A. Constitution

1. Each Franchise GM is expected to respond to all trade inquiries as soon as possible.

2. Except where other matters make it simply impossible, each owner is  required to respond to certain

    infrequent official business.

3. Each owner must inform the league of any change of address or of any  significant absences.

4. Every Franchise owner is expected to manage his team professionally and  in particular to promote 

    the long term well-being of his team and the league.

5. Every GM is to respect the views of others and participate in the league to the best of his/her ability.

6. A league Board of Governors will exist to deal with league business, problems and/or changes

    required to the UHL.

 i/ During season 3 the Board will consist of 5 members:  the Commissioner, 3 original owners and 

     1  expansion  owner. Membership will be reviewed after one year.  At that time any member wishing

     to resign may do so.  Elections for new members will be held at this time as well. The Board may be 

     expanded in future seasons, but must always include one  expansion owner during an expansion season.

 ii/ The Commissioner will call  and chair the meetings, but any member of the Board may request 

      a meeting which the Commissioner must call.  As of  yet, there will be no set dates for these 

     meetings. The Board of Governors is not meant to limit owners' input on the league.  Any comments, 

     suggestions or voicing of problems are encouraged.  The Board is meant as a mechanism to speed up

     any necessary changes and encourage ideas. 

7.  Except in matters voted on by the Board of Governors, the league Commissioner and the League

    Offices will have the final word on any matter or dispute.  Any discision by the Commissioner may

     be appealed to the Board of Governors if the league's Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner 

     agrees that it should.

B. LEAGUE PLAY 

1.  The league uses Face-off Hockey Simulator from Land-Sports to  run its games. 

2.  The franchise GM is responsible for conducting the roster movement  business of the franchise 

     and it's farm players. This involves negotiating trades, moving players between the active roster 

     and  the farm players, and conducting drafts. They are also responsible for the finances of the team.

3.  The franchise Coach is responsible for determining  the pro teams' active roster

     and for sending in lines and goalie rotations (if any) to the league offices kmcgaffney@shaw.ca). 

     Line formats are dealt with later in this document.

5.  Teams will be allowed a maximum of 35 players on their team and must carry a minimum of 30.

     Coaches must dress a minimum of 18 skaters and 2 goalies per game.

C. TRADING

1. Trades may involve players, draft picks, money and Future considerations.  

2. The League offices will not rule on any external factors unless sufficient proof of wrong doing 

    is provided.Teams have a duty to provide all information necessary to a GM to analyze a trade. 

    However, once a trade is finalized, it is assumed that all GMs have full knowledge of the status 

    of the traded players.

3. Trades are made by submitting e-mail, calling the league office or writting to the League office. 

    Once a GM submits a trade confirmation, line changes will be required.

4. After a trade new players are sent to each others team.Both Owners must confirm the trade.

5. The League Commissioner reserves the right to veto any trade if, in  the belief of the commissioner,

     the trades violates the spirit of  competition and goodwill of the league.

6.  A player traded to a team that he was traded from in any single season will automatically be 

     returned to the team's active roster.  This rule is designed to stop any abuse of the trading and while 

     not limiting owners' choices.

7.  Trading deadline is is the deadline that the NHL imposes.  No trades will be made after the 

     deadline.  The league will not accept any trades until the playoffs are finished for all teams.

8.  When you trade a newly resigned player that contract and the money for that contract
     go with the player. So the team that has the player at the end of the season pays for the contract.

D:UHL Roster Rules for 2002-2003 Season

Teams will now have a pro level roster of 25 players and a farm team of 10 players.

Players designated to the farm team will not count against the salary cap of the team in question. 

Three players on each farm team can be designated as prospects.  Prospects when designated as such cannot play for the parent team in the present season and no not need to be signed to contracts.  

A prospect must be designated as such before the first game of the regular season.

A Teams full roster must be submitted before the first game of the regular season.

Prospects can be traded and released at any time. Traded prospects will be assigned to the receiving teams prospect list.

If a team receives another team’s prospect in a trade which brings their total number of prospects to more than three then the receiving must either release the excess prospects or reassign them to the farm team.

A released prospect can be signed as a free agent when released by another team.

A player can only remain a prospect for two seasons then he has to be sent to the farm or released as a FA and able to re-enter the draft.

Any player on any farm team who has not been signed after two years will re-enter the draft. If that player is then not drafted he will become an unrestricted free agent.

A player cannot be used or called up to the pro team unless he has been signed to a contract.

