Instead of drafting players, you draft college football teams and manage them like investments throughout the season. Draft sleepers. Buy teams before they rise. Sell at the right time. Trade with other owners. Battle head-to-head when your teams meet on the field. And position yourself to own the teams that make a run through the College Football Playoff.
Your goal: generate the most Alpha and win the league.
Everything below is a summary. The Official Rulebook is the complete and governing text, and where the two differ, the Rulebook is the rule. Each section here links to the one it summarises, so you can go straight to the detail when you need it.
Every season begins with a snake draft. Each owner builds a portfolio of college football teams — five by default, though your Commissioner may set the limit anywhere from four to eight before the draft, after which it is fixed for the season. You can draft any FBS team.
| Rank | Market Value |
|---|---|
| #1 | $26 |
| #2 | $25 |
| #3 | $24 |
| … | … |
| #24 | $3 |
| #25 | $2 |
| Unranked | FREE |
Only teams in the preseason AP Top 25 cost anything to draft; the whole Top 25 totals $350. Spend big on a national-title contender — or take a shot on an unranked sleeper for nothing.
Full detail: Rulebook §5 — The Draft
Team values change throughout the season based on the national rankings. Before the CFP Rankings begin, Sharps uses the AP Poll. Once the CFP Rankings are released, Sharps uses the CFP Rankings for the remainder of the season.
#1 = $26 → #25 = $2 → Unranked = $0
If you acquire the #18 team and it climbs to #6, you've created value. If you grab an unranked team for free and it breaks into the Top 25, you've turned a free acquisition into a valuable asset. Rankings can move against you too.
Buy low. Sell high. Find the teams everyone else missed.
Full detail: Rulebook §3 — The League Economy
When you deal with the House, the rankings determine Market Value. When you deal with another owner, it's a free market: trade a team for cash, team for team, or negotiate whatever deal both owners accept. A trade needs no approval — if both owners agree, it's done.
Full detail: Rulebook §7 — Buying, §8 — Selling, §9 — Trades
The House won't provide unlimited liquidity forever. As the season progresses, House buybacks become increasingly restrictive:
| From | The House buys |
|---|---|
| The start of the season | Any team in the Top 25 |
| The first buyback date | Only teams ranked 1–12 |
| The second buyback date | Nothing at all |
Both dates are set by your Commissioner before the draft and fixed once it begins. The second one falls before conference championship week — so the House stops buying while the regular season is still being played, not at the door of the playoff. That creates one of the biggest decisions in Sharps: Sell or Hold? Take the guaranteed Market Value while the House is still buying, or hold because you think your team is headed for the CFP?
Full detail: Rulebook §8 — Selling Teams to the House
Want a ranked House-owned team that isn't currently available? Place a Blind Bid. Your bid must be at least the team's current Market Value — anything below it is rejected. Other owners can't see your offer. When the market next opens, all bids are opened at once and the highest valid bid wins. If two owners submit the same winning bid, the earlier bid wins.
Full detail: Rulebook §7 — Buying Teams from the House
Whenever one of your teams plays a team owned by another owner, a Battle appears automatically. Nobody proposes it and nobody accepts it — the matchup itself creates it.
Owner A $5 · Owner B $5 · Battle Pot $10
It binds 30 minutes before kickoff, when the line freezes. Until then nothing has been staked and neither team is held — you can still sell, drop or trade the team, and the matchup dissolves with it. Hold the team through the freeze and the Battle is yours: the stake comes out, both teams come off the market, and you cannot decline.
You can always walk away from a Battle. You just cannot keep the team and walk away. Giving a team up to avoid a matchup is allowed — it costs you the team.
If either owner cannot cover the stake at the freeze, the Battle does not bind and there is no second attempt. That is what the reserve is for: it holds a stake behind every game your teams play, all week, so you are never short by surprise.
