The Quest for an IDP Scoring System

In case you didn't know, IDP = Individual Defensive Player.  In 2010, the CKL decided to scrap the antiquated team defense spot and adopt IDPs onto our rosters and into our scoring family.  It's been a great addition to the league, as the Jason Pierre-Pauls, Patrick Willises, and HELL-BEAST Clay Matthewses of the world are much more fun to track than the entire team defense of, say, the lame-ass Philadelphia Eagles.  Plus, the wild and unpredictable scoring swings provided by team defenses were long a source of frustration in the league... you work so hard to build a better team than your opponent, then he gets 25 points from the Packers Defense and beats you.  Grrrrrrr.  It's throw-the-remote-against-the-wall-and-kick-your-dog levels of irritation.  Grinding teeth through the night to the point of enamel erosion.  Stomach ulcers, GI issues, and a career-impeding chip on your shoulder.  Team Defenses suck, IDPs are awesome.

Anyway, we brought IDPs into the league, and its been an unmitigated success.  The next step, however, is finding a scoring system for those defensive players that striates the available player pool, elevates the good IDPs clearly above the middling IDPs, elevates IDPs above kickers (in terms of fantasy impact), and elevates predictably good IDPs far enough above replacement value that you'd find a bench spot to hang onto a good IDP during his bye week.  Ultimately, we want our IDPs to be tradeable commodities, somewhere along the lines of a good WR3 or a low-end TE1 (Anquan Boldin was our working point of reference.  We want Patrick Willis to be about equal in value to Boldin.)

In that vein, the CKL put together an IDP scoring task force, to scour the interwebs for inspiration on how to fine-tune our IDP scoring system.  That crusade led one member of the task force - Nathan - to this excellent series of pieces from the fantastic site, Pro Football Focus.

If you're a CKL coach just looking for a greater depth of understanding on where we're trying to go with IDPs and want to explore the source of our inspiration, or if you're a non-CKL fantasy football player who just wants a great read about IDPs, these links are for you.

The Quest for an IDP Scoring System

Part II -- Benchmarking

The Ultimate IDP Scoring System!

Kudos to the guys at Pro Football Focus for putting these together, and a hearty THANK YOU to Nathan for finding the articles at the time we needed them the most.  I feel like we're on a really interesting and exciting trajectory with our IDP scoring system, with the three pieces linked above serving as the locomotive driving that train.

Keeper Analysis - Blackpool Penguins

C.J. Spiller, RB, Buffalo Bills
Redshirt: Dion Lewis, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Jordy Nelson, WR, Green Bay Packers

Granted an expansion team for the 2011 season, Norris used the strategy of going young and seeing what stuck.  His picks of [then-rookie] running backs Mark Ingram and Daniel Thomas were both busts, but his two young receivers form the core of what looks like a potentially dangerous team.

Julio Jones is an extremely popular player in fantasy drafts this summer, with one renowned fantasy analyst even going so far as to say that Jones would potentially be his #2 wide receiver overall, behind only Calvin Johnson.  Most publications rank Jones in the 8 to 15 range among all wide receivers, with definite upside in an Atlanta offense that will certainly become more pass-happy as Michael Turner's age catches up to him.

Jordy Nelson is also a consensus top-15 wide receiver, as emerges as the #1b to Greg Jennings' #1a in the amazing Green Bay aerial onslaught.  He's young, he's talented, he's paid his dues, and he knows how to find the end zone and pile up fantasy points.

Jones is 23 and Nelson is - surprisingly - already 27.  But both are still young enough to represent major building blocks and trade pieces in a keeper league like the CKL.

C.J. Spiller is a less exciting keeper to me.  Yes, Spiller is young and explosive, and he's playing in an ascending offense in Buffalo, with only an injury-prone and aging Fred Jackson stealing carries.  But this is -at best - still a timeshare situation for Spiller, and in my personal opinion (gained through watching him work at Clemson and in his first two NFL seasons), Spiller is straight-line fast but he's fragile and lacks the wiggle and burst to be able to truly excel as an every-down speed back.

