Fantasy football (American)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fantasy football is an interactive online competition in which users compete against each other as general
managers of virtual fantasy teams built from drafting real players. The players that an individual is able
to manage are professional American football players in the National Football League. The different actions
people are able to make are drafting, trading, adding or dropping players, and changing rosters every week.
Due to the growth of the internet, fantasy football has vastly increased in popularity, particularly because
fantasy football providers such as ESPN Fantasy Sports, CBS, Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, and the NFL itself are
able to keep track of statistics entirely online, eliminating the need to check box scores in newspapers
regularly to keep track of players, which is how fantasy football players rst had to keep track of stats. Most
leagues have a 13 week season, a small playoff bracket, and a single week championship in week 16 of the
NFL season.
Contents
1 History
2 League types
2.1 Head-to-Head Leagues
2.2 Total Points Leagues
2.3 Keeper Leagues
2.4 Dynasty "Keeper" Leagues
2.5 Developmental Dynasty Leagues
2.6 Salary Cap Leagues
2.7 Auction Leagues
2.8 Two Quarterback Leagues
2.9 Daily Fantasy Sports
2.10 Playoff Fantasy Football
3 New league types
4 The draft
5 Team names
6 Free agents and trades
7 Fantasy trade referees
8 Team rosters
8.1 Starters
8.2 Scoring Congurations
8.2.1 Standard Scoring
8.2.2 Points-Per-Reception (PPR)
8.2.3 Pure Scoring Leagues
8.2.4 Pure Yardage Leagues
8.2.5 Individual Defensive Player (IDP)
8.2.6 Performance-Based Bonuses
8.3 League Manager and Gambling
8.4 All individual players
9 Demographics
10 Effect on American Economy
10.1 Ad Revenue
10.2 Spending by Team Managers
10.3 Complementary and Derivative Industries
10.4 Effect on spectatorship
10.5 Wasted Productivity
11 References
12 External links
History
Modern fantasy football can be traced back to the late Wilfred "Bill the Gill" Winkenbach, an Oakland area
businessman and a limited partner in the Oakland Raiders. In a New York hotel room during a 1962 Raiders
eastern cross-country trip, Winkenbach, along with Raiders Public Relations man Bill Tunnel and Tribune
reporter Scotty Starling, developed a system of organization and a rulebook, which would eventually be the
basis of modern fantasy football.
[1]
The inaugural league was called the GOPPPL (Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators
League), and the rst draft took place in the rumpus room of Winkenbach's home in Oakland, California in
August 1963.
[2]
The league consisted of eight members, made up of administrative afliates of the AFL, pro
football journalists, or someone who had purchased or sold 10 season tickets for the Raiders 1963 season.
Each roster consisted of the following in the GOPPPL: two quarterbacks, four halfbacks, two fullbacks, four
offensive ends, two kick/punt returners, two eld goal kickers, two defensive backs/linebackers and two
defensive linemen. The current GOPPPL roster now includes: two quarterbacks, four halfbacks, six wide
receivers/tight ends, two kickers, two defensive backs, one return team, and a bonus pick for any position.
As of 2012, the GOPPPL will celebrate its 50th season and still maintains its TD-only scoring heritage.
In 1969, Andy Mousalimas, an original creator of GOPPPL and participant in the inaugural draft, brought
the game to his sports bar, the King's X in Oakland, California where he added another couple leagues.
When the patrons of other Oakland and San Francisco bars visited for trivia contests they soon learned of the
game and passed the word about it.
[3]
Due to the time consuming nature of the game's scoring it was difcult
to pick up and spread slowly across the country.
Another early fantasy football league is The league formerly known as Marias. This league was founded
in Spokane, Washington on September 2, 1981, at the now defunct Marias pizza parlor.
[4]
Originally,
Marias Fantasy Football League had eight franchises drafting from a single player pool. Today, the league
boasts twenty-four franchises divided into two conferences each drafting from a separate player pool. The
playoff system mirrors the NFL playoffs with weekly live auction redrafts as the player pool diminishes
culminating in a Super Bowl between the two conference champions. Like other pre-information age
leagues, Marias was founded as a TD only league to simplify manual scoring. Since, the rules have been
modied by adding bonus points for milestone yardage achievements but otherwise Marias franchise
owners have opted to maintain the spirit of Marias TD-only history.