The winner is determined against the spread, using the official Battle line locked 30 minutes before kickoff. Your team doesn't necessarily have to win the football game — it has to cover. If no line is quoted, the game settles straight up. Owners may raise the stakes before kickoff if both agree.
A push refunds both stakes and the House takes nothing. A canceled game or a no contest is refunded too, though a game that never gets a final score can't settle itself — your Commissioner records those by hand.
Battles run through the regular season and the conference championship games. There are no Battles in bowl games or in the College Football Playoff.
Because Battles are automatic, a portion of your Available Funds is held in reserve throughout the season to cover potential Battle stakes.
Full detail: Rulebook §11 — Battles
A House Fee — 10% of the pot by default, unless your Commissioner set it otherwise before the draft — is taken from every settled Battle and added to the House Account. There is no fee on a push, because there is no pot to split. The House Account ultimately becomes the league's College Football Playoff Prize Pool, so every Battle helps make the postseason more valuable.
Full detail: Rulebook §10 — The House Account
At the end of the regular season — once conference championship week is done and no further Battles can be created — the House Account balance is recorded as the Prize Pool. Owners earn money every time one of their teams advances.
| CFP result | Payout |
|---|---|
| First-round bye | 3% |
| First-round win | 3% |
| Quarterfinal win | 6% |
| Semifinal win | 11% |
| National Championship | 30% |
A championship run earns 50% of the Prize Pool.
With a $500 Prize Pool: 3% = $15, 6% = $30, 11% = $55, and 30% = $150. A full championship run is worth $250.
And you don't necessarily have to draft the eventual champion.
Full detail: Rulebook §12 — College Football Playoff Payouts
Ownership doesn't freeze when the CFP begins. Teams can still change hands between playoff games, and whoever owns the team when it advances gets the payout.
By this point the House has stopped buying (§4 above), so another owner is the only buyer there is. Maybe you want guaranteed cash rather than risking elimination — sell it to another owner. Maybe another owner thinks your team has a real shot at the National Championship — buy it from them. You're negotiating the value of that team's remaining playoff run.
Full detail: Rulebook §9 — Owner-to-Owner Trades
Putting more money into your account doesn't make you better at Sharps. Creating value does. That's measured by Alpha.
Alpha = Portfolio Value − everything put into your account
“Everything put into your account” means every Contribution you have made, plus any balance adjustment your Commissioner has recorded for you. Money you deposit is not performance, so none of it counts as Alpha.
Your Portfolio Value is your Available Funds plus what the House would pay for the teams you hold. That last part matters: once the House stops buying a team (§4 above), it counts nothing toward your Portfolio Value, however highly it is ranked.
Draft undervalued teams. Find sleepers. Buy before teams rise. Sell before they fall. Make good trades. Win Battles. Position yourself for the CFP. The owner with the highest Alpha at the end of the season is the League Champion.
Full detail: Rulebook §4 — League Structure, §15 — Definitions
There is one piece of timing every owner should understand. If a team is available, your action happens immediately. If it isn't, your order is queued and settles at the next market opening. That is not a refusal — you're told which rule is holding the team, and your order stands.
Three things take a team off the board:
Trades follow a shorter rule. A trade isn't priced off the rankings — the two owners set their own price — so a stale price can't hurt either of them. A team can be traded whenever it is not game-locked and not carrying a live Battle.
Full detail: Rulebook §6 — The Market
After the initial buy-in, Sharps doesn't require everyone to send money back and forth every Saturday. Purchases, sales, Battles, and payouts are all tracked in the app throughout the season. After the National Championship, the Prize Pool is fully distributed and the Commissioner settles everyone's final balance.
One season. One final settlement.
Full detail: Rulebook §3 — The League Economy
Draft teams. Find sleepers. Buy low. Sell high. Make trades. Battle your opponents. Build your portfolio. Own the teams that make a run. Generate Alpha. Win the league.
This guide covers what you need to know to play. For transaction details, unusual situations, Commissioner procedures, and other edge cases, read the Official Sharps Pick 'Em Rulebook.