Live & Email Draft Fantasy Leagues

Many of the leagues offered on Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues are “redraft” leagues. Redraft refers to drafting a new team for one season. Each redraft league will have an 18-round live draft with 12 teams per league.

Currently, all Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues use the same PPR scoring format. Apex leagues have a number of different starting lineups. For more information on PPR scoring and starting lineup options, see League Scoring.

There are two main drafting options for leagues: Live Drafts (typically takes about two hours to complete) or Email Drafts (typically takes about five days to complete).

To see all of our draft dates, click here. We also offer Dynasty and Auction leagues.

Every week, all teams will play two games: one head-to-head game against a random opponent and one game against the league average. To learn more about this concept, see Skill-Based Format.

The top six teams qualify for the playoffs, with the top two teams getting a “bye” in Week 15.

As voted on by our fantasy owners, there will be two IR spots for one-year leagues and three IR spots for dynasty leagues.

Excited to draft? Sign up now! If you aren’t convinced, see what the biggest names in the fantasy football community are saying about Apex!


General Draft Contest Rules & Procedures

Drafts are serpentine and will take place on MyFantasyLeague. After signing up, you will receive an email invitation from MyFantasyLeague. Here are the steps to successfully linking your team and being ready to draft:

1. Make sure you have a MyFantasyLeague account. It is different from the Apex account you created to sign up and pay. If you need to create a MyFantasyLeague account, you can create one or log in here.

2. Look for an email from the league name you signed up for with the subject “Our league is up and running…” or “Invitation to Join League” (if you don’t see it, check your spam or junk folder). This is your league invitation.

3. Click the link (or copy and paste into your browser if it is not already “clickable”) in the league invitation to accept your invite. It will be a long link at the bottom of the above email beginning with something likehttp://mfl...“.

Once the league is full (oftentimes only on the day of the draft), the draft order will be completely randomized.


Live Draft League Contest Rules

To access the live draft room, scroll down on the league homepage and click “Enter the Live Draft Room”. You can also go to the “Draft/Auction” header at the very top of the page and click “Live Draft Room”. It is NOT the “Draft” tab directly underneath the Apex logo on the league homepage – you will not be able to draft from there.

When the draft begins and you are on the clock to select a player, simply click your desired player in the Player List in the draft room so that they are highlighted, and click the red “Draft” button underneath that list.

The live draft timer will be set at 75 seconds per selection.

If an owner does not make a selection before the timer expires the system will automatically pick a player based on the highest-ranked available player on an owner’s Work List (located in the live draft room), then on the owner’s My Draft List player rankings, and then once those lists are exhausted (or weren’t created in the first place), according to MFL’s average draft position (ADP). Again: if you enter a player onto your Work List, the system will always auto-select that player first.

Early in the season, ADP on MyFantasyLeague may not be set yet. For these leagues, autopicks will be done by “Rank” as shown on MyFantasyLeague. Please contact us with any questions about this.

MyFantasyLeague’s system will select a player for your team, however, it will not always select the highest drafted player on averageThe ADP technology will look at average draft position and roster requirements to attempt to select the best player for your team. We always recommend being available for your picks to ensure that you select the players that you want.

All draft times are approximate and it is your responsibility to be on time and ready to draft your team. If you are unable to make it to the draft, your team will be drafted using MyFantasyLeague’s ADP. Please double-check the start time of your draft and ensure that you are available. If you are unsure of the start time of your draft, it will be listed on the league homepage and on the league calendar.

We recommend owners make their pick at least ten seconds before the clock expires to ensure that you receive the player you intend to draft. If you do not draft the correct player, you must notify the commissioner before the next pick is made as the draft can be paused to correct the erroneous pick. The commissioner will only monitor the draft for accidental picks during the first two rounds of the draft.

Apex strongly recommends that owners use desktops or laptops with the most updated version of their preferred browser. Complications that take place during the draft can be solved by contacting the commissioner through the use of the Live Chat feature during the first two rounds of the draft.

