Last year, during the ISL’s 2nd season, the league instituted a new rule called “jackpots”. To put it simply, a winning swimmer or relay may “jackpot” other swimmers or relays in the field by beating them by a certain margin of victory. When that happens, the winning swimmer or relay steals the points of whoever was outside of the jackpot margin. For example, if event X has a jackpot margin of 2.00 seconds, and the 8th place finisher swims 2.3 seconds slower than the winner, the winner of the event will earn 9 points for the win, plus they’ll steal the 1 point the 8th place finisher would have typically earned for the 8th-place finish.
The jackpot rule did have an effect on team scoring last season, although it wasn’t nearly the massive game-changer that many fans thought it might be when the rule was first announced. ISL appears to be leaning further into jackpots for season 3, however, as they’ve shifted a few jackpot margins to be faster, which will undoubtedly result in more jackpot points throughout this season.
Here is the list of jackpot changes from last season to this season:
| Event | Season 2 Jackpot Margin | Season 3 Jackpot Margin | Time Change |
| Men’s 100 Fly | 2.00 | 1.95 | -0.05 |
| Men’s 100 IM | 2.05 | 2.00 | -0.05 |
| Men’s 4×100 Free Relay | 9.00 | 5.00 | -4.00 |
| Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay | 10.00 | 6.00 | -4.00 |
| Women’s 50 Fly | 1.05 | 1.00 | -0.05 |
| Women’s 4×100 Free Relay | 10.00 | 6.00 | -4.00 |
| Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay | 11.00 | 7.00 | -4.00 |
| Mixed 4×100 Free Relay | 10.00 | N/A | N/A |
| Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay | N/A | 6.5 | N/A |
Note: the mixed 400 medley relay is being competed in place of the mixed 400 free relay this season. The margin for the mixed free relay was 10 seconds, while the mixed medley this year is just 6.5 seconds, marking a significantly decreased mixed relay jackpot margin this season.
In fact, we’ve already seen the effects of these changes in the first 2 matches of the new season. Through match 2, 64 more relay jackpot points have been scored this year than last year:
| Event | Season 2 Jackpot Points | Season 3 Jackpot Points | Change in Points |
| Match 1 Men’s 4×100 Free Relay | 2 | 12 | +10 |
| Match 1 Women’s 4×100 Free Relay | 0 | 12 | +12 |
| Match 2 Men’s 4×100 Free Relay | 2 | 12 | +10 |
| Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay | 0 | 20 | +20 |
| Women’s 4×100 Free Relay | 0 | 6 | +6 |
| Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay | 0 | 6 | +6 |
We’ve already seen jackpot points make a significant impact in individual events as well. Coleman Stewart of the Cali Condors became the first ISL swimmer to jackpot every other swimmer in the field in a race during match 2. Stewart broke the World Record in the 100 back, finishing 2.08 seconds ahead of the 2nd-place finisher. Because the jackpot margin in the men’s 100 back is 2.00 seconds, Stewart jackpotted all 7 other swimmers in the field, thus earning 37 points for the swim.
In addition to the jackpot changes, cutoff times have also been adjusted. The ISL cutoff standards are the minimum time required in a given event in order to score points. If a swimmer fails to race under the cutoff time, rather than receiving the points that would typically be granted for their placement, they receive a penalty, and those points are taken away from the team’s existing point total. For example, if the cutoff time in event X is 1:00.00, and the 8th-place finisher touches in 1:00.10, instead of receiving a point for the swim, the team will have a point deducted from their score.
10 events saw their cutoff times shifted to be faster this year:
| Event | Season 2 Cutoff | Season 3 Cutoff | Time Change |
| Men’s 100 Back | 54.00 | 53.50 | -0.50 |
| Men’s 100 IM | 55.00 | 54.00 | -1.00 |
| Men’s 400 IM | 4:19.00 | 4:18.00 | -1.00 |
| Men’s 4×100 Free Relay | 3:17.00 | 3:15.00 | -2.00 |
| Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay | 3:35.50 | 3:33.50 | -2.00 |
| Men’s 100 Fly | 53.00 | 52.50 | -0.50 |
| Men’s 100 Breast | 1:00.00 | 59.50 | -0.50 |
| Women’s 100 back | 1:01.00 | 1:00.50 | -0.50 |
| Women’s 4×100 Free Relay | 3:39.00 | 3:37.00 | -2.00 |
| Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay | 4:02.00 | 3:59.00 | -3.00 |
This literally just gives our boy CD more money automatically lol
Of course more jackpotting is what ISL needs 🙄
dressel smiles in the background
Have they been any better at explaining the jackpots this season? Like they always have the total team score up on the screen, but having the jackpot margins up for each event would be super useful.
In theory I don’t really care about jackpots either way – the best swimmers are going to get the most jackpot points and all the best swimmers are on the better teams, so it sorta just tilts the playing field farther towards them – but with most of the ISL’s tweaks and nuances, I wish you could actually understand them in real time.
I think they should have bonus points for World Records and maybe for ISL event records (and bonus money). The penalty points for missing the minimum time should be double.
I don’t have an opinion on bonus points for world records but I agree that there should be a bigger penalty for missing the minimum time. Compared to the 20+ points someone like Caeleb can potentially score in a single event, a -1 for a miss is pretty insignificant.