NFL FORUM

Hi all,

We wanted to let you know of some CFL (Canadian Football League) DraftGroup changes we’re going to be making to start this season.

• We intend to offer Showdown contests exclusively on days where there is only one game
• We intend to offer Classic contests exclusively on days where there is more than one game

There are a few reasons for this change but all of them aim to encourage more users to enter CFL contests. In emerging sports like CFL, we’ve seen an increase in adoption by offering Showdown contests.

Overall, the team believes this will help us to post larger and more attractive contests, which hopefully means bringing more new players into the sport.

- Steven and Christie, DraftKings Community Team

To be 100% honest, I am way better off driving 60 minutes to place bets legally on CFL. If i want CFL action and want to put in time. Now granted DK will be getting in the space in due time, but the SHOWDOWN product to me right now is just a pure crap shoot.

I haven’t had a chance to sit down and review pricing. If the scenario you laid out happens often (it likely will) then you’ll probably see me disappear from CFL. It’s going to almost entirely depend how well they manage pricing. If they only leave a couple viable routes the slates will be unplayable.

I will say that unlike most serious (if you could even call me that) DFS players I actually enjoy going full degen on a one-game slate that is nationally televised on ESPN. There is a segment of DK customers that enjoy one game slates because you can watch the game live and know exactly where you stand. That said, those contests are a double-edged sword. When min-priced DeVier Posey catches a 30-yard TD you are done it you don’t have him.

For now, I’ll withhold judgement on CFL Showdown until I try it out for a week or two. My suspicion is my continued interest will be entirely driven by how much effort DK puts into the product. When they stop caring, usually so do I.

I didn’t take this as lecturing, I always look at their posts as more ‘educating’ us.

When they first reached out and stated their interest in expanding their presence on the forums, I for one, was very excited as we finally hear from them. I just think ‘lecturing’ is a strong word and wonder if others felt the same way as you?

A 297 entry $4 contest for opening weekend? Wow, just wow.

I feels bad that there is a thread full of high volume CFL players and no one was contacted for input on how to make the sport more appealing or what aspects were working — and then for a “community manager” to come in and tell us “we know what players want”.

We know how the CFL contests went last season, we know what the entry volume and prize pools were. It’s a cyclical thing. DK is saying that there wasn’t interest so thats why prizes shrink. But when the $4 main GPP would fill before lock, we got either the same or reduced prize pools the next week. Are people losing interest because the prize pools shrink or are the prize pools shrinking because people are losing interest?

There are plenty of things DK could do to make the game more friendly for new players — from providing DK Playbook content, better pricing, switching to team QB or team RB to deal with depth chart issues, different GPP structure ($27 vs $8), to superflex rosters. But instead they threw their hands up and said let’s just milk rake on crap-shoot Showdown format.

I agree with all of this. I am not a high volume player, but I maxed the 20 entry maxes last year each week until it just got to the point where it did not make sense. The contests regularly filled before lock, not saying days in advance, but before lock. The week following, it would be smaller. I can understand that somewhat when the NFL starts, but there are somewhere between 8-10 weeks before that happens. Instead of growing these contests, they just shove the Showdown format at us.

Just very frustrated that in the opening week, something I have been looking forward to and preparing for now for a few months, I get a sub 300 entry 7 entry max $4 tournament if I want to play 4 games. Maybe they will do the right thing and do a bigger one for the remaining three games or week 2, but I am not holding my breath.

Really disappointed in this. I’m a diehard CFL fan in Edmonton and loved the league teaming up w DK as a hope to gain exposure and new fans! I feel this is a step back….

I know it’s only Monday but entries in the new “showdown” look pretty pathetic.

300 out of 4700 in the $40k special….180 out of 2200 in the 7.7k audible….8 out of 170 in the Bootleg….good start guys!

Right. The contests they offered for the 4 game slate are insulting. They would be better off not offering them. But now they can say “See, no one has any interest” when no one gets excited to register for a $500-$1000 guaranteed contest.