Apex hosts live draft fantasy football leagues online.

The commissioners will contact any owners who are not present during the first two rounds of the live draft. The commissioner will attempt to reach owners via email and text messaging/calling the phone number listed in your Apex account (if provided). We highly recommend that you provide your phone number in case of emergency. If you do not provide a phone number, we are not able to immediately contact you when your team is on the clock during the first two rounds.

It is each owner’s responsibility to be responsive to Apex’s attempts to assist an owner who is having any issues. If you are not responding to our attempts to reach you, then we simply will not be able to assist you and it is your responsibility to make selections in a timely manner. Owners who do not show up for their draft are not entitled to a refund. Apex is not responsible for late arrivals, technology failures, or slow internet connections. We highly recommend owners draft from a computer, although drafting from a phone can work.

MyFantasyLeague does provide mock drafts for those who would like to test the software prior to drafting. Here is the link to the mock drafts: MyFantasyLeague Mock Drafts.

If you are late to the draft room or have to leave and return, be sure to check and see that auto-draft is not enabled. You will know you’re on auto-draft if the “I’m Away” box is checked (located under the Player List in the Live Draft Room). If an inactive owner does not respond to our attempts to reach them prior to and during the draft, the owner will be placed on auto-draft out of respect for the other drafters after their first two selections.

There are third-party apps that many owners like using – the most popular being MFL Platinum. Most owners have no problems using these apps, however, we recommend using a computer and cannot control or provide support for the apps.


Email Draft League Contest Rules

After signing up, you will receive an email invitation from MyFantasyLeague. To join the league, you will need a MyFantasyLeague account. You can create one or log into yours here.

The draft order will be randomized once the league fills, and the draft will begin shortly thereafter.

Your roster is updated as you make selections online using MyFantasyLeague. The draft timer will be set at eight hours per selection for the first two days and is eligible to potentially be moved to six hours thereafter (and moved up further if necessary) by request, which is subject to Commissioner discretion. The draft timer will pause at night for three hours.

In the event an owner allows the time limit to expire, the league software will immediately select the best player available (per their “My Draft List” and when that list is exhausted, per MyFantasyLeague’s average draft position) and will continue to do so until the owner makes a selection. This service is provided for unforeseen emergencies and owners unable to draft within the allotted time. MyFantasyLeague’s system will select a player for your team, however, it will not always select the highest drafted player on averageThe ADP technology will look at average draft position and roster requirements to attempt to select the best player for your team. We always recommend being available for your picks to ensure that you select the players that you want.

Early in the season, ADP on MyFantasyLeague may not be set yet. For these leagues, autopicks will be done by “Rank” as shown on MyFantasyLeague. Please contact us with any questions about this.

If you know you will be busy and unable to make a selection, please use the Pre-Draft function. Apex reserves the right to place any team who times out on multiple picks on autodraft, meaning picks will be made automatically by MyFantasyLeague’s ADP (unless the owner has set up Pre-Draft Selections or a My Draft List) as that team’s turn comes up. Typically, this will happen when two picks or more are missed.

Team managers are responsible for entering their picks before the clock expires and ensuring it is the player they want before they click “Submit”. Please use caution and be aware of the timer!

If you immediately contact the commissioner via email or Message Board Post, a pick may be changed if no other selections have been made. However, it is the responsibility of the owner to make each selection in a timely manner.

Trading of picks and players is allowed during an email draft, but it is discouraged when it is your turn, as this causes delays. Instead, all owners are expected to cooperate in facilitating a speedy draft. Trading is no longer allowed during email drafts when the season is within 10 days of beginning.


League Schedule For Apex Fantasy Football Leagues

Leagues begin during the first week of the NFL season. During each of the first 14 weeks of the season, every team will play two games: one against a random opponent and one against the average score of all the teams in the league. Every team will play every other team in the league once during the first 11 weeks of the season.

