Establish Prizes - Starting a Fantasy Football League (Part 9)

In Part 8 of this article series, we discussed the most pivotal part of the fantasy season: the fantasy football draft. In this article, we'll cover the benefits of awarding yearly fantasy football prizes. The privilege of talking smack is rewarding in itself, but awarding one or more prizes each year adds a great touch to any fantasy league.

Every fantasy football league should have some type of prizes reserved for the most successful teams. League awards are great because they give each team something tangible to play for, which in turn encourages participation throughout the fantasy season. Awards could be monetary, a trophy of some sort, or even a Championship ring. Some leagues choose to only give an award to the league champion, others award both the league champion and any playoff teams, and some even award weekly prizes to the team with the highest point output. Even if the awards are minimal, the idea is that you give everyone something desirable to play for.

Prize Recipients

• League Champion - All fantasy football leagues should, at the very least, award the league champion for his dominance. If you collect league entry fees, then the champion should be awarded the lion’s share of the pot. If you don’t collect entry fees, you should seriously consider taking up a collection for a fantasy football league trophy that can be passed around from year to year. These days you can get a quality trophy for a reasonable price which can record league champions for many years to come. The cost of a quality fantasy trophy is negligible when split among 12 teams.
• Playoff Teams - An alternative to awarding only the league champion is to award all teams that make the playoffs. While the payout to these owners is generally small compared to the champion’s prize, it’s nice to award each playoff team with a prize that will at least cover the cost of their entry-fee. This becomes more costly as the size of your playoff bracket grows, and is more applicable to 4-team than 6-team playoff configurations.
• Weekly High Scorer - If your league entry fee is substantial ($100 or more) then you should consider awarding a small cash prize to the owner with the highest point total each week. Awarding a weekly prize encourages league participation because teams will always have an incentive to improve their team and start their best players, even when they have already been eliminated from the playoffs. In leagues without weekly prizes, one of the biggest problems stems from owners who stop actively participating once they are eliminated from the playoffs. This sometimes leads to a situation where a team they’re playing gets an easy win toward the end of the season when everyone is vying for playoff position. No teams, especially those fighting for a playoff spot, want to see other teams get an easy win because of the lack of participation from another team. By having a weekly prize, you’re encouraging everyone to stay active and give their best effort throughout the entire fantasy season because there is always something to play for.

Loser Prizes

• League Chumpion – If you want to add a comedic touch to your league, you could choose to crown a yearly league ‘chumpion’. The ‘chumpion‘ is a concept that I use in my fantasy league to encourage league participation through the entire fantasy season, even the playoffs. While the top teams are competing in one bracket for the league championship, I also configure a loser’s bracket (the chumpionship bracket) for the remaining teams. The winner of this loser’s bracket is anointed the league ‘chumpion’ and is awarded the first choice of draft position in the following year’s draft. It’s a great system because it makes every game count and extends the fantasy season for even the worst teams. Our league chumpion gets to hold onto the ‘Chumpionship’ trophy for a year and gets his team’s name engraved on one of the name plates adorning the trophy.
• Worst Team – It’s a fact that every year some team will finish dead last. If it isn’t demoralizing enough to finish last, pour it on a bit by awarding an embarrassing trophy to this team. I wouldn’t go as far as purchasing an expensive trophy with engraving plates for this honor; a simple ballerina or toilet paper trophy will do. And of course, part of the league rules should state that this trophy must be displayed in open-view for all to see until the trophy is passed-on.