Traded players are automatically assigned to a team’s farm team and may be called up as needed

E: New Waiver rules for UHL 2002-2003 season

A player demoted to a teams farm team from the pro team must now pass through waivers unless he was an emergency call up as a result of an injury to a player on the pro team.

A player will remain on waivers for 24 hours before being assigned to a farm team.

Waivers will work the same as always meaning that if more than one team makes a waiver claim the team with the worst record receives the player claimed.

F: LINE SUBMISSIONS AND CHANGES

1.  There are two ways to submit lines and changes.

  i/ The GM can e-mail the lines to the League Offices in this format.

To make a line change, send the changes ONLY (in point form if possible) to the league commissioner.

 If changes are great, or you wish to send many line changes, please use the format defined in 

 Lines Format.
 

 Example (of line change in point form):
  Put M. Recchi on RW even strength Line 2
 Put P. Housley on RD even strength Line 3
  Make S. Burke starting goaltender for game against team A then put Vernon back in for the game

  against team B.

  ii/  The team can download the Faceoff demo from LAND-SPORTS.  the demo will allow the coach to

        alter lines as he/she likes and also create strategies for their team.  All that will be needed sent

        is the strategyfile.

2.  Playing out of position.  In the UHL any player may play any position, but if a player is playing out

     of position they will not perform as well.  A RW plays RW the best, while a C/LW can play both 

     positions.  A player playing out of position will tire faster, not shoot as accurately or pass as well.

3.  To reflect a home crowd and create some equality among teams, the UHL is set so that the home 

     team does have a slight advantage.

G. PLAYOFFS(will depend on the number of teams in the league)

1.  The top 4 teams from each division qualify for the playoffs.  The top team in each division will

 get a bye to the 2nd round (only when enough teams are in the league).  Every playoff series is a 

best of seven.  The team with the best regular season record will have home ice advantage.  

The divisional winners will faceoff for the championship.

2.  Playoff Earnings:
        UHL
                Stanley Cup winner   , $ 1,000,000
                Runner Up                , $   500,000
                Semi Finalists            , $   200,000
                Quarter Finalists       , $   100,000
                Playoff Berth             , $    50,000

H. PROTECTION/DRAFT
EXPANSION DRAFT

1.  For the 1999-00 expansion draft, each team can protect 10 skaters and 1 goalie.

2.  Expansion teams may choose from  unprotected players. 

3.  The drafting order will be randomly drawn by the commissioner and then reversed every other round. 
                      ie Round 1       team 1
                                            team 2
                                            team 3
                          Round 2      team 3
                                            team 2
                                            team 1

4.  Expansion teams may bid for Type II free agents.

5.  If the 1999 Expansion takes place with 8 teams, no team can lose more than 10 skaters and 

     1 goalie from the expansion draft.  If there are 4 teams, no team can lose more than 5 skaters 

     and 1 goalie.

6.  There will be a trading freeze 48 hrs before the expansion draft.

I.  ENTRY DRAFT
    
1. The entry draft will include all teams and be conducted after the expansion draft (if any).

2. Draft Order.
    If in an expansion season, the draft order, by round, will be as follows:
           1/ Expansion teams - order will be randomly draw and reversed 
              every other round.
           2/ Reverse order of regular season overall standings.
    If in a non-expansion season, the drafting order will be reverse order of overall regular season

    standings.The exception will be the 1st round where pick 1 to 5 will be drawn randomly.  Thus the

    worst team in the regular  season will not necessarily get the first pick.

3.  The number of rounds in draft will depend on the amount of players available or necessary for

     the draft.

4.  The Entry draft will begin no sooner than 72 hours after the Expansion draft.  It could be handle 

     in two ways:
          i/ A common time will be arranged where all of the owners can meet  to conduct the draft.
         ii/ if we are unable to find a common time, each team will have to send their requested players 

             by order to the League office and the draft will be witnessed by third parties.

