Top 5 Best March Madness Bracket Games
The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament has become one of the most popular sporting events of the year. The drama, upsets, and plethora of games is unmatched in any other sport but another main reason is the popularity of March Madness bracket pools that require more luck than skill.
Although most people participate in bracket pools with friends, families, or co-workers, online Bracket Tournaments have become a free and fun way to possible win some BIG prizes.
There are so many different bracket pools that we’ve put together a list of our Top 5 based on prizes so you know where to concentrate your efforts and which ones you should stay away from.
Oh, if you haven’t already watched our latest episode of Ride The Pine. Check out our latest episode called “The F Word” that features people reacting on Twitter to the March Madness Bracket Selections.
Original Retro Brand
Cost: FREE
Mobile APP: None
Total Prize Pool: $1,000
Original Retro Brand makes great quality shirts that I personally wear on episodes of our Ride The Pine YouTube show. What I love about this pool is that Original Retro Brand is not as mainstream as ESPN, CBS, or Yahoo. Which means the amount of entries will be miniscule to those larger websites and your odds of winning are a lot higher.
Three winners will be selected; $500 Retro Brand Gift Card for a 1st place finish, $300 for 2nd place, and $200 for 3rd place.
The downside to this pool is that the prizes are for Gift Cards to Original Retro Brand. If you’re not a huge fan of retro looking sports shirts you might be bummed if you win. If that is the case, I would join this pool with your 2nd or 3rd tier bracket.
Enter Original Retro Brand’s Bracket Ballers Challenge by clicking here.
ESPN’s Tournament Challenge
Cost: FREE
Mobile APP: Yes
Total Prize Pool: $29,000
ESPN’s Tournament Challenge is one of the most popular March Madness bracket challenges out there. Good news, you don’t have to score the highest points to win their ONLY grand prize. Bad news, if you score the most points out of the 1+ million people that enter, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll win the ONLY grand prize. Which would just completely suck. For reasons that I don’t understand, one winner will be randomly selected from the Top 1% of all point scorers (I smell an Occupy Bracket movement). Here are the details on the grand prize.
Grand Prize Winner (One): One (1) Trip for two (2) to the 2015 Maui Jim Maui Invitational including: (i) roundtrip economy airfare for two from a major airport closest to Grand Prize Winner’s place of residence; (ii) 5 nights hotel accommodations (one room, double occupancy) and (iii) a $20,000.00 Best Buy gift card (Total ARV: $29,950.00)
It is hard to get excited about this prize. However, ESPN traditionally interviews the winner on one of their secondary shows, which would be cool. As a fun aspect, ESPN’s Tournament Challenge allows you to join groups with ESPN personalities/shows. I just don’t know what the hell you would do with a $20,000 Best Buy gift card?
Enter ESPN’s Tournament Challenge here.
CBS Bracket Challenge
Cost: FREE
Mobile APP: Yes
Total Prize Pool: $10,000
CBS is the television/internet home for March Madness. Similar to ESPN, you don’t have to be the highest point scorer to win their grand prize but differently you just have to be in the top 10% of “eligible point scorers.” That is WAY more achievable. Similar to ESPN, the prize is pretty shitty. One grand prize winner receives tickets to next year’s Final Four and cash for travel and accommodations. Yep, you’re responsible for your own travel. Thanks, CBS.
Grand Prize
One (1) grand prize (the “Grand Prize”) will be awarded to a randomly-selected Participant who is among the top ten percent (10%) of eligible point scorers in this Sweepstakes. Grand Prize Winner (the “Prize Winner”) will receive Four (4) 2016 Final Four tickets* (tickets include entry into the Semi-Finals and Final games) and Six Thousand Dollars (US $6,000) travel cash toward luxury hotel accommodations, airline tickets to and from Houston, Texas and ground transportation for up to four people. Travel cash portion of the Grand Prize is to be awarded in the form of a check. Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of Grand Prize is Ten Thousand Dollars (US$10,000.00). PRIZE WINNER AND GUEST(S) ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS AND HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO GROUND TRANSPORTATION, AIRLINE TICKETS AND HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS.
You would think that CBS could pull together a better prize then this. Like, let me sing the “One Shinning Moment” song at the end of the tournament or put me in one of those CSI shows.
Click here to enter the CBS Bracket Challenge.
Yahoo! Tourney Pick’em
Cost: FREE
Mobile APP: Yes
Total Prize Pool: Too many to count.
We love how Yahoo! Sports made the effort to put together multiple prize packs including a grand prize of $50,000. After filling out your bracket, you HAVE to join their “best bracket challenge” which will award $50k to the winner and the 10+ different “Celebrity Bracket” challenges that have prizes ranging from autographed jerseys to tablets.
You can only win one prize, which means this Bracket challenge will have the most amount of winners in 2015.
If you like to enter only one Bracket Challenge, it should be this one.
Click here to enter Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick’em.
Sports Illustrated Bracket Challenge
Cost: FREE
Mobile APP: Yes
Total Prize Pool: $1 million+
Sports Illustrated has the largest cash prize this year. Yes, it’s $1 million dollars. And yes, you have to score a PERFECT bracket (all 63 games). The good news is that you can still win some cash if you get 60, 61, or 62 games correct.
One (1) $1,000,000 cash annuity prize* will be awarded if a participant correctly picks all 63 games correctly. If more than one participant correctly picks all 63 games correctly, the $1,000,000 cash prize will be evenly divided and distributed among all participants who correctly picked all 63 games.
Up to three (3) $10,000 cash prizes will be awarded to participants who pick 61 or 62 games correctly. If there are more than three participants who correctly pick 61 or 62 game, the three $10,000 cash prizes ($30,000) will be evenly divided and distributed among all participants who correctly picked 61 or 62 games.
Up to five (5) $1,000 cash prizes will be awarded to participants who pick 60 games correctly. If there are more than five participants who correctly pick 60 games, the five $1,000 cash prizes ($5,000) will be evenly divided and distributed among all participants who correctly picked 60 games.
There is also prizes for the best scores in each round. That prize is a FatHead, which I guess is better than nothing.