One of the rst rotisserie fantasy football leagues was formed in 1985 by Jim Boullion and Lee Fanshaw in
Madison, Wisconsin. The Capital Football League included 10 owners most were employees with the
Wisconsin State Legislature and the league was based at the Capital in Madison. The league still has six of
the original owners Jim, Lee, Charlie Garnett, Scott Adrian, Jon Mielke, and Jeff Renk. The rst rosters
included both offensive and defensive players, but changed to just 17 offensive players only after the rst
year. All players are eligible for the round robin games, but only 2 QB, 3 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 K count in the
statistical scoring. The league scoring system included four categories. The rst was basic scoring for round
robin games in which the winners received 6 points and ties awarded 3 points. The next included statistical
team categories in passing yards, rushing yards, receiving yards, receptions, total yards (rushing+receiving),
total scoring. Each of these categories received points from 25 to 0 in descending order of placement. The
third category is individual statistical in passing yards, passing TDs, rushing yards, receiving yards,
receptions, and kicking points. The player leading the NFL in each revived 5 points, 2nd received 3 points
and 1 point for third. The fourth category is playoff points similar to the round robin, includes bonus points
for nishing rst in the playoffs. The team with the most total points from these four categories was declared
the league champion.
In 1988, the G-League was formed by 8 player who drafted from the control room of GTech, an information
technology company who serviced the lottery terminals for New Jersey Lottery in Trenton, NJ. The league
was a TD-only scoring and used USA-Today as the source for all their data. Some of the players continue to
participate with the league renamed as Brick City Football League, launching their rst live draft in 1994 in
the Newark NJ conference room of York Hunter, a construction management company. The Brick City
League is still active today, 24 years later, with players in NY, NJ, FL, and Turkey.
Digital Trends Magazine, Pro Sports Daily, and others note that it wasnt until 1989 when
telecommunications and ultimately internet made tracking players easier when leagues grew to the point that
games could be followed from almost any location, then the idea really caught on. There were other factors
as well, including the push by Robert Barbiere and Brad Wendkos of Phoneworks, who helped popularize
the fantasy idea in 1989 with what they called the Pigskin playoff, an open fantasy football league that
was picked up by several major newspapers and participated in by over 100,000 players nationally. Trading
and other game interactions took place via DTMF (touchtone) phone technologies.
For years, the popularity of fantasy football grew slowly. In 1997, CBS launched the beta version of the rst
publicly available free fantasy football website.
[5]
The game immediately became widely popular. Within
three years, all major sports media websites launched competing fantasy football hosting websites. The NFL
released their own ofcial game in 2010, NFL.com Fantasy Football, further driving industry growth.
Fantasy football is now the single most important marketing tool for the NFL. Today, it is estimated over 19
million people compete in public and private leagues online nationally.
[6]
In 2009, fantasy football was christened mainstream with a fantasy football based sitcom, The League. The
League was created by the husband-and-wife team of Jeff Schaffer (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld) and
Jackie Marcus Schaffer (Disturbia, EuroTrip) who serve as executive producers and directors. The series is
produced by FX Productions.
[7]
League types
There are several different types of fantasy football leagues. The two most popular types are: head-to-head
and total points leagues. Type of league is the rst category in which a manager must designate to
participate.
Head-to-Head Leagues
In head-to-head leagues, a team matches up versus a different team each week. The team who receives the
most points of the two receives a win for that particular week. Points are dictated by the scoring system that
is either standard set by the website or custom set by the commissioner. A teams total is the sum of all
players' points in the starting lineup. The win-loss record is the most important statistic in head-to-head
leagues, as it directly correlates with the league champion. Teams with the best win-loss record advance to
the playoffs. If two teams have the same record, the tie-breaker is then decided by the total points scored in
the regular season of the two (or more) tied teams. Further tie-breakers can be added based on league
preference.
Total Points Leagues
Total points leagues are leagues in which teams accumulate points on an ongoing basis. The league
standings are determined by the teams total points rather than their win-loss record. The teams who accrue
the highest total of points throughout the duration of the NFL-regular season advance to the playoffs.