ESPN ranks Spiller as the 34th-best running back for fantasy this season, and I think that projection is probably pretty accurate.  A decent guy to have on your team, but not the kind of player you look at on your roster and get goosebumps; not even the kind of player you look at on your roster and think yep, I've at least got that spot locked down.  I suppose Spiller is a capable flex starter in our league, but dollars to doughnuts he's not the player who will elevate the expansion Blackpool Penguins into a level of CKL relevancy.

Finally, the redshirted Dion Lewis...  The guy has some upside, no doubt about that.  But he's also a potential knucklehead, who might not have a spot in the Philly pecking order due to the emergence of Bryce Brown.  LeSean McCoy isn't ceding many touches to his caddies, anyway.  I figure Lewis is the kind of player you can get in the 14th round of our draft, which makes him a bit of a wash as a redshirt.

Overall, I like the upside of this set of keepers, and if Jones and Nelson both make good on their top-8 WR potential, Norris could build an effective team around this core.  But the lack of a real workhorse running back and the underwhelming #3 keeper C.J. Spiller ranks this group somewhere in the bottom half of the CKL's keepers.

CKL Charter, Part IV -- CKL Style and History

So now you understand the league's pillar beliefs, basic structure, and nuts and bolts of operation. But what makes the Cavalier Keeper League so special, and so great? Style and history, that's what.


Trophies
The CKL is stupidly serious about its trophies. They are a great source of league pride. You are encouraged to survey the 60+ trophies available to be earned, and brainstorm new trophies to benchmark your rivalries!


League Buy-In and Rewards
The CKL buy-in is $20/season. The cash is awarded at the end of the season, as follows:

• 1st place -- $140
• 2nd place -- $60
• 3rd place -- $40
• 4th place -- $20
• 5th place -- $20

NEW FOR 2020: Buy-Ins are doubled to $40. Payouts are also doubled.


Retirement
If you would like to step away from the league, ample notice is appreciated. We expect all of our coaches to be CKL coaches for life… but if you feel the need to retire, please let Kendall know as soon after the end of the season as possible. Waiting until the summer to duck out on the league is incredibly poor form.

If you retire from the league in good standing (like Ken, Alan, Mark, Derrick, and Patrick), you are eligible to take a spot on the waiting list for a chance to return to the league.

If you are removed from the league for inactivity or collusion, or if you wait too long to declare your intentions to retire, you will be forever banned from the league. This shit is serious!


The Waiting List
One of the secrets of the CKL's success is keeping a constant and well-maintained waiting list for inclusion in the league. This waiting list serves to place the proper amount of pressure on our existing coaches --- stay active, invested, and knowledgeable, or be replaced by a coach from the waiting list.

Due to the waiting list, no CKL coach feels like the league is indebted or beholden to them for "filling up the league." This is vitally important and the best piece of advice I can give someone trying to start their own super-successful fantasy football league: recruit the number of coaches you need, and then recruit a few more options in order to create a robust waiting list. Strike that balance of supply and demand, so that you are able to trim fat and cut dead wood as needed or necessary.

The waiting list also gives coaches the option to retire, so they won't feel pressure to play on when life gets too big and scary and they aren't able to give the league 100% effort. 

New / replacement coaches are chosen by the Commissioner.  There is no "queue order" or anything of the sort.  The Commish chooses the coach to call up based on what he feels is best for the league at any given time.  Potential CKL coaches toiling on the waiting list should understand the process of inclusion.  There is no velvet rope, just an ongoing chemistry experiment!

History of CKL Membership (current coaches in bold)
The CKL was started in 2002 by ten “founding fathers” – Kendall (league architect, Commissioner, visionary, and steward), Nathan (Vice Commissioner and league statistician), Joe, Paul, Derrick (aka “Doc”), Alan, Ken, Joe-Joe, John, and Brian.

