The real world of fantasy football
What goes into a fantasy football season?
Design by Everett Baumann and Gus Silva
Everett Baumann, Editor-In-Chief & Gus Silva, Staff Writer
Some believe it's the "Dungeons and Dragons for football players." Others call it "Fake NFL," and most affectionately refer to it as "Fantasy." In 2024, there were 13 million fantasy football players on ESPN. Other platforms with millions of competitors exist on the NFL app and Yahoo Sports.
But, what exactly is fantasy football? And why is it so popular?
According to fantasy football analyst Field Yates of ESPN, fantasy football is a game where "you select your own team of players, setting a lineup every week. Then, you watch as they run, pass, catch, and score touchdowns, all of which are worth fantasy points. Every week, you match up against someone else in your league, and whoever has the most fantasy points that week wins."
The history of fantasy football dates back to 1962. In a Manhattan hotel room, former Oakland Raiders owner Bill Winkenbach created the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League (GOPPPL). Back then, Winkenbach and other fantasy pioneers had to scan the newspaper for that week's box scores and tally up points manually. Today, the luxury of technology does that for fantasy football's dedicated players.
However, fantasy football is much more than the technology that runs it. It involves statistics and strategies that draw players in. Before the NFL season starts, leagues of players will hold a draft to determine their teams. The draft is a culmination of an offseason's worth of research, preparation, and fans' anticipation for the beginning of a new season. Participants can spend hours leading up to the draft researching NFL players' stats. Numbers such as a player's target rate, red zone usage, and touchdowns scored help determine a player's role on an NFL team, and thus, their value on a fantasy football team. Senior Isa Alejos conducted extensive research to draft her perfect team.
"To draft my team, I looked at their game logs, and I looked to see if their team had a good record. My favorite part of fantasy football is picking my players to start and looking at their game logs for each week," Alejos said.
Alongside the chance to pick your team, fantasy football's trading mechanism allows players to patch up holes on their team, usually due to injuries picked up by players in the middle of a grueling season. For example, say that a fantasy player's quarterback injures himself, but they have a plethora of wide receivers on their team. Another player may be short on wide receivers. To fix both of these problems, they would swap a quarterback for a wide receiver.
Behind the science of fantasy football lies a larger prize than bragging rights: the opportunity to enjoy time well spent with friends. Most people play the game with close friends, providing them with a season-long activity to participate in. Fantasy football is also a great way to meet new people. Fantasy football is for everyone, no matter how much they may know about football.
"I got into fantasy football because my friend's cousin texted me about it. I didn't know anything about it at the time, but now I love fantasy football," Alejos said.
Sophomore Gavin McLaren is a long-time football fan who swears by his Atlanta Falcons. McLaren says creating a league with his friends from church has brought him closer to them.
If you're winning, it's fun to play with your friends. If you're losing, not really. If you're winning, you get to taunt your friends. But if you're losing, you get [a ton] of messages with trash talk," McLaren said.
While fantasy football is the most popular fantasy sports game, fantasy soccer, golf, and basketball are also popular picks for fans of those sports.
"I love fantasy football so much that I started a fantasy basketball league with some of my friends at school," Alejos said.
Whether or not you are a hard-core football fan or you are just learning about football, fantasy football is a great way to learn the rules of the game while spending time with friends.
"I 100% recommended fantasy football to everyone, even if you don't play or watch football," Alejos said.
