Win $70,000 In The 2024 NFFC Cutline Championship

[Greg Ambrosius]

The NFFC Cutline Championship returns for a 12th straight season as the industry's only 10-team national championship with this type of survivor playoff format. The key is to do well during the 10-game regular season, survive a series of cuts during Weeks 11 through 16 and get to the "final table" of 12 survivors where the majority of the money resides!!

This year the grand prize is $70,000 in the NFFC Cutline Championship and prizes are based on 1,750 teams. This is a contest that topped 2,000 teams for many years, but last year we saw a dropoff in participation. As a result, we have lowered the grand prize, but we've also changed the Championship Round slightly so that more teams can advance during that time and hang in longer for a shot at Week 17.

NEW THIS YEAR: We still take the Top 2 teams from each league into the Week 11 Championship Round, along with the 3rd, 4th and 5th place teams into the Wild Card Tier. But in the past we allowed only the Top 25% of Championship Round teams to advance to Week 13, whereas this year we are allowing the Top 40% to advance to Week 13. We are also taking the Top 40% into Week 15 and the Top 40% into Week 16. That should keep more teams in the hunt for those 12 coveted spots at the "final table" in Week 17.

We hope you enjoy the change and let's get this contest back toward that 2,000 team range. The cost of entry continues to be $175 for a single entry, but take a look at the Special Packages and you can get that average team price closer to $150 with more teams. We'll again pay the first place team in each league $350 and the second place team $100.

Henry Muto of Geneva, Ohio won the 2023 NFFC Cutline Championship and that $75,000 grand prize, becoming our 11th different national champion in the 11-year history of this contest. Henry beat a field of 1,720 teams last year to win the grand prize as his team was consistently at the top of the standings all year long. When the final table of 12 owners was completed, Henry was standing at the top and holding the $75,000 grand prize.

The goal of this contest is to double your money during the regular season and then get hot in the playoffs to win that $70,000 grand prize. Five of the 10 teams advance to the playoffs and even if you're in the Wild Card Tier you always have a chance to jump back into the Championship Round and win the grand prize. It's a great format and there's no thrill than having a 1 in 12 chance of winning $70,000 while watching every play of the Week 17 games. So cool.

We love the added league prizes and we believe that this change will bring more players to the NFFC Cutline Championship and help us build the overall prize pool in future years. This may also help us grow the grand prize next year beyond the $100,000 level.

Once again this is optimal scoring through Week 10 of the regular season and the Top 2 teams in each league advance to the Championship Round in Week 11, while three other teams advance to the Wild Card Tier. All other teams are done for the season. The Championship Round and Wild Card Tiers then have two-week totals and "cuts" in Weeks 11-12, and Weeks 13-14. There are elimination "cuts" after Week 15 and Week 16 with the final Championship Round of 12 teams in Week 17. We do not play through Week 18 in any NFFC contest.

Here's the format again:

1. The regular season format: The drafting format is the same as past years: 10 teams, 26 rounds, serpentine draft. But the first 10 weeks of the regular season will be OPTIMAL SCORING. You don't have to set your starting lineup during the first 10 weeks of the season as the computer will pick your optimal scoring lineup. If you draft a good team, you won't have all of those starting lineup decisions with a deep, deep bench. The computer will score your best lineup each week and allow the best drafted teams to make it to the playoffs. Five of 10 teams will still qualify for the playoffs, with the top two teams in each league earning spots in the Championship Round and the three other teams earning spots in the Wild Card Tier.

2. Set Lineup Starts In Week 11: Once the playoffs begin, each owner will have to earn their money. Every owner with a playoff team must set their starting lineup starting in Week 11 and continuing through Week 17. The best drafted teams qualify for the playoffs and now each owner must make the right starting lineup decisions as the Cutline pares down the field after Weeks 11-12, Weeks 13-14, 15 and 16. And in the big money round of Week 17, every owner again is setting their starting lineup.

This format will allow owners to draft several Cutline teams and not have to worry about them until Week 11 when their best teams are battling for the money spots. And who wouldn't want total control in the big money rounds?

