NFL Week 1 DFS Tournament Preview
The daily fantasy sports industry has grown exponentially since this time last year when the thought of a million-dollar payday was reserved for live finals and established pros. Since then, we’ve seen several daily fantasy millionaires crowned across multiple sports, and tournaments continue to grow in size and stature by the day.
So it should come as no surprise that the Week 1 NFL schedule features some truly mind-boggling tournaments, which will hand out huge prizes across the board. Let’s take a look at some of the top contests for the first week of the NFL season.
On DraftKings, the season will open up with a $10 million tournament tabbed the “Millionaire Maker,” but unlike previous iterations of the “milly,” this one will award a seven-digit payday to the top two finishers. The 572,500 entry contest requires only $20 to enter, and will pay out $2 million to first and $1 million to second. With a maximum of 500 entries from the same player, no user will own even 0.1% of the lineups in play, meaning DK is banking on quite a large amount of unique users entering this field.
DK claims this is the biggest fantasy football contest of all time, and I certainly can’t recall any other fantasy football game that handed out eight digits in prizes.
DraftKings is also offering a $3 NFL GPP with a $100,000 first prize and a very top-heavy payout structure. Both of the big tournaments strongly favor the top finishers, so it’s going to require unique lineups and bold strategies to take home the top prizes in these events.
Not interested in big, multi-entry GPP contests? There will be a $100,000 single-entry tournament with a $3 entry fee that pays ten grand to the top spot, and a couple of huge double-up contests at $2 and $10 price points featuring 56,700 and 28,300 entries respectively.
This is just the beginning of DraftKings’ NFL offering, as there are sure to be qualifiers for various experiences and prizes along with whatever live events have yet to be announced.
| Tournament | Multi-Entry? | Total Entries | Entry Fee | Total Prizes | Top Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFL $10M Millionaire Maker | Yes | 572500 | $20 | $10,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| NFL $1M Play-Action | Yes | 383300 | $3 | $1,000,000 | $100,000 |
| NFL $300K Thunderdome | Yes | 60 | $5,300 | $300,000 | $100,000 |
| NFL Massive $10 Double Up | Yes | 28300 | $10 | $250,000 | $20 |
| NFL $100K Mini Play-Action | Yes | 38300 | $3 | $100,000 | $10,000 |
| NFL $25K Quarter Arcade | Yes | 117500 | $0 | $25,000 | $2,000 |
| NFL $100K Blind Side | 5725 | $20 | $100,000 | $10,000 | |
| NFL $100K Pylon | 38300 | $3 | $100,000 | $10,000 | |
| NFL Massive $50 Double Up | Yes | 3360 | $50 | $150,000 | $100 |
| NFL Massive $2 Double Up | Yes | 56700 | $2 | $100,000 | $4 |
| NFL Giants $2 Booster | Yes | 14300 | $2 | $25,000 | $20 |
On FanDuel, the “Sunday Million” returns from last season, but this time the “million” refers to the top prize, not the overall prize pool. The $5 million guaranteed tournament will feature 229,885 participants and will cost $25 to enter, with $1,000,000 to first and five-digit paydays for the top 17 finishers.
For one-fifth the entry fee, the “Rush” will offer a $5 shot at a $100,000 top prize, with an identical 229,885 entries battling for the cash. And for those looking for single entry tournaments, the $10, $5, $2, and $1 single entry tournaments all boast $100,000 prize pools.
There are also huge double-up contests to be found on FanDuel, with a 45454 seat $5 double-up and a 28409 seat $10 contest. And like DraftKings, we can expect some qualifiers for yet-to-be-announced live finals and possibly to future contests, as well as the possible return of survivor contests or other formats.
| Tournament | Multi-Entry? | Total Entries | Entry Fee | Total Prizes | Top Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1 Million Sun NFL Rush | Yes | 229885 | $5 | $1,000,000 | $100,000 |
| $5M NFL Sunday Million | Yes | 229885 | $25 | $5,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| $250K Sun NFL BIG Double Up ($10) | Yes | 28409 | $10 | $250,000 | $20 |
| $100K Sun NFL Squib | 114942 | $1 | $100,000 | $10,000 | |
| $100K Sun NFL Safety | 57471 | $2 | $100,000 | $8,000 | |
| $750K Sun NFL Kickoff | 86206 | $10 | $750,000 | $50,000 | |
| $200K Sun NFL BIG Double Up ($5) | Yes | 45454 | $5 | $200,000 | $10 |
| $30K Sun NFL BIG Double Up ($2) | Yes | 17045 | $2 | $30,000 | $4 |
| $100K Sun NFL Spike | 22988 | $5 | $100,000 | $10,000 | |
| $100K Sun NFL Scramble | 11494 | $10 | $100,000 | $10,000 | |
| $200K Sun NFL BIG Double Up ($25) | Yes | 9090 | $25 | $200,000 | $50 |