Fantasy Football Perpetual Trophies Part 1

The Big Daddy of the Fantasy Football Trophy realm is the perpetual, or championship trophy. A perpetual trophy is one that is awarded year after year, and usually has or can accept small plates for engraving the name of the annual champion. I call these detail plates.

Perpetual trophies can be very fancy, equivalent to college and professional level awards, and the biggest of them can sport a hefty price tag of several hundred dollars. There are however, many excellent choices available at a reasonable price, so don't think your league can't afford one!

Before you start shopping, consider the needs of your league.

How many years do you envision keeping the trophy? If you have just started a league, or decided to make things official with a perpetual trophy, you might only need a trophy with 6 or 12 detail plates, and then upgrade if your league is still together after that time.

How many past winners do you have? Will they be included on the trophy? I make quite a few trophies where the league has 7 or more years of past winners. In those cases, I usually suggest a 15 or 18 year trophy although a few of my trophies can go up to 36 years. Also, there are some engraving options for mature leagues, such as eliminating the detail plates for a "list style" engraving format. I will be discussing engraving in depth in future posts.

Where will the trophy be kept? Will the yearly champion keep the trophy, and pass it on to the next winner? Will the trophy need to be shipped? This issue should be addressed by your league. If the trophy is to stay in a central location or be passed by hand to the next guy, it isn't a problem. If you are planning to ship the trophy, it needs to be professionally packed, or it will wind up broken and scratched. For my trophies, I use an expandable foam packaging system that perfectly forms around the trophy like a mold. Assuming the league retains the carton, it can be reused for several years.

What is your budget? Keep in mind that there can be upgrade costs to the trophy, like adding detail plates, and engraving past winners. Most fantasy football trophies include some free engraving, like the header or title plate, but additional engraving and plates are extra, and these costs can quickly add up. Don't forget to plan for your shipping costs too.

Please feel free to ask any questions! Want to check out some of my cool perpetuals? Visit us at Sculpture Alley!