Setting up your league
Commissioners are a special group of people.
There, we said it, and we meant it. The responsibilities of being a commissioner should not be a burden, and we’re here to make sure you enjoy the season from start to finish. Let us focus on the administrative parts of the league, and you’ll make sure everyone is having a great time playing fantasy sports with you.
Pick a game
There are levels to this. Think about how much time you and your league-mates will want to invest in fantasy this season. For a simpler set-it-and-forget-it experience, Survivor might be appealing. If your group wants something more strategic, consider playing Bet ’em, which involves managing point balances throughout the season. We have a wide selection of available games that will suit your degree of devotion.
Pick ’em
Pick the winner of every game, straight up or against the spread. Each correct pick is worth one point. The most points at the end of the week wins the week, and the most points at the end of the season is the champion.
Bet ’em
Everyone starts the season with the same bankroll of points. Bet them on the money line, the spread and the over/under, straight or in parlays and teasers. The most points at the end of the season wins.
Confidence
Pick a winner for every game of the week, then rank your picks by giving each one a different number of confidence points. Correct picks earn the points you gave them. Most points at the end of the season wins.
Survivor
Each week, pick one team to win. If it wins, you survive to the next week. You can only use each team once per season, so the hard part is saving the right teams for the right weeks. Last player standing wins.
Bracket
Pick the winner of every game in the tournament before it begins. Points double every round, so the deep picks are the ones that decide the league.
Lineup
Build a team of PGA Tour golfers for the tournament under a credit cap. Every birdie, eagle and top finish they post becomes points for you. Play a single tournament or the whole season.
Recruit friends
We’ve found that leagues are most enjoyable when players bring their unique personalities to the table. Here are a few characters we’ve played with over the years who might make your season more exciting.
- The brains
- The commissioner is the brains of the entire operation, so look no further for fantasy brilliance.
- The looks
- There’s always one person in the league who’s head and shoulders above everyone in the looks department. They can attract other fun folks to your area at the bar if the slate of games isn’t competitive.
- The wild card
- Your wild card will immediately announce their presence by drafting two kickers or only picking underdogs.
- The overly intense manager
- Fantasy sports aren’t the most important thing in life, but don’t tell that to the person over there who literally lives and dies with every pick.
League templates from the pros
Real setups from real commissioners, to spark your own. Copy the buy-in, the payout split or the whole thing.
Pick ’em – Pick 5
We’re 2 days away from the NFL season so I just wanted to send a reminder for the pick ’em pool. Feel free to share with friends and family who didn’t play last year, the more the merrier!
The rules are simple: $100 to play for the season. Pick 5 games of your choice against the spread each week. Top 5 best records get paid out at the end of the season (55%, 20%, 15%, 7.5%, 2.5% of the pot respectively).
Pick ’em – Moneyball
Rules/concept, very simple: every week, pick every game, no spread. Each win is 1 point. A tie is a zero, you didn’t pick the winner.
Each week, pick one Moneyball pick. You can only use a team once for Moneyball throughout the season. For weeks 1–8 a Moneyball win is 1 additional point. For weeks 9–17 a Moneyball win is 2 additional points.
Tiebreaker: playoffs, keep playing until a winner or a deal. The Super Bowl point spread is the final tiebreaker.
Bet ’em – NBA
You don’t get a bankroll to bet until you pay. I’ll be the bank and am leaning towards setting up a wallet to hold the pot.
Buy-in and buy-backs are the same amount, $200, and you can track the pot in the app. Starting amount is 10,000 points.
No required games, but you do have to bet at least 1 game per week. The penalty is 5% of your bankroll.
Survivor – NFL
Rules: pick one team you think will win each week to advance to the following week. Pick a team incorrectly, and you’re out. You cannot pick the same team twice, so choose wisely.
Buy-in: $25 per person. Each player can buy in up to 3 times before the season starts, so they can remain in the hunt if one set of picks falters.
Payout: 1st place 80% of the total pot, 2nd place 15%, 3rd place 5%.
Confidence – NFL, season long
Using our confidence points scale, show us how much you believe in each team. The number of games each week will dictate the scale, but most weeks it will be 16 to 1.
For example, set a buy-in at $100 and allow players to have multiple entries as long as they are purchased before Week 1 games begin.
This is a season-long competition, and the cumulative point totals after Week 18 determine the winners. First place can win 60% of the total pot, second place 20%, and third place can get their money back. You can also allocate some of the pot towards weekly high score payouts to maintain interest throughout the year.
Confidence – NFL, weekly
Season-long tournaments might drag on too long for some players, and Confidence can be adjusted as a quick-hitting weekly game as well. Collect a buy-in which covers plays for the full 18 week NFL schedule, but remit equal payments weekly to the highest scorer.
It might look something like this: 30 players, $50 buy-in per player, $1,500 total pot, $83.33 prize for each weekly winner.
If some players are interested in a season-long competition, a separate pot can be organized for this, and confidence scores can be tracked cumulatively from Weeks 1–17.
What are you playing for?
Playing to win is always fun. Playing for a pot of gold is way more fun. Head over to the payments page to see how to manage buy-ins, buy-backs and payouts.