3. Cost of Entry: The cost of a single Cutline entry will now be $175, but we have several Special Package discounts that will bring that individual cost down. Now you can buy a 3-Pack of Cutline Championship teams for $475 ($50 discount), a 6-Pack for $925 ($125 off) or a 9-Pack for $1,375 ($200 off, average cost is $153 per team). You can also select TBD (To Be Determined) as your draft date for any of these teams and change them to different dates later on. To do that, just go to My Teams and to the left of any of these TBD teams is a gear icon. Click on that and change TBD to the date and time that you'd like to draft and hit Submit. It's all in your hands and very easy to use.

4. $70,000 grand prize.

5. 1-Hour, 2-Hour and 4-Hour Cutline Drafts. For the seventh straight year, we have 1-Hour, 2-Hour and 4-Hour Drafts to the Cutline Championship. This allows owners to not make their 26 picks all at once and to see all 260 picks through this slower format. At 4-6 rounds per day, we can easily see these ending in 5-8 days. Enjoy all.

This is a great entry level NFFC contest where one owner can turn $175 into a $350 league prize and a $70,000 grand prize. However, you need to finish in the top half of your league to have a shot at the big prize and you have to survive the "cutline" from Weeks 11 through 16. Best of luck to all.

Just an FYI: There will still be three FAAB periods and just one day of free agent pickups per period. With fewer free agent pickups, we believe this provides a much easier format to manage your teams. Even with an optimal scoring lineup format, the three FAAB periods will allow you to fine-tune that roster and set it up for the playoff run when you'll need to set your weekly starting lineups. FAAB is only on Friday nights for the NFFC Cutline on the Friday before Week 2, Week 6 and Week 10. Enjoy and good luck everyone.

Here's the Rules for 2024:

Official Rules and Regulations of the National Fantasy Football Cutline Championship

1. Overview
The National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) Cutline Championship is a national contest that consists of leagues comprised of 10 teams/managers. The NFFC Cutline Championship regular season will begin with all Week 1 NFL games (including results from the Thursday, Sept. 5th and Friday, Sept. 6th games) and through all Week 10 games. This is a total points contest -- no head-to-head matchups are required -- and the team with the most points after Week 10 wins the $350 league prize, with second place earning $150.

The top 2 teams from each league based on the criteria below qualify for the Championship bracket in Weeks 11-12 of the Cutline Championship:
1st - Most total points scored weeks 1-10
2nd - Second most points scored

Three other teams move to the Wild Card bracket for Weeks 11-12:
3rd - Most points among remaining teams
4th - Most points among remaining teams
5th - Most points among remaining teams

Round 1: Weeks 11-12 (scores combined for those 2 weeks + weekly scoring average from Weeks 1-10)

The top 40% scoring Championship bracket teams after Week 12 advance to Weeks 13-14 (top 140 teams if we had 400 Championship Round teams based on 2,000 total teams); all other teams from the Championship bracket move to the Wild Card bracket. The top 20 scoring Wild Card teams move up to the Championship bracket; the next 200 advance in the Wild Card bracket. All other teams in the Wild Card bracket are finished.

Round 2: Weeks 13-14 (take each team’s weekly scoring average from Weeks 1-10, plus weekly playoff scoring average, plus your score from Weeks 13-14). The top 40% scoring Championship bracket teams advance; all other teams move to the Wild Card bracket. The top 10 scoring Wild Card teams move up to the Championship bracket; the next 120 advance in the Wild Card bracket.

Round 3: Week 15 (take each team’s weekly scoring average from Weeks 1-10, plus weekly playoff scoring average, plus your score from Week 15). The top 40% scoring Championship bracket teams advance; all others move to the Wild Card bracket. The top 6 scoring Wild Card teams move up to the Championship bracket; the next 60 advance in the Wild Card bracket.

Round 4: Week 16 (take each team’s weekly scoring average from Weeks 1-10, plus weekly playoff scoring average, plus your score from Week 16). The top 11 scoring Championship bracket teams advance; all others move to the Wild Card bracket. The top scoring (1) Wild Card team moves up to the Championship bracket; the next 20 advance in the Wild Card bracket.

Final Round: Week 17 (take each team’s weekly scoring average from Weeks 1-10, plus weekly playoff scoring average, plus your score from Week 17). 12 teams compete in the Championship bracket and 75 teams compete in the Wild Card bracket.

