, but this should serve as an overview. Click on the rulebook next to the league type in your filter box.

Levels of Owner Activity

• Weekly Lineups - In these leagues, you'll choose a starting lineup from your players each week. Only those players will contribute to your weekly score.
• Bestball Leagues - No need to set lineups, because the computer does it for you. After all the games for the week are over, the optimal lineup is automatically selected to give you the most points possible.
• Draftmaster Leagues - Think of these as bestball leagues for the lazy. Here, you do nothing at all after the draft. No waivers, no trading, no free agents, and of course no setting lineup. The good news is, you'll get 6 more players on your team, so most rosters are 24 players deep. Multi-year leagues will have even more players.