Create a Pool and Reuse a Template

Pool Owners can create a new Survivor or Confidence Pool from scratch or reuse the setup of a prior-season Pool. Creation is available only when the service has an Available Season whose Week 1 slate has not kicked off yet.

Create from scratch

1. Open My Pools.
2. Choose Create Pool to open the creation wizard.
3. On Basics, keep New setup selected and enter a Pool name, then Continue.
4. On Format, choose the Pool Type (Survivor or Confidence), then Continue. Competition always starts at Week 1.
5. On Rules, choose a Pick Lock mode and Max entries per person.
6. Review the summary, then choose Create Active Pool.

The Pool Season, Pool type, and Start Week (always Week 1) are permanent for that Pool.

Choose a Pick Lock mode

The mode applies to everyone in the Pool:

• Game Kickoff locks a Survivor Pick when its selected game starts. In Confidence, each prediction and its confidence value lock independently when that game starts; later games remain editable.
• Weekly Cutoff still locks games that start early, then locks every remaining pick, confidence assignment, and Weekly Tiebreaker Prediction Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

A schedule change can move a lock that has not happened yet. It never reopens a Pick Lock that has already been reached.

Create from a template

A Pool Template reuses setup without carrying over competitive history or enrolling anyone automatically.

1. In the Create Pool wizard, select From template and choose a prior Pool.
2. Confirm or edit the prefilled name, then continue through Format and Rules.
3. On Rules, for each former Participant choose Member, Admin, or Don’t invite.
4. Choose Create Active Pool.

If you selected former Participants, Only Pools displays a person-specific Returning Participant Invite for each one. Copy and send each link to the named person. Nobody joins until that person opens and accepts their own invite.

An Admin choice is only a proposed role. The person must explicitly accept the Returning Participant Invite before receiving Pool Admin authority.

If Create Pool is disabled

The button remains disabled until an Available Season exists. You can still accept a valid Pool Invite and join someone else’s Pool. Refresh My Pools later to check whether creation has become available.

After creation

Only Pools offers a Copy link control right away so you can share the Pool Invite without exposing the raw URL on screen, plus a View pool / Make picks button to open the Week Board.

If you created Returning Participant Invites from a template, each named person gets their own Copy link control on the same screen. Share each one with the named person.

To retrieve or rotate the ordinary invite later, open the Pool’s Pool section and choose Create / retrieve invite or Rotate invite. Those actions require Step-up Verification because the invite is a reusable credential. Continue with Invite People and Join a Pool.