2023 Subscriber Contest Rules

Quick Link to Enter Contest

In order to be eligible to win prizes in this contest, you must have an active annual subscription for the entire duration of the contest. I.e. from Sept 7 through the end of Week 17.

Legal Restrictions

Eligibility
The Contest is open to individuals who have reached legal age in their respective jurisdiction. Individuals who have not reached legal age in their respective jurisdiction can enter only with permission of a parent or legal guardian. Void where prohibited by law. Employees and immediate family members of Footballguys.com, its sponsors, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotional agencies are not eligible to win prizes.

The Footballguys Subscribers Contest is open to individuals who are 18 years of age or older and are legal residents in a jurisdiction in which the contest is permitted by law. Residents of Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Vermont, and Washington may play and have their places noted in the standings, but are not eligible to win any prizes. This game is open to legal residents of all other states of the United States, and provinces of Canada. Persons residing in any other jurisdictions may enter (unless this contest or entry into this contest is prohibited by applicable local law), but will not be eligible to win any prizes. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. In the event that a contestant who finishes in a prize-winning slot in the standings is not eligible to win prizes (as outlined above), the prize money for that slot in the standings will be donated to a food bank.

Game of Skill
The Contest is a game of skill. Winners are determined by the objective criteria set forth below. From all entries received, winners are determined by the individuals who use their skill and knowledge of relevant professional football information and fantasy football rules to accumulate the highest point totals during the Contest according to the official Contest rules.

Entry
The deadline to submit/edit your contest entry is 11:59pm (ET) Wednesday, September 6th.

Awarding of Prizes
No substitution or transfer of prize is permitted. All prizes are awarded "as is" and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, (including, without limitation, any implied warranty of merchantability for a particular purpose). All taxes associated with the receipt or use of any prize are the sole responsibility of the winner. A 30% U.S. income tax withholding will be applied to all non-U.S. prize winners. In the event that the awarding of any prizes to winners of the Contest is challenged by any legal authority, Footballguys.com reserves the right in its sole discretion to determine whether or not to award such prizes.

Notification
Winners are notified by email or regular mail within 14 days after the official results (and associated winners) are posted at the conclusion of the Contest. Winners are also posted on the Contest web site. Winners must return via email or regular mail an affidavit of eligibility and a liability/publicity release (unless prohibited by law) within 15 days following attempted notification. Failure to comply with this requirement can result in disqualification.

By accepting any prize, the winners grant permission to Footballguys.com to use their names and/or likenesses for publicity and promotional purposes without further compensation, unless prohibited by law, and agree to execute a written consent. In the event of dispute about the identity of any entrant, entries made online are declared made by the authorized account holder of the email address submitted at time of entry. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization that is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address. A potential winner can be required to provide the sponsors with proof that the potential winner is the authorized account holder of the email address associated with the winning entry.

Release
By participating in the Contest, you release and agree to hold harmless Footballguys.com, its sponsors, parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees and agencies from any liability whatsoever for any claims, costs, injuries, losses, or damages of any kind arising out of or in connection with the Contest or acceptance, possession, or use of any prize (including, without limitation, claims, costs, injuries and losses related to personal injuries, death, damage to or destruction of property, rights of publicity or privacy, defamation or portrayal in a false light, whether intentional or unintentional), whether under a theory of contract, tort (including negligence), warranty or other theory.

Disclaimer, Consent
Footballguys.com and any subsidiary or affiliate of any of the foregoing will not be responsible for: (a) any late, lost, garbled, misdirected, incomplete, or damaged entries; (b) any game disruptions, injuries, losses or damages caused by events beyond the control of Footballguys.com; or (c) any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the game. By entering the Game, the entrant grants Footballguys.com the right to use and publish the entrant's proper name, state or province of residence, score, and ranking online and in any other media in connection with the Contest, unless prohibited by law. In the event that the National Football League season is postponed, terminated early, or cancelled for any reason (such as a strike or lockout), Footballguys.com reserves the right to award prizes based on scores at the time the season is disrupted, or to cancel, modify or suspend the game at its discretion. Footballguys.com retains the right to change/ammend the rules at their discretion.