Keeper Leagues
A Keeper style fantasy football league allows teams to keep players from one year to the next. Traditionally,
league rules dictate the number of players that can be kept from year to year, as well as the 'penalty' for
keeping a player. The standard 'penalty' for keeping a player is the forfeiture of a draft pick two rounds
earlier than the player was selected (ex. a team would lose a 4th round pick if the player they are keeping
was drafted in the 6th round. Furthermore, if this player is kept the following year, the team would forfeit a
2nd round pick).
Dynasty "Keeper" Leagues
A dynasty "Keeper" style fantasy football league is a league where you retain most or all of your players
from year to year. This creates an environment which is very different from that of a redraft league. In such
leagues, the type of players available in the yearly draft is focused more towards rookies with long-term
potential.
Developmental Dynasty Leagues
A developmental dynasty style fantasy football league is a league where you not only retain most or all of
your players from year to year, but you also draft college players into a developmental squad or college farm
system. These types of leagues focus on scouting the college game as well as the pro game for future fantasy
football stars. Each year there are generally two drafts. One draft is for incoming NFL rookies and the other
is for drafting college players. Developmental Dynasty Leagues were created in 1999 by Scott Fish, a long
time fantasy industry member and now a Senior Writer for Dynasty League Football.
Salary Cap Leagues
The salary cap football league is a particular type of dynasty league which adds another factor of realism
similar to the NFL: the salary cap. Just like in the NFL, this means each player has an associated salary and
the total spent on all the players on a team has a maximum - the "salary cap." This can have many levels of
complexity, e.g. a player may be signed for multiple years, etc.
Auction Leagues
GMs nominate players (in order) to be bid on by all GMs in the league. Each franchise has a cap (standard is
$200) that they can spend on their entire roster. This is the fastest growing format of fantasy football. There
are websites and podcasts devoted to this specic method of playing fantasy football. The rst website and
podcast dedicated to this type of fantasy football is the Fantasy Football Auctioneer.
Two Quarterback Leagues
Two Quarterback leagues, similar to Points-Per-Reception leagues, were created as an effort to make
Quarterbacks more relevant to fantasy scoring. In this alternate scoring system, a team has the ability to start
two quarterbacks in their weekly lineup. This changes the value of the Quarterback position, as it doubles
the number of Quarterbacks able to start in any given week. It also reduces the depth of available players,
making the position more important for effective roster building.
Daily Fantasy Sports
Daily fantasy sports is like traditional fantasy sports where players draft a team of real world athletes who
then score fantasy points according to set scoring rules. However, instead of being stuck with the same team
through a whole season, daily fantasy sports contests last just one day (or in the case of NFL, one weekend).
Users can play head-to-head or in larger eld tournaments. Both cash leagues and free contests are available
for play.
Playoff Fantasy Football
Typically, the regular season of fantasy football
[8]
ends after Week 13 of the regular NFL season. This
allows for either 3 or 4 weeks for fantasy playoffs before the NFL's 17-week regular season ends. Most
fantasy leagues seed their teams based upon their overall records during the regular season. Some leagues
award a bye week to the top teams who then remain idle in Week 14. Teams that do not make the fantasy
playoffs compete in a consolation bracket for the duration of the playoff period. With the exception of the
championship game, all teams losing in the single elimination format continue to play for the duration of the
playoff period to determine who nishes third, fth, seventh, etc.
Several websites, including NFL.com, offer a fantasy football league during the NFL's playoffs. Participants
choose players from several different positions and receive points each week for their performances. The
league lasts until the Super Bowl. Players who are on a fantasy roster for consecutive weeks earn double,
triple, and nally quadruple points.
[9]
Scoring is usually the same as in most season-long leagues.
New league types
A new style of fantasy football is modeled after the popular "survivor pool" or "knock out pool" style of
weekly NFL wagering that allows each pool member to pick one NFL team to win each week, but he or she
can only pick that team once all year.
Similarly, survivor fantasy leagues allow owners to draft a fresh team of seven players each week, with each
player only available to each owner one week per year. This added level of strategy places an emphasis on
weekly NFL match ups, while at the same time diminishing the negative consequences of injuries.
Another type of league that allows for year round fantasy football is called Simulation Football. Simulation
Football uses a computer to simulate the games with simulated players, instead of relying on the NFL for its
players and stats. The most basic type is a GM league, where all the player has to do is put together a team
and the computer does most of the work. A much more involved type of simulation football is called a
"Create-a-Player" or CAP league. In a CAP league, top players vie for the chance to be a GM and put
together a team using players that are created by other people. There are different types of scoring for
determining who is a "top player" but the people are charged with making their player as good as possible
using the league's scoring system.
