WIN $350,000 In The Debut Footballguys Championship!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: We are very excited to announce today that the Footballguys Championship will debut this year on the NFFC platform with a guaranteed grand prize of $350,000. This new 12-team national online championship will feature a unique league playoff format and will pay the Top 3 teams in each league, while paying out the Top 500 teams overall in the Championship Round.

The Footballguys Championship will reside within the NFFC platform and will use the NFFC draft room, FAAB tools and all of the in-season tools we use at the NFFC. The Footballguys Championship and all of the NFFC games will also incorporate many of the Footballguys tools such as draft rater, projections to compare head-to-head matchups each week and more. This is a partnership where both entities will cross-promote their games and content throughout the year to make this a seamless transition for current and new high-stakes players.

"It's an honor to work with Joe Bryant and the entire team at Footballguys.com as they have the most active and die-hard customer base in the fantasy football industry," said Greg Ambrosius, Director of Fantasy Games at SportsHub Games Network. "The Footballguys Championship is a fantastic national contest with a great grand prize and a playoff format that players will love. We are excited to host this contest within the NFFC suite of games and we look forward to working closely with Joe and his team to grow the high-stakes marketplace together. We all win -- including the players -- in this partnership."

You can find the contest and rules at https://nfc.shgn.com/rules/1894
You can also use footballguyschampionship.com or playfootballguys.com to get to the landing page and/or rules page.

This is a win-win situation for everyone involved as Footballguys will bring their die-hard fantasy football players to the NFFC site, while Footballguys debuts its own contest on a tried and trusted platform. The players get a fantastic new contest with great prizes and a great playoff format, while knowing the platform is the best in the industry. Our FAAB software is easily the best in the industry and will save players hours and hours of work during the season, while our new Set Lineup feature allows players to make all their starting lineup decisions for as many teams as they have on one page. The search feature on our new Set Lineup page allows players to quickly find all the teams they may have that player on and switch him out on that one page very easily.

Footballguys.com has been a content leader in the fantasy football industry since 2000 and Joe Bryant was inducted into the FSGA Hall of Fame in the summer of 2022. When Joe first proposed doing a Footballguys Fantasy Football Magazine in 2004, he talked with Greg and Tom about publishing it through Krause Publications. We did that magazine starting in 2004 and continued publishing their annual football magazine through 2009. That custom publishing model is similar to the partnership for this contest where Footballguys has devised the game, will guarantee the prizes and promote the game, while the NFFC will manage all the drafts, leagues and in-season play.

Again, it's a win-win for everyone.

The NFFC runs 10 other national championships, including the NFFC Primetime and Rotowire Online Championship, both of which have $250,000 grand prizes. All of those contests, plus our high-stakes private leagues, will be available to the Footballguys audience and we expect a lot of very good players to join our community. As most people know, Footballguys.com was a promotional partner for FFPC from 2010 to 2022 until that relationship ended and we know that they are familiar with the high-stakes market and will add to the dedicated customer base we have here at the NFFC.

I'll post more about their contest and why we think this has the potential to be one of the biggest and best national contests in the industry, but first I want to welcome Joe, Clayton Gray, Sigmund Bloom and all the writers at Footballguys.com to our NFFC community. This feels like a perfect match and we can't wait to also have you at our live events at Park MGM in Las Vegas September 6th through the 9th and interacting with all of our customers there. We're going to try to plan something special out there for a meet-and-greet and get everyone familiar with each other. The synergy between these two communities is fantastic and soon it will feel seamless.

Welcome aboard everyone to the Footballguys Championship and to the 20th anniversary season of the National Fantasy Football Championship. I'm convinced it's going to be a historic season, one like we've never witnessed before. Now let's get drafting!!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

So what is the Footballguys Championship and why should you play it this year?

Let's explain the contest here and then show you why you want to play in this national contest AND all of our other great NFFC contests. And yes, we will still have the Rotowire Online Championship with its $250,000 grand prize AND the Footballguys Championship with its $350,000 grand prize.

