The NFFC hosted Live Events in Las Vegas and New York City in 2024 for the 21st season. We were the first high-stakes contest to host live events in multiple cities back in 2004 and 21 years later we were doing it again at Park MGM in Las Vegas over two weekends and at the Westin Hotel in Manhattan on Labor Day weekend. Along with Online drafts throughout the year, the NFFC had another huge season with over 26,000 teams competing for over $6 million in prize money.
The NFFC Primetime again led the way as we reached another sellout with 1,056 teams – 87 full leagues. It was a historic year as we crowned our 16th different overall champion in the last 17 years as the tag team of Mark Srebro of York, Pennsylvania and Jason Emma of Hanover Township, Pennsylvania made a historic comeback in Week 17 to capture the 2024 NFFC Primetime Championship title and the $250,000 grand prize. Their "teenage wasteland" team jumped from 46th place at the start of Week 17 into 1st place with a 261.35 point week. They needed a late 4th quarter 30-yard touchdown run by Jahmyr Gibbs to move past Randy Mechels by 2.29 points and capture the title. This is actually the second straight year that our Primetime champion jumped from 46th place to 1st place in Week 17 as Jeffrey Kozlowski did the exact same thing in 2023. This is Mark's and Jason's second NFFC national championship title together as they won the very first NFFC Classic Championship overall title in 2004. That’s quite a pair of bookend titles.
The Rotowire Online Championship finished with 4,156 teams in a competitive market. Philip Brubaker of Cocoa Beach, Florida won the 2024 Rotowire Online Championship and the $250,000 grand prize with an epic Championship Round performance. His Terminators B4 team started the Championship Round in 449th place among 844 teams that made it into the Championship Round, but thanks to big Week 15 and Week 17 performances he became our newest OC champion. His team jumped from 7th to 1st place in Week 17 to win the $250,000 grand prize, finishing 13.28 points ahead of David Webb.
Greg Voskanian of San Dimas, California became our 21st different champion in the 21 years that we've hosted the NFFC Classic Championship as his team won the overall title and captured the FREE 2025 NFFC Classic entry, valued at $2,000. All prize money this year was once again distributed through the league prizes with first place in each league earning $16,000 and only the one prize in the overall competition. This is the third straight year we've run the NFFC Classic this way. Greg competed in the Las Vegas Saturday, August 31st Classic League and his team finished third in the league, but it got hot in Weeks 15-17 to finish with 704.38 points, 53.74 points ahead of William Dandridge for the title.
Curtis Hirsch of Ardrossan, Alberta, Canada is our 2024 NFFC Silver Bullet Championship winner as his team had a record-breaking performance in the Championship Round to win the $50,000 grand prize. Curtis becomes our sixth different champion in the six-year history of the NFFC Silver Bullet as he defeated a field of 228 teams for the title. Curtis finished third in his August 31st, 7 pm ET Silver Bullet Online league, but his team topped 250 points in Week 15 and stayed in first place the rest of the way, finishing with 736.62 points, 21.03 points ahead of William Dandridge for the title.
Ari Benjamin of Parkland, Florida won the 2024 NFFC Cutline Championship as he topped a field of 1,390 teams to win the $70,000 grand prize. Ari became our 12th different champion in the 12-year history of this contest. Ari reached the "final table" of 12 participants in Week 17 and needed a long field goal by Detroit in the final game of the season to earn the $70,000 grand prize. Team Benjamin scored the most points in Week 17 with 194.0, but the title wasn't his until really the final play of the Monday Night Game between the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers. The Top 3 teams all finished within five points of each other and it wasn't until Detroit K Jake Bates kicked a 57-yard field goal late in the third quarter that Ari moved into the lead as he finished with 561.31 points to win the $70,000 grand prize. Neal Compton finished second.
Frank Matsko of Streator, Illinois won the 2024 NFFC Best Ball National Championship and the $30,000 grand prize in one of the closest finishes we've ever had in this contest. Frank needed 28.7 points from Ricky Pearsall and 24.5 points from Jameson Williams in the final Monday Night Game of the year to barely slide ahead of Joseph Reagor for the title. Frank finished 2.10 points ahead of Joe to win the title and the $30,000 grand prize. Matsko, 74, becomes our 14th different champion in the 15 years of this Best Ball Championship, with only Wayne Ellis as the two-time overall champion here. We had 2,700 teams in this contest this year, consisting of 225 leagues.
Jack Brown of Nashville, Tennessee won the 2024 NFFC Online Auction Championship and the $15,000 grand prize as he beat a record field of 816 teams to win this fifth annual national championship. Jack had a monstrous last two weeks to climb from 49th place to 1st place. His D-Plus 69ers scored 213.05 points in Week 17 to jump from 10th place to 1st place, winning the title by just 2.26 points over Matt Strickler. Like a lot of other 2024 NFFC national champions, Jack didn't win this title until the Monday Night Game between the Lions and the Niners. He was still in 2nd place overall, but the late fourth quarter 30-yard touchdown run by Jahmyr Gibbs was the difference maker as he went from 7 points down to 2 points ahead. The D-Plus 69ers got 26.3 points that night from Gibbs and 24.5 points from Jameson Williams to secure the title.
