Become a Professional Cornhole Player

Cornhole’s Soaring Popularity

As you may have already noticed, cornhole has become a widely popular backyard sport over the years, and if you’ve tuned into ESPN recently, chances are you’ve probably seen it reach a level of popularity you never thought possible. So popular, in fact, that when the ‘Championship of Bags’ aired on ESPN2, it earned an audience of over 300,000 viewers. Now, we’re willing to assume that “professional cornhole player” probably wasn’t on the list of things that you wanted to be growing up, but would you believe us if we told you that it actually is a real thing and it’s something that you could try your luck at no matter how old you are now?

Well, keep reading…

Become A Professional Cornhole Player

• As cornhole’s popularity has grown, the American Cornhole League (ACL) has continued to encourage social and competitive play for all ages and skill levels, and that includes managing tournaments, leagues, and custom events. Becoming an official cornhole player through the ACL allows you to compete with and against people of your same skill level to give you a chance to see how you stack up against players from around the country.
• To become a competing player in the ACL, you must purchase an ACL membership ($25) before January 1st of the year if you wish to begin competing. Becoming a registered player allows you to show up in national standings, access statistics, and save money when entering future ACL regional, conference, and national events.
• Once a member, you will be given a ‘player profile’ where you will be able to see what ‘type’ of player you are (Junior, College, Adult, Senior), as well as your skill level. Skill levels are determined by your experience with the game (1 Bagger, 2 Bagger, 3 Bagger, 4 Bagger, Premier, Elite).
• After your player profile has been established, ACL Directors will place you in Divisions that are intended to group players of similar skill levels for competitive and social play (Backyard, Social, Competitive, Advanced). Players are allowed to play “up” in a division as long as they are aware that the play style is more competitive.
• Once all of that has been established, you can begin competing in local, regional, conference, national tournaments and compete their way to the top for a chance to compete in the ‘Championship of Bags (COBS)’ and a chance to win over $50,000. Take a look at the video below to see what a professional cornhole tournament looks like.

Start Competing Today

There may be a bit of mystique surrounding the idea of being a professional cornhole player, but it’s actually quite easy, and you could start the process today. In fact, this might be the best time to start practicing. Summer is in full swing and what other excuse do you need to start using your grill,  and partaking in “friendly” competition with the friends you invite over as you start perfecting your cornhole skills?