Once each player has played every other team at least once, teams will play three random opponents during Weeks 12-14. At the end of the regular season, each team will have played 28 games (14 against a head-to-head opponent and 14 against the league average) and the top six teams will make the playoffs.


Playoffs For Apex Fantasy Football Leagues

Standings will be sorted by winning percentage. If there is a tie between two teams in the standings, the team with more total points scored will receive the higher seeding. If there is still a tie, the team with more total points against receives the higher seed. The top six teams will make the playoffs.

The first round of the playoffs is in Week 15. During this round, the top two teams receive a playoff bye. The 3rd seed will face the 6th seed, and the 4th and 5th seeds will face each other.

In the second round of the playoffs (Week 16), the 1st seed will play the winner of the 4th and 5th seed game, and the 2nd seed will play the winner of the 3rd and 6th seed game.

In Week 17, the second-round winners play in the league championship. The second-round losers play in a 3rd place game.

If a team has no future games scheduled, they are not allowed to make any roster moves.

If a playoff game ends in a tie, the team that scored more points per game played over the course of the season and playoffs will break the tie. Bye weeks will not be included in the calculation. It will include total points scored divided by total games played.


Free Agents For Apex Fantasy Football Leagues

All Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues use a “blind bidding” free agent acquisition system. To start the season, all owners will receive $500 in fictitious bidding money for the entire season. The blind bidding waivers will process on Wednesday nights at 10 pm ET.

Starting on the Friday (August 30th, unless your league drafts after this in which case this will begin the following Friday) before Week 1 of the 2024 season, there will be a second blind bidding waivers that process each Friday at 10 pm ET. Players who are dropped at least 24 hours prior will be eligible for acquisition. This will continue throughout the entire season.

To pick up a player during waivers, owners must bid a minimum of $1. The team with the highest bid will receive the player, for the amount they bid. Other teams will not be able to view your bid (hence the term “blind bidding”). Players who were dropped during the bidding process will be locked until the next blind bidding period.

Once all the bids are processed, the “first-come-first-serve” waiver period starts on Wednesday at 10 pm EST. Players lock at the scheduled start time of their game. The first-come-first-serve waiver system is a standard continuous waiver system. These pickups do not cost any bidding dollars. Players lock at the kickoff of their game.

For email drafts, waivers will begin with blind bidding which will process on Wednesday night following the draft. This will be moved up if necessary to ensure that waivers begin prior to the season.

For live drafts, blind bidding waivers will process 24 hours after (or as soon as possible after 24 hours, depending on what MyFantasyLeague allows – refer to the league calendar) the scheduled start time of the draft (unless your draft occurs on Monday or later during the week of the first scheduled NFL game – then blind bidding processes three hours after the scheduled start time of the draft). Once blind bidding has been processed, first-come-first-serve waivers will open. Blind bidding will continue the following week and throughout the season.

If your team’s roster is full, you must drop a player to acquire a player. Your roster may not exceed 18 players. Players that are picked up are available immediately to play and to be traded. Any bid that includes a dropped player must keep said dropped player to complete the bidding transaction, as the blind bidding system does what it is instructed to do. Bidding tiebreakers are determined by which team has a lower winning percentage.

We understand that owners accidentally drop the wrong player occasionally. When this happens, send us an email as soon as possible at apexfantasyfootballleagues@gmail.com and we will investigate and attempt to correct the error. We must be notified before the player is picked up through blind bidding. If the player has been awarded to a team through blind bidding, it is final and irreversible.

Owners cannot use adding players as a weapon. If an owner in your league is adding players and dropping them so they are locked, send us an email as soon as possible at apexfantasyfootballleagues@gmail.com and we will investigate and correct the situation if intervention is deemed necessary.

Dropped players are locked – the first exception to this is players who are picked up and dropped in the same week. This rule is to prevent “churning” (the tactic of picking up and then dropping multiple players simply to keep other teams from obtaining them). The purpose of the waivers process is to allow each team an equal chance to obtain unowned players. The MyFantasyLeague software does not accommodate to allow players who were added and dropped during the same week to be automatically unlocked. However, if you discover such a player and wish to pick him up, our rules do allow this, so just contact us and we will make him available as a free agent.

