QUESTION ^#1 - There are other football tournaments that have a name almost the same as the National Youth Football Championships - do you run these as well?
The National Youth Football Championships have been around since 1972. Sports Network International only produces the football competition specifically entitled the NATIONAL YOUTH FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS. We have no connection to any other youth football events produced.

Over the years, over 250,000 football players and cheerleaders have been a part of the NYFC competition. Many have gone on to play in the NFL, an even larger number played in high school and college as well. With so much interest and so many past attendees, a few individuals have attended the NYFC and then decided to go home and put on their own post-season competitions. Unfortunately, hundreds of these competitions have come and gone over the past several decades. Usually, these events will linger around for a few years, disappointing most of the attendees and then disappear. Most of the people that produce these "copy cat" competitions retain the bulk of the rules, regulations & structure that have helped to make the NYFC the fantastic, safe competition it has become known for (thus, perpetuating the confusion!). Unfortunately, they often learn that it is a tremendous amount of work to produce an event of this caliber and teams soon choose not to attend for reasons too numerous to list here.

QUESTION ^#2 - What are some specific things I should be looking for in a post-season tournament? What the the bad scenarios you have seen?
When you look closely at other competitions, you will often find that the information on past event attendees can be hard to obtain or is just plain false. How many teams attended? Where were they from? This is a good indication on what the tournament will host in the future! Do they provide paperwork, event schedules, maps and other materials to show that the event is very well organized and planned well in advance? Can you see locations for their registration/player weigh-in areas, cheer competition, awards presentation, and other vital areas BEFORE you send in your money? Generally, if the event is organized and well presented prior to your entry, it has a better chance of being organized and well-delivered WHEN YOU ARE AT THE ACTUAL COMPETITION!

Does the event publish or put out on the web a list of past participants or currently registered teams? This is critical! Often, football events will give you the impression that their tournament is much larger and more on a grand scale than it really is -- and they can do this because interested people often do not specifically ask for a list of the previous year attendees. When this occurs, it is usually because the event has fewer teams than you are led to believe, and/or the bulk of the teams that DO attend are local teams from the local area. And then you will play these local teams on their local fields in front of their local fans.....and you do not know most of this until you arrive....... doesn't sound very exciting, huh?

The single biggest "disaster scenario" is really two-fold. Either of these are terrible and unfortunately, yet happen to unsuspecting teams every single year. Smaller events will often take your money up front, promise to "find someone to play against your team" and then, because they have so few teams attending, either a) they will cancel your competition division in early November when it is too late for you to go anywhere else and hopefully refund your registration fee (leaving you stuck with non-refundable buses, airfares, hotel deposits and other items paid for but not able to use) OR they will move you UP into a competition division against players significantly older and/or more talented than your team WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE where your kids will be slaughtered. Either of these scenarios are a terrible let-down and/or downright dangerous to the kids and parents who planned on this trip, making it memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Recently, these two scenarios have become even more prevalent. Several competitions with large web presence touting themselves as "National Tournaments" were cancelled and/or severely curtailed very late, disappointing countless people. Worst of all, by the time this happened in early November, the NYFC was completely full as it is every year with well over 10,000 kids in two cities attending and we could not accept any of these teams for entry. These cancellations left these families with broken promises and empty dreams as their memory of Thanksgiving. Fortunately, these are not items that occur at the National Youth Football Championships.

QUESTION ^#3 - What are some of the specific items that make a trip to the NYFC a better experience that attending any other post-season competition?
We used to get this one quite a bit in the earlier years of the NYFC. Luckily, word-of-mouth has answered this question for most coaches and parents! Basically, everything we do at the NYFC is done from two perspectives. 1) How can we make the event special for the attendees and 2) How can we make the event as safe as possible while still keeping the event affordable for the majority of youth teams.

In specific, the Event Manager Sports Network International maintains no relationship to any one youth football team or league. There is no "local" league that runs the event or has any part in the forming or carrying out the rules. Therefore, the overall rules, event structure and division match-ups, EVERYTHING ABOUT THE EVENT is not designed to favor any specific team or association. This is critically important! Most tournaments are produced by a host team or league. These host groups many times ensure that their local teams have many advantages, seen and unseen. Know that when you attend the NYFC, no teams maintain a "home-field advantage" as SNI is not connected with any specific league.

