Although it appears that the nation is about to resume normal activities, including professional sports, there is still plenty of time left on the calendar before Major League Baseball, the PGA Tour, the National Basketball Association, and other leagues restart their respective seasons.
Leave it to the USA sportsbook site Bovada to fill the gap by offering a simulated online NFL tournament that began on May 9th, with Sim Bowl Sunday falling on May 24th.
While football betting sites are gearing up for the start of the NFL season in September, Bovada is way ahead of the competition, delivering nearly a full month of wagering opportunities in May that include individual game lines as well as a bevy of futures and props.
Individual game lines appear just like regular season odds that are offered when betting on the NFL and allow for live in-game wagering that updates as the action unfolds.
Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets (-4.5)
- 5/16/20 at 4:00 PM
- Straight: Dolphins +150, Jets -200
- Total: 56.5
The Jets being favored by 4.5 points may seem like a large margin, but the gaming software that the Sim Classic uses is Madden 20, which features rosters from last NFL season. The betting odds will reflect the talents and physical attributes of the players and the makeup of each team from last year.
Quarters are set to 15-minute length with an accelerated play clock. Because a winner must be decided in all matchups, and there is no human participation in the games, contests have the potential to go to lengthy overtimes.
The tournament is set up like international soccer play, with four team brackets that allow for the top two from each to enter a sixteen-team sudden death bracket where winners advance and losers are done for the year.
These four-team groupings pair perfectly with the size of NFL divisions which contain four franchises in each.
The championship game, or the Sim Bowl, will take place on Sunday, May 24th, and there are already futures odds on which virtual NFL team will hoist the digital Lombardi Trophy.
The Sim Bowl Winner
- Baltimore Ravens +650
- Kansas City Chiefs +650
- Green Bay Packers +725
- Dallas Cowboys +750
- New England Patriots +750
- San Francisco 49ers +800
- New Orleans Saints +850
- Seattle Seahawks +1400
- Minnesota Vikings +1600
- Pittsburgh Steelers +1600
- Philadelphia Eagles +2200
- Houston Texans +2800
- Tennessee Titans +3300
- Atlanta Falcons +5000
- Indianapolis Colts +5000
- Los Angeles Chargers +5000
- Los Angeles Rams +6600
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers +6600
- Carolina Panthers +8000
- Chicago Bears +8000
- New York Jets +8000
- Buffalo Bills +10000
- Oakland Raiders +10000
- Cleveland Browns +12500
- Denver Broncos +12500
- Jacksonville Jaguars +15000
- New York Giants +75000
- Arizona Cardinals +100000
- Cincinnati Bengals +100000
- Detroit Lions +100000
- Miami Dolphins +100000
- Washington Redskins +100000
There are many more futures betting lines for the Sim Classic at Bovada. Live streams of simulated NFL games can be seen in the Sim Classic section of Bovada’s sportsbook or at the streaming video content website Twitch. Games are currently running each day, so don’t wait. The 24th will be here before you know it.