We feel strongly that Footballguys will bring enough of their dedicated players over to our site to play their contest AND all of the NFFC contests. And I'm confident that our NFFC players will add this contest to everything else they are doing this season. In fact, the first Footballguys signup was from James Wimmers, an NFFC veteran who is now etched in history as the first Footballguys paying customer!!!

Here's the Footballguys Championship in a nutshell:

** 12 teams, 20 round drafts, serpentine (NFFC uses Third Round Reversal)

** Same NFFC scoring, including 6 points per passing touchdown; all receptions are 1 point, no variation for Tight Ends

** Pay Top 3 in each league (1st = $1,500, 2nd = $600, 3rd = *1-year Footballguys PRO Premium Subscription ($47 value)

** 14-week regular season

** Top 3 teams from each league advance to the overall Championship Round for a shot at the $350,000 grand prize

** Start 10 players per week: 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 2 Flex (RB, WR, TE), 1 D/ST. NO KICKERS. That position has been replaced by a second Flex spot.

** Championship Round qualifiers are: 1) The team with the most points scored through Week 14; 2) The remaining team with the best record through Week 14 (points scored are the tie-breaker if multiple teams have the same record); 3) The remaining team with the most points scored through Week 14.

** Top 4 teams from each league go into a league playoff format in Weeks 15-17. Having league playoffs in Weeks 13 and 14 no longer makes sense with NFL teams having byes during those weeks, plus adding two extra weeks to the regular season gives more value to the players.

** Here's the league playoff format:
The playoffs for each league will take place in Weeks 15 through 17.

The top four teams in each league advance to the League Playoffs. They include:

1) The team with the most points through Week 14.
2) The remaining team with the best record through Week 14 (points scored are the tie-breaker if multiple teams have the same record).
3) The remaining team with the most points through Week 14.
4) The next remaining team with the most points through Week 14.

Bringing the Regular Season Into the Playoffs
Teams carry their regular season scoring average into the League Playoffs series. The regular season scoring average gives those teams that excelled during the regular season a slight advantage as they battle for league prizes. For example, if a team finished the regular season with a regular season scoring average of 140.25 points and another team had a regular season scoring average of 130.25 points, the higher-scoring team would enter the League Playoffs with a 10-point advantage.

Advancing in the League Playoffs
The top-scoring regular season team in each league gets a BYE in Week 15 and automatically advances to Week 16. This rewards the better teams and helps to keep one bad week from spoiling 14 weeks of great play.

The three other teams add their Week 15 score to their regular season scoring average. The lowest-scoring team is eliminated from the league playoffs. The two remaining teams and the team with the Week 15 bye advance to Week 16. (Note: the team that had a bye in Week 15 WILL use that score moving forward, so be sure to SET A FULL LINEUP. Again, that BYE team can't be eliminated in Week 15, but that Week 15 score will be used moving forward as long as the team is alive.)

League Third-Place Team
The three reaming teams add their scores in Weeks 15 and 16 to their regular season scoring average, and the lowest-scoring team is eliminated, leaving two teams. The team that was eliminated after Week 16 is considered the third-place team and will receive a 1-year PRO Premium Footballguys.com subscription (value $47).

League Champion
The last two remaining teams then add their scores from Weeks 15, 16, and 17 to their regular season scoring average. The team with the most points is the league champion and wins the $1,500 league prize. The runner-up wins $600.

** All teams that aren't in the Championship Round will compete in Weeks 15-17 in the Consolation Round. The format of the Consolation Round is exactly the same as the Overall Championships, with points from Weeks 15, 16, and 17 being combined with each team's regular season average. Prizes will be awarded to the top five finishers.

** High Weekly Score: Footballguys will award $350 to the top scoring team each week from Weeks 1 through 17.

** Regular Season HIgh Score: Footballguys will award $2,500 to the top scoring team through Week 14 and will pay the Top 5 finishers cash prizes.