The other most important item is extensive background checks of the participating teams (something most tournament give lip service to but rarely banish teams for previous cheating). It is painful to see so many of the teams and coaches that have faced LIFETIME BANS from further participation at the NYFC for using illegal players, faked birth certificates, etc. and they attend other tournaments without any questions from the tournament host. This cheats the kids and cheapens the overall tournament, along with making it incredibly dangerous by allowing older players that have no business being on the field with the other younger players. SNI uses several advanced methods, both prior to the event, as well as during the competition to ensure that all players are eligible to play on a particular team at a particular level. This is a vary large factor in why many teams have been attending the event for over 20 years.

The NYFC also uses largely high school stadiums and other top-notch facilities so the kids can play where the big kids play, not on flat, torn-up converted soccer fields. Also, the NYFC maintains no additional team or individual insurance requirements to attend. This can be a very big hassle to be forced to run around getting insurance binders and other paperwork! All of the NYFC paperwork is received well in advance and easily understood. Our closing ceremonies/awards presentations are done in a special fashion, along with distribution of Wilson NFL autograph footballs to the championship head football coaches, and mostly, a huge number of teams to draw from to make the most competitive match-ups possible, plus and over thirty years of experience in the production and hosting of youth football teams from around the globe!

QUESTION ^#4 - How is the NYFC Tournament Structured and How are the Teams Matched for Play?
Let's start with the structure of the event. The NYFC is designed as a college bowl-style event with each team playing two games, win or lose. Tournaments that will allow your youngsters to play more than two games in any 72-hour period should be avoided as medical and insurance opinions are unified that the risk of injury increases exponentially by playing three (or more!) games in three days. Rosters are broken down and many factors are considered when we decide "who is going to play who". The largest of these factors include: team maximum age, team team max weight (for limited weight divisions), average line and backfield weights, historical league and team strength, as well as age spread of the roster, top to bottom. The teams are then hand-matched into 25-30 different age & weight conferences. These conferences allow our company to better allow teams of similar age, similar weight, and similar TALENT to play against each other (again, to produce more competitive football games). REMEMBER, the NYFC is not about finding the greatest 12 yr. old, 128 lb. team in the nation, it is about giving hard working players, coaches and parents two solid football games to end their season!

The conferences are given names such as National, American, Central, United, etc. to better identify and locate games on the large NYFC Game Schedule. Where groups bring multiple teams from the same park, all efforts are made to ensure the games at the same or nearby locations to allow parents with multiple players easy access to seeing both siblings participate.

QUESTION ^#5 - When does the NYFC invite and website become updated for the upcoming season?
While the date for the NYFC (American Thanksgiving Weekend) is set immediately after the previous year event, the official invite and other needed materials are posted just prior to the July 4th weekend. That being said, very little changes from year to year so we always leave the previous year information posted to allow all programs looking for information the ability to read and plan from the previous year materials. Interested football teams and cheer groups are encouraged to call or email Sports Network International to be placed on a preferred status in our database. This will allow an official invite to be mailed to you often a few days BEFORE the materials are posted to the official NYFC website

QUESTION ^#6 - Why Do We Play Just Two Games - Can't We Play More?
This has been looked at every decade or so here at SNI. While we understand why well-meaning coaches would want to play more than two games if they are going to travel a long distance, every reputable expert within the medical fields related to youth athletics agree that it is not arguable that the number of injuries and the severity of the injuries that occur during games DRAMATICALLY increases when you attempt to add a 3rd game (or more) in a three day period. This is especially so for players 12 and older, but even has a limited impact on younger players (honestly, statistics show no dramatic rise on players 9 yrs. old and younger). This is due largely to the fatigue factor that occurs, especially playing in the oftentimes HOT weather that can occur at the Eastern & Western NYFC!

Most large leagues realize this as they have studied this as well…many do not allow their teams to play games without 24-48 hours between games. We at SNI agree that three games or more is not something that the NYFC could ever involve themselves with in just three days because of the liability of doing such knowing how dangerous it is. Most coaches who look for this are well meaning but they just do not think of these factors when they clamor to play more than two games in three days.

