There are no major rule changes for 2025.
This is the first significant rewriting of the rules in decades, combining our use of RYP/Splash for submitting picks and providing real-time updates with the long-standing rules governing our contests, standings, tie-breakers, etc. and removing information that is no longer relevant. The original rules, many of which have been in place since the beginning of the pool, are appended to this updated version to serve as reference in case any new circumstances arise that they speak to.
A couple of minor rule changes for 2025 are related to how the default picks are determined. In the main pool the default picks will be all of favored teams (prior to week #9 it was all of the away teams), ranked from lowest to highest in the approximate order that the games are played that week (see note below in main pool default picks section for more information). In the survivor pool, you will have your choice of either the biggest home underdog or the biggest away underdog as your default pick. As always, default picks are not eligible to win any contests. If a contest would have been won using default picks, the next best submitted picks will instead win or play will continue, depending on the contest.
For 2025, we are using RunYourPool.com and SplashSports.com (collectively referred to here as RYP) for submitting picks and for real-time scoring for the main and the survivor pools. RYP will also show basic standings while the complete standings for all contests will be posted at the bariland.com web site, and will include:
Main pool: 1st, 2nd and 3rd place; weekly wins; W-L record and domination contest
High rollers pool: 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
Sprints: 1st place
Survivor pool: single and double elimination winners
Playoff pool - 1st place
www.bariland.com/football/football.htm
Which games are we picking?
Main pool - each week we will pick all of the games that start Sunday at 1:00 pm Eastern time and later and picks are due by that time.
Survivor pool - all games each week are eligible to be picked for the survivor pool, including those that start prior to 1:00 pm Sunday. To pick one of the earlier games, you need to submit your pick before that game starts.
Here are all of the tiebreakers extracted from the rules below
Main and high rollers pools
Total points contest - most weekly wins; if still tied then best W-L record
Weekly wins contest - highest total points
W-L contest - highest total points
Domination contest - the next greatest weekly domination, during any week, among the tied contestants
Sprints - most weekly wins during that specific sprint period; if none, then best W-L record during that period
Survivor pool
If all of the remaining players would be eliminated during the same week, they all remain eligible and play continues the following week and subsequent weeks, if necessary, until a winner emerges. If the end of the season is reached with no winner, the tiebreaker is invoked. The survivor pool ends at the end of the regular season; it does not extend into the playoffs.
Tiebreakers
Single elimination: (1) Best W-L record in the main pool; if still tied then (2) highest total points in the main pool
Double elimination: (1) All players with one strike against are eliminated. If only one player then remains with no strikes, that player wins. If more than one player with no strikes remains, then only those players with no strikes proceed through the rest of the tiebreaker; the players with one strike against do not proceed; however, if all of the remaining players at the end of the season have one strike against, then they all proceed to the next level of the tiebreaker; if still tied then (2) best W-L record in the main pool; if still tied then (3) highest total points in the main pool.
Playoff pool
First tiebreaker is correct Super Bowl winner.
Second tiebreaker is the closest to the total combined points scored in the Super Bowl.
The object of the game is to correctly predict the outcome of NFL football games and by doing so to accumulate the highest score among a group of players. Winners will be recognized for the first, second and third highest season-long total scores, the highest number of weekly wins, the best won-loss record, the most dominating weekly win and the high score in each of three partial-season sprints. The separate high rollers contest will recognize the first, second, third and fourth highest season-long total scores among the players in the high rollers contest.
Each week you pick the winners of the NFL games played at or after 1:00 pm Sunday, and then rank them in order of your confidence in them. The rankings used at RYP will go from 16 down to whatever number arises from the number of games that week. For example, in a week when there are 15 games, you pick the winners of all 15 games and then rank them from 16 down to 2, assigning 16 to the team you are most confident in, and so forth, down to assigning 2 to the winner you are least confident in. Some weeks there only 15, 14, 13 or 12 games, so you would rank your picks from 16 to 2, 16 to 3, 16 to 4 or 16 to 5.
For each correct winning team that you pick, you are awarded the number of points equal to the ranking you assigned to the team. For example, if you picked Las Vegas to win and assigned them a confidence ranking of 16 and they won, you would receive 16 points toward your weekly total. If you pick a team that loses, you fail to receive its number of points toward your weekly total. Ties are considered to be losses.
Each week, your weekly point total will be added to your season-long point total.
Each week, the person with the highest weekly score will receive 1 point toward the season-long weekly wins contest. The point for the weekly win will only be awarded to a player who submits picks -- default picks, even if they result in the highest score for the week, do not count toward the weekly wins contest (default picks are described below). If default picks do result in the high score for a given week, the point for the weekly wins contest will be awarded to the highest weekly score among submitted picks. There is no tie-breaker for the weekly wins point. In the event of a tie, the point for the weekly win will be divided among those who tied.
Each week your cumulative W-L record will be incremented by that week's W-L results. Ties are considered to be losses.
The domination contest will be won by the player registering the greatest weekly margin of victory expressed as the winning score's percent of the average score. The average score will be based on the scores of the non-winning players. The domination contest winner will be based only on submitted picks -- default picks are not eligible. If default picks win a given week, the margin of victory for that week will be determined for the highest score resulting from submitted picks and the average score will not include the high score(s) resulting from default picks.
