Fantasy Football League Payout Calculator — Split the Prize Pool
Teams times entry fee, minus side pots, split by place — computed in whole cents so the sheet reconciles to the penny. Copy the link, drop it in the league chat, and never argue about the money again.
League Payout Calculator
Pool the entry fees, carve out the side pots, and split what's left — to the exact cent.
No side pots yet — weekly high-score pots keep eliminated teams setting lineups.
How it works
The model is three lines of arithmetic, done in integer cents so nothing ever drifts:
pool = teams × entry fee → main pool = pool − side pots →
each place = main pool × its %
The only subtle part is rounding. Percentages of a pool rarely land on whole cents, so this calculator gives every place the floor of its share and hands the leftover cents — always between 0 and one cent per place — to 1st. That's the largest-remainder method simplified to "remainder to the champ," and it guarantees the payouts sum to the main pool exactly. The "collected / paid out" row at the bottom of the sheet is always equal for that reason — it's the trust signal that no dollar leaked.
Worked example: 12 teams × $50 = $600. A weekly high-score pot of 14 × $5 takes $70 off the top, leaving a $530 main pool. At 60/30/10 that's $318 / $159 / $53 — and $70 + $318 + $159 + $53 = $600, to the cent.
Top-heavy or flat? The commissioner's real decision
A payout structure is an incentive design problem. Top-heavy splits (winner-take-all, 70/20/10) make every playoff game feel enormous — but once a team falls out of contention in week 8, it has nothing left to play for, and dead rosters wreck playoff seeding for everyone else. Flat splits (50/30/20, or paying four places in big leagues) keep more managers mathematically alive into December — which is exactly what gets everyone to pay their dues again next year. Most healthy leagues land in the middle: 60/30/10 pays three places real money while still making the title worth chasing.
Weekly high-score pots are the anti-tanking device. A 2–9 team with no playoff hopes still sets a real lineup in week 12 if the week's top score is worth $5 — it's the cheapest integrity insurance a commissioner can buy, and it comes out of the pool before the split so the math above still reconciles.
Sample structures by league type
| League | Split | Side pots |
|---|---|---|
| Casual 10–12 team, $25–$50 buy-in | 60 / 30 / 10 | Weekly high score ($5/wk) |
| Competitive money league, $100+ | 50 / 30 / 20 | Points leader + best record |
| Big league, 14–16 teams | 50 / 25 / 15 / 10 (custom) | Weekly high score |
| Degenerate rivalry league | Winner take all | None — glory or nothing |
Make it official
A payout structure only prevents arguments if it's written down before week 1. Put the split and the dues deadline in your league constitution with the league constitution generator, print the payout sheet below, and pin both in the league chat — and while you're legislating, decide what last place owes with the punishment wheel. Last place pays… something. That's commissioner law.
Commish life is hard — let Chalk & Sharp settle the rest of your league arguments.
The money's split. Now bring the trade vetoes, the start/sit gripes, and the "is this collusion?" debates to the AI — it'll give you both sides of every argument.
See how Chalk & Sharp would call it