Earnings Season

How Earnings Season Works

Ten questions a week, one deadline, and a rating you have to earn in public. The Assistant Coach answers the same ten questions you do, and how you did is simply the gap between your card and its card.

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The Week

Three days that matter

The whole contest fits around a normal fantasy week, and it closes the same day it opens: Tuesday settles last week and posts the next one. Nothing is ever asked of you on a Thursday night.

1. Questions post Tuesday

Ten questions go up each Tuesday, covering point spreads, game totals, and which of a group of players leads a stat that week. Only Sunday and Monday games are used.

2. File before Sunday kickoff

Answer all ten, or just the ones you have a read on. Change your mind as often as you like until the first Sunday kickoff, when everything locks at once.

3. Results print by Tuesday

Sunday's questions are graded first thing Monday. Anything riding on the Monday night game settles Tuesday, and that is when your week is scored and the Coach's answers unseal.

Scoring

You are graded against the Coach

Every week the Assistant Coach files a card on the same ten questions. Your score for the week is the difference between your points and its points, so beating the Coach by two is worth the same whether the slate was easy or miserable. A week where everyone got wrecked costs you nothing, because the Coach got wrecked too.

Roll those weekly margins up and you get your alpha: the points per week you are worth above the Coach. Zero alpha means you matched it, not that you got nothing right, and it takes a genuinely good season to hold a positive one. Your rating is that same number said in a word. Hold, Buy, Strong Buy and Top Pick are bands on the alpha line, so the label tells you where you stand and the number tells you by how much.

Harder questions pay more

A spread or an over/under is worth 1 point. A three-way choice is worth 1.5, and a four-way is worth 2.

Unsettleable questions void

A game landing exactly on the number, or a tie for a stat lead, scores zero for everyone including the Coach.

Recent weeks carry your alpha

Your best recent weeks drive the number, and short records are damped until you have played enough for it to mean something.

The five ratings, low to high. Everyone starts Unrated, and Buy is where the Coach itself would sit.

Unrated
Not enough weeks yet
Hold
Behind the Coach
Buy
Keeping pace
Strong Buy
Clearly ahead
Top Pick
Best in the field
Questions

Common questions

What does it cost?
Nothing. Earnings Season is included with a free WaiverWire account. There is no entry fee, no wagering, and no prize pool. You do need to be signed in, because an estimate has to belong to somebody for a track record to mean anything.
Why is my score a margin instead of just how many I got right?
Because some weeks are harder than others. If a slate is a bloodbath and the whole field goes 4-for-10, the Coach had the same brutal questions and went 4-for-10 too, so your margin is untouched. Raw correct answers would punish you for a week that happened to be chaotic, and reward you for an easy one.
I want to start in Week 8. Am I already too far behind?
No, and this is deliberate. Only your recent weeks count toward your rating, so weeks you were never around for are not held against you. Someone who joins late and files good estimates is on level ground with a year-rounder by the end of the season.
What happens if I miss a week?
Nothing bad. A week you did not answer is simply not scored, so skipping is neutral rather than a penalty. The only thing you lose is a chance to add a good week to your record.
Are all ten questions worth the same?
No, harder questions pay more. A two-way question like a spread or an over/under is worth 1 point. A three-way choice is worth 1.5, and a four-way is worth 2. Picking correctly between four players should be worth more than calling a coin flip.
What if a game lands exactly on the number, or two players tie?
The question is voided and scores zero for everyone, including the Coach. Nobody gains or loses on a question that could not be settled fairly. If every question on a slate voids, the week is not scored at all.
Can I change my answers after I file them?
Yes, as often as you like right up until the lock. Whatever is saved at the first Sunday kickoff is what gets graded.
Why does everything lock at Sunday kickoff instead of per game?
One deadline is easier to remember than ten. It also means no question ever uses a Thursday or Saturday game, so you are never rushed to file two days early to keep a question live.
Can I see the Coach's answers before I file mine?
No. The Coach is the benchmark you are measured against, so its picks stay sealed until the slate locks. Asking the Coach directly in chat will not work either. Once a week settles, its answers on the player questions are published, including the ones it got wrong.
What is alpha, and how is it different from my rating?
They are one measurement shown two ways, not two scores to keep track of. Alpha is the number: the points per week you are worth above the Assistant Coach, rolled up from your recent weekly margins. The name is borrowed from investing, where alpha is return above a benchmark, and the Coach is the benchmark here. Your rating is that same number said in a word, running Unrated, Hold, Buy, Strong Buy, and Top Pick. Buy is the line for keeping pace with the Coach, which is also what zero alpha means. You stay Unrated until you have a few weeks on the board, because a rating drawn from one week is not a rating, it is a coin flip with a label on it.
Could one lucky week make me a Top Pick?
No. Short records are held toward the middle until you have played enough weeks for your alpha to mean something, so a single hot week never outranks a full season of steady ones. It works a bit like a golf handicap that has not settled yet.
Who can see my record?
Anyone. Every rating on the standings links to a page listing each week you were scored, good and bad. That is the point: if someone cites their rating in an argument about a start/sit call, a reader can go check whether it holds up.
Earnings Season

Think you can beat the Coach?

Ten questions, no entry fee, and a record anyone can look up. File your first card this week.

Play Earnings Season