Along with the injury facts, the mentality of coaches that seek 3, 4 and even 5 games in three days often makes me question their underlying motivations. The football games are a big part of coming to the NYFC but they are not the ONLY part of coming here. The teams that want to play 3, 4 and even 5 games during that period in MY EXPERIENCE are often the “winning is everything” groups that are coming here to prove what a great football team they are, not a team that wants to attend to reward their players and coaches for a year of sweat and sacrifice and have a memorable vacation together. So offering just two games may in some cases have these types of teams look somewhere else to play, and that tends to “weed “ these types out, which is a nice by-product.

QUESTION ^#7 - What are the Age & Weight Divisions used at the NYFC?
Both the Eastern & Western Divisions of the NYFC maintain competition divisions ranging from 8 to 15 years old, with teams attending the event from all parts of the United States and Canada. Most leagues regulate the MAXIMUM age and MAXIMUM weight of the teams in their league. This is because virtually every other important variable is controlled by the league simply by assuring that each district is approximately the same size. This ensures each team within the league, in theory will have approximately the same AVERAGE weight and AVERAGE age. It also attempts to equal the numbers of kids who try out for each team. Leagues also ensure all teams utilize the EXACT same league rules -- including the same age cut-off month -- are in use. While regulating just MAX age & MAX weight is adequate for league play (even though you STILL get 40-0 football games), it is woefully inadequate as the sole criteria for any extra-league play such as an invitational, post-season youth football tournament and why it has not been a part of the NYFC in well over 20 years.

The competition divisions of the NYFC are set-up based on the teams who elect to attend the event each year. Each division is hand selected to produce the most evenly matched, competitive, safe football games possible to end the season. Several teams apply for entry each year that cannot be accepted because we cannot find acceptable match-ups for their team. This may be due to their age and/or weight make-up, their team composition (no all-star teams are accepted) or just because we have no competition spaces remaining open for their team when they register.

The NYFC DOES NOT maintain these pre-ordained maximum age/weight divisions. Statistically, they are inferior to Hand-Matching teams into Competition Divisions and they do not produce safe, competitive football match-ups, which remains the goal of the NYFC. This is why even in leagues where teams are so-called "evenly matched", so many games do end up 30-0, 40-0 or worse! While this can and does happen at the NYFC, it is not that common. These games are a travesty, and frankly a waste of time for both the winner and the loser. All of the largest youth insurance companies across the United States have looked at the NYFC and not one has ever negated a team's ability to attend -- due primarily to the extra effort and care taken to ensure safe football games between teams. In fact, at the NYFC both the severity and quantity of injuries are lower than most league statistics show for their own league play.

Setting a single age/weight standard is the simplest method and that is why most smaller post-season tournaments still cling to this archaic and dangerous method of national team matching. In fact, the NYFC utilized pre-posted age/weight divisions until 1985. It was disbanded in favor of the hand-matching process. Since that time: final scores for all football games have become closer; injury statistics have improved overall; and teams attending from smaller towns have a more equitable shot at winning their games at the NYFC -- thereby gaining more competitive football games which is the goal of the event. And again, because Sports Network International maintains no relationship to any one youth football team or league, the match-ups are done in a fair and even-handed manner, not designed to favor any particular team or association.

QUESTION ^#8 - What Criteria Do You Use to Match Teams for Play at the NYFC?
The most important Hand-Matching criteria used by the competition committee of SNI include: 1) maximum team age; 2) team age range (oldest to youngest); 3) average team age; 4) average team weight; 5) traditional strength of league (historical power ranking); 6) head coach / opposing coaches opinion of their team strength 7) results vs. common opponents; 8) number of players who try out for the team; 9) maximum team weight; 10) utilization of "lightweight/olders" or "younger/heaviers". To "boil this to the bone", the age of the players remains the most important match-up factor. Teams will always be matched against teams of similar age composition, first-first-first. This may be skewed by months on the age cut-off date of the opponents, dependent on the max, mean & average weight of the other teams, as well as the season record and overall strength the opponents may maintain.

As with any athletic contest, nobody can predict the outcome of a game. However, by using the Hand-Matching method, history has shown that the primary goals of the NYFC are promoted. Frankly, this is why so many teams choose to attend and return to the NYFC.

