Ever wonder how much professional cornhole players make? What is a cornhole player’s salary? Well it varies depending upon how often players win and who their sponsors are. Below we will outline how much they make based on sponsorships and tournament winnings.
Professional cornhole players make $5,000 to $25,000 per year.
Professional cornhole players make between $5,000 and $25,000 per cornhole season. Cornhole players make money from sponsorships, endorsements, and from tournament purses. Some cornhole players can make more than this range but is very rare.
How much do cornhole players make from sponsorships?
The average professional cornhole player makes $5,000 from cornhole sponsorships. Sponsors pay to be featured on the cornhole player’s jersey. The cost to sponsor the player depends on which spot on the jersey you want to pay for. Professional cornhole jersey typically consist of one main sponsor and four mini sponsors. The cost is as follows:
- $2,000 – Main sponsorship cost
- $750/each (4 total spots) – Mini Sponsorship Cost
The main sponsors logo will be the largest logo on the player’s jersey. While the mini sponsor spots will be the smallest.
Not all professional cornhole players are able to get sponsors so not all professional cornhole players make $5,000 from sponsorships.
How much do cornhole players make from tournaments?
How much cornhole players make from tournaments depend on a number of factors. In the American Cornhole League (ACL), there are several different tournaments to play in. Those tournaments are as follows:
- Local Tournaments
- Regional Tournaments
- Conference Tournaments
- National Tournaments
Local Cornhole Tournament Earnings
Local tournaments are generally one location once a week. Depending on the location, there may be several local tournaments each week at different locations. These local tournaments are generally $5 blind draw admission. Therefore, you pay $5 and you blind draw your partner. Depending on which partner you get will determine how likely you are to win. Generally, the winnings get 50% of the pot. Assuming an average of 20 teams (40 players) per local tournament, the winning team would expect a payout of $100 or $50 per player ($45 net earnings).
According to the ACL Player’s Guide, the top 10 local results count towards players overall points/rankings. Looking at the top professional cornhole players, mostly all top players end up maxing out their local points. Meaning they get first place in local tournaments at least 10 times per season. So it would probably be safe to say professional cornhole players make $500 per year per location from local cornhole tournaments. The professional cornhole players I know play at least 3 times per week in local tournaments. So they probably make $500 to $3,000 per year from local tournaments.
Regional Cornhole Tournament Event Earnings
Regional cornhole tournaments occur once per month per regional director. There are several regional directors per conference. From my experience, the professional cornhole players will go to one regional tournament per week. So approximately 4 regional tournaments per month. Each regional tournament event typically has the following events within it: blind draw doubles, bring your own partner (BYOP) doubles, and singles. The typical price per player and winner payout is as follows:
- Blind Draw Doubles: $10 per player with 75% payout
- BYOP Doubles: $20 per player with 75% payout
- Singles: $20 per player with 75% payout
Most professional cornhole players play in all three events. Assuming 20 teams for blind draw doubles (this includes pro, advanced, competitive and intermediate players), 10 teams for BYOP doubles (this includes pro and advanced players), and 20 players for singles (this includes pro and advanced players), the winners make the following:
- Blind Draw Doubles: $300 purse; $150 winning team ($75 per player); $65 net player earnings
- BYOP Doubles: $300 purse; $150 winning team ($75 per player); $55 net player earnings
- Singles: $300 purse; $150 winning player; $130 net player earnings
| Tournament Name | Purse | Winning Team $ | Per Player $ | Net Player $ |
| Blind Draw Doubles | $300 | $150 | $75 | $65 |
| BYOP Doubles | $300 | $150 | $75 | $55 |
| Singles | $300 | $150 | $150 | $130 |
| Totals | $900 | $450 | $300 | $250 |
If a cornhole player has a good day and wins all 3 events, they would receive approximately $250 in net earnings. According to the ACL’s Players Guide, 10 regional tournaments per director occur per season. Only a player’s top 5 regional events count towards a player’s points/rankings. Most top cornhole players max out their regional points. Therefore, you can assume each professional cornhole player makes at least $1,250 per year from regional tournaments.
However, most professional cornhole players participate in 40 regional events per year. Assuming they win 25% of those (10 events), they can make up to $2,500 from regional tournaments per year.