The popularity of fantasy football has ltered down into the collegiate level as well. Fantasy College
Football is gaining in popularity as diehard fantasy players and college football fanatics combine two of
their favorite passions into one. The most popular leagues involve the BCS only schools while other leagues
incorporate all FBS schools or even just the "non-BCS" schools.
The draft
Just like in real football, each year fantasy football leagues have a draft (note: in dynasty leagues, this
normally consists of NFL rookies only), in which each team drafts NFL players. These players are kept
unless they are traded or dropped, whereby they enter a pool of unowned players that any team may claim.
In most leagues, no player may be owned by more than one team, although some leagues do allow for this.
There are essentially two types of drafts. In a traditional "serpentine" or "snake" draft, owners take turns
drafting players in a "serpentine" method, i.e. the owner who picks 1st in the odd rounds picks last in the
even rounds, in the interests of fairness.
In an auction draft, each owner has an imaginary budget which he must use to purchase all his players in an
auction format. Owners take turns nominating players for open bid. The owner who bids the highest on each
player receives that player, reducing their remaining budget accordingly. Auction drafts are viewed as the
more fair method since every owner begins on equal ground.
[10]
A few leagues use a hybrid of the two
styles, selecting a portion of their roster via auction, with the remainder selected through a serpentine
method.
As the NFL has evolved, so have fantasy football draft strategies.
[11]
The most commonly used strategies are
value based drafting and opinion based drafting. Value base drafting entails projecting the total fantasy point
value for each player in the draft and then guring their value with respect to other players at their position,
while standard cheat sheet based drafting requires ranking each player based on your opinion of worth, or
other peoples opinion of said player's worth.
Because of the inux of new league types and new players, many content sites have emerged. In addition to
the major publications, prominent sites such as DraftSharks (http://www.draftsharks.com) and Pro Football
Focus (https://www.profootballfocus.com/pff-fantasy/) have been recognized in recent years as having the
most accurate player projections.
[12]
Drafts can be conducted in "live" or "auto" formats. Live drafts involve players utilizing real-time strategy
and reactionary measures to acquire specic available players. Auto-drafts use preliminary draft rankings set
by each team to automate the draft cycle and establish the teams. Live drafts are often preferred to
automated as they are believed to require more skill.
The location of fantasy football drafts depend on the geographic location of each team manager. With the
rise of the internet, all Fantasy football providers have made online drafting an option for leagues in which
the managers are too far away to meet up in person. Other leagues make a tradition of meeting up to draft,
and in some leagues, managers travel cross-country to attend annual league drafts. Group drafts conducted
in-person are typically scheduled many weeks in advance. Common locations include boardrooms, ofces,
bars, or dining establishments.
Team names
Each owner assigns his/her team a name, which can be based on anything. Some names are based on the
owner's life or personality, while many are based on current events or a pun or word play using the name of
a favorite player. Choosing an especially clever or funny team name can win an owner accolades from other
owners including digital league trophies for the best name, and sports writers who cover fantasy football
often compile their own lists of their favorite fantasy football team names from a given year.
[13][14][15]
Free agents and trades
Free agents and trades are important components to maintaining a competitive roster throughout the duration
of a season. Free agents exist in fantasy leagues that do not allow multiple teams to have any one
professional athlete. In these leagues, free agents are professional players that are not currently on any
league member's roster. You can add, or claim, players anytime during the season.
Some leagues do not allow you to drop high prole players who may not be performing well (in fantasy
scoring terms). This can be very challenging as an owner's only option to get this player off their team is to
nd another owner who is willing to make a trade for the under performing player.
At the beginning of every week, after the Monday night football game, team owners can claim free agents.
The waiver claims are processed later on in the week. If more than one team owner claims a player, a team's
waiver wire position determines who gets the player. A team's waiver wire ranking is determined by things
like team record and the number of free agents already added. The worse a team's ranking, the more likely
they will get the best free agents. This helps competitiveness as the season wears on. Usually there are
several surprise players that are not drafted by any team and yet become some of the best fantasy players.