QUESTION ^#9 - Does Our Team Have to Arrive in Town on Wednesday. Can't We Just Show-up & Play our Games?
No, the NYFC is designed as a complete weekend experience! The NYFC is about a football team and cheer squad bringing their families together to attend a weekend athletic competition together -- it is NOT about professional football teams getting together to prove who has the greatest football team. In fact, teams planning to come to the NYFC for this misplaced reason should reconsider and think of making other post-season plans.

With nearly 100 teams in both the Eastern and Western NYFC events attending from across North America, weigh-ins, registrations, team pictures, etc. MUST be done throughout the entire day on Wednesday. In this way, games can be played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, two of those three days.

The NYFC is much more than just "playing two football games". If this is all your group is looking to do, you really should reconsider traveling to a huge football experience like the NYFC.

QUESTION ^#10 - In Daytona Beach, Why Do Parents Need to Stay Through the Hotel Package Plan?
Daytona Beach, despite it's lofty name recognition, is really quite a small town. To be able to acquire the thousands of rooms needed for the NYFC during the very busy Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend, Sports Network works with the hotels to set aside all of the rooms needed at very reasonable rates. Hotels provide these rates because we contractually guarantee that all of our attendees will stay together as families within these hotels. This ensure the hotel that the teams will be adequately supervised and just as importantly, it ensures we will have sufficient oceanfront hotels available at all package levels at reasonable prices.

Some people have stated that they have been able to find just a hotel room only for less money than the NYFC Team Package (although many people find our package very similar in cost when you total up all of the room and taxes total that we include within our rate). But when you stay through the NYFC Team Package, you are not simply paying for a hotel room, plus the 13% room tax in effect in the Daytona Beach area. You are paying for your hotel room, your NYFC competition shirt, as well as for your NYFC admission pass for the entire weekend. These items you will receive through your package attendance (those not attending through the Team Package will have an entry pass to allow access into any of the games, cheerleading competition or awards ceremony. share of the competition costs as well these are closed to the general public and your parents if not attending through your NYFC Hotel Package Plan, would be general public).

Additionally, all attendees (including your parents) pay a small amount within their package towards all of the costs to host the event. This includes fields, officials, venue insurance, NFL cheerleaders, the 8,000-seat Ocean Center Arena, trophies, etc., etc. (yes, it is quite expensive!). To give you an idea of these costs, the sum total of all money paid in registration fees does not even cover the bill for the game officials throughout the weekend! So the short answer is, yes, they may be able to find a less expensive attendance alternative in the area, but then they would not be paying their fair share of the competition costs. Therefore, the rule is that everyone with your group stays together with the team in the hotel and attends the event through the Team Package Plan.

If you have a single parent or two that have special circumstances that you would like us to consider to allow them to attend outside the package, we have made this exception in the past but would need to discuss the reasons and consequences you may face for allowing this before we can give you a blanket approval.

QUESTION ^#11 - What are the Differences Between the Hotels in the Team Package Plan?
On the Eastern NYFC in Daytona Beach, Florida - The Eastern NYFC maintains different Hotel Package Plans. The differences between these hotels are basically how fancy the hotels are in general. There are no differences in geography to the water....every hotel used for the Eastern NYFC is oceanfront. The more expensive the hotel package plan, the better and more "in demand" the overall hotels are within that level. This does not mean that the more expensive package levels have more efficiencies (in fact, they generally have fewer or none in some cases), spas, or other extras, it just means they are "better" overall hotels in our opinion. This could mean more amenities, better hotel management, lush landscaping, more elegant common areas, etc.

Teams planning to attend must decide what package level they plan to attend under. I will state however that we have never had a team wish they could have stayed at a lower package level! For just a few dollars per person more, the HiltonHQ package remains the finest bargain we offer as this property is a bargain for our team package attendees.

On the Western NYFC in Las Vegas, Nevada - The Western NYFC does not maintain any hotel package plan. The Western NYFC simply maintains a Team Package Plan and allows all teams to gain their hotel accommodations at one of the hundreds of hotels located in and around Las Vegas.

