The full league has 32 teams in two conferences, Summit and Harbor, each with four divisions of four teams grouped by geography. A league that has not yet moved up to the full format has 16 teams, with two divisions of four per conference; see the end of this guide.

Each team plays 17 games over 18 weeks with one bye: its three division rivals twice, home and away; every team of one other division in its conference and of one division in the other conference (both rotate every season, so you meet every team in your conference at least once in three seasons); and three more against teams that finished in the same place in their divisions last season.

Seven teams per conference make the playoffs: the four division winners, seeded 1 to 4 by record, and the next three records. Seed 1 has a bye, the wild card round is 2 against 7, 3 against 6 and 4 against 5, and the divisional round puts seed 1 against the lowest seed left. The higher seed is at home until the championship, where the conference champion with the better record is at home.

The playoffs take four weeks, then the offseason's four weeks bring the draft and training camp. A league from before the 32-team league keeps its old format until the launch reset: 16 teams, two divisions per conference, four playoff teams per conference and three playoff weeks.

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