With the additional Friday night waiver processing, players can only be unlocked if they were dropped after 10 pm ET on Thursday night, rendering them ineligible for Friday’s blind bidding run. If a player is dropped after this deadline, he is eligible to be unlocked. If they were dropped before 10 pm ET on Thursday, the player will be included in Friday’s blind bidding waivers to give each owner a chance at acquiring the player(s).

The second exception to this rule is if a player who is playing in a Thursday game is added the previous day (through Wednesday’s blind bidding or free agency acquisition period) and dropped before the Thursday game. In this scenario, we will unlock players upon request. Please email us at apexfantasyfootballleagues@gmail.com if you would like a player who meets these criteria to be unlocked.

All bid requests are blind until the waivers process. On the 2021 end-of-season survey, owners voted to make all blind bid requests public following the processing of requests. Teams can view the requests by visiting the “Reports” header at the top of the league homepage, then “Franchise” > “Previously Processed Waivers”.


Injured Reserve For Apex Fantasy Football Leagues

All redraft leagues will have two injured reserve slots. Only players who are placed on the NFL’s Injured Reserve (IR) list will be eligible.

To place a player on IR in your league, go to the “Transactions” header at the top of your league page and click “Injured Reserve”. From there, check the box on the far left in the column titled “Deactivate To IR?” next to an eligible player, and click “Perform Injured Reserve”.

Do not check the box in the middle of the page in the column titled “Drop From Roster?”, as this will indeed drop the player from your roster. If you accidentally do this, contact us immediately so that the accidental transaction can be reversed.

Remember: the IR slot is not an extra roster spot. You must activate a player from IR as soon as they are removed from the NFL’s IR. If you leave a player on your league’s IR who has since been activated by the NFL, this is considered an IR violation and you will not be able to submit a starting lineup until it is corrected.

If you have an IR violation due to a player who has already played that week, you will only be able to update your lineup by moving him to your active roster and dropping a player who has yet to play. Simply dropping the player on IR who has already played that week is not an option.

If owners have players who are IR violations, they should not be adding players. This rule is not enforceable by MyFantasyLeague’s software but if an owner is adding and dropping players with an IR violation and we are contacted by an owner in the league, we will restrict their ability to add players until their roster is legal.


Trading For Apex Fantasy Football Leagues

There is no trading during a live draft.

There is no limit to the number of trades a team can make in a given week or throughout the season. Both teams must approve the terms of the trade for it to be confirmed. Once confirmed, the trade is automatically processed. In email drafts, trades including only draft picks are permitted. Once completed, trade results will be posted on the league website and a transaction record will be listed. The team rosters will also be automatically updated. Trades must be completed and confirmed by both sides by 5 pm EST on Saturday each week, ensuring that owners have adequate time to request reviews of trades.

The trade deadline for Apex leagues is the kickoff (Thursday game) of Week 9 (October 31st for the 2024 season).

Trades will be monitored for collusion and unfair trades will not be tolerated. If two owners notify Apex of their objection to a specific trade, the trade will be evaluated for fairness in accordance with the procedures set forth below.

You have twenty-four (24) hours after a trade is accepted to request a review, and the sooner you make your request, the more time will remain in the 24-hour review period for voting results to be collected. Each team is allowed five review requests per year, and trades that are overturned during the review process do not count against the limit of five. The identity of the requester of the trade review will remain anonymous. During the season, all objections to trades must be made by 10 pm ET on Saturday night.

If you would like to request a review of a trade, please send us an email as soon as possible at apexfantasyfootballleagues@gmail.com.

Remember, it is not your job to simply block trades you would not do yourself – every owner reserves the right to attempt risk and manage their team as they see fit as long as it does not threaten the integrity of the league. As a league member involved in reviewing trades, your only job is to recognize potential collusion or to call attention to trades that are so extremely imbalanced that they threaten the integrity of the league. Pay special attention to trades that do not seem to offer benefits to both sides.