J. PLAYER CONTRACTS AND FREE AGENCY

1.  Contracts
    i/ Teams must sign players on their pro team to contracts in order for them to be eligible to play. 

        An unsigned player is considered  a Type I free agent and may be as such signed by anyone.

   ii/ There are two types of contracts, restricted and unrestricted.

  iii/ A restricted contract entitles the owner to match any bids made on the player when his contract

       expires or receive compensation if not.  Restricted contracts cost $100,000 per year of the

       contract up to a maximum of 5 years. See H/3 for compensation.

   iv/ An unrestricted contract entitles the owner to no matching rights or  compensation.  An 

        unrestricted contract cost $25,000 per year signed to a  maximum of 5 years.

    v/ Once a player is signed to a contract, he will have that contract  until it expires, regardless

        of whether the player is available for play or not.  A player's salary will be paid until the end 

        of the contract.

   vi/ An owner may renegotiate a unrestricted contract at a cost of $750,000 plus the  terms of 

         the new contract.

  vii/ An owner may re-sign a restricted  player only at the end of the season ($200,000 + the new 

         contract).The owner will have from the  expiration of the contract to 1 week before the player

         becomes a free agent to do so. All expired unrestricted contracts go to bidding.

 viii/ A contract expires the day before the entry draft of the year of his contract.

   ix/ A player's contract goes with the player in trading.

    x/ Format for bids and contracts: bids must be completed as such,
        
    Player's Name   Orig. Team  Bidding Team  Amount  Contract type/length
   
         Lindros     Devils             Icehawks       $4.5M           R3


2.  There are three types of free agents.

 A. Type I Free Agents

    i/ All players who have gone through an entry draft undrafted, have been released by a team 

       or are unaffiliated are considered Type I free agents.  All Type I free agents are placed on the 

       League Free Agency list.

   ii/ During the regular season a team may sign one or more Type I free  agents up to the trading 

        deadline.No free agents may be signed until  after the playoffs are complete.

  iii/ To sign a Type I free agent a team must submit a request to the league offices.  The Type I then

        must clear waivers. (see Waivers)  Once a free agent is signed he may be placed on the pro team.

   iv/ It costs $50,000 to sign a Type I Free Agent and he must be immediately signed to a contract.

    v/ During the off season teams may have to bid for Type I free agents. If a team wishes to sign

         a Type I free agent, then a request must be sent to league offices.  The request  will be 

         forwarded to all owners and posted  for 7 days.If after 7 days no one wishes to contest the 

         signing, the  owner pays $100,000 and claims the player.  If it is contested, interested owners

         may submit bids for the player.  Owners will have 3 days to do so. The contesting owner MUST 

        submit a bid. If it is felt that an owner has not acted in good faith, then the original owner

        will receive the player and the contesting owner will be fined.

 B. Type II Free Agents

    i/ When a player's unrestricted contract expires, the player becomes a  Type II free agent.

   ii/ Any team can bid on Type II free agents including their former team.

  iii/ All bids are secret until after the deadline.  To ensure this, GMs should submit their bids 

        with the team name and "Type II Bids" in the  subject line.  The final bid sheet received before

        the deadline will be the one opened.  See H/1/x/ for format.

   iv/ The highest bidding team receives the rights to the player.  The  player's former team receives 

         no compensation for the loss.

    v/  If a Type II free agent passes through the two week bidding period  without being signed,

          the player becomes a Type I free agent.

 C. Type III Free Agents

    i/  When a player's restricted contract expires, that player becomes a Type III free agent.

   ii/  Any team can bid on a Type III free agent except their former team.

  iii/  Bidding will be done as per H/2/B/iii, except "Type III bids"  will be used in place of 

         "Type II Bids".

   iv/  The highest bidding team receives the rights to the player.  The  player's former team may

          now either match the bid or,if they choose not to match will receive compensation from the 

          signing team in the form of draft picks.

    v/  If a Type III free agent passes through the two week bidding period  without being signed, 

         the player becomes a Type I free agent.

3.  Compensation

   Compensation will be given in the form of draft picks from the signing  team to the player's former

   team. Compensation will depend upon the amount of the bid.  After this, the former team has  

   relinquished all rights to said player.

        Terms:
                4,000,001 and above       - 5 first round draft picks
               3,500,001 to 4,000,000   - 4 first round draft picks
               3,000,001 to 3,500,000   - 3 first round draft picks
               2,500,001 to 3,000,000   - 2 first round draft picks
               1,500,001 to 2,500,000    - 1 first round draft pick
                1,000,001 to 1,500,000    - 2nd round pick
                  750,001 to 1,000,000    - 3rd round pick
                  750,000 and below        - 4th round pick

 You cannot sign a Type III free agent unless you have the necessary draft picks or higher ones.

K. SALARIES

Here are how the salaries are generated for the players

Players

Goalies

K. WAIVERS

1.  When a player is moved from the pro team to the farm team or signed from the Type I free agency

     list, he must first pass waivers.The waiver priority list consists of the overall standings in reverse 

     order.  A team must decide to acquire a player from waivers before their next game.  A player

     acquired on waivers will procede to a franchise's pro team roster only upon all lower ranked 

     franchises  passing on their option.