Internet/Technology Problems
If, for any reason, the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the control of Footballguys.com, which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this game, Footballguys.com reserves the right at their sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who violates these Legal Restrictions or the associated Official Rules referenced herein, tampers with the entry process, or engages in any conduct detrimental to Footballguys.com, the $35,000 Contest, or any other entrant (in each case as determined in Footballguys.com's sole discretion), to lock out any individual whose eligibility is in question, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this Contest at any time. Released Parties assume no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of entries. No responsibility is assumed for lost, late, misdirected, incomplete or garbled transmissions. None of the Released Parties are in any way responsible or liable for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer on-line systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail or entry to be received by Footballguys.com on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any Web site, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading of any materials in this Game. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY ANY PERSON TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE GAME IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, FOOTBALLGUYS.COM RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK FROM ANY SUCH PERSON DAMAGES AND ANY OTHER REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

OK. enough of the lawyer stuff...

Contest Rules

There will be no draft. A subscriber simply chooses a team from the pre-determined values. Roster selection can be changed until the deadline passes (11:59pm (ET) Wednesday, September 6th) at which point it will be frozen. No roster moves are permitted once the contest starts.

Each team will select at least 18 and no more than 30 players, consisting of quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, kickers and defenses. Each team must select at least 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 PK and 1 Def/ST.

Each selection has a different cap value, but all teams must remain at or under the $250 cap. Note: Even though the software should show you if you are within the cap, it is your responsibility to ensure you have a team that is valued at $250 or less. Teams that have spent more than the $250 will be disqualified in week 1.

Players not listed on the entry form are not available.

Each submission is tied in with your login so you can edit and tweak all the way until 11:59pm ET September 6th. Your last submission will be your final roster. Note that if your last submission is an illegal roster (over the cap, too many players, not enough players, etc), then you will not have an entry in the contest, even if you had previously submitted a legal entry.

There are multiple Williams, Jones, Brown's, etc in the league. Each player is identified by name, position and team on the entry form. Absolutely no consideration can be given after the fact to mistakes caused by name confusion.

Each week, your top QB, top 2 RBs, top 2 WRs, top TE, top 2 flex (either RB, WR, or TE), top PK and top Def/ST will count towards your weekly total. This is a best-ball style competition. You do not have to select who will play. You will automatically receive the maximum score based on your roster each week.

In weeks 1--14, this is a survivor style competition, with a fixed percentage of the field being cut each week:

Week 1: the lowest-scoring 10% of the field will be cut.
Week 2: the lowest-scoring 10% of the field will be cut.
Week 3: the lowest-scoring 10% of the field will be cut.
Week 4: the lowest-scoring 20% of the field will be cut.
Week 5: the lowest-scoring 20% of the field will be cut.
Week 6: the lowest-scoring 20% of the field will be cut.
Week 7: the lowest-scoring 20% of the field will be cut.
Week 8: the lowest-scoring 30% of the field will be cut.
Week 9: the lowest-scoring 30% of the field will be cut.
Week 10: the lowest-scoring 30% of the field will be cut.
Week 11: the lowest-scoring 30% of the field will be cut.
Week 12: the lowest-scoring 30% of the field will be cut.
Week 13: the lowest-scoring 40% of the field will be cut.
Week 14: the lowest-scoring 40% of the field will be cut.
Weeks 15--17: remaining participants qualify for prizes based on the sum of their scores in these three weeks (see below)

In weeks 1--14, the cut is based on scores from the current week only. Scores reset each week.

Specifically, the cut will be determined as in the following example. Suppose it is week 7 and there are 2,394 entries at the beginning of the week. Because the cut percentage is 20% for that week, 2394 will be multiplied by 0.80 and the resulting number, if not an integer, will be rounded UP to the next greatest integer. In this case, 2394 * 0.8 = 1915.2. We round up to 1916. The entry with the 1916th-highest score, and all entries with an equal or greater score, will move to the next round.

FBG staff members may enter the contest and will appear in the standings, but staff entries are not eligible to win prizes, are clearly marked as such in the standings, and are not counted in the total number of entries (2,394 in the example above) for the purposes of determining the elimination line.