In addition to the season-long contests, there are three partial-season sprints. Each sprint is a separate total points contest that covers a five- or six-week stretch of the season (sprint #1 - weeks 1-5; sprint #2 - weeks 6-11; sprint #3 - weeks 12-17) Total points will be accumulated separately for each sprint, with a separate winner for each.
There are five separate challenges in the main pool: (1) Total points - first, second and third place winners; (2) Weekly wins - one winner; (3) W-L record - one winner; (4) Domination - one winner; and (5) Sprints - one winner for each sprint. Except for the sprints, all of the challenges are season-long contests. The separate high rollers pool will recognize the first, second, third and fourth highest season-long total scores among the players in the high rollers contest.
Total points contest (main and high rollers) - most weekly wins; if still tied then best W-L record
Weekly wins contest - highest total points
W-L contest - highest total points
Domination contest - the next greatest weekly domination, during any week, among the tied contestants
Sprints - most weekly wins during that specific sprint period; if none, then best W-L record during that period
No further tiebreakers are used.
The survivor pool and playoff pool tiebreakers are described in the rules for those contests.
Picks are submitted each week for the games that start at 1:00 Eastern time Sunday or later. Picks are due by Sunday 1:00 pm; if not submitted by then default picks will be assigned.
Details about entering the specific pools at the RYP and Splash sites has been communicated by email.
If your picks are not submitted on time, the default picks will be assigned. The default picks are all of the favored teams (prior to week #9 it was all of the away teams), ranked from lowest to highest in roughly the order that the games are played that week. At the beginning of the season, RYP creates a grid of the NFL schedule at that time and uses it for various purposes throughout the season, including the assignment of default picks. The default picks are assigned in the order of the games as they appear in the RYP grid. Toward the end of the season the NFL typically moves some games around for viewing pleasure and the RYP grid is not changed to account for this rescheduling, therefore the order of the default picks might not align with the order of the games during those weeks.
Each week you pick the one team you are most sure will lose. You may only select each team once during the season. If the team you pick loses, you advance to the next week. If the team you pick wins, you get a strike against you. Ties are considered to be losses. Once you have two strikes against, you are eliminated from the contest. This contest has two winners: (1) the player who has no strikes against when all other players have at least one strike against (the single-elimination winner) and (2) the player who has no strikes or one strike against when all other players have two strikes against (the double-elimination winner). The two winners will share the prize with the single elimination winner getting a slightly larger share of the prize than the double elimination winner.
All games each week are eligible to be picked for the survivor pool and picks are due no later than 1:00 Eastern time Sunday. If you make a pick from an earlier game, you must submit your pick before that game starts.
The last person remaining is determined at the end of all the games for a given week. For example, if there are two players left in the pool heading into the weekend and one exits the pool due to the results of a Sunday 1:00 p.m. game, the other player still needs to get beyond his team's game to be declared the winner, regardless of when that game is played. If all of the remaining players are eliminated during the same week, play continues the following week and subsequent weeks, if necessary, until a winner emerges. If the end of the season is reached with no winner, the tiebreaker is invoked. The survivor pool ends at the end of the regular season; it does not extend into the playoffs.
Survivor Pool Tiebreakers
If all of the remaining players would be eliminated during the same week, they all remain eligible and play continues the following week and subsequent weeks, if necessary, until a winner emerges. If the end of the season is reached with no winner, the tiebreaker is invoked. The survivor pool ends at the end of the regular season; it does not extend into the playoffs.
Tiebreakers
Single elimination: (1) Best W-L record in the main pool; if still tied then (2) highest total points in the main pool. NOTE: In the single-elimination contest, once a player suffers the first strike against that player is eliminated from the contest and may not re-enter the contest even if the contest ultimately requires that players accumulate more than one loss to settle the contest.
Double elimination: (1) All players with one strike against are eliminated. If only one player then remains with no strikes, that player wins. If more than one player with no strikes remains, then only those players with no strikes proceed through the rest of the tiebreaker; the players with one strike against do not proceed; however, if all of the remaining players at the end of the season have one strike against, then they all proceed to the next level of the tiebreaker; if still tied then (2) best W-L record in the main pool; if still tied then (3) highest total points in the main pool.
If you forget to submit your pick for the survivor pool you will be assigned a default pick based on the selection you made at the beginning of the season, either the biggest home underdog or the biggest away underdog. You may use the default pick as often as needed throughout the season but you may not win the survivor pool with a default pick. If a default pick would result in you winning the survivor pool, you and the person(s) you would have beaten in that round will continue to play until a winner emerges.
Wild card round - pick the winners and rank them from 3 through 1, using each ranking twice (two teams ranked #1, two teams ranked #2 and two teams ranked #3). Total points available in the wild card round is 12.
Divisional round - pick the winners and rank them from 4 through 1. Total points available in the divisional round is 10.
Conference championships and Super Bowl (picked and submitted at the same time) - pick the winners and rank them such that their combined ranking is equal to 17, with no pick ranked greater than 8 nor less than 3. You may use the same ranking more than once (for example 5 - 5 - 7). Total points available in the conference championships and Super Bowl is 17.
The total points available in the playoff pool is 39. High total points wins the pool.
First tiebreaker is correct Super Bowl winner.
Second tiebreaker is the closest to the total combined points scored in the Super Bowl.
No further tiebreakers.
This is a playoff pool; not a Super Bowl pool. It is possible to win the pool without picking the correct Super Bowl winner.
Picks are due by the start of the first game each round.
No default picks are provided for the playoff pool.