PLEASE NOTE: In the event of a tie for teams to advance to the next round in either the Cutline Championship or Wildcard rounds, all tied scores at the cutline will advance. If, for example, 3 teams are tied for 93rd place in the standings, all 3 tied teams (for a total of 95 teams overall) will advance to the next round of the Championship.

2. Draft
All NFFC Cutline Championship drafts are held online at nffc.sportshubtech.com. Cost of entry is $175 per team.

Because of the various times of the Cutline Championship drafts, all players drafted AFTER the Thursday, Sept. 8th game has been played will still be factored into the Week 1 scoring. All leagues will be competing for the same overall prize pool.

3. Prizes
Place Overall League Consolation Round
1st $70,000 $350 $2,000
2nd $20,000 $100 $1,500
3rd $15,000 -- $1,300
4th $12,500 -- $1,200
5th $10,000 -- $1,000
6th $7,500 -- $900
7th $5,000 -- $800
8th $4,000 -- $700
9th $3,500 -- $650
10th $3,000 -- $600
11th $2,500 -- $500
12th $2,000 -- $400

League Prizes
First Place = $350 (most total points through Week 10)
Second Place = $100 (second most total points through Week 10)

4. No Trading
Trading is not allowed during the NFFC season and owners are not allowed to trade draft picks.

5. Roster Requirements
Maximum of 26 players at all times.

6. Starting Lineup Requirements
Starting lineups will consist of:

1 Quarterback
2 Running Backs
3 Wide Receivers
1 Tight End
1 Flex Player (RB, WR or TE)
1 Kicker
1 Team Defense/Specials Team
This is an optimal scoring lineup league for Weeks 1-10. Owners DO NOT have to set their starting lineup during the first 10 weeks of the season. Owners WILL have to set their starting lineups from Weeks 11 to 17 and if no lineup is set it will default to the previous week's lineup.

7. Scoring
Players can accumulate points in a number of ways:

PASSING
.05 points for every yard passing (works out to 1 point every 20 yards)
6 points for every passing touchdown
2 points for every 2-Point conversion
minus 2 points for every interception
minus 1 point for every lost fumble

RUSHING
.10 points for every yard rushing (works out to 1 point every 10 yards)
6 points for every rushing TD
2 points for every 2-Point conversion
minus 1 point for every lost fumble
6 points for a recovered offensive fumble for a touchdown (RB, QB, WR, TE)

RECEIVING
.10 points for every yard receiving (works out to 1 point every 10 yards)
6 points for every receiving TD
1 point for every reception for all players
2 points for every 2-Point conversion
minus 1 point for every lost fumble

KICKING
1 point for every extra point
3 points for every field goal from 1-30 yards
3 points for every field goal plus .10 points for every yard after 30 yards (i.e. a 47-yard field goal would be worth 4.7 points)

DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS
1 point for every sack
2 points for every interception or opponents' fumble recovery
6 points for every touchdown (interception return, defensive fumble return, punt or kickoff return, blocked field goal return, blocked punt return). All special teams and defensive points are awarded to the team responsible. Individual players who also score a TD on special teams will receive 6 points for their fantasy teams. Also, any lost fumble or “muff” on a specials team play now results in negative points for that individual player. Should a kicker, punter or field goal holder throw a pass off a fake attempt, however, the offensive output for that offensive play would go towards the individual player, not the specials team.

2 points for every safety
2 points for every touchdown scored on a failed PAT or 2-point conversion
12 points for a shutout by the entire team
8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team
4 points for allowing 8-12 points by the entire team
2 points for allowing 13-17 points by the entire team

8. Free Agent Acquisitions
Any player who is not on a team roster within your league is considered a free agent for that league. The free agent system will be a "blind bidding" process for each individual league (Free Agent Acquisition Bidding or FAAB), but will be held ONLY 3 TIMES DURING THE SEASON. FAAB will run on the Friday before Week 2, Week 6 and Week 10. Each team will start with a $1,000 FAAB budget, and will be permitted to bid for free agents three times per year. No team will be informed of any other team's free agent bids before they’re announced and only the winning bid and the runner-up bid will be announced afterwards to NFFC owners. The team with the highest bid on any given player will be awarded that player. The amount of the winning bid will be deducted from the winning team's free agent dollars. For each winning bid, the winning team must drop a player to make roster room for the free agent acquisition. If a team's free agent dollars goes to zero, that team will no longer be allowed to bid for the rest of the season. No bid will be accepted that is larger than a team's free agent dollars. All bids must be in increments of dollars (no cents). Free Agent bidding in the NFFC Cutline Championship ends in Week 10.