Scoring

Player Scoring for QB, RB, WR, TE

  • Passing TDs = 6 points
  • Interceptions Thrown = -1 points
  • Rushing TD = 6 points
  • Receiving TD = 6 points
  • Passing Yardage = .05 points per yard
  • Rushing Yardage = .10 points per yard
  • Receiving Yardage = .10 points per yard
  • Receptions for RB = 0.5 points
  • Receptions for WR = 1.0 points
  • Receptions for TE = 1.5 points

In the event of a discrepancy among stat providers on any of the above statistics for any of the above positions, the nfl.com player page game logs will be deemed to be official. For players listed on the contest form as QB, RB, WR, or TE, no points will be awarded for any stats not listed above (e.g. return TDs, fumble recovery TDs, receptions for QB, two-point conversions, etc.). 

Kicker Scoring (PK)

  • Made FG = 3 points for FGs 30 yards and lower plus 0.1 points for every yard over 30.
    • Example: a 22-yard FG would be worth 3 points
    • Example: a 29-yard FG would be worth 3 points
    • Example: a 31-yard FG would be worth 3.1 points
    • Example: a 45-yard FG would be worth 4.5 points
  • PAT Made = 1 point
For players listed as PK on the contest form, no points will be awarded for anything other than field goals and PAT. In the event of a discprepancy among stat providers on field goal length, the "Scoring Summary" section of the nfl.com boxscore is deemed to be official. The nfl.com player page game log will be the official source for PAT.
 

Def/ST Scoring (Def/ST)

  • Sack = 1 point
  • Turnover by the opposing team = 2 points
  • Defensive/ST TD = 6 points 

For the purposes of clarity, we declare a Defensive/ST TD to be any TD that is not a rushing or a passing TD (This will very occasionally INCLUDE a fumble recovery TD by an offensive player, and it might theoretically EXCLUDE a passing or rushing TD that happens on a special teams play. So be it.) A Turnover is defined to be a fumble lost or an interception. For all of the above stats, we will refer to the nfl.com boxscore for the game (the team stats section). For entities listed on the contest form as Defenses, no points will be awarded for any stats other than those listed above.


If you believe there is an error in the scoring, please report it via the FBG help desk, and include as much detail and documentation as you can in your report.

Footballguys will make a good-faith effort to correct any scoring errors we become aware of, but all scoring for a given week is final and official at kickoff of the first game of the following week, unless a note on the standings page indicates otherwise.

In the event that any NFL games are cancelled, suspended, or otherwise rescheduled, Footballguys' resolution of the situation will be announced on the standings page, and will be guided, to the extent possible, by the following principles: (1) In weeks 1--14, the scoring for that week should be finalized before the first game of the following week; and (2) If it doesn't contradict the above, a game will be counted in whatever week the NFL counts it in.

Footballguys has discretion to make appropriate modifications to these rules during the contest if, in Footballguys' sole judgment, common sense and fairness require it. Decisions made by footballguys about rules modifications are final.


Prizes will be awarded as follows:

The contest participants who were not previously eliminated will be ordered, from highest to lowest, by the sum of their scores for weeks 15, 16, and 17.


1st place: $10,000 + a $5,000 donation in your name to a food bank in the city of your choice.
2nd place: $5,000
3rd place: $2,000
4th place: $1,000
5th place: $600
6th place: $300
7th place: $100
8th--225th* place: One year Footballguys PRO level Premium Subscription

* - if fewer than 225 participants remain after week 14, then prizes will be awarded to eliminated participants according to highest score in week 14. If prizes are still unawarded after that, then highest score in week 13, and so on.

One final bit of fine print about prizes: any legal entry submitted by a person who had an annual subscription at the time of entry will be a live entry in the contest, and will therefore potentially affect cut lines throughout the contest. At the end of the contest, we will verify that prize winners did indeed hold an annual subscription for the entire duration of the contest. If one of the prize winners did not, then that entry will be declared ineligible and all other eligible entries will move up a spot (e.g., if the 2nd-place finisher is ineligible, then the 3rd place finisher moves up to 2nd place, the 4th place finisher moves to 3rd, and so on).