League Prizes vs, Grand Prize

brad_brown · Post by **brad_brown** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:21 am

I think Jersey is just saying that you will attract a wider array of players if they feel like they can win a large amount of cash by defeating 14 teams (their league) instead of defeating 14 teams and then having to get downright lucky for 4 weeks in the playoffs.

I see his point. I would be happier with a 1 in 14 chance of winning $10,000 or $15,000 (hypothetical numbers) for beating the 14 teams in my league rather than getting only $5,000 and then having to be very lucky to win a $250,000 grand prize.

I don't know about you guys but $100,000 or $250,000 wouldn't make a big difference because only one person gets that. Increasing league payouts ($10,000 for 1st, $5,000 for 2nd, $2,000 for third???) would make a big difference because it will effect a greater percentage of the player base.

JerseyPaul · Post by **JerseyPaul** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:39 am

Brad, those numbers would be nice, but $1,250 times 14 is only $17,500. Let's assume an 80% payback. We then have about $14,000 available for prizes. If we put $10,000 into league prizes we would have something like:

1st $6500
2nd 2500
3rd 1000

With say 45 leagues we would still have enough for a grand prize of $180,000.

If the payout percent is less or the number of leagues is less, I'd like to see the grand prize lowered.

For example, with 30 leagues (which clearly is possible), the grand prize could be $120,000 at 80% or close to $100,000 at 75%.

I think league 2nd deserves to double his money and I would prefer league 3rd to get $1,250. You shouldn't be a "loser" if you come in 3rd out of 14 but $1000 is close enough.

Route Collectors · Post by **Route Collectors** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 9:17 am

I like your thought process JP. If a prize fund could be structured to give more people a shot at some cash, without compromising a big pay out as Vega$ mentioned, it might draw more players. I think Greg/Tom had this in mind already but had to scale back a bit due to total entries.

Maybe they would consider modifications along this line if we can fill up next year.

Greg/Tom - thoughts?

JP, thanks for the editing tip. Maybe by seasons end I'll be able to navigate these features. I'm still not real good at posting quotes in bold.
Just refer to me as the MB moron

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 9:22 am

I don't know if Greg has a definitive idea what we would do when we begin to grow this event. Would we increase the grand prize or leave that as a constant and improve the league payouts? Honestly, there are merits to both in my opinion. That's why a thread such as this is something Greg and I will both be interested in, to see what you guys think. I do know that when we reduced the overall grand prize there was only one, maybe two people who were so adamant about playing for $200,000 they dropped out of the event. Everyone else without hesitation said they were in favor of reducing the grand prize as long as the league prizes remained intact. So that would seem to tell me there's more of an emphasis being placed on the league prizes by those who enter. Whether that would remain the case with new people we sign up next year remains to be seen.

Like I said, I can see the merits to both and I think this is something we'll continue to reach out to you guys about so we can get your thoughts and ideas as we go forward.

lichtman · Post by **lichtman** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 9:38 am

I would increase the league prizes before worrying about the overall prize.

To me, the overall prize is an abstraction. As long as it is a "big" number -- and I think $100k is a sufficiently big number, I am pretty indifferent to what the actual number is. Based on Tom's comment above, it seems like a lot of people agree.

Dyv · Post by **Dyv** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:14 pm

It could be easily solved if Greg would work a little more instead of jetting off to Arizona... sheesh! Tom, get Greg to find a major name sponsor to kick in $50,000 to the prize pool and then everything described can be accomplished.

Personally, I want higher league money. I think the 'title' of National Fantasy Football Champion + $100k is enough. Is someone really going to be upset with that?

Dyv

lumpy463 · Post by **lumpy463** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 3:51 am

If I read this post right, it deals with paying the present 1st,2nd,3rd place teams in each league more money. I do not see a move to reward 4th or 5th place teams. I would be oppse to more League teams getting a prize! If so, I believe that 1st prize is ok, 2nd should be double entry fee, third should be entry fee.

Any other increase should be to the overall prize contestants. Still gets more money to first and second in each league if they do well agianst everybody. This probably needs to be done by paying more people.

This year, 32 of the original 224 people will contend for the title.
24 of them will only have their league share.
To me 50% of the finalist should get something additional. If any increase is made instead of in the 100k, this is where I would suggest it go.

My two cents.

Derek "Lumpy" Anderson

skipman · Post by **skipman** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 2:06 pm

Originally posted by JerseyPaul:
Brad, those numbers would be nice, but $1,250 times 14 is only $17,500. Let's assume an 80% payback. We then have about $14,000 available for prizes. If we put $10,000 into league prizes we would have something like:

1st $6500
2nd 2500
3rd 1000

With say 45 leagues we would still have enough for a grand prize of $180,000.

If the payout percent is less or the number of leagues is less, I'd like to see the grand prize lowered.

For example, with 30 leagues (which clearly is possible), the grand prize could be $120,000 at 80% or close to $100,000 at 75%.

I think league 2nd deserves to double his money and I would prefer league 3rd to get $1,250. You shouldn't be a "loser" if you come in 3rd out of 14 but $1000 is close enough.

khandy29 · Post by **khandy29** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 3:30 am

I also agree with higher league payouts versus grand prize payouts just for the fact that league prizes are much more easily attainable and from a business standpoint the more people that think they can win a piece of the pie the greater the appeal.

renman · Post by **renman** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 4:53 am

i for one would lean towards trying to make the LEAGUE prizes higher. making the OVERALL prize 150,000 instead of 250,000 still "crowns" the overall champion and i am sure everyone prior to the season would sign up for a 150,000 prize and be very happy if they knew it was to be theirs.

i think we might be able to draw more players if they feel they can make a legit profit/score competing within their own league. it is hard to look at teams in other leagues and trying to compete against them. i think i saw some people make threads analyzing which leagues were more challenging to draft in.

making competing against those in your specific league more profitable can be fun, and if you happen to strike lightening and catch the right mix of great draft and good fortune and end up with a team that wins the overall championship, then so be it. this is one way (aside from great customer service and regional drafts) that nffc could stand apart from the other event.

i used to bowl competitively for a living. and i have bowled in MANY "topheavy" events where the top spot paid a ton, but 80+% of the field went home making nothing. if you add league prizes or weekly prizes (cash) that send home more people with a good taste in their mouth i think you can grow entries.

the overall top prize is still going to be huge whether it be 150,000 or 200,000... and regardless of what that person wins in terms of cash he is still the "overall champion".... that would not be diminished