In 2004, John was excused from the league and was replaced by Mark. Also in 2004, the league expanded from 10 to 12 teams, adding Aaron (aka “Rookie”) and Russ.  Rookie eventually went on to assume the role of Co-Vice Commissioner and Tax Collector / Treasurer.

In 2005, former CKL champion Ken retired from the league in good standing, the first former Cup winner to ever leave the CKL. Ken was replaced by Kirk. Also in 2005, Brian was excused from the league. Brian was replaced by Tom.

In 2006, Joe-Joe was excused from the league. Joe-Joe was replaced by Ben. Also in 2006, Tom was excused from the league. Tom was replaced by Chad. 2006 was the last time a coach had to be removed from the league, ushering in a new era of stability.

In 2011, the league expanded from 12 to 14 teams, adding Patrick and Norris.

In 2014, Alan was replaced by Yado.  Alan was our second former Cup winner to retire from the league, and he retired in good standing.

In 2015, Mark was replaced by Corey.  Mark was our third former Cup winner to retire, and our first multi-Cup winner to step down.  Mark retired in good standing, and has been and will continue to be sorely missed.

In 2016, Derrick was replaced by Ryan.  Derrick was a good dude, and he made a helluva lot of playoff appearances, despite never breaking through for that elusive Cup.  Doc will be missed.

In 2017, Patrick was replaced by Heath. Patrick was an active and... interesting... coach during his six seasons in the CKL. His last season culminated in his only playoff appearance. Patrick departed the CKL in good standing.

In 2019, Vic joined Heath to forge the CKL's first coaching duo. We'll see how it goes.

In total, there have been 24 different coaches in the CKL. Of the ten founding fathers, four remain -- Kendall, Nathan, Joe, and Paul.

CKL Champions and Playoff Appearances:
Season 1 (2002) - Ken, monosyllabic acronym (#2 Paul, #3 Derrick, #4 Alan)
Season 2 (2003) - Alan, Juris United (#2 Ken, #3 Kendall, #4 Joe-Joe)
Season 3 (2004) - Kendall, Pink Nightmare (#2 Alan, #3 Derrick, #4 Joe)
Season 4 (2005) - Kendall, Pink Nightmare (#2 Derrick, #3 Kirk, #4 Tom)
Season 5 (2006) - Joe, Big Jorillas (#2 Nathan, #3 Alan, #4 Rookie)
Season 6 (2007) - Rookie, Nth Degree (#2 Joe, #3 Mark, #4 Paul)
Season 7 (2008) - Mark, The Champeens (#2 Nathan, #3 Derrick, #4 Rookie)
Season 8 (2009) - Kendall, Pink Nightmare (#2 Kirk, #3 Mark, #4 Derrick)
Season 9 (2010) - Mark, The Champeens (#2 Derrick, #3 Kirk, #4 Kendall)
Season 10 (2011) - Kendall, Pink Nightmare (#2 Alan, #3 Kirk, #4 Rookie, #5 Mark, #6 Derrick)
Season 11 (2012) - Ben, Jesus the Moose (#2 Norris, #3 Kendall, #4 Nathan, #5 Paul, #6 Chad)
Season 12 (2013) - Chad, Double-O Daddy (#2 Kendall, #3 Russ, #4 Ben, #5 Joe, #6 Nathan)
Season 13 (2014) - Paul, Barclay Street Bruisers (#2 Kendall, #3 Kirk, #4 Norris, #5 Russ, #6 Joe)
Season 14 (2015) - Nathan, RAINBOW WOLF (#2 Chad, #3 Joe, #4 Derrick, #5 Yado, #6 Rookie)
Season 15 (2016) - Russ, The Magic Stick (#2 Joe, #3 Patrick, #4 Kendall, #5 Ryan, #6 Rookie)
Season 16 (2017) - Ryan, D2F Ratio (#2 Norris, #3 Yado, #4 Russ, #5 Ben, #6 Rookie)
Season 17 (2018) - Ben, Gurley Men (#2 Rookie, #3 Joe, #4 Kendall, #5 Paul, #6 Yado)
Season 18 (2019) - Rookie, Trophy Husband (#2 Norris, #3 Heath + Vic, #4 Paul, #5 Kendall, #6 Corey)


