Decided by a tiebreaker
Tie
identical totals at the top
The top two teams finished on identical totals — the Grand Championship came down to the KCBS tiebreaker rules.
American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off 2024
Mar 22–23, 2024 · Kansas City, MO · 📍 1701 American Royal Court
Reps: Dave Rogers, Peg Rogers
GO HAM BBQ won Grand Champion at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue Steak Cook-Off on March 22, 2024 in Kansas City, MO at 1701 American Royal Court, scoring 180.0000 in a field of 10 teams. Smoke This Drink That BBQ took Reserve Grand Champion with 180.0000. This is the 3rd of 5 editions of this contest on record; the 2023 edition came before it; the next was held in 2025.
The contest at a glance (read off the scored boards)
How the field scored
Overall totals, every team on the board — tall stacks are where the pack sat.
167.37
median 174.85
180 🏆
Entries
10
0 judged meats · 1 ancillary
Top score
180
Winning margin
Tie
identical totals — KCBS tiebreaker
Field average
174.73
167.37180
median 174.85 · last place to winner
Perfect 180s
0
Top-10 cutoff
167.3712
167.37180
10th place overall
Field spread
12.6288
winner to last place
Form held
Weak
ρ = 0.03 between pre-contest rating and finish
Field strength
1,550
avg power rating going in · stronger than 38% of contests
Storylines (5 found in this contest's numbers)
Everything below is read straight out of the results — the number on each card is the one that made it a story.
An upset on the books
30-in-100
shot on pre-contest ratings
The ratings favoured the top seed the other 70 times in 100
Go Ham BBQ came in rated below the field's top team, MEAT RUSHMORE BBQ, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 30-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
- champion 1579
- top seed 1723
A dynasty in the making
2×
wins at this contest
2 of 5 tracked editions
Go Ham BBQ has won this contest 2 times across its 5 tracked editions.
- 2022
- 2024
A knife fight at the top
4.5828
points across the top five
First to fifth in the overall standings covered just 4.5828 points — 2 teams sat within a single point of the lead.
- 1st GO HAM BBQ
- 2nd Smoke This Drink That BBQ
- 3rd Beer & Bones BBQ
- 4th Big TD'S BBQ
- 5th BBQ Boys
Back to defend
1
past champions back in the field
Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: Go Ham BBQ (won 2022).
- Go Ham BBQ · 2022
Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)
Score distribution
Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)
Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 25, 2022 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | 11 | 173.1544 | Go Ham BBQ |
| Mar 24, 2023 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | — | — | — |
| Mar 22, 2024 ← this one | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | 10 | 180 | Go Ham BBQ |
| Mar 21, 2025 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | — | — | — |
| Mar 20, 2026 | Kansas City, MO | 1701 American Royal Court | — | — | — |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Grilling Series
Overall
10 entries · top 180 · median 174.8458 · out of 180, not the usual 720 · 🔥 perfect 180
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GO HAM BBQ | |
| 2 | Smoke This Drink That BBQ | |
| 3 | Beer & Bones BBQ | |
| 4 | Big TD'S BBQ | |
| 5 | BBQ Boys | |
| 6 | GRILLAS | |
| 7 | Wapatui Smokers | |
| 8 | MEAT RUSHMORE BBQ | |
| 9 | SOUTHINURMOUTH | |
| 10 | WEEKEND BUM BBQ |
Ancillary categories
Run by the organizers alongside the sanctioned contest. These are judged on their own terms and do not count toward the overall score, so they're kept out of the meat stats above.
Grilling Series — Steak
10 entries · top 180 · median 174.8458 · 🔥 perfect 180
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GO HAM BBQ | |
| 2 | Smoke This Drink That BBQ | |
| 3 | Beer & Bones BBQ | |
| 4 | Big TD'S BBQ | |
| 5 | BBQ Boys | |
| 6 | GRILLAS | |
| 7 | Wapatui Smokers | |
| 8 | MEAT RUSHMORE BBQ | |
| 9 | SOUTHINURMOUTH | |
| 10 | WEEKEND BUM BBQ |