I am going to join the rest of everybody in this thread stating that it is disappointing DK is pushing showdown as the primary option for CFL contests. I was a consistent CFL player over the past two years that would consistently play 20-50 lineups every week (up until the prize pools became a joke). I personally will not be partaking in these future showdown contests for CFL unless there is massive overlay.

This is just awful.

FanDuel should have jumped in and went with a 4 game CFL slate. Would have been a smart move on their part.

Will there be any articles in the DK playbook for CFL this year? I do not see anything happening on RG with games starting tomorrow.

I would agree and I’m disappointed.

For week 1, the 4 game slate has only a few tiny contests.

I’m really curious if DK is actually going to do better by virtually getting rid of the actual slates.

Last year Seth Yates wrote CFL articles.

He tweeted that will no longer be the case.

https://twitter.com/SethayatesDFS/status/1006234492640616448

For what it’s worth I’m a pretty casual player. Last year I would enter 5 $1 lineups each week. This year I am entering 1 lineup into the showdown and 0 into classic because of prize pools being so small. I want it noted that my “more play in showdown” has nothing to do with me liking that contest better because I don’t.

Guys we have to cut them a break. They have the data that players want Showdown for a sport they never did Showdown before, and as we know in this world, blanket statements are always 100% true. If people like the Super Bowl or NBA Finals Showdown, that HAS to unequivocally be the ONLY way people want to play.

Meanwhile, their second tiny $4 tournament is going to fill, and they will probably add a third and it will fill too. This is without several people, myself included, playing their normal 20 entries like we did last year. But hey, they know that people want Showdown, currently at 66% overlay, is what the players want.

Clearly I am upset, and I am not the only one. CFL was a small, but suitable replacement for me personally for college football. I am going to play a few Showdown lineups, but nothing compared to what I would in a classic tournament.

The best way for this to be handled is to keep filling these small classic tournaments and let the overlay sit in the Showdown. Talk with your wallet.

Yeah, same here — I play slightly higher volume but definitely still a casual player when it comes to anything non-NFL.

That being said, if you guys really want to make your voices heard, don’t jump on that overlay in the Showdown contests and leave it all for us casual players.

Somehow I feel like I have one of the most chalky lineups for the covering the all bases aspect of things. I guess it leaves salary so maybe not but we will surely see multiple ties tonight I believe.

Ended up with about 10% overlay in the $10, $4, and $33 showdown contests. About 25% overlay in the $1 showdown. DK also made 3 separate classic contests at the $4 level that all filled up. Hopefully DK gets the message that we greatly prefer the classic contests over showdown.

I don’t play CFL but I did today because of the overlay.

You have to remember to that a lot of people max enter in the final hour because of the massive overlay, if it where a classic 10 dollar 40k tournament people would have max entered in the final hour too. Like others have said noone gets excited about a 1000, or 500 dollar tournament and they where still filling because a 4 game slate is actually fantasy football, a showdown a crap shoot, but the odds go up with that much overlay. I hate showdown but i entered a few showdowns because of the massive overlay. But i hope they get the message if not at least we will have a good 2 game slate on Saturday.

To many damn ties… tied in 8th with like 20 people. Should be winning $25 in that spot but only winning $10. Reason why I dont like these showdown slates. Fun for the super bowl, NBA playoffs at the end to have some fun but not on a daily basis.

Hey guys, you are more than welcome to create a new CFL thread to sweat the games, but let’s not do it in this thread as it’s taking it off topic. I’ve deleted any posts pertaining to the actual game.

Thanks.

Ok, so I gave CFL Showdown a try (loved the 4 game slates last year). the $1k 4 man didnt fill, so I didnt get near as much action as I wanted. It makes for a fun game sweat, but dear god CFL is tough to get varying lineups. NMo interest in the equity reduction of similar lineups.

I will try to play the high dollar stuff only I think….and those are must fill. Take a little risk DK……take off the Must Fill

Looks like showdown GPP overlayed again tonight.