Playoff Appearances by Coach (Cups Won):
Kendall -- 12 playoff appearances (4 Cups won)
Rookie -- 9 (2)
Joe -- 8 (1)
Derrick -- 8 (0) retired
Paul -- 6 (1)
Mark -- 5 (2) retired
Nathan -- 5 (1)
Alan -- 5 (1) retired
Kirk -- 5 (0)
Ben -- 4 (2)
Russ -- 4 (1)
Norris -- 4 (0)
Chad -- 3 (1)
Yado -- 3 (0)
Ken -- 2 (1) retired
Ryan -- 2 (1)
Patrick -- 1 (0) retired
Joe-Joe -- 1 (0) excused
Corey -- 1 (0)
Heath -- 1 (0)
Vic -- 1 (0)
Tom -- 1 (0) excused
Brian -- 0 (0) excused
John -- 0 (0) excused

Active coaches' PLAYOFF PERCENTAGE:
Kendall – 12 playoff appearances out of 18 seasons, .667 playoff percentage
Rookie – 9 playoff appearances out of 16 seasons, .563 playoff percentage
Ryan – 2 playoff appearances out of 4 seasons played, .500 playoff percentage
Yado – 3/6, .500
Joe – 8/18, .444
Norris – 4/9, .444
Paul – 6/18, .333
Kirk – 5/15, .333
Heath – 1/3, .333
Ben – 4/14, .286
Nathan – 5/18, .278
Russ – 4/16, .250
Chad – 3/14, .214
Corey – 1/5, .200
(Vic – 1/1, 1.000)

Photo Record

Once again, welcome to the Cavalier Keeper League – otherwise known as the “CKL” – otherwise known as the best fantasy football league on the planet.

CKL Charter, Part III -- Talent Acquisition

Talent Aquisition
As stated earlier, the CKL prides itself on being a progressive fantasy football league filled with active, involved, and knowledgeable coaches. Nowhere are these traits more evident than in the realm of talent acquisition. We draft prep early and often, we draft hard, we tackle FAAB with style and aplomb, and we make haymaker trades of the blockbustery variety. If you are the type of person who likes to draft a team and then simply ride that team to the finish line, you are either Derrick or you are a CKL also-ran.

Trading
The CKL prides itself on being a trade-happy league.

One of the unique things about the CKL is that every trade occurs instantaneously, skipping the veto process. If both sides agree to make a trade, it happens then and there. We trust all of our coaches to work in the best interests of their teams.

If a trade is deemed by the Commissioner to be made in bad faith (aka, collusion), both coaches will be banned from the CKL. Make trades! Make a crapload of them! But never make a trade for any other reason than you think it makes your team better, either now or in the future. We trust you completely... please never do anything to damage that trust.

We have three trading periods:

• Pre-draft, which runs from early Summer (after the CKL random schedule drawing) to the CKL Draft in mid-August. During this time, you can freely trade keepers, redshirts, and draft picks.
• Post-draft, which runs until the trade deadline, usually the week of Thanksgiving.
• COMING IN 2020: Post-season / pre-keeper trade period! Here's your chance to convert your five vaguely keeper-worthy players into three better keepers. Here's your chance to overcome the devastating injury suffered by one of your long-term keepers. Here's your chance and reason to stay involved in CKL fantasy football well after the end of the NFL season!

FAAB
Prior to the 2011 season, we chose to scrap our old-school waiver/free agent system in favor of a Free Agent Acquisition Budget (“FAAB”) system. Here is a brief synopsis of how FAAB works:

Each team has a season-long FAAB budget of $100. You submit a blind bid on any unowned players you wish to pick up and add to your roster. Your bids can range anywhere from $0 to the full remainder of your FAAB cash pool. The highest bidder is awarded the player, and the amount he bid is deducted from his FAAB pool. If there is a tie bid, the player is awarded to the team with the worst record at the time of the bid. Bids will be processed on Wednesday at 12:00 noon (EST), then again on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 12:00 noon (EST) to allow everyone the chance to fill out a complete roster.

