The USA Roster Control Policy: The Franchise Rule

Designating players as franchise players allows a team competing on the USA Flag Football Circuit to make up to 12 players on their roster untouchable during circuit competition. By “Franchising” select players, it will help teams retain their top players for an extended period of time which in turn will increase a teams’ overall success rate on the circuit.

This rule was created and approved by the MCFFU Staff and the USA Competition Committee to help teams protect key personal on the USA Circuit. This is the first stage of implementing "full" roster control on the circuit for all competing teams, which in turn will create more parity and extend the existence of new and upcoming teams.

This rule apply's to Pro/Open and Competitive (B) and is in effect ONLY for the National Championships and the World Championships.  This rule does not apply for any NIT on this year's schedule....

A MORE MODIFIED VERSION WILL BE RELEASED TO ALL TEAMS SEEKING TO PROTECT THEIR TEAMS ON THE CIRCUIT....

Franchise Player
1. Each team competing on the USA Flag Football Circuit can label a maximum of 12 players as Franchise Players under the MCFFU Franchise Rule. By doing this, the players cannot compete with any other team on the USA Circuit for the season/year.

Franchise Player “Opt Out” Option
2. Any franchised player may request to be released from a team to compete with another team. An “Opt-Out” fee of $25 will be paid by that player and $75 will then be added to the new teams’ next tournament entry fee of which the player is requesting to compete. Furthermore, that player will then be locked permanently to the roster of the new team for the remainder of the USA Circuit calendar year with no further “Opt Out” options available.

Roster Movement
3. The Coach/Manager of each registered team is responsible for forwarding their teams’ Franchise Player list to the MCFFU along with the complete roster; which in turn will be posted on the official MCFFU website. Any movement on the roster can only be requested by the listed coach/manager and will be posted and announced by the MCFFU. IF IT IS NOT POSTED ON THE MCFFU SITE IT IS NOT OFFICIAL.

Length of Franchise Tag
4. A player can only be named a franchise player for one season/year at a time. Teams can then continue to negotiate with the player for the next year immediately following the World Championships and before the 1st schedule sanctioned event.

Lack of Proper Identification
5. Should a player fail to provide proper (legal) identification upon request of any MCFFU staff member or the tournament director when challenged by an opponent, the player will be deemed ineligible and the team will forfeit the game and each prior game in which the player competed. PROPER IDENTIFICATION IS A MUST AT ALL SANCTIONED EVENTS.

Team Roster Limits
6. All teams will have a set roster limit based on total point accumulation on the USA Circuit. Any player listed passed the set roster limit on the official roster will be deemed ineligible to compete and the team will be fined for excessive players. Should those players compete in a sanctioned game, the team is then subject to a forfeit.

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