9. The Draft
All drafts will be held online at playnffc.com. The draft will be held in a serpentine fashion for all 26 rounds: 1-10 in Round 1, 10-1 in Round 2 and continuously that way for 26 rounds. There is no Third Round Reversal in the NFFC Cutline Championship and no KDS. Draft spots are randomly picked in the NFFC Cutline Championship.
A. League Management Web Address: SportsHub will manage the NFFC and provide real-time stats online. You can access your league via the Internet by going to http://playnffc.com.
B. Lineup Submission: There is no lineup submission during Weeks 1 through 10 as the computer will pick your optimal scoring lineup. There also is no head-to-head competition within the league as it is total points based. Starting in Week 11, all lineups may be submitted on the league web site and must be entered prior to the scheduled kickoff for the game affected.
C. Scoring: The National Fantasy Football Championship will use an optimal scoring lineup feature in Weeks 1-10 as the computer will pick your top scorers from each of the 10 required positions. In Weeks 11 through 17, each owner must set their own starting lineup. Scores in the NFFC are finalized with no changes possible after 6 p.m. EST each Thursday after the weekend games.

10. Bidding Time Frame
The NFFC Cutline Championship will have just one bidding period during each of the three FAAB bidding time frames. That will be on Friday of Week 2, Friday of Week 6 and Friday of Week 10. The FAAB period will run for all available free agents from that week on Friday at 10 pm ET. NFL players who played in the Thursday Night Game are eligible to be used that week if acquired in FAAB due to it being best ball during those weeks.

11. Conditional Bids
Conditional bids can also be offered. In the event you may lose out on a player, you can place conditional bid(s) for other players during the bidding time frame. The first conditional bid will become relevant only if you lose out on the first bid. Subsequent conditional bids will become relevant only if the previous conditional bid fails. Bids do not require conditional bids. Bids may have several sequential conditional bids, but the system processes them from highest dollar value to lowest dollar value.

12. Number of Bid Limits
There is no limit to the number of bids each week in which bids are permitted.

13. Tied Bids
If there is a tie bid, the team that receives the player will be determined in order by:

Lowest total points
Highest points against
Lowest draft spot

14. Trades between managers
To minimize the possibility of collusion, there will be no trading allowed. All drops are also subject to review by the commissioner of the NFFC and can be revoked if the dropped player is deemed too valuable to be offered to that league's free agent pool, thus damaging the credibility of the overall contest. In the case of a “star” player being dropped in a league for a valid reason, the NFFC commissioner does reserve the right to allow the cut but keep the player out of that league's free agent listing for any length of time, possibly the entire season. Accidental cuts or cuts of the wrong player will be handled individually by the NFFC commissioner and reversed if deemed necessary. All decisions by the NFFC commissioner will be final.

15. League Structure
Each league will consist of 10 teams competing in a total points format for the league championship. The top 2 teams advance to the Championship Round after Week 10, while the 3 other top teams move onto the Wild Card Round. Teams compete in the Championship and Wild Card Rounds in Weeks 11 and 12 to advance to Weeks 13-14. Each week during the playoff rounds of Weeks 15 to 17, teams will be eliminated from the Championship Round and Wild Card bracket through the Cutline process, while some teams from the Wild Card bracket will earn a spot into the Championship Round. The number of teams will eventually be pared down to 12 teams in the Championship Round by Week 17 with those teams competing for the top overall prizes.

16. Random League/Draft Spot Selections
The NFFC will automate leagues for each draft date as they come in and announce draft spots no more than 5 days before the scheduled draft dates. Leagues can actually fill the day of the draft and in that case draft spots will be emailed immediately after leagues are formed to all of the participants. All draft spots are randomly selected; there is no KDS or Third Round Reversal in the NFFC Cutline Championship.

If a league on one of the draft dates doesn't fill exactly with 10 teams, the NFFC has the right to cancel that league.