In a nutshell, FAAB is a blind auction of free agents. It’s the best system for free agency / waiver claims, and has spawned a weekly CKL column written by Kendall -- "Wednesday FAABnalysis." 

The Keeper and Redshirt System
Keepers… Each team must keep three players from their roster, to carry over from one season to the next. The keeper decisions are announced to the rest of the league in late Spring / early Summer, in an order determined by the consolation tournament winner. 

Redshirts… Any player drafted in the double-digit rounds (10th thru 15th) may be declared the team's redshirt. That redshirt declaration process occurs directly following the draft. If a redshirted player is never dropped from a roster or inserted into a starting lineup, then he eligible to be carried into the next season as an additional keeper, forfeiting the pick from one draft round earlier than when he was selected. FOR EXAMPLE: The Magic Stick drafts John Ross III in the 10th round of the 2017 CKL Draft. Immediately following the draft, Russ declares JR3 to be his redshirt candidate for the 2017 season. Russ keeps JR3 on his bench all season, never drops him, never starts him. Russ then declares JR3 as his cultivated redshirt during the keeper declaration process in the spring of 2018, and Russ rolls into the 2018 season with four keepers instead of three! However, Russ must forfeit his 9th round pick in the 2018 CKL Draft, as he drafted Ross in the 10th round prior to redshirting him.

Redshirt candidates can be traded freely from team to team, but once a player is dropped from a roster altogether or inserted into a starting lineup, the redshirt is burned, and that player is no longer eligible to be carried into the next season as an additional keeper. Redshirts are only eligible to be kept for the season immediately following the season for which they were drafted. If a team acquires extra redshirts from the same draft round, then the fofeit picks rise another level. FOR EXAMPLE: If Russ trades in Cooper Kupp, who was Kendall's 10th round pick and subsequent redshirt candidate, then Russ would need to forfeit his 9th round pick to keep John Ross and his 8th round pick to keep Cooper Kupp. This makes sense, right? If not, ask Kendall.

The CKL Draft
The CKL Draft is typically held on a Friday night / Saturday afternoon in mid-to-late August, with rounds 1-5 on Friday and rounds 6-15 on Saturday.

First and foremost, the CKL Draft is an annual EVENT; a celebration of the brotherhood that is the Cavalier Keeper League. You are expected to make any and all realistic and reasonable efforts to attend the live draft in person. To date, we have had one of our coaches - Ben - fly in from Missoula, Montana to attend the CKL live draft, NINE TIMES! And Corey flew in from Iowa twice, as well. That's the testament to how committed we are to the CKL Draft event. We also have folks driving in from DC, Virginia Beach, the Roanoke Valley, and Durham NC. We are serious about live drafting, face to face.

CKL Draft weekend usually includes activities on Friday night (bowling, beer pong, Risk, Settlers of Catan, etc.), Big Breakfast Saturday morning, the draft on Saturday (usually runs from 11:00 AM to around 4:30 PM), activities on Saturday night (bowling, Durham Bulls baseball game, brewery visit, $20 no-limit Texas Hold'em Tournament, etc.), and then Sunday morning departures. It's an action-packed weekend, and the event has grown to near-epic proportions.

Our history of draft weekend sites...

• 2001-2009 - Charlottesville, VA
• 2010 - Kendall's House in Charlottesville
• 2011 - Rookie's House in Durham
• 2012 - Rookie's House in Durham
• 2013 - National Harbor!
• 2014 - Kendall's House in RVA
• 2015 - Smith Mountain Lake!
• 2016 - Smith Mountain Lake!
• 2017 - Wintergreen and Breweries along the Nelson 151
• 2018 - Airbnb then Circuit Arcade Bar in Richmond
• 2019 - Airbnb then A Few Old Goats Brewing in Roanoke
• 2020 - Tang & Biscuit in Richmond

(((Where are we going next? Las Vegas? Missoula? Seattle? Baltimore? Charlotte? New Orleans?)))