** Draft formats: 1 minute per pick every day for scheduled drafts, plus 2-hour and 6-hour slow drafts (NFFC does not offer slow drafts for its Primetime or Rotowire OC contests)

** KDS: Even though these are serpentine drafts, the Footballguys Championship is still offering KDS (Kentucky Derby System). That allows you to rank your draft preferences and the software will select your top preference when you are randomly picked. Not everyone wants the 1st pick or to be at the front of the draft order, so KDS allows you to rank your draft spot preferences so that you can possibly draft exactly from the spot you want. KDS can be found on League, League Home after you've signed up for a contest.


There's a lot to like here. A longer regular season than what some customers experienced before. League playoffs where all the money is awarded when there are no bye weeks. A points league playoff format rather than head-to-head, making it fairer for the best teams while still making a league title attainable to all four qualifying teams. Prizes for three teams in every league and a guaranteed grand prize of $350,000.

Our first draft of the season is set for Saturday at 10 pm ET and then we'll offer them every day after that. We'll start the first 2-hour or 6-hour draft 30 minutes after it sells out, so jump in now and be ready to compete for the $350,000 grand prize.

The debut Footballguys Championship is here!!! Let's go!!!

[packman527]

I am excited that the Footballguys Championship is coming to the NFFC platform. I really like the rules tweaks of having the league playoffs after the bye weeks, getting rid of the TE premium scoring while also adopting the NFFC 6pt passing TDs. I especially like the double flex rule, while also maintaining 3 WR (and ousting the K). That is going to create a lot of interesting roster builds.

The one thing I find a little weird is that the #4 seed team can win their league title while not even making the overall Championship Round playoffs. In that regard, it might have made more sense to just have 3 teams make the league playoffs, or allow all 4 league playoff teams to make the Championship Round (which I like less because there will be a lot of teams in the Championship Round, as is).

But regardless, this should be a great contest and addition to the NFFC. I hope it doesn't cannibalize any of your other contests. But like you said, there are a lot of Footballguys players that will come over to the NFFC now, so maybe it'll actually increase the other contests, as well.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I am excited that the Footballguys Championship is coming to the NFFC platform. I really like the rules tweaks of having the league playoffs after the bye weeks, getting rid of the TE premium scoring while also adopting the NFFC 6pt passing TDs. I especially like the double flex rule, while also maintaining 3 WR (and ousting the K). That is going to create a lot of interesting roster builds.

The one thing I find a little weird is that the #4 seed team can will their league title while not even making the overall Championship Round playoffs. In that regard, it might have made more sense to just have 3 teams make the league playoffs, or allow all 4 league playoff teams to make the Championship Round (which I like less because there will be a lot of teams in the Championship Round, as is).

But regardless, this should be a great contest and addition to the NFFC. I hope it doesn't cannibalize any of your other contests. But like you said, there are a lot of Footballguys players that will come over to the NFFC now, so maybe it'll actually increase the other contests, as well.

All good points Michael. Obviously the Footballguys Online Championship had 13 years of history on another site and Joe listened to his customers and players from that contest and made the scoring and playoff tweaks that those players requested. His hope is that a lot of those customers will like this format better and play this new contest. We hope that as well.

There have been contests that have used league playoffs to determine league prize winners all the way back to WCOFF and they have always allowed four teams into those playoffs. They wanted to continue that tradition, but without allowing that fourth place team to earn a spot in the Championship Round. As you said, if you allowed one-third of all teams into the Championship Round it could get too watered down. So there's an incentive here now to finish well in the regular season to get into the Championship Round for a shot at the $350,000 grand prize, while still giving more teams a shot at the $1,500 league prize. And having those league playoffs in Weeks 15-17 when there are no bye weeks is ingenious.

Yes, the risk is that we could split the players between our two Online Championship contests, but we believe that Joe has a loyal following of customers who should come here for the first time to play his contest. And in turn, we hope they play the Best Ball Championship, the Cutline Championship, the Primetime and even join us in Las Vegas for the live events. That's a loyal group of die-hard fantasy football players and we believe they will like what they see here. And as for the Rotowire Online Championship, our NFFC players like the fact that we reward the best teams after Week 14 without league playoffs (not to mention having Third Round Reversal), so I think that contest will continue to grow and be successful as well.

Enjoy both contests!!! Then everyone wins. Thanks and good luck.