Conference Cornhole Tournament Event Earnings
Conference cornhole tournament events occur 3 times per year. Players are required to attend at least 2 out of the 3 events per year. Each conference tournament event typically has the following events within it: blind draw crew cup, advanced/pro singles, advanced/pro blind draw, and advance/pro BYOP doubles. The typical price per player and winner payout is as follows:
- Blind Draw Crew Cup: $10 per player with 70% payout
- Singles: $25 per player with 70% payout
- Blind Draw Doubles: $15 per player with 70% payout
- BYOP Doubles: $20 per player with 70% payout
Most professional cornhole players play in all 4 events. Assuming 20 teams for blind draw crew cup (this includes pro, advanced, competitive and intermediate players) , 40 players for singles (this includes pro and advanced players) , 20 teams for blind draw doubles (this includes pro and advanced players), and 20 team for BYOP doubles (this includes pro and advanced players), the winners make the following:
- Blind Draw Crew Cup: $560 purse; $280 winning team ($70 per player); $60 net player earnings
- Singles: $700 purse; $350 winning player; $325 net player earnings
- Blind Draw Doubles: $420 purse; $210 winning team ($105 per player); $90 net player earnings
- BYOP Doubles: $560 purse, $280 winning team ($140 per player); $120 net player earnings
| Tournament Name | Purse | Winning Team $ | Per Player $ | Net Player $ |
| Blind Draw Crew Cup | $560 | $280 | $70 | $60 |
| Singles | $700 | $350 | $350 | $325 |
| Blind Draw Doubles | $420 | $210 | $105 | $90 |
| BYOP Doubles | $560 | $280 | $140 | $120 |
| Totals | $2,240 | $1,120 | $665 | $595 |
If a cornhole player has a good day and wins all 4 events, they would receive approximately $595 in net earnings. The best cornhole players will typically place in the top bracket in all 4 tournaments. Assuming the best cornhole players win an average of 2 tournaments at each of the 3 events, cornhole players make an average of $300 per event and, therefore, $900 total from conference events per year.
National Cornhole Tournament Event Earnings
National cornhole tournament events occur 4 times per year. Each national tournament event consists of 4 individual tournaments for pro players (seniors get 1 additional tournament). The following is a list of tournaments, the purse for each tournament, and the payout amount for winning first place of each tournament:
| Tournament Name | Purse | 1st Place Earnings | Each Player Earnings |
| Pro/Advanced Crew Cup Shootout | $2,540 | $1,000 | $250 |
| Pro Doubles | $10,000 | $2,500 | $1,250 |
| Pro Singles | $10,000 | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Pro Blind Draw | $10,000 | $2,500 | $1,250 |
| Totals | $32,540 | $8,000 | $4,750 |
A professional player can make up to $4,750 from each national tournament event (numbers based on 2019-2020 ACL season). Therefore, a single cornhole player can make, at most, $19,000 per year in national cornhole tournament event earnings. However, a single player has yet to win all 4 individual tournaments. For the best cornhole players, you can assume they’ll win at least 1 tournament at each event and will more than likely finish high in the bracket if they don’t win first place. Therefore, let’s assume the best players win 1 tournment per event and finishes high in the bracket for the remaining tournaments. The best cornhole players will probably make about $2,500 per event. Therefore, they can make about $10,000 per year from national cornhole tournament events.
National tournament payout source: https://www.iplaycornhole.com/news-media/124
Cornhole Player Yearly Earnings Summary
The table below is a summary of yearly earnings a professional cornhole player makes.
| Earnings Type | Individual Earnings |
| Sponsorships | $5,000 |
| Local Tournaments | $3,000 |
| Regional Tournaments | $2,500 |
| Conference Tournaments | $900 |
| National Tournaments | $10,000 |
| Total Yearly Earnings | $21,400 |
Please keep in mind that these calculations are based on ACL sanctioned tournaments only. Players make additional money playing in non-ACL sanctioned tournaments as well. Mostly all top ranked ACL players play in other non-ACL sanctioned tournaments. Therefore, the best players, including the non-ACL sanctioned events, make about $25,000 per year.
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