Some leagues have trade deadlines that are set, and others have a waiver period before free agents can be
picked up. This really depends as to how the league is set up. When a trade is proposed and accepted in
some leagues there can be a voting period which will allow the league to decide if the trade is acceptable or
not, while other leagues have a period in which the league manager can decide to veto the trade.
Fantasy trade referees
Often within fantasy football leagues trades are made that cause controversy and are considered unfair by
many other members of the league. These disputes are sometimes settled by fantasy football trade referees.
These third party sites feature experienced fantasy players who rule on trades and offer an objective third
party opinion.
You may not need to use trade referees if your league uses the voting system in which the league can
approve or decline the trade that has been placed. In some leagues if there is a voting period and a trade
referee in place, the trade referee can overrule the league voting and this can cause controversy as well.
Other leagues give their league manager the power to veto or pass the trade.
Team rosters
Each team is allowed a pre-determined number of players on its team, as well as a specied number at each
position that can or must be used in each game (the "starters"). Owners for each team then determine each
week which players will start (within the rules) and which will be "benched". Just like in real football, bench
players can become starters for various reasons: due to other players' injury, poor performance, or if another
player's team has a bye.
Each week, owners choose their starters for a game before a certain deadline. Whether to sit or start a player
is usually based on strategic considerations including the player's past and expected performance, defensive
match ups, and so on.
Starters
Each team owner must designate which players from the team roster will be starters each week - i.e. the only
players who will "score" any points. The following example is similar to many common formats required for
a starting lineup:
1 Quarterback (QB)
2 Running Backs (RB)
2 Wide Receivers (WR)
1 Flex RB/WR/TEs (RB/WR/TE)
1 Tight End (TE)
1 Placekicker (K)
1 Team Defense/Special Teams (D/ST)
6 Bench (BN)
There are many variants on this. Some leagues use individual defensive players (IDPs) (and in some cases a
punter) instead of or in addition to a combined Team Defense/Special Teams. Some other leagues use
separate Defense and Special Teams. Another variant is the "ex" position, which can be lled by a player in
one of several positions. Flex positions are often limited to "WR/TE", "RB/WR", or "RB/WR/TE".
Traditionally, this ex was required to be an RB, WR, or TE; however, some leagues allow any position to
ll this ex slot as an "OP" (any Offensive Player). Some leagues also have a two-quarterback requirement
for a starting lineup, providing yet another twist into the complexity of different scoring systems and lineups
(Hendricks, 2007 Fantasy Football Guidebook pg. 21-44).
Scoring Congurations
League managers earn their team points based on their starting players' performances in weekly NFL games.
Players accumulate points based purely on their statistical output. For example, a touchdown might be worth
six points while each yard passed, rushed, or carried may be worth a certain amount of points, and so on. In
most cases, players earn points for passing, rushing, and receiving yards.
Although kickers can theoretically score points through touchdowns or yards rushed and received, they
accumulate most of their points through eld goals and extra points. The Team Defense / Special Teams
position earns points through defensive plays (such as turnovers, quarterback sacks, safeties, and blocked
kicks) and by limiting the offensive points of the opposing teams. Also, whereas points are awarded to
players for positive plays, points are taken away from players for negative plays such as turnovers or missed
kicks.
Standard Scoring
The standard fantasy football scoring system comprises a well-respected baseline of statistic/point-value
pairs designed to promote balance across the various fantasy positions.
[16]
This is the typical scoring
conguration chosen by rst time fantasy football commissioners because it is a very basic points system
which is fair and intuitive for fantasy novices.
A typical standard scoring format would look very similar to this, although there may be slight discrepancies
in points awarded to kickers (depending on your league host's scoring limitations):
1 point for 25 passing yards
1 point for 10 rushing yards
1 point for 10 receiving yards
6 points for a touchdown
6 points for a passing touchdown
-2 points for every interception thrown or fumble lost
1 point for each extra point made
3 points for each 0-39 yard eld goal, 4 points for each 40-49 yard eld goal, and 5 points for each
50+ yard eld goal
2 points per turnover gained by defense
1 points per sack by the defense
2 points for a safety by defense
6 points for each touchdown scored by defense
2 points for each blocked kick
[17]
Points-Per-Reception (PPR)
Points-Per-Reception leagues were created as an effort to make wide receivers and tight ends more relevant
to fantasy scoring. In this alternate scoring system, fractional or full points are awarded for every reception
tallied by a player. This changes the value of players in standard scoring systems, as running backs who
catch many passes become more valuable, those who catch fewer are less valuable, and so on. Certain
leagues vary the points respective positions earn for receptions.
