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How-to guide · Playbook

Run an NFL confidence pool

Rank every pick by how sure you are, bank the points when you are right, and climb a season-long leaderboard. It is the pick’em with a brain, and it runs itself from one shareable link.

Start free →About Confidence pools
Free plan · you keep 100% · Offices, booster clubs & commissioners · 7 min read

A confidence pool is the strategist’s version of the classic NFL pick’em. Instead of every correct pick counting the same, players rank their picks each week: assign a 1 to your shakiest pick, all the way up to the number of games for your surest call. Win a game and you bank the points you put on it. Lose it and you get nothing. The result is a pool where conviction matters, the standings reward real skill, and a single entry keeps a supporter locked in for the entire season.

Why it works

The pick’em with a brain

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Strategy, not just luck

A confidence pool rewards conviction. Ranking your picks turns every week into a puzzle, so the standings reflect real skill and the pool stays close deep into the season.

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Season-long engagement

One entry keeps a player thinking about all 13 or 14 games every single week, for months. That sustained attention is exactly what a fundraiser wants.

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Simple to run as a fundraiser

One flat entry fee, one pot, weekly and season prizes. Set a house cut for your program and the rest pays out. Easy to explain to any board or parent group.

How scoring works

Rank, win, bank the points

1

Everyone ranks their picks

Each week a player picks a winner in every game and assigns each pick a confidence value: 1 up to the number of games that week, using each number exactly once. Your most confident pick gets the highest value.

2

Winners bank their points

When a pick wins, the player banks that pick’s confidence value. A losing pick is worth nothing. So nailing your high-confidence game is huge, and a wrong "lock" quietly costs you the week.

3

Standings add up all season

Points accumulate into weekly standings and a running season total. There is a weekly winner and an overall season winner, and a featured game acts as the tiebreaker when totals are level.

A quick example

Say there are 14 games one week. You put your 14 (your strongest pick) on the home favorite and your 1 on a coin-flip road game. If the favorite wins, you bank 14 points. If your 1-point pick also wins, you add 1 more. Miss the 14 and you leave the biggest points of the week on the table, which is how leads change hands fast in a confidence pool.

Set it up

Four steps to kickoff

1

Create the pool

Pick the Confidence Pool format, set your entry fee, and choose your prize structure: weekly prizes, a season prize, or both. The season’s weeks are generated for you.

2

Load the schedule

Import each week’s NFL games straight from the games library by date, or add them by hand. On Pro Commissioner the schedule and scores sync automatically.

3

Open and share one link

Share a single link. Players sign in, pay your program directly, and submit their ranked picks before the weekly lock.

4

Score and climb

Results post automatically from live scores, or you enter them yourself. The pool tallies each player’s banked points, updates weekly and season standings, and pays out per your prize rules.

FAQ

Confidence pools, answered

How does an NFL confidence pool work?
Every week, each player picks a winner in every game and ranks those picks by confidence: 1 up to the number of games, using each value once. When a pick wins, the player earns that pick’s confidence value. When it loses, they earn nothing. The values add up into weekly and season standings, and the highest total wins.
Does ChooseASquare host a full season-long NFL confidence pool?
Yes. ChooseASquare has a dedicated Confidence Pool format built for the whole NFL season, with confidence-point scoring, weekly and season-long standings, a featured-game tiebreaker, and automatic scoring from live scores. It runs the full regular season from one shareable link.
How is a confidence pool different from a regular pick’em?
A straight pick’em gives every correct pick the same value. A confidence pool makes you rank your picks, so you win more for the games you are surest about and lose more when a high-confidence pick goes down. That extra layer of strategy is why many groups prefer it.
What prizes and tiebreakers can I set?
You can award a prize each week, an overall season prize, or both, and split the pot however you like. A featured game (often the Monday or Sunday night game) serves as the tiebreaker when players finish level. Basic play is free; advanced prize options are on Pro Commissioner.
How do you turn it into a fundraiser?
Charge an entry fee and set a house cut, the percentage your program keeps. The rest becomes the prize pot. Supporters pay your program directly through Venmo, PayPal, CashApp, check, or cash. ChooseASquare never holds the money and never takes a cut, so the full cut is yours.
Do players pay a platform fee?
No. Players only pay the entry price you set, directly to your organization. You can run the entire pool on the free plan and keep 100% of what you collect.

Comparing pool sites?

Weighing platforms? See how ChooseASquare runs the same season-long NFL formats (Confidence, Pick’Em and Survivor) with fundraising built in and no real-money betting: ChooseASquare vs OfficeFootballPool and ChooseASquare vs Sleeper. You can also run a straight Pick’Em pool or an NFL Survivor pool.

Launch your confidence pool free

Set your entry fee, prizes, and tiebreaker, share one link, and let the scoring run itself all season.

Start free →