Footballguys Players Championship

Here are some of my back of the napkin calculations for the Footballguys Player Championship (which I am playing in and starts 1 Aug 2010)

Footballguys Players Championship (cost to enter $350)

$77,200 in cash prizes overall
$102,500 in league prizes ($2,050 x 50 leagues-based on 600 teams signing up)
------------------------------------
$179,700

$2,250 30 x $75 3 year Subscriptions
$15,000 20 x $ Lifetime subscripions (estimated value 30 years x $25=$750
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$196,950 total paid out if 600 teams play

600 teams=50 leagues = 600 x $350=$210,000 in entry fees

Return on investment for a player

$196,950
------------=93.7%
$210,000

Pretty high considering many online games offered by the High Stakes Leagues are in the 80-88 percentile.

This assmes 600 teams play. Less than that and the ROI goes up. More than that and the FPC has a progressive prize structure. So cash prizes increase...for example if 1200 teams play, the grand prize goes to $75,000 ($129,350 overall cash prizes+$205,000 in league prizes)

Remember due to the carve out language of the 2006 Anti-gambling bill, fantasy sports contests are not considered gambling as long as awards and prizes are announced before the contest starts and are not based on the number of entries or the entrance fees. This places a large burden on the contest because they need to offer attractive prizes but if they do not get enough teams playing they could be underwater (paying out more than they take in or not covering expenses such as advertising, league management, staff salaries, etc)

In many instances this means a contest will announce a grand prize based on a certain number of entries but are then not obligated to increase the prizes based on more entries. They calculate their break even point on teams and then hope it is well over that number so they can make even more money. FPC has gone the extra mile in offering additional prizes for more entries...truly a gutsy move considering they are on the hook for the over $75,000 in overall prizes no matter how few teams sign up.

I wish them all the best and look forward to playing in the FPC a combined FootballGuys.com and FFPC contest.



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