Pure Scoring Leagues
Another scoring system counts only touchdowns, touchdown passes, and eld goals for points. Many of the
rst fantasy football leagues were pure-scoring leagues as this provided for easier tracking of team points
throughout the season. As the game matured and moved online, it became easier to track yardage and more
sophisticated scoring congurations were adopted.
Pure Yardage Leagues
An alternate scoring format is the "pure yardage" league, in which touchdowns are ignored, and each
player's passing, rushing and receiving yards are totaled. Some yardage leagues also convert defensive stats
into yards (ex., 50 yards for an interception, 20 yards for a sack), whether for a team's defense, or individual
players.
Individual Defensive Player (IDP)
An alternative method for scoring defense is Individual Defensive Players or IDP fantasy football. The main
difference being that players typically draft anywhere from 3 to 7 individual defensive players during a draft
as opposed to just one team defense. Sometimes there are required positions to ll like 2 Linebackers, 2
Defensive Backs and 2 Defensive Linemen and sometimes it's just 5 defensive players of any position you
choose. There are many different ways to draft IDPs and many have found this makes the later part of the
fantasy draft more exciting. For instance, instead of drafting a 5th wide receiver in the 16th round that will
typically be on your bench or dropped part way through the season, you are instead drafting a "full-time"
starting defensive player that can help you win your league.
Performance-Based Bonuses
Some leagues allow bonuses to be awarded to players for exceptionally good performances, like a QB
throwing for over 300 yards. Running backs or wide receivers could similarly be awarded a performance
bonus based on accumulating more than 100 yards on the ground or through the air. Kickers could even be
awarde for long eld goals, generally 50 yards or longer.
League Manager and Gambling
Many leagues are composed of friends, family, co-workers and even strangers that are in the fantasy league
to prove who is the greatest couch coach. Millions upon millions of dollars are won and lost each year in
fantasy league betting. Some leagues managed by players in the leagues while other leagues are run by
independent businesses.
[18]
The Federal government has determined that fantasy league gambling is not a
"game of chance" and as such is not illegal, however, alterations to the rules can cause a fantasy league to
skew too far into chance and lose federal protection. At the state level, many states, including Arizona, Iowa,
Louisiana, Montana and Vermont have banned certain activities related to fantasy football, such as collection
of league fees and payout of winnings, when done so online.
[19]
Florida has an outright ban on all fantasy
football, though how the ban is enforced appears to be unclear. Fantasy football continues unabated in all of
these states, so it appears none of these regulations have any effect.
[20]
Some Fantasy Football leagues wager things other than money, such as the loser of the league has to get a
tattoo, and that tattoo has to be of what the winner of the league wants. The only thing that the loser gets any
say in is the location of the tattoo. The owners of the teams have to sign a contract before the season to agree
to the punishment if they lose.
[21]
Other high-stakes leagues offer prizes of US$250,000 to the ultimate
champion.
All individual players
There are a few dynasty leagues that follow the NFL's roster model and score all possible NFL players at all
individual positions. Offensive linemen (OL) are scored by total yards and points minus sacks given up.
Fullbacks are partially scored as offensive linemen because of their blocking duties. Kick and punt returners
are scored by yardage and touchdowns. Punters are scored by net average and punts inside the 20 yard line.
Demographics
According to the FSTA, approximately 33 million people play fantasy football every year. The majority of
team managers are between the ages of 25 and 34. 13% of the market is held by teens, an important
demographic because over 80% of all users say they are likely to continue playing for at least the next
decade and more than 40% say they will play for life.
[22]
80% of all team managers are male. 89.8% of them
are white and 51.5% are not married. 78% hold a bachelors degree or higher, making the majority of team
managers an upper middle class earner with a median income between 60-100K.
[23]
Effect on American Economy
The economic impacts of fantasy football are vast in number and value. Most of the impacts are positive on
the economy overall, but there are some relatively minor drawbacks. Growth rates in fantasy football
showed no signs of slowing down over the past few years.