Steve Lucinski of St. Louis, Missouri dominated the NFFC Platinum League this year to win the $160,000 league prize. His "Mapletron" team led the regular season with best head-to-head record (12-2) and most points (2,160.25) and then won the Championship Round by more than 140 points to win that $120,000 prize. Steve’s team won the h2h title and $20,000 by two games as it finished 12-2, and it won the other $20,000 for most points by finishing 148.85 points ahead of Mark Fierer, who was the defending Platinum League champion. This team then scored 747.65 points in the Championship Round, a new Platinum League record, to win a total of $160,000.
Winning Diamond League titles were Mark Fierer of Fort Worth, Texas and Oren Katz of Bedford, New York. Mark's team won a total of $70,000 as it finished the regular season with the most points to win $10,000 and that team then scored 650.68 points in the Championship Round of Weeks 15-17 to win the remaining $60,000 and the league title. Oren swept all of the prizes to win $80,000 in the Las Vegas Friday, September 6th, 7 pm PT Diamond League as his team had best h2h record and most points during the regular season. It then won the Championship Round and the final $60,000 with 679.94 points, edging Fierer by 9.39 points.
We had three Ultimate League champions this year with NFFC Hall of Famer Chris Eibl of Chicago, Illinois winning both of our 12-Team Ultimate League titles in 2024. Chris swept all of the prizes in the NFFC 12-Team Ultimate Online League on September 3rd to win $35,000 and he then won the Championship Round of the NFFC Las Vegas 12-Team Ultimate League to add another $25,000 prize. Chris also won the NFFC 12-Team Ultimate League title in 2022, giving him three Ultimate League titles in three years. He joins Chad Schroeder as the only players to win three NFFC 12-Team Ultimate League titles. Mark Whittenberger of Somerville, Massachusetts swept all of the prizes as he won the 2024 NFFC 14-Team Ultimate League. Mark won a total of $40,000 as he swept the regular-season's h2h and points titles (worth $5,000 each) and then easily won the Championship Round's $30,000 prize by scoring 644.75 points. Mark became our 17th different champion in the 19-year history of the NFFC’s 14-Team Ultimate League.
We had a record eight NFFC Super Leagues in 2024. Winning Super League titles were: Frank Mammola, New York 12-Team Super League ($14,000); Michael O’Brien, Las Vegas 14-Team Super Auction League ($16,500); Dan Worthington, August 26th 12-Team Super Online League ($14,000); Michael Fonte, Las Vegas 12-Team Super League ($14,000); Jordan Epping, Sept. 6th 12-Team Super Online League ($14,000); Mark Fierer, Sept. 1st 12-Team Super Online League ($16,500); Jason Capillino, Sept. 4th 12-Team Super Online League ($16,500); and James Gabal, Sept. 3rd 12-Team Super Online League ($19,000).
We hosted three NFFC Kickoff Gridiron Leagues in 2024 at Park MGM in Las Vegas and we came away with three great champions. Scott Stauffer of Loves Park, Illinois won the 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron League title for the first time, a title he has always wanted to win!! Kenny Stratton of Altoona, Iowa won the 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League title for the second time in the last four years, with a late season comeback. And we added a Friday evening NFFC 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron League and KJ Duke won that one for the second time in the last five years. Scott won $6,500 and multiple weekly league prizes, while Kenny and KJ each won $5,600 plus multiple weekly league prizes.
Adam Goldberg of Washington D.C. won our NFFC $25/$50 Best Ball Championship and a FREE 2025 NFFC Primetime entry. The NFFC $25/$50 Best Ball Championship had 3,252 teams and Adam won his $50 Best Ball league, that $400 league prize and this FREE Primetime entry valued at $1,750. Finishing second and winning a FREE 2025 NFFC Silver Bullet Championship entry valued at $1,200 was Craig Thompson of Abingdon, Virginia. He finished just 3.35 points behind Adam while competing in a $25 Best Ball league. And finishing third and winning a Rotowire Online Championship entry valued at $350 was Jimmy Stewart of Albany, New York.
The NFFC introduced a new contest in 2024 called the Champions League Qualifier. A total of 49 owners put $250 into a “sidepot” and used the scores from designated Primetime, Rotowire Online Championship and Best Ball Championship teams to score points for 17 weeks. The Top 12 teams will then compete in 2025 in a league for over $12,000 in prize money with first place earning $6,000. We’ll host that CLQ Championship league in Las Vegas in 2025. Phil Glukhovsky of San Bernardino, California had the top team and will lead a field of 12 teams in that contest.
And we topped off the year with two NFFC Post-Season Contests. Christopher Dileo of Hopewell Junction, New York won the 2024 NFFC Post-Season Contest and the $150,000 grand prize as he defeated a field of 1,503 teams. His Skinz team rode the combination of Patrick Mahomes and Saquon Barkley at 4x along with Xavier Worthy and the Eagles' Defense at 3x to win the title with 1,550.75 points. Travis Pace of Spring, Texas won the 2024 NFFC Mini Post-Season Contest as he topped a record field of 2,894 teams for the $50,000 grand prize. The 27-year-old finished 7.70 points ahead of Rod Lurie for the title in another close finish as six teams were within 16 points of the top spot. His Philly Philly team finished with 1,536.60 points as he had Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts at 4x, and Saquon Barkley and Xavier Worthy at 3x.
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