With the announcement NCAA Football 09 will have online dynasties, many folks are already making plans to get together with friends and complete strangers to compete online.

While these dynasties are sure to be a lot of fun, most will have their fair share of bumps, bruises and drama. Hopefully some of the tips below which were gathered from several years of running one of the most influential Madden franchise leagues on the PC will help you side step potential issues.

As a commissioner, the first job you and any inner circle you might have should complete is figuring out some of the basic rules and regulations of the dynasty. Is everybody going to be in one conference? Several conferences? Which ones?

Figuring this out before bringing on any new members will help things get off on the right foot with limit any drama as owners with very different agendas debate these topics.

A key principle will be the style of gameplay you’re looking to promote. On the field differences tend to be the number one challenge of any league, and setting expectations ahead of time will help you get owners who fit with the rest of the dynasty.

While some of the specifics can change, there are generally three types of gameplay leagues. Keep in mind none of these leagues are inherently better or “right” – the key is having owners understand what you expect.

The first type of gameplay dynasty is the easiest to police – anything goes leagues. If you can pull it off and the game allows it, you’re free and clear.

Another type is the no cheese league. These leagues look to limit or outlaw any use of bugs or glitches that might be discovered as people dig into the game. These leagues will also look to limit any tactics that are viewed as overpowered. Where as anything goes leagues might consider some of these moves “stick skills,” no cheese leagues might determine they cross the line.

The last type is the straight league. They are very similar to the no cheese leagues, but with the expectation that owners try and mimic the real product as closely as possible. Such leagues might have rules about the use of no huddle, excessive use of the same “money” plays, formation diversity, etc. Again the goal here is to replicate real NCAA Football as closely as you can given the limitations of a video game.

After deciding what works for you and your league, you might even consider having tryout games against potential new owners (when the game drops of course). And feel free to empower some of your league mates who understand the style you’re looking for, letting them try out some of the potential new players as well.

One change from online leagues on the consoles previously is the need for an advance schedule. The commissioner in the franchise is literally going to push a button that moves the league from one week to the next.

How often this advance will be is another element that should be decided before the league is pulled together. Advancing say once a week might be too slow for some potential players, while advancing every three days might be too overwhelming for others.

You might also want to think about how strict you’re going to be with the advance. We all know stuff happens, but letting an advance slip for a day or two because of one rogue player not getting his games in can lower morale among the rest of the players who are chomping at the bit to move on.

This is especially the case if it’s the same players who continue to cause problems.

Other rules might need to be adopted as your season progresses and the format of your league. Do you need to mandate non-conference human vs. human games? If you’re all in the same conference, do you require at least one non-conference game against a top 25 team? Do you keep everybody from scheduling games in week one (an old NCAA trick to make sure you get on TV)? How many games do teams play (11? 12? 13?)

Many of the other key challenges of a Madden commissioner are really moot given the nature of NCAA Football. There’s no need for a trade committee to look at deals owners make.

Given a limit of 12 players in the dynasty, turnover shouldn’t be a huge issue either. You might need to work a bit to find 12 owners who mesh, but most console and pc Madden leagues had a core of between 10 and 20 guys (with the other 10 being the revolving door teams).

This is just a start, but combined with Hellisan’s article on Monday, should arm most would be commissioners with everything they need to start building a league.