17. Tie-breaker procedures
If after 10 regular season games, teams are tied for first place in total points, the two teams will split the $350 league prize. Same with the second place $100 prize. There are no tie-breakers to determine the regular season champion.

In the post-season, should any teams finish in a tie for prize money, the money would be split among those teams. In the unlikely event that teams are tied with the exact same point total during the playoffs for the NFFC title, all prize money will be split among those teams.

18. Draft Rules
Time Limit: Each participant will have a 50-second time limit for each online pick. Should a player time out, the computer will pick the top player from that owner’s Que. If no players are in the Que, then the computer will pick the top player from the NFFC’s player default list. There are no breaks during online drafts.

Trading: There is no trading allowed during the NFFC season and all player cuts will be evaluated by the NFFC. Any player cut that will hurt the integrity of the league can be removed from that league’s free agent pool for good by the NFFC.

League Management: The league will be available via the Internet at http://playnffc.com. All lineups during Weeks 11-17 may be submitted on the league web site and must be entered prior to the scheduled kickoff for the game affected.

Thanksgiving/Saturday games: Any players you want to place in your starting lineup for early games like Thanksgiving or the Thursday Night Games in Weeks 11-17, must be entered online before the scheduled kickoff. Any player involved in those games that isn't in the starting lineup by the regular lineup deadline of Sunday morning, won't be available for those week's games.

19. Refunds
Once a participant submits valid payment, no money will be refunded unless the NFFC event for which such participant has registered has been canceled. A team spot is considered filled when the entire entry fee is paid. SportsHub reserves the right to cancel any entries which are not part of a full league. In addition, SportsHub retains the right to deny, at its sole discretion, eligibility of any individual to register for any NFFC game or event and/or participate in any NFFC game or event, even after the registration fee has been paid, but in such case, the entry fee will be refunded. Under no condition shall SportsHub be held responsible for any loss or liability related to any expenses incurred by a denied entrant or any person affiliated with that denied entrant. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, in the event that any participant or co-manager is banned from the NFFC as the result of any violation of the Official Rules, then no refund will be given.

20. Cancellation
At its sole discretion, SportsHub reserves the right to terminate any NFFC game, event or league at any time prior to the completion of the season due to any acts of God, natural disasters, terrorism, change in applicable law, interruption of the season (including strikes, lockouts and/or use of replacement players), or any other situation beyond the control of SportsHub. In the event of any such termination by SportsHub, all entry fees will be refunded, with the exception of any live event fees (if such live event has already occurred).

At its sole discretion, SportsHub reserves the right to terminate any NFFC game, event or league if there are an insufficient number of teams prior to the scheduled start of the league. In this unlikely event, SportsHub will refund all entry fees within 48 hours of cancellation notice and/or provide a new application form with the newly stated prize figures. In this situation, all pre-registered applicants have the right to a full refund or to agree to play for the newly announced prize structure. SportsHub is not responsible for any loss or liability incurred by any participant or co-managers due to cancellation of any NFFC game, event or league, including but not limited to travel or hotel expenses, time taken off from employment, etc.

21. Taxes
If the principal team owner's prize winnings are $600.00 or greater (or any other threshold subsequently established by the IRS), the National Fantasy Football Championship (“NFFC”) must file a Form 1099 with the IRS at the end of this calendar year. We will request your social security number and signature on this form. The form contains the amount paid to you minus your entire 2018 entries and you will receive a copy of the form for tax purposes. SportsHub pays the principal team owner of each NFFC team that was submitted on the entry form and you are responsible for paying any taxes that result from your cash prize; please consult your income tax advisor for filing advice. In the event that the awarding of any prizes to winners of the Contest is challenged by any legal authority, SportsHub reserves the right in its sole discretion to determine whether or not to award such prizes. After 12 months, any unclaimed prize will be forfeited.

22. Eligibility; Registration
The National Fantasy Football Championship is open to individuals who are at least 18 years of age (or the age of majority in your state of residence) and are a resident of the United States of America or Canada. Notwithstanding the foregoing, residents of Washington State, Louisiana, Montana, Arizona and Iowa are not eligible to register or play in the NFFC. All registrations must be in the full legal name of the primary team owner, though owners will have the option to add a co-manager(s).

