Fantasy Football is an imaginary football league where the participants each make a team by selecting existing players of the NFL, acting as managers and owners of the team they created. Generally, each participant pays an entry fee so that the champion at the end of the season wins money, and of course, bragging rights. Entry fees can be any amount—even free—depending on what the participants are looking for.
Fantasy football scores are accumulated based on the actions of each NFL player during a game. Each action has various point values based on each league’s rules, such as touchdowns and receptions. Teams are made by each participant partaking in a draft where they choose players for each position on their team, both for offense and defense. This can get competitive and takes a lot of luck. Everyone wants the players who will likely accumulate the most points each game. There is a “commissioner” for every league who is in charge of resolving disputes that may come up.
There are typically 8 or more teams in a league. The fantasy football “season” is just like the NFL’s. The goal is to make the playoffs and win the championship, which in most leagues means winning money; this is a good incentive to strategize the players you want on your team each game. Throughout the season, participants can also make trades with each other if they think a player will benefit their team. Regulations are put in place before each season to prevent trades from becoming one-sided.
To accurately keep score, most leagues use an online fantasy football platform that will automatically track each NFL player’s points and update team stats during a game. The most popular hosting sites are free—such as ESPN, Yahoo!, and NFL—and are much easier to use than keeping score by hand.
Article Written by: Emma Rusnak