The Western NYFC does work with an official Housing Bureau that often finds fantastic rooms and rates for all of our attendees. It is not required that teams attend the Western event through this housing bureau, but many teams have found this an exceptionally easy and reasonable method to attend. .

QUESTION ^#12 - When Do We Find Out Who & When We Play?
Match-ups are done throughout the beginning of October with the official NYFC rosters submitted by the teams. We send out tentative pairings that give you the state where the teams are from and a general description of the type of teams who will be in your bracket in late October.

As far as when you play, this is unfortunately only distributed in the few days prior to the competition. Teams will learn when and where they play on arrival when they pick up an official schedule during event registration.

Teams traveling from around the country can sometimes maintain unforeseen travel problems forcing a late schedule change, facilities can maintain a snafu here or there, causing a needed schedule shuffle, etc. It has been our experience that, while a bit inconvenient, all organized teams have been able to readily plan for this throughout the history of the NYFC.

QUESTION ^#13 - What Does it Cost to Attend the NYFC?
Both the Eastern & Western NYFC events maintain a $200 Team Registration Fee if the team is registered with SNI no later than September 15th (that means RECEIVED by SNI no later than the 15th!). Football teams registering after this date will pay an additional $50, making their registration fee $250. Also, cheer squads looking to enter the cheer competition pay a $50 per team registration if the team is registered with SNI no later than September 15th (that means RECEIVED by SNI no later than the 15th!). Cheer squads registering after this date will pay an additional $25, making their registration fee $75.

This Registration Fee, along with the Team Package Plan fees, pay for all of the costs associated with the event including: team package items (shirts, medallions, patches, team photos), fields, referees, staffing, etc.

The costs of the Eastern NYFC and Western NYFC competitions are outlined within the Official NYFC Invitation. More detailed breakdown of costs per person can be found on the "Costs of the Eastern NYFC" webpage, as well as the "Costs of the Western NYFC" webpage.

QUESTION ^#14 - In the Eastern NYFC, Which Hotels are in Use in What Hotel Package Plans?
Hotels are constantly being reviewed to ensure that they meet minimum standards. The condition and overall appeal of a hotel may change for the good or the bad at any time. In Daytona Beach at the Eastern NYFC, we may use as many as 25 hotels at four different package levels. This makes providing any type of "list" virtually impossible. Any list which could be provided would be very misleading and possibly inaccurate just weeks later. Over 2,000 hotel rooms in four different package levels are in use. Many teams who return to the NYFC every year request to return to the same hotel year after year (returning teams are usually given first priority to return to a hotel they stayed in the previous year). Therefore, many hotels that are in use are not really "available" for teams to even ask to stay....they are already full and have been for 5 or 10 years!

QUESTION ^#15 - Can I Request a Suite, Efficiency or otherwise upgraded room?
SNI cannot guarantee any type of particular room as all our rooms are provided "run-of-the-house", meaning we get a little of everything at most hotels. Many hotels have no efficiencies, therefore we do not have them to give. Few newer hotels are built with efficiencies as this is just not cost effective for many newer hotels. Connecting rooms, refrigerators/kitchens, rooms with a certain view or exposure can be requested but again, these are just that, REQUESTS.

QUESTION ^#16 - If We Pay More, Will That Get Group More Efficiencies?
Absolutely not!

In Daytona Beach, in fact just the opposite is most often the case. The Team Package Plan in Daytona Beach has many levels a team may choose: Luxury, High Range Upgrade, Mid-Range. Luxury properties such as the Hilton, etc. often maintain NO kitchen type amenities in the rooms. On the opposite end, many of the older properties that make up the Mid-Range level properties have numerous kitchen facilities and generally larger rooms (because they were often built many years ago when hotels built rooms larger!). Economy hotels are just that, a basic, head-in-a-bed hotel!

Package Levels are determined by many factors. These include: Overall desirability of the property, level of demand from teams wishing to stay at the property, hotel rate, as well as quantity and quality of amenities. Not every team wants to stay at the luxury level hotels but I can say that history has shown that those teams looking to spend a few extra dollars for their Hotel Package Plan generally are very glad as the overall property is in better condition and the management team takes a greater pride in guest satisfaction that translates into a better chance of a wonderful hotel experience.

