Every commissioner hits this fork in the road eventually. Do you buy one big, glorious trophy that gets passed from champ to champ until the heat death of the universe? Or do you buy a fresh one every December so the winner can keep it on their mantel forever and ever, amen?
Both are legit. Both have die-hard fans. And one of them is going to save you a surprising amount of league dues. Let's settle it. If you want to browse while you read, our full lineup of fantasy football trophies is right here.
Quick answer:
- Go perpetual if your league has been around a few years (or plans to be), you love history and trash talk, and you want the cheapest option over time. One trophy, a new $8 champion plaque each year.
- Go yearly if your league reshuffles members a lot, people live far apart, or your champs want something they can keep forever.
- Can't decide? Do both: a perpetual trophy for the league plus a small keeper (ring, banner or mini belt) for the champ. More on that below.
How Does a Perpetual Trophy Work?
A perpetual trophy is one trophy that belongs to the league, not to any one person. The reigning champ holds it for a year. When someone else wins, it moves to their house, and a small nameplate with the new champion's name gets added to the base.
Over time the base turns into a scoreboard of your league's entire history. Every title. Every dynasty. Every fluke year where the guy who forgot to set his lineup in Week 6 somehow won it all.
That's the magic. A yearly trophy celebrates one season. A perpetual fantasy football trophy celebrates all of them, and it reminds the rest of the league, every single year, exactly how long it's been since they won.
Perpetual vs. Yearly: Side-by-Side
| Perpetual Trophy | Yearly Trophy | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost over time | One purchase, then $8 per new champion plaque | Full trophy price every single season |
| Who keeps it | The league. The champ just borrows it for a year. | The champ, forever |
| Tradition | Huge. Every past champ lives on the base. | Personal. Great for the winner, less so for league lore. |
| Logistics | It has to physically move to each new champ | Ship it straight to the winner and you're done |
| Best for | Established leagues, local leagues, legacy chasers | New leagues, spread-out leagues, high-turnover leagues |
The Money Part: Cost Over 5, 10 and 25 Years
Here's where perpetual trophies quietly run up the score. Let's compare two popular options using real prices:
- Yearly: the SB Replica Trophy - Annual (10" version) at $75, bought new every season.
- Perpetual: the SB Replica Trophy - 25 Year Perpetual at $159, plus one $8 engraved champion plaque per season after the first. Your first champion plaque comes with the trophy.
| Seasons | Yearly ($75 x seasons) | Perpetual ($159 + $8/season after year 1) | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years | $375 | $191 | $184 |
| 10 years | $750 | $231 | $519 |
| 25 years | $1,875 | $351 | $1,524 |
Product prices only, before shipping and tax. Prices current at time of writing.
Over 10 years, the perpetual option costs about a third of what yearly trophies do. And that's before you factor in paying shipping on a brand-new trophy every December, while a peel-and-stick plaque is about the size of a stick of gum.
Even the flashiest perpetual we make, the Chrome Dome at $229, lands at $301 over 10 years with plaques. That's still less than half of ten yearly trophies. Your league treasurer is going to start calling you "sir."
The one catch: yearly trophies spread the cost out, and every champ walks away with something. So the real question isn't just "which is cheaper." It's "do we want one legendary trophy or a pile of individual ones?"
How Perpetual Plaques Work (Past, Present and Future Champs)
Your past champions come along for the ride. Already have ten years of league history? When you order a FantasyJocks perpetual trophy, we'll engrave a plaque for every past champion your league already has, up to the base's plaque limit. That's up to 25 plaques on our 25-year bases and up to 15 on our 15-year bases (the GOAT Perpetual Trophy and the Armchair Championship Trophy). Your 2017 champ finally gets the recognition he's been bringing up at every draft since.
How to send us your league history: on the trophy's product page, use the Previous Champions box. Enter one champion per line as Year / Owner / Team Name, and press Enter to start the next plaque. That's it. We handle the engraving and the peel-and-stick plaques arrive ready to go.
Future champions are $8 a year. Each December, order one Armchair Engraved Plaque with the new champ's name. It measures 2.625" x 0.8", has an adhesive backing, and installs with the most advanced technology known to man: peel and stick. No tools, no excuses.
That $8 Armchair plaque fits the SB Replica Perpetual, Chrome Dome, Goal Post and Gridiron Goblet, plus the GOAT, Armchair Championship, Golden Armchair, Beast, Golden Trophy and Mug of Masters perpetuals. Engraving is done exactly as you type it, so double-check that your champ's team name is spelled right. "Tua Legit To Quit" is funny. "Tua Legit To Qiut" is forever.
One heads-up: we only engrave replacement plaques for trophies we made. If your league already has a beloved trophy topper from somewhere else, check out our standalone Perpetual Trophy Base - 25 Years ($79). It fits most standard-style trophy toppers and holds your league name plus up to 25 years of champions. You can browse all our engraved trophy plaques here.
Perpetual Trophy Logistics (a.k.a. Things That Start League Fights)
A perpetual trophy is amazing right up until someone refuses to give it back. Put these rules in your league constitution before you need them.