If a review is requested, several emails are sent out:

  • The trading partners are notified that their trade is under review.
  • All other members of the league are requested to provide their input on the trade with a simple yes or no vote. When voting “no,” you’re asked which side is favored.
  • A random jury of ten peers from similar leagues is also emailed, requesting their vote as well.

The voting process lasts up to 24 hours after the trade review is requested but oftentimes, the decision will be made sooner. We recommend casting your vote in the trade review as soon as possible. Once the votes have been accrued, the commissioner will make a determination based on the votes.

The commissioner reserves the right to veto any trade for any reason, but the decision to veto usually means all of the following requirements are met:

  • Are there at least three votes against the trade within the league (including the requester)?
  • Do the “no” votes exceed the “yes” votes within the league, and do they agree that the same side wins the trade?
  • Do the “no” votes exceed the “yes” votes from the impartial trade jury, and do they agree that the same side wins the trade?
  • The commissioner will use a trade calculator to evaluate a trade in the event of a tied vote.

If the trade is overturned, players and/or picks are restored to their original teams immediately.

Please use caution when offering trades and responding to trade offers – we highly recommend only doing so on a computer, and double-checking that your selected option(s) match your intentions.

If an owner accidentally accepts a trade and contacts us immediately via email or Message Board Post within 15 minutes of accepting the trade, the trade can be reversed by a Commissioner. If we are not contacted within 15 minutes, the owner can be counted as a review request toward a trade review (given that we are contacted within 24 hours of the trade). It does happen, and the trade will be judged by the fairness of the trade but do be sure to accompany your request with a convincing explanation of what happened.

Offering a trade, however, is binding – accidentally offered trades will not be automatically reversed even if we are contacted within 15 minutes. If an owner accidentally offers a trade and it is accepted, the owner can be counted as a review request toward a trade review (again, given that we are contacted within 24 hours of the trade).

Multiple trades overturned in a given league can result in the loss of individual trading abilities in that particular league.

If two owners make a trade that is overturned, any subsequent trades made by either of the owners from the time of the aforementioned trade until the ruling on said trade are subject to being automatically reversed.

If a trade is overturned, any resulting lineup questions will default to the most recently submitted lineup by the owner(s) prior to the trade.

Apex allows trading during email drafts, and this feature requires a little more cooperation from owners. If a review occurs during your startup draft, we request that patience be exercised when selecting picks that are involved in the trade. Backing up the draft to accommodate a reversed trade is seldom appreciated. If your pick comes due while your trade is under review, and you select a player, it may be reversed by the commissioner once the trade review is resolved.

When the NFL’s regular-season opener is in less than 10 days, trades during email drafts are not permitted. This is to ensure that drafts are completed before the start of the NFL season.

Draft slots can be traded if the commissioner is notified of the terms of the trade by both parties at least eight hours before the start of the draft.


League Refund Policy

If Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues is unable to fill a league within 30 minutes after the draft start time, we guarantee each owner a reserved spot to another draft of the same price OR a full refund. Despite this warning, Apex hopes to avoid all inconveniences for owners by having leagues filled before the listed draft time.


Additional League Information

Owners are not required to fill all starting lineup requirements on draft day. For example, owners are not forced to take a kicker or defense during the draft and have the opportunity to pick them up before the first week of the season. Owners are required to have a full starting lineup for the kickoff of Week 1 (and every other week they have a game scheduled), however.

In one-year leagues, prior to the NFL Draft, rookies are included in the player pool and eligible to be drafted.

Absent collusion, Apex will not retroactively adjust lineups. It is the exclusive responsibility of the owner to set his or her lineup. Owners with difficulty setting lineups can notify Apex at apexfantasyfootballleagues@gmail.com and have their lineups set accordingly.

Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues will run abandoned teams. They are not eligible to win prize money but will have set lineups and function like any other team. Apex-run teams do not make trades, but players will be picked up in order to maintain a full and active roster. If there is an abandoned team in your league, please notify Apex at apexfantasyfootballleagues@gmail.com to have their lineup set. Please notify your commissioner prior to kickoff, as Apex does not modify lineups retroactively.

If a lineup for a given week has not yet been submitted, the lineup will be set according to Fantasy Sharks’ rankings each Thursday morning. Please ensure to submit a provisional lineup each week before Thursday, or at the very least check your lineup on Thursday afternoons before the Thursday night game. Remember, it will NOT interfere with any lineups that had previously been set that week. The mechanism will help ensure that lineups are set for owners who are inactive or who have forgotten to set their lineup.

Conduct that is detrimental to the league or to Apex Fantasy Football will not be tolerated. This includes any harassment in the form of a post or email that serves no purpose other than to cause dissonance within the league or the Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues organization. Any personal attacks toward fellow owners, the commissioner, or vulgarity in emails or on the message board will not be tolerated.

Failure to comply with league sportsmanship rules may result in immediate expulsion without refund. This also applies to owners failing to set their lineups – it is unfair for owners to receive free wins because other owners forget or choose not to set lineups or pick up free agents as necessary. Attempts to negatively impact the integrity of the league may also result in immediate expulsion without a refund from Apex. Examples include threatening or outright refusal to submit lineups, partaking in bogus trades, disruption of a live draft, etc. Apex also reserves the right to set your lineup for you if, by our judgment, you are intentionally trying to lose. These rules are simply meant to make Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues as friendly, honest, and competitive as possible.

Apex’s average draft position (ADP) for recent drafts is listed publicly.

In drafts that take place after the NFL Opener, owners are allowed to start the involved players from the first game. Simply email us or make a league message board post if you would like to start such players.

MyFantasyLeague applies stat corrections made by the Elias Sports Bureau on Thursday morning each week. The stat corrections can impact your previous week’s games.

Apex does not take responsibility for the utilization of third-party applications and strongly urges owners to use MyFantasyLeague.com for all aspects of team management. It is each owner’s responsibility to make sure that their lineup is set prior to the kickoff of each player’s game. Please email us if you need any assistance.

All prizes won are paid at the end of the season. After the completion of the playoffs, winners will have the prizes deposited into their Apex accounts. We take pride in paying owners promptly. Owners will be paid within a week of winning their league.

Payouts are available to be claimed and are accessed on your Apex account.

Go to the “My Account” page in our lobby and click “Claim Prize Winnings” to get the money into your Apex account. From there, you can choose to withdraw the money.

Apex notes the probability that players have of winning their league. Players have a 1 in 12 chance (8.33%) of winning first in their 12 team league and a 1 in 4 chance (25%) of winning a prize.

Exclusion for Contest: Players can exclude themselves from contests by contacting Apex. The player must contact Apex at least 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start time of the draft so Apex maintains the opportunity to replace the player.

Expert Status: Apex categorizes players who have reached “expert” status differently depending on various state laws. This measure is in place so that beginners can be warned when entering contests with “highly experienced players”. You can note the expert symbol in the lobby when selecting leagues to join. Experts are denoted by the symbol of a crown.

Prohibited Players: any member, officer, employee or agent of an operator or registrant; any spouse, child, brother, sister, or parent residing as a member of the same household in the principal place of abode of any member, officer, employee, or agent of an operator or registrant; any individual with access to non-public confidential information about contests; any amateur or professional athlete whose performance may be used to determine the outcome of a contest; any sports agent, team employee, referee, or league official associated with any sport or athletic event on which contests are based; any individual located in a state where the conduct of contests is expressly prohibited; or any minor.

Position Eligibility: The position of a player is defined by his NFL team’s depth chart. If a player’s position does not reflect what they are listed as on their team’s depth chart, owners are able to request a position change to the position listed on the depth chart.

Apex Fantasy Football Money Leagues are neither affiliated, endorsed, nor licensed by the NFL or NFLPA.

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