About
How the system works
The National BBQ Rankings combines the results of contests from contests throughout the country to see who the top team is. Each week the rankings are calculate according to the National BBQ Rankings formula to determine the rankings. Teams are rewarded points when they finish in the top 10 of a qualified contest. These rankings are release each Monday throughout the year on the nationalbbqrankings.com website.
Contests
The National BBQ Rankings includes contests from the two major sanctioning bodies in competition BBQ, FBA and KCBS.
Bonus Contests
Teams that finish in the top 10 of the contests that are designated as National BBQ Rankings bonus events are rewarded with additional points for their effort in some of competition BBQ’s most competitive events. In 2007 there were 3 Bonus events; in 2008 the number of bonus events was expanded to 5. There are no plans to increase the number of bonus events for 2009.
Bonus events over the years
2007
American Royal Invitational
Kansas City
Jack Daniels World Championship
Lynchburg, TN
Best of the Best Invitational
Douglas, GA
2008
BBQ and Bluegrass Festival
Dillard, GA
FBA Triple Crown Championship
Perry, FL
American Royal Invitational
Kansas City
Memphis in May
Memphis, TN
Jack Daniels World Championship
Lynchburg, TN
2009
American Royal Invitational
Kansas City
Jack Daniels World Championship
Lynchburg, TN
FBA Triple Crown Championship,
Perry, FL
BBQ and Bluegrass Festival
Dillard, GA
Smoke on the Water
Pine Bluff, AR
Sanctioning
The Kansas City BBQ Society, KCBS, and the Florida BBQ Association make up a very large percentage of the sanctioned contests that are used to calculate the National BBQ Rankings. Both organizations do a great job sanctioning events to ensure that all teams compete on a level playing ground. This helps to ensure that the truly great teams rise to the top of not only the individual contests, but the National BBQ Rankings as well.
Unsanctioned Contest
Unsanctioned contests are not typically included National BBQ Rankings, we have made some exceptions for events that really provide a very high level of competitiveness. Those contests are the Jack Daniels World Championships and The Best of the Best Invitational and Best of the Best Open. The Jack has been a bonus event every year of the National BBQ Rankings and The Best of the Best was a bonus event in 2007. The Best of the Best open was not included in the National BBQ Rankings in 2007, but is considered currently starting in 2008.
The Formula
A 104 week rolling calendar is used to calculate the National BBQ Rankings. We feel that this gives the best indication of which team is not only hot right now, but has a level of sustained success. Also by including FBA, KCBS and unsanctioned events in the rankings we are gathering a very large portion of contests and teams. Points are rewarded to teams finishing in the top 10 of each category. The points a team earns degrade evenly over 13 8-week periods. The points are then totaled and the teams are ranked accordingly.