2. Each team must contact the League office regarding whether they wish to acquire a player from

    waivers.  If a team claims a player on waivers he is sent directly to the team.

3.  If a player on waivers is not claimed in 24hrs, he is assigned to his designated team.

4.  The Claimed player cannot be traded to the team from which he was claimed until after the current 

     season is over.

5.  The team claiming the player must pay $100,000 to the team losing the player.
                   
L. DISPUTE RESOLUTION/ABRITRATOR

Where two or more teams are in dispute over a matter, such as a trade, and these rules do not

 cover the matter in dispute, the league will use the following procedure for resolution of the problem:

1. The Commissioner will ask an anonymous owner to act as Arbitrator with the teams in dispute .  
2. Each team makes its case to the Commissioner.
3. The Commissioner communicates the relevant facts to the Arbitrator and gives the Arbitrator 

    a list of possible decisions.
4. The Arbitrator makes a decision and communicates it to The Commissioner without having to offer 

    any justification 

    for the decision.
5. The Commissioner communicates the decision, which is final and not subject to further negotiation, 

    to the owners. 

M. AWARDS

The following Trophies are awarded based on season stats:
        
  League leading scorer, regular season.
  League's best plus/minus, regular season.
  League's best team goals against average,  regular season.
  Top team, regular season.

 The following Trophy is awarded based on voting by UHL Board Of Governors:
 Player of the Year.  Awarded to the player who  showed the greatest all around hockey ability.

The following Trophies are awarded based on UHL Commissioner Vote:
 Playoff Most Valuable Player. 
           
The final Championship trophy is the Stanley Cup.

There will be money awarded to the team whose player or G.M. is nominated or wins any awards.

The money break down will be 50,000 for nominees and 100,000 for winners.  The awards will be 

handed out the week after the UHL champions have been crowned.

N. FINANCES

1. Salaries
     i/ Each player has a base game salary which is determined by the  player's ability and position. 

        A player's total salary equals the total number of games on a pro team's active roster x base game

        salary.

    ii/ Each team will pay their pro coach $300,000/year.

   iii/ Salaries will be paid on a game by game basis.

   iv/ In season 3, a salary cap will exist of $9,500,000.

   v/ Owner's do not need to pay for players during the playoffs.

2. Income

    i/ At the beginning of a team's first season, they will be given  $10,000,000.  At the beginning of 

        each susequent season the team will receive $5,000,000.

   ii/ A team's income for the year will be based on home game attendance. Home game attendance  will

        be calculated game by game and based on the  team's current winning percentage. 

        Winning% x Arena Capacity x $15.00 per ticket = team's home game earnings

  iii/ During the playoffs, ticket prices increase $5.00 per round and  arenas will be considered sold 

        out.

   iv/ A team may advertise to increase attendance during regular season.  For each $10,000 spent, 

        multiply the visiting team's overall winning % by 2000.  This will be the number of extra fans

       for that game.  Maximum advertising allowed is $30,000.

    v/ a teams first 3 home season games will be sold out.

3. Arena

 Each team will begin with a 20,000 seat arena.  To increase capacity an  owner can either expand or 

 build a new arena.

    i/Expanding an arena is done on a price per seat.  Each new seat will  cost $750. 

   ii/To Build New, the cost of construction = new seating capacity x $1,000
                  
                   eg.  35,000 seats = $35,000,000
                        30,000 seats = $30,000,000
                        25,000 seats = $25,000,000
                        20,000 seats = $20,000,000

    Maintenance costs will kick in after the facility is 5 years old and  will equal 
                   0.5% per year old x cost to build
    
    Maintenance costs are brought to zero only with a new facility.

 Expansion of arenas or construction of a new one takes place in the off season.

4. Oops, Not enough money.

 Teams that do not have sufficient funds to pay for their season's  expenditures have 3 options:

        i/ apply for league assistance.  A team can receive up to 1/2 of its shortfall.  The specific

            amount will depend upon the number applying  and the league funds.

       ii/ extend a line of credit.  The debt will be taken from the  following season's starting funds.

        iii/ borrow from another owner.  The arrangements and financing is   left up to those involved. 

 The final agreement must be sent to  League Offices for final approval.


Kerry McGaffney Commissioner, UHL.