QUESTION ^#17 - Can I Stay at a Particular Hotel through the Team Package Plan?
Teams in both events may REQUEST to stay in a particular hotel we are utilizing -- but this is just that, a REQUEST! If a hotel allows the NYFC to utilize 100 rooms and 200 rooms worth of teams request the use of a hotel, some teams are not going to get what they want! All requests are given a very high priority but as stated above, most teams look to return to the same hotel they have used in the past and these requests are given a first priority.

With so many hotels in use, putting all of the teams into all of the hotels is much like a large jig-saw puzzle. Organizations bringing two and three teams would like to stay together in one hotel require a vast number of rooms together. Single teams with a small number of total rooms can squeeze in many hotel room blocks with more flexibility. It is a very tough job but it has been done for many, many years and it will continue for many more to come!

QUESTION ^#18 - We want to fly into town, do we really need ground transportation when we get there or can we just take a city bus to the places we need to go?
No, you will ABSOLUTELY need your own vehicle(s)! Both Daytona Beach (Eastern NYFC) and Las Vegas (Western NYFC) are huge events that use between 8 and 10 different field locations scattered throughout the county. Fields can be anywhere from 15 minutes to 50 minutes from your hotel. Along with this, teams need to EAT, do some sightseeing, get to the Event Registration, as well get to the closing night festivities. Trying to do this without ground transportation at your disposal would turn a fun vacation into a nightmare faster than anything else I can imagine.

QUESTION ^#19 - What Determines Who Gets into the NYFC and Who Does Not?
Any team can receive an invite. The registration form and NYFC Invitation can be downloaded at from the NYFC Paperwork HQ. We annually mail about 3,000 invitations to teams around the world. From this, several hundred teams apply for entry and from that, only about 90-100 teams are accepted for entry into each event (Eastern Division & Western Division).

As this is a National tournament, we try to ensure teams are accepted from across the United States, therefore in some cases, we are forced to limit the ability of some leagues to send too many teams. Especially limited are quantities of teams from big cities that annually express huge interests in attending the NYFC including: Cincinnati, Atlanta, and South Florida. However, regardless of where you are from, if your team is in good league standing and begins their organization early, there is a very good chance that your football team and/or cheer squad can be a part of the upcoming NYFC event. We encourage all football organizations looking to end their season of hard work much like the college bowl teams do with a warm weather Winter football competition, please look at making your group a part of the National Youth Football Championships.

QUESTION ^#20 - Does the NYFC have some type of minimum play rule?
No, this and most other related decisions are made by the Head Coach. The NYFC does not nursemaid teams or meddle into the coaches discretion in this area regarding who plays and who does not. Of course, it is strongly encouraged that all players who are not on some form of disciplinary action get "adequate" playing time during the two games of the NYFC. Again, how much that is remains a coaches decision.

QUESTION ^#21 - We are Attending the NYFC Eastern Division event through the Team Package Plan - When Do We Find Out What Hotel We Are Assigned?
All of the rooming lists are required to be in the hands of SNI in early October. SNI then begins the arduous process of fitting these rooming lists like a jigsaw puzzle into the huge number of hotel rooms we contract for. Assigning long-time attendees to their returning hotels first, then filling the other rooms, the process is usually complete within about 7-10 days after the deadline. Trip managers are then sent a complete package of information including hotel brochures, etc. from the hotel property your team will be staying in roughly one month prior to the competition date.

QUESTION ^#22 - We're Pretty Sure We Want to Attend the NYFC...What's the First Step?
That's easy....download the NYFC Invitation from the NYFC Paperwork HQ and then contact Sports Network if you still have any questions! We also recommend teams find other groups in your area that have attended the NYFC previously and ask them for their unbiased opinions. We are sure after you look around, you will see why so many teams annually work to make themselves a part of this great football weekend.

THE NYFC IS NOT FOR EVERY GROUP. IF YOUR GROUP DOES NOT HAVE STRONG PARENT SUPPORT, CLEAN FOOTBALL PLAYERS, AND SOLID COACHING, THIS EVENT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR YOU. Coming to the NYFC will be one of the hardest thing you have ever done -- it will also probably be the most rewarding and satisfying thing you will ever be a part of.