NFL Survivor Office Pool With A Little Strategy – Margin of Victory

One of the most popular NFL office pool formats is the Survivor or Elimination pool in which participants pick one team a week until they lose a game and are eliminated. This pool is very popular because it does not take a lot time to do. The problem with survivor pools is that they don't take as much strategy as other pick'em pools and may not last the whole season. That is why a Margin of Victory Survivor pool is one The Office Pool Guy's favorites. A Margin of Victory Survivor pool not only adds a little strategy but also can last the whole year.

Here is how I would create an NFL MARGIN OF VICTORY POOL.

Objective: To pick one team every week that wins it's game by the largest Margin Of Victory.

Group Size: Any

1) Each participant will pick one team each week that they feel will win its game.

• Participants may NOT pick the same team more than once in the season.

2) Have participants email picks to the pool manager by Sunday at 9:00 pst.

3) Create a spreadsheet like the following to track the picks:

Margin of victory pool

4) Scoring:

• If a participant's team wins, they get the number of points equal to the margin of victory (ex...if you have Seattle and they beat Buffalo by a score of 30-10, then you get 20 points...30-10=20)
• If a participant's team loses they get zero points
• Optional: you could subtract the margin of the loss from the participant's total score

5) Tiebreaker

• Fewest losses
• Last loss
• Biggest margin of victory in one win, 2 wins, etc...

6) Winner is the player who earns the most points (margin of victories) from their winning picks.

PROS:

• Simple to create
• Adds some more strategy to survivor pool
• Nobody is out of the pool
• Any number of people can play
• Little time commitment

CONS:

• Many people will have the same teams
• May pick poorly and still win the pool