If you can’t attend the draft in person, you must plan to participate remotely, via Google Doc.

Missing the draft altogether is grounds for immediate removal from the league.

The draft is 15 rounds long, which means up to 210 picks, plus redshirt declarations. This process is loooooooong. Allow for at least 5+ hours for the draft.

Come prepared! Please don’t spend much more than 45-60 seconds making each of your picks.

Just prior to the draft, all former CKL Cup winners come together to toast one another’s greatness and bask in the glory of the “Champions’ Toast.” (The liquor is chosen by and supplied by the previous season’s Cup winner.) All those who have yet to win a Cup look on with envy and hidden rage. One non-winner will be invited to partake in the Champions' Toast. It is up to that individual on whether to accept the toast and experience the good juju smiling down upon them, or be foolhardy and deny the toast and forsake the good graces of the league's former champions.

The Draft… We use a snaking draft, the order for which is determined by a combination of end-of-season final standings and a lottery system using odds dictated by those final standings (see the “Draft Lottery” section of the charter, below.) The order is for odd-numbered rounds, and reverses for even-numbered rounds. For example, if you pick #3 in the 1st round, you will pick #12 in the 2nd round, #3 in the 3rd, #12 in the 4th, etc.

Drafts from the Past:

2014 CKL Draft

2015 CKL Draft

2016 CKL Draft

2017 CKL Draft

2018 CKL Draft

2019 CKL Draft

These are slips of paper, not ping pong balls! But you get the idea.

The Draft Lottery
Playoff teams are awarded the following picks in the upcoming draft:

• 1st place (CKL Cup Winner!) -- #13 overall pick 
• 2nd place -- #14 overall pick 
• 3rd place -- #11 overall pick 
• 4th place -- #12 overall pick 
• 5th place -- #9 overall pick 
• 6th place -- #10 overall pick 

The winner of the consolation tournament receives the #1 pick in the upcoming draft, along with the power to decide the keeper declaration order.

Otherwise, your draft lottery odds are based on "ping pong balls" (ala the NBA draft lottery), as follows:

• 7th place, conso winner -- #1 overall pick
• 8th place -- 5 balls, 20% chance for the #2 pick
• 9th place -- 5 balls, 20% chance for the #2 pick
• 10th place -- 3 balls, 12% chance for the #2 pick
• 11th place -- 5 balls, 20% chance for the #2 pick
• 12th place -- 3 balls, 12% chance for the #2 pick
• 13th place -- 3 balls, 12% chance for the #2 pick
• 14th place -- 1 pity ball, 4% chance for the #2 pick 

Obviously, it behooves you to win as many games as possible if you fail to make the playoffs and are relegated to the conso tourney. Good luck! It’s a mess.

The CKL Draft Lottery is conducted after the conclusion of the new post-season / pre-keeper trade window.



Up Next: Part IV -- CKL Style and History

CKL Charter, Part II -- League Structure

League Structure

The CKL prides itself on being a “progressive” fantasy football league, and tries to maintain a cutting-edge identity by adopting new wrinkles and rules changes. So it’s important that you are well-versed in what we’re doing… not just so you can compete this upcoming season, but also so you can add an informed opinion (and an informed vote!) to the mix if and when we decide to contemplate more changes to the structure of the league. And we're ALWAYS considering more changes to the league!


Here is how the CKL is currently structured...

Your Team
You need two things to begin the team creation process, and they are critically important: a team name that can survive the test of time, and a team logo.

Our team names are currently: Sexy Badasses, SALT MY BORSCHT, The Revolting ____s, Southwest Cactus Jockeys, D2F Ratio, The Magic Stick, L7 Half-Orc Sorcerers, Trophy Husband, Nelly Furtaco, Womp Wampas, OO DADDY, GleepGlop's Hypotenoids, Blackpool Penguins, and Pink Nightmare. Hopefully, that gives you some sense of the type of tone we try to set with our team names.

