FantasyPros Championship drafts and NFL Week One Opening Game on Thursday:
FantasyPros Championship drafts are scheduled before and after Week One Opening Game on Thursday. All teams, whether drafting before or after NFL Week One opening game on Thursday, will be able to submit and edit their starting lineup after Thursday’s game, including start/bench players which played in Thursday’s and Friday's game. To confirm, all FantasyPros Championship teams will have the same choice on whether to start or sit Thursday and Friday players retroactively after they have watched that game. Fantasy stats for Thursday’s and Friday's players will count towards Week One scores if they are placed in the starting lineup. This is exclusive to Week One. Starting in Week Two, players must be inserted into the starting lineup prior to the start of their games. For more information about this rule, please email support@myffpc.com.
The FPC Lineup & Scoring Explained
QB – Start 1 – Score 4 points per TD. We prefer the single QB format, and believe that 4 points per touchdown is a fair value for QB contribution. The passing yardage and other scoring opportunities for QBs permit them to score enough points to be a valuable position on the starting roster.
RBs – Start 2 – Score 6 points per TD and 1 Point Per Reception. Having played in many PPR leagues, our experience is that scoring 1 point per reception is a fair method. It gives lesser RBs real value on a weekly basis. The 1/2 point per reception rule, offered in some formats, is not suitable in a 12-team format and makes a RB less valuable than a WR or TE.
WRs – Start 2 – Score 6 Points per TD and 1 Point Per Reception. Having played various other high stakes events, we as players just like this scoring format, and feel it's the best way to allocate points for WRs.
TEs – Start 1 – Score 6 Points Per TD and 1.5 Points Per Reception. This is where the FantasyPros Championship breaks from the crowd in a big way, and there are multiple reasons. Having the option of selecting high scoring TEs gives owners more lineup flexibility and adds to draft strategy. Tight ends may be drafted early and often by some drafters and ignored by others. NFL teams have made the tight end more of an offensive weapon in recent years and the FPC has emulated that trend with its Tight End scoring. The 1.5 PPR rule also has bearing on the Dual-Flex option as explained below.
Ks & Ds – start 1 of each.
Flex Position – Start 2 – The FPC Dual-Flex. Fantasy owners can choose the Flex from the TE/WR/RB positions. With 6 Points Per TD, 1-Point per Reception (1.5 for TE), fantasy owners have many more lineups choices and decisions using this versatile format. There are 6 different lineup combinations which can be utilized with the Dual-Flex:
- (2RB, 4WR, 1TE)
- (2RB, 3WR, 2TE)
- (2RB, 2WR, 3TE)
- (3RB, 2WR, 2TE)
- (3RB, 3WR, 1TE)
- (4RB, 2WR, 1TE)
With a single Flex position, a fantasy owner is limited to only 3 lineup choices vs. 6 choices in the FPC. The elevated tight end scoring makes all 6 lineup options viable for fantasy owners. Teams with strong running backs, wide receivers and/or tight ends are permitted to field the lineup they want. A fourth running back or a third quality tight end is a viable option. Bye weeks become manageable and permit additional lineup choices due to starting lineup flexibility. Fantasy owners can manage their lineup decisions and can "play to their team strength". The Dual-Flex option even aids in free agent bidding strategy, whereas teams with three strong starting RBs can continue to try and solidify that position and pick up another RB, due to the ability to start all four.
'Action' Scoring – All offensive players will receive points if they score a TD, whether by punt/kickoff return, playing defense, from a fumble recovery, etc. We feel it is fair to reward the fantasy owner that has that player. If your player scores a TD, you get the points!
The FPC Rules and Format Explained:
Number of entries in the FPC – Starting in 2014, in order to be in full compliance with the federal law known as the UIGEA and multiple state laws which governs fantasy sports, we have been placing a "hard cap" on total number of entries in the FantasyPros Championship. When the FPC announces a guaranteed prize structure, we must stick to that number. Changing prize structure, even upward, is not legal. Since it is never possible to truly project participation, our hard cap numbers may be higher than what we actually project for final entries. The hard cap for the 2024 contest will be 20,004 teams. If the contest finishes under the cap number, participants still get the benefit of the larger guaranteed prize pool. If the contests reaches the cap, registrations close immediately. The announced prize structure is guaranteed regardless of final amount of entries.
3 Parts to the FPC season – the FPC format was created to form 3 distinct and separate parts of the overall season. Teams have an opportunity to win prizes for succeeding in each of the three:
Part 1 – Regular season Weeks 1-12
Part 2 – League Playoffs Weeks 13 & 14
Part 3 – Championship Round and Consolation Round Weeks 15-17
12-Week Regular Season – 12 Weeks may be considered a short regular season by some but is necessary to create a perfectly balanced schedule in the FPC tournament. The 12-week regular season allows for League Playoffs to run in Weeks 13-14 and the Championship Round to run in Weeks 15-17. Since this is a H2H format, it only makes sense that all teams play each other one time during the season. Therefore, creating a format to extend the 12 week season while maintaining H2H balance is short of impossible. In order to counteract this potential issue of the short regular season, we at FPC have chosen to allow 4 teams make the League Playoffs. 33% of each league make the playoffs and each of these 4 teams will have an opportunity to win their League Championship as well as advance to the Championship Round. As each of the past FPC seasons have shown, this format creates an exciting finish and keeps more teams in the playoff hunt late into the regular season. Amazingly, in some leagues, as many as 10 teams were mathematically alive heading into the final week of the regular season (week 12)!