23. Official Rules
Registration for, and continued participation in, the National Fantasy Football Championship constitutes your full and unconditional agreement to these official rules (“Official Rules”) and to SportsHub’s decisions relating thereto. SportsHub’s decisions in regards to these Official Rules and all matters pertaining to the National Fantasy Football Championship are final and binding.

24. Code of Conduct
All participants and co-managers are expected to behave in lawful, respectful and sportsman-like fashion at all live draft events, throughout the NFFC season, and during use of any NFFC website, including, but not limited to comments posted on any NFFC message board. Additionally the NFFC events, games and/or leagues may not be used for any form of gambling. Any conduct or message board post by a participant, co-manager or other person which is deemed by SportsHub, in its sole discretion, to be unlawful, or to have the effect of intimidating, harassing, offending or otherwise harming any other participant, co-manager, guest, or NFFC/SportsHub representative, is strictly prohibited. SportsHub reserves the right, in its sole discretion to ban any person from current and/or future participation in the NFFC and/or from use of the message boards if such person engages in any such prohibited conduct or is otherwise in violation of any of these Rules. In addition, any person engaging in such conduct forfeits any rights to a refund, as well as any potential rights to a prize award. SportsHub shall not be responsible or held liable to any person for damage to property or personal injury or death arising from the acts or omissions of any third parties. Any participants or co-managers who collude, or attempt to collude, or who attempts to blackmail, bribe or otherwise influence any representative of SportsHub/NFFC, or who otherwise attempts to sabotage the league, in an effort to alter the results or outcome of any NFFC game will be disqualified and will be prohibited from winning any prize award. If a participant is banned from participation in a current NFFC game, then SportsHub reserves the right, to take those actions which it sees fit, in its sole discretion with respect to such banned participant’s team. Any criminal behavior may be referred to the appropriate authorities.

25. Errors
The deadline for submitting any dispute or claim regarding the operation of any league draft is one hour after the conclusion of the draft itself; further, leaving any live draft event without submitting any dispute or claim regarding the draft constitutes your waiver of any right to challenge any aspect of the draft. You are strongly urged to double-check your lineups, trades, and free agent moves throughout the season, as SportsHub/NFFC will not be held liable for any errors in entering lineups, trades or free agent moves, and SportsHub/NFFC will not intervene or alter a transaction after lineups, trades or free agent moves are due.

26. Prize Splitting
Prize splitting amongst the principal registrant and co-managers is available, provided that the principal registrant has authorized payment to his co-managers in writing and in advance of the completion of the season. In order to authorize prize-splitting, the principal registrant must completely fill out and sign the authorization form designated by SportsHub (including the name and address of the co-manager(s) and the applicable prize percentage to be paid to each co-manager(s)). Both the principal registrant and each co-manager designated on a prize-splitting form will be required to fill out a W-9. No prize money will be distributed until all necessary forms have been received by SportsHub. Both the principal registrant and the co-manager(s) will receive IRS Form 1099 reflecting the prize money paid to each. If SportsHub deems, in its sole discretion, that the appropriate documentation and/or authorization has not been received, or has not been received in a timely fashion, then SportsHub will pay prize payments only to the principal registrant.

27. Communication and Access
All NFFC team owners must have internet access and a valid e-mail address for communication. SportsHub is not responsible for any issues which impede or interfere with the transmission or receipt of any transaction, including but not limited to, draft selections, trades, free agent moves and lineups. SportsHub is also not responsible for the failure of any telephone networks/lines, internet connections, software/hardware, or internet congestion/transmission rates.

28. Hold Harmless
Each participant and co-owner hereby releases and holds harmless SportsHub and its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents and representatives from and against any and all liability for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind to person (including death) and property, arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly from participation in any NFFC event, game or league, as well as acceptance or use of any prize award.

29. Player Eligibility
Players will be eligible at one position during the NFFC season and designated for that position before the season by SportsHub. Should a player move to another primary position before the start of the season, the NFFC reserves the right to give that player a second eligible position. No player will ever lose the eligibility originally designated by the NFFC, but a second position could be added if deemed necessary by the NFFC. All decisions made by the NFFC commissioner regarding eligibility are final.