The Roster
Each roster has space for 20 players. This includes 11 spots on the active roster and 8 bench spots, plus one IR spot. The active roster includes: 1 QB, 1 RB, 1 RB/WR/TE Flex, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 3 IDPs (individual defensive players - any position), 1 K, and 1 Head Coach

As a 14-team league, we only require one starting RB, but the Flex spot allows for a second RB, should you opt for a more traditional lineup. The CKL starting lineup is one less than "standard" - 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE. This is key to accommodate 14 teams and maintain a proper balance of talent without scraping the bottom of the barrel too much at the end of each team's bench.

Make no mistake, with up to 280 total players rostered, this league runs DEEP into the NFL player universe. If you don't know the offensive skill talent in the NFL backward and forward, you are at a serious disadvantage in this league. This level of depth can absolutely punish the ill-prepared or uninformed.

COMING IN 2020: The addition of the Superflex (QB/RB/WR/TE) position, increasing team sizes to 21 total players.


CKL Scoring 

Our scoring system, in basic terms.....

How Games are Played
We play all games head-to-head, most points wins.

The tie-breaker is points from the QB. (If another tie ever needs to be broken, I would be completely shocked. We did, however, experience a tiebreaking situation in the 2011 season.)

The CKL Schedule… Each team will play a perfect round-robin 13 game schedule against each of the other teams in the league, in an order determined randomly.

If the NFL expands its schedule to 18 games and 20 weeks, the CKL will expand its regular season schedule, as follows:

• 1 week of rivalry games 
• 1 week of games determined completely at random 
• 1 week of games decided by the previous season’s order of finish (the defending champion will play the runner-up, the 3rd place team will play the 4th place team, 5th place will play 6th place, etc.) 

If the CKL expands to 16 teams... well... we're not quite sure yet how we'll structure the schedule!

COMING IN 2020 MAYBE SOMETIME: Potential - POTENTIAL - CKL expansion to 16 teams. *gulp!*


CKL Postseason System
Playoff berths and seeds are decided by overall record, with total points scored during the regular season serving as the tie-breaker (NOT head-to-head records).

Six teams make the playoffs.

The top five teams in terms of record make the playoffs, total points scored serves as the tiebreaker. The 6th playoff spot then goes to the highest-scoring team not already amongst the five in the playoffs with the best records.

The top two teams in terms of record receive first round byes.

Wildcard Shuffle -- The highest seed in each playoff round chooses all the matchups in that round. So the team that qualifies with the best wildcard, #3 overall, chooses his opponent for the first round. Then the two remaining teams play each other. #1 seed chooses his opponent in the 2nd (semifinal) round, and the two remaining teams collide.

The playoffs last three weeks.

Playoffs Week 1: The two division winners receive first round byes, while the #3 seed chooses his opponent from among the #4, #5, and #6 seeds. The two teams not chosen to play against the #3 seed play against each other.

Playoffs Week 2: The #1 overall seed chooses his opponent from among the #2 seed and the two teams that survived week 1 of the playoffs. The two teams not chosen to play against the #1 seed play against each other. The losers of the two wildcard games play the first of their two games to determine 5th place.

Playoffs Week 3: The two winners from week 2 compete for the hotly coveted CKL Cup. The two losers from week 2 play a game to determine 3rd place. The losers of the two wildcard games play the second of their two games to determine 5th place.

The eight teams that fail to advance to the playoffs are seeded into a straight consolation tournament, as follows...

Conso Tourney Week 1: (game A) regular season #7 vs. #14, (B) #10 vs. #11, (C) #8 vs. #13, (D) #9 vs. #12

Conso Tourney Week 2: (game E) A winner vs. B winner, (F) C winner vs. D winner, (G) A loser vs. B loser, (H) C loser vs. D loser 

Conso Tourney Week 3: (game I, conso championship) E winner vs. F winner, (J) E loser vs. F loser, (K) G winner vs. H winner, (L, last place game) G loser vs. H loser




Up Next: Part III -- Talent Acquisition