Week 6 All Play - The FantasyPros Championship consists of 12 regular season weeks. Each team plays every team in the league one time during the regular season. Week 6 is an all play week. This means that there are no H2H matchups in Week 6, rather it is a full league total points battle. The top six scorers get a Win and the bottom six scorers get a Loss. Any team(s) tied for sixth most points scored in week 6 is awarded a Win.
Seeds #1 and #2 Automatically Advance to the Championship Round – What is the dream goal of each participant in the FantasyPros Players Championship? To win the $1,000,000 Grand Prize, of course! But in order to compete for the big money, you have to make sure your team qualifies into the Championship Round in Weeks 15-17. As reward for top performance over the 12 week regular season, the #1 and #2 seed from each league will receive their ticket to the big dance by being automatically placed into the Championship Round. These top 2 seeds will advance regardless of the outcome of their league playoff games.
4-Teams in Head to Head League Playoff – The 2-week H2H League Playoff in Weeks 13 & 14 has a number of desirable attributes:
- – It extends the season for more teams, with 33% of teams making the league playoffs.
- – Head-to-Head playoffs most closely resemble the NFL football playoffs.
- – Most importantly, Head-to-Head playoffs are the most exciting way to play fantasy football. The two week playoff is the culmination of the regular season, and provide for the desired climatic conclusion. The FPC has chosen this method of determining the League Champion vs. other less compelling formats. In this format, we have also created a way for the 3 or 4 Seed team to advance to the Championship Round by winning their League Playoff – another rule unique to the FPC. The top 2 seeds are already rewarded with automatic inclusion into the Championship round.
- – The 4 league playoff teams will play for the following prizes:
1st three prize options available —> | — $1,500 Cash + Custom award medal for each league champion |
| 2nd | $500 |
Week 13/14 – NFL Teams on BYE (TBD) – The NFL threw us a curve back in 2013 by scheduling bye weeks late into the regular season. In 2020, there were two teams on bye in Week 13. These two teams on bye in Week 13 were the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While having players on bye in the playoffs is unusual and may seem problematic on the surface, since this is a known fact to all FFPC owners prior to the draft, it does not put any owner at a disadvantage and is fair to all. Owners ultimately will make the decision to draft or not draft players from the bye week teams. This now adds a new wrinkle to player evaluation and draft strategy for the FPC owners.
Extended Waivers for League Playoff Teams – The 4 qualifying League Playoff teams can continue to pickup players during Weeks 13 and 14. This represents a needed upgrade compared to other formats. The FPC League Playoffs and Championship Round run for five weeks. Due to this, we felt that an additional two weeks of waivers is vital for efficient roster management. This can lead to increased strategy decisions. Free Agency money has increased value for playoff teams. Do you "go for it" if you are close? Or save your FA dollars if you make the League Playoff weeks? You decide, not the schedule; and that's part of the challenge – and flexibility – of the FPC in-season team management.
League Playoff Teams Compete in Smaller-sized Consolation Round – The 3rd and 4th seed in the League Playoffs not only have a chance to win their league and make the Championship Round, but also get their own Consolation Round, if they do not. A minimum of 1 and a maximum of 2 teams per league will be placed in this Consolation Round so there will be less teams to beat should your team get hot in weeks 15-17. All other teams are placed in the Toilet Bowl.
Blind Bid Waiver Wire, with Conditional Bidding Groups – The free agent blind bidding process is the only means by which free agents may be acquired in the FPC. There are no other ways to acquire free agents like 'worst-to-first' and 'first-come-first-served' or any other waiver methods other than blind bidding as described here and in the official rules. Each team will be given $1000 blind bidding "dollars" (not real money, just bidding dollars) to be used for the entire season. There are two (2) weekly free agencies on Wednesday & Sunday. Wednesday's cutoff is at 10 PM ET and Sunday's cutoff is at 10 AM ET. NFL players whose teams played on Thursday may be dropped from FFPC rosters on Sunday as long as they were not in that team's Thursday's starting lineup. IMPORTANT: once these bidding dollars are used up, you will no longer have the ability to pick up free agents. Bids will remain hidden from the rest of the league until after all the winning bids have been awarded. Free agent players will be awarded to the team with the highest bid for that free agent, and the winning bid amount will be deducted from that team's free agent dollars. Besides the winning bid, all other bids for that free agent are considered losing bids and are cancelled. At this point, the highest remaining bid by any team for any remaining free agent will be considered.
The team with this winning bid will be awarded the free agent and all losing bids for that free agent will be cancelled. This process will continue until every remaining bid has been considered. The FPC has extended the free agent time period (for playoff teams) beyond the 12-week regular season into weeks 13 and 14. All teams NOT qualifying into the League Playoffs will have their rosters locked at the end of Week 12 and will no longer have the ability to make free agent moves. There are no free agent moves for any teams in Weeks 15-17.
Two (2) ‘pre-season’ free agency processes: The first is scheduled for Wednesday, September 4 at 10 PM ET for any FPC league which draft concludes prior to this Wednesday. The second is scheduled on the following Sunday, September 8 at 10 AM ET for any FPC league which draft concludes prior to this Sunday.
