Fantasy Football League Payout Calculator — Split the Prize Pool

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

Settle up without the group-chat math

When the season ends, open Settle up under the calculator. Mark who has paid their dues, enter the final places and who won each weekly high-score pot, and it lists the fewest payments that square everyone up, like “Team 4 → Team 5 $50”, with a summary you can paste into the league chat. The saving comes from skipping the middleman: a team that still owes $50 can pay a winner directly instead of paying the treasurer, who then pays the winner. It only does arithmetic. There are no payment links, and nothing leaves your browser. To share one link for the whole league, the league hub holds your name, settings and team names.

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 (the “Send to constitution” button fills in its payout article for you), 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.