Who holds it? The reigning champion, until the next champion is crowned. Then pick a hand-off moment and stick to it: within a couple of weeks of the title game, or at next year's draft, where the outgoing champ has to hand it over in front of everyone. Maximum shame, zero extra effort.
What if the champ quits the league? The trophy belongs to the league, not the person. Write that down. If a former champ leaves, the trophy comes back to the commissioner, and their plaque stays on the base forever as a monument to their one good year. They don't get to take it in the divorce.
What if we live in different cities? Keep the original box. Seriously. Our full-size perpetuals are real hardware (the SB Replica Perpetual is 20" and 8 pounds), so ship it well-padded with insurance and tracking. Some leagues make the outgoing champ pay shipping as a final humiliation. We fully support this.
What if the base fills up? Congratulations, your league survived 25 years of collusion accusations. Retire it with honors to a "Hall of Fame" shelf and start volume two.
Our Favorite Perpetual Trophies
Looking for fantasy football perpetual trophy ideas? Here's our commissioner shortlist:
- The Chrome Dome - 25 Year Perpetual ($229): 16" tall, 7 pounds, mirror-finish chrome football on a wood base. For leagues that want the trophy guests ask about.
- SB Replica Trophy - 25 Year Perpetual ($159): a towering 20" and 8 pounds, resin top on a wood base. The classic "we're playing for the big one" look.
- Gridiron Goblet - 25 Year Perpetual ($129): a gold metal cup on a perpetual base with room for 25 champion plates. Old-school cup energy.
- Goal Post Trophy - 25 Year Perpetual ($119): detailed resin topper with a helmeted player, football, goal post and gold pennant. It tells the whole story.
- The GOAT Perpetual Trophy ($49): a 15-year perpetual at 10" tall. The easiest way to start a tradition without a league-wide vote.
Our Favorite Yearly Trophies
Going the keeper route? These are made to live on one champ's shelf forever. (For a full price-by-price breakdown, see our Fantasy Football Trophy Ideas for Every Budget.)
- SB Replica Trophy - Annual ($75 / $90): 10" or 15" of high-quality resin. The iconic look, and it's theirs to keep.
- Golden Armchair Trophy - Annual ($55): 9.5" of pure couch-general energy.
- Fantasy Football Beast ($39): 7" of resin intimidation for leagues that just want the winner to have something to point at.
The Hybrid Setup: Perpetual Trophy + a Keeper
Here's the move a lot of smart commissioners make: buy one perpetual trophy for the league, then give each champ a small keeper that's theirs forever. The league gets its history. The champ gets something they don't have to hand back. Everybody wins, except the other eleven people in your league.
- A ring. The 2026 Fantasy Football Ring ($49) puts the year right on the face. Browse all our fantasy football rings.
- A banner. The Fantasy Football Banner ($17) is a 12" x 9" silk championship banner by year. Cheap, and extremely hang-in-the-man-cave-able.
- A mini belt. The Mini Fantasy Football Championship Belt ($49) is a scaled-down version of our full belt, and it also works great as a traveling trophy for long-distance leagues.
Hybrid math: SB Replica Perpetual ($159) + 9 more plaques ($72) + a $17 banner every year ($170) = $401 over 10 years. That's still hundreds less than buying a $75 yearly trophy ten times, and your champs still get a souvenir.
And don't forget the other end of the standings. A perpetual trophy for first place pairs perfectly with a humiliating fantasy loser trophy for last.
Order Before the Playoffs Get Weird
Engraved orders take 3–5 days to process before they ship (we usually get them out faster), so don't wait until the night of your championship. Orders with no engraving placed before 9:00am CST ship the same business day. Shipping is a $5 flat rate in the contiguous US, and free on orders over $200.
Ready to pick? Check out all our fantasy football trophies and start the tradition this season.
Perpetual Trophy FAQ
What is the difference between a perpetual trophy and an annual trophy?
A perpetual trophy stays with the league and gets passed from champion to champion, with a new nameplate added each year. An annual (yearly) trophy is bought new each season, and the winner keeps it permanently.
How many champions fit on a perpetual trophy base?
Most FantasyJocks perpetual trophies use 25-year bases that hold up to 25 champion plaques. The GOAT Perpetual Trophy and the Armchair Championship Trophy use 15-year bases that hold up to 15.
Can you add our league's past champions?
Yes. When you order a FantasyJocks perpetual trophy, we'll engrave a plaque for every past champion your league already has, up to the base's plaque limit (up to 25 on a 25-year base, up to 15 on a 15-year base). Just enter them in the Previous Champions box on the product page, one per line as Year / Owner / Team Name.
How much does it cost to add a new champion each year?
Future champion plaques are $8 each. Order an Armchair Engraved Plaque with the new champ's name, then peel off the adhesive backing and stick it on the base.
What happens to the perpetual trophy if the champion leaves the league?
That's up to your league rules, which is why you should write them down now. Most leagues treat the trophy as league property: it goes back to the commissioner, and the departed champ's plaque stays on the base for good.
Can you make plaques for a trophy we bought somewhere else?
We only engrave replacement plaques for FantasyJocks trophies. If you want to keep an existing topper, our 25-year Perpetual Trophy Base ($79) fits most standard-style trophy toppers.
