Jackpot! - Different Ways To Increase Your League's Prize Pool

Posted 8/4 by Colin Dowling, Exclusive to Footballguys.com

Many of you play in "money" leagues wherein various prizes and awards are handed out at season's end. Usually, the league winner, runner up, playoff qualifiers, and high-point team earn a few bucks as a result of their team's success.

However, sometimes standard payouts can become a bit of a bore, especially as the season wears on and it becomes evident to certain owners that the chance of them recouping their initial investment is rapidly disappearing.

As a result, it is sometimes necessary to find new and interesting ways to keep people involved in the league right up until the end of the season and the standard "Toilet Bowl" between non-playoff teams often isn't enough.

Here are a few ideas to consider for addition to your league. I've used all of them at one time or another and have found that not only do most teams remain interested, but the camaraderie, discussion and banter they generate can be just as entertaining as the standard scoring/award structures present in most leagues.

*Note: "A few dollars" means a small sum that everyone in the league agrees on. A buck, a twenty, whatever is good for you and your fellow owners.

WORST OWNER PENALTY- Each week, the owner with the greatest disparity between the points scored by the lineup he/she started and the points that could have been scored if he'd fielded his/her "best" lineup is required to add a few dollars to the league jackpot.

HARD LUCK AWARD - Any team that wins their game by a smaller margin then one touchdown (6 fantasy points in most leagues) has to pay a couple dollars in to an ongoing pot. At season's end, the team with the smallest average losing margin (i.e. only the margin in games that they lost) wins the Hard Luck Award and the corresponding side pot. We all know that sometimes you just get unlucky in certain weeks; this award helps soften the blow for owners that experienced close losses.

POSITIONAL PREDICTIONS - Prior to each game, each owner examines his/her opponent's squad and guesses whether the opponent's wide receivers or running backs will net a higher average point total. If he's right, there is no penalty. If he's wrong, he adds a couple dollars to the pot which can be applied to the league payout or the high-point payout. You'd think it would be easy to guess, but strange things happen every week, and you'd be surprised how much fun it is to watch a friend get riled up when a no name wide receiver has the game of his life the same week a star running back puts up a dud.

TEAM PREDICTIONS - Prior to a week's games, each owner chooses one NFL team and "owns" that offense for a week. No owner can select the same team. Selection order can be determined by random draw or waiver order, etc. The owner who chooses the team that scores the fewest offensive points that week in their NFL game adds a few dollars to the league jackpot.

HEDGE THE BET - Prior to a week's game, each owner examines his opponent's roster and selects one player from that roster. If the selected player outscores all the players at the same position on the owner's own team, the original owner puts a few dollars in the pot. For example, my opponent has Adrian Peterson, who I choose as my "Hedge" player. That week, Peterson blows up and outscores all of my running backs by himself. My opponent is forced to put a few dollars in the pot as 'punishment' for benefiting from such a great performance at my expense.

Some of these take some time to manage. Some may seem silly or pointless to you or something that wouldn't interest your leaguemates. No harm in that. But I know some folks have leagues of fantasy die-hards and longtime friends who are always looking for different ways to consume the great game of football together. If that's you and your league, give one or two of these a try. They can add some fun and make the jackpot a bit more full at season's end.