Payout tiers

What payout tiers are

Payout tiers are the ladder that turns a contest's prize pool into prizes: how much first place pays, how much second pays, and so on down to the cash line. Positions near the top usually have a tier each. Further down, a band of positions shares one amount, so fifth through eighth might all pay the same.

The tiers are published on the contest page before the contest locks at kickoff. You can see exactly what each finishing position pays before deciding to enter, and nothing about the ladder changes once the game starts.

An example

The SF 49ers at LAR Rams contest paid 75 finishers a total of $5,100. First place took $2,000, second $600, third $250, fourth $150 and fifth $75. Sixth to eighth were paid $50 each, ninth to sixteenth $40, seventeenth to thirty-second $30, and thirty-third to seventy-fifth $25. Add the bands up and they come to exactly $5,100. The NE Patriots at SEA Seahawks contest the night before used the same ladder.

The shape is typical: a steep top, where the podium takes a large share, and a long, flat tail that pays many more players a smaller amount.

In Speed Survivor

When the game ends, the entrants still standing are ranked by points and paid down the ladder. Ties split the combined prizes for the positions they occupy. This is the Speed Survivor version of splitting the pot: the split is fixed in advance rather than negotiated at the end.

Contests pay up to $10,000, depending on the contest. How it works covers how the field is thinned before the ladder is paid, and every settled ladder is summarized on the recaps page.