Every commissioner has run the same play: send the group text asking for entry fees, wait a week, send it again, then spend the first Sunday of the season still chasing down the last three people who haven't paid. Contest Vault, built by LeagueSafe, fixes that by letting commissioners collect, hold, and pay out entry fees in one place.

Why Use Contest Vault

  • Your contest, your rules. You set the entry fee, the payout structure, the deadline, and the approval process.
  • Save hours every contest. Collection, payouts, and the chase-down are handled in one place instead of a spreadsheet and a group text.
  • No location restrictions for your players. All of your entrants can pay into the Contest Vault.
  • Hybrid-friendly. Collect online through Contest Vault, and still log a Venmo payment or cash handoff from your offline crew with everything tracked in the same place.
  • Splash takes $0. No platform fee, just a standard 3% payment processing fee through LeagueSafe
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What This Means for Commissioners

Contest Vault is an added tool to make your lives easier. A commissioner can turn it on for a contest or keep collecting entry fees the way they always have. For the commissioner who does turn it on, the benefit is control: more of it, not less.

Here's what actually changes for the person running the contest:

  • You set every rule, and control the funds. Entry fee, payout structure, payment deadline, late fee, and whether payouts need approval; a commissioner configures all of it.
  • Payouts happen your way. Structure them weekly, season-long, or with any custom split the group wants. Choose automatic distribution if you want full say over when money moves, or turn on entrant voting if you'd rather the group sign off first.
  • An unpaid entry fee is your call. If someone hasn't paid by the deadline, decide whether to wait or remove them from the contest.
  • You're not locked into one collection method. If an entrant still pays you by Venmo or hands you cash, add that payment into the Vault yourself so the record stays complete, or manage it separately if you'd rather keep it simple. Nothing about Contest Vault requires an all-or-nothing switch.

Not only that, Splash doesn't take a cut. The only cost is a flat 3% payment processing fee that goes to LeagueSafe: on a $100 entry fee, $97 goes into the Vault and $3 covers processing. Turning on Contest Vault also waives the standard Self-Managed Service Fee for that contest, so a commissioner isn't paying two different sites for money management.

There are no geolocation restrictions, either. LeagueSafe’sContest Vault availability describes who can use this specific payment feature, not contest eligibility.

Who It's For

Any commissioner running a private contest who's tired of being the group's unofficial accountant, tracking who's paid across Venmo, cash, and a running spreadsheet. Contest Vault is built for the commissioner who wants that off their plate without giving up control of how the money moves.

How It Works

  • When setting up the contest, the commissioner turns on Contest Vault and sets the entry fee, payment deadline, late fee (if any), and how payouts get approved - by vote or automatically.
  • Entrants pay through a screen hosted by LeagueSafe, using a card or bank account.
  • The commissioner sees every entrant's payment status and timestamp in one list.
  • At any point, the commissioner distributes payouts to one or more entrants a standard 1st/2nd/3rd split or a custom structure, like a weekly prize. Nothing pays out automatically when the contest ends; the commissioner decides who gets paid and when.

What Contestants See When Entering and Paying

Entrants land on the entry details page and see a Contest Vault section if the commissioner has it enabled. Paying isn't required to enter; an entrant can join the contest now and pay later, on their own schedule, whenever works for them.

When an entrant is ready to pay, submitting opens a payment screen owned by LeagueSafe. First-time payers consent to creating a LeagueSafe account, then complete payment by card or bank transfer.

Voting: An Option for Commissioners

Approval on payouts is a setting, not a fixed rule. A commissioner can require a vote, majority or unanimous, their choice, before any payout goes out, or set payouts to distribute automatically with no vote at all once a commissioner decides to pay.

If a vote is required, every entrant gets asked to approve or reject the proposed payout, and the vote has to finalize before funds move. There's no deadline on how long that takes, so a commissioner running a vote-based contest may need to nudge entrants to actually cast one. It's a simple trade-off: a vote adds a layer of group buy-in on how the prize gets split; automatic approval skips that step entirely.

The LeagueSafe Contest Vault will be available when contest creation goes live.

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About the author

Daniel Childs