[23]
While team managers are drawn to fantasy
football because they can get started and play for free, they are still likely to spend on many of fantasy
football's complementary industries.
Ad Revenue
One of the largest sources of revenue in fantasy football is ad revenue. Driven mostly by sports sites,
revenue generated by ads on fantasy football programming is estimated at $2 to $5 billion annually.
[23]
Ad
rates vary greatly, and many content providers arent willing to give specic details on what they charge, but
sites can charge an estimated $2$10 per thousand pageviews.
[24]
The advertising revenue can be especially
lucrative because fantasy team managers are such heavy internet users. They create, on average, 4 times
more pageviews than those that dont play fantasy sports.
[25]
Advertising isnt limited to just sports sites and
television. Demand for fantasy football information has spread to mobile applications, which carry banner
ads at the bottom or top of each screen.
Spending by Team Managers
Additionally, fantasy football team managers pour money into the industry themselves. Many fantasy
leagues require an entry fee, which are used to fund prizes for the league winners.
[26]
These fees and their
resulting payoffs are typically small, and represent more of a transfer of wealth between players than
contributions to the overall economy. However, fantasy football team managers are also more likely to spend
on other industries. When compared to non-fantasy sports fans, team managers are signicantly more likely
to purchase alcohol, airline tickets, and sports magazines. They are also more likely to purchase fast food
and soft drinks.
[27]
Complementary and Derivative Industries
Fantasy football has also created several complementary and derivative industries. Team managers will
spend on subscription-based information sites such as rotoworld.com, draftsharks.com and Football Guys to
gain an informational advantage. Fantasy leagues may also engage services to make their things run
smoothly and settle disputes. Leagues may deposit collected fees with fantasy football specic escrow
companies, and settle disputes regarding trades or scoring by using lawyer-run fantasy football arbitration
websites for a at fee per resolution. The excitement of drafting a team each year has led to a new derivative
of fantasy football: Day or week leagues, which offer the opportunity to draft a new team and play a single
game each week. Fantasy football has worked its way into pop culture as well. TV sitcoms about groups of
friends playing each other in fantasy football, cable networks dedicating blocks of programming specically
to fantasy football, 24/7 satellite radio channels reporting fantasy news, and services designed to provide
team managers with alerts about their players status to their phones.
[24]

"Hey, great game last

week."
"Yeah, but we lost."
"But you threw ve
touchdowns, and that's
all I need from you."

A typical conversation with a fantasy

fan, according to Peyton Manning
[31]
Effect on spectatorship
The explosive popularity of fantasy sports, coupled with the availability of venues showcasing numerous
live football games via satellite, has had signicant effects on football viewing and rooting habits among
participants. Fantasy sports players watch more game telecasts, buy more tickets and spend money at
stadiums at a much higher rate than general sports fans. For example, 55 percent of fantasy sports players
report watching more sports on television since they started playing fantasy sports.
[28]
Fantasy participants
also are reported to attend 0.22 to 0.57 more NFL games in person per season.
[29]
The NFL entered into a
reported ve-year, $600 million deal in 2006 with Sprint that was driven at least in part because of fantasy
sports, allowing subscribers to draft and monitor their teams with their cellphones.
[30]
Many sports and
football-related sports news shows discuss fantasy-related topics. Besides the ctional The League, multiple
TV programs that focus on fantasy football news exist; examples include ESPN's Fantasy Football Now and
CBS's Fantasy Football Today.
The way a fantasy owner watches a game is greatly affected if a player on their team is playing. An owner
will root for specic things to happen in order for their player(s) to score points. For example, someone who
has a running back will root for a goal line situation or for the team the running back plays for to be up by a
signicant amount of points. If the running back's team is on the goal line, then a running play is more likely
to be called. If the running back's team is up by a signicant amount of points, his team will call more
running plays in order to run out the clock. The more running plays called, the more points for that running
back. Different scenarios will provide certain players an opportunity to score points for fantasy owners.
Critics charge that because of the varying interests, some fantasy
owners may instead support the players on their fantasy rosters in
any one game rather than supporting a favorite team. Players are
mixed on the impact of the effects of fantasy football on fans' habits
and preferences. Retired NFL QB Jake Plummer told ESPN "I