By Kevin Koeninger
It used to be that fans of the NFL cheered for a single team or favorite player each week, but thanks to fantasy football, all of that is changing.
The highly competitive and addictive world of fantasy football is sweeping the country, with more and more people suiting up every year. And with the advent of free online leagues dedicated to groups ranging from the casual fan to the hard-core enthusiast, fantasy football is becoming more enticing than ever.
By definition, fantasy football is a game in which players, or “owners,” draft the best players in the NFL, and then receive a certain amount of points each week, depending on how their players performed. The winner of each league, consisting of several owners, can be determined in two different ways. The first is a matter of simple addition, as the owner with the most points at the conclusion of the season is the champion. The second method, however, involves head-to-head games between owners each week, with the best win/loss record at the end of the year being declared victorious
According to Wikipedia.com, over 15 million people participate in fantasy football leagues every year, with that number growing by an average of 8% each year. Online leagues are the most popular, with Yahoo! Sports and ESPN being the most successful.
The draft portion is by far the most critical aspect of the league, as nearly unlimited strategies can be employed. Running backs and quarterbacks are most often taken in the first and second rounds, as they will constitute a majority of an owner’s points on a week-to-week basis. ESPN’s Sportscenter” recently ran a series of segments devoted to helping fantasy owners make the best choices on draft day. For those still awaiting their draft, the list of Sportscenter’s 25 Rules” can be found at ESPN.com by searching “Fantasy Football.”
The idea that the world’s leading sports network devotes time to fantasy football on its most popular show is evidence of how phenomenal it has become. It is important to note, however, that football is not the only sport being invaded by the fantasy nation. Baseball and soccer are also widely popular as fantasy league choices, with soccer being especially successful in Europe and South America.
These other fantasy sports’ popularity, however, still pales in comparison to that of fantasy football. A large reason for its preferential treatment over baseball, for example, is that games are played just once a week. Fantasy baseball league owners have to deal with players participating in games five or six times a week, while updating their rosters accordingly. The NFL games are often on Sundays and allow for a person with just about any schedule to manage their stats and teams successfully. Owners can devote as much or as little time to their fantasy league as they want, depending not only on their schedules, but also on their interest in the league itself.
Even easier than managing a team, is signing up for a league and instantly diving into the action. On Yahoo! Sports fantasy leagues, for example, users simply create a user ID and team name, then sign up for a draft time that’s convenient for them. They are automatically placed in a league with other Yahoo! users that signed up for the same draft. After drafting, all that’s left to do is order the depth chart and wait for the first week of the NFL season. Convenience and ease of use are certainly welcomed by first-time fantasy leaguers, but also make it advantageous for the more dedicated owner, allowing for the management of several teams in different leagues.
Fantasy football is no longer just a passing craze; and the statistics showcasing its ever-growing fan base certainly support that claim. The NFL benefits from an increased number of viewers, companies like Yahoo! and ESPN benefit from increased exposure, but more importantly, fantasy football makes professional football more exciting by giving fans more than just one team or player to root for; it gives them a reason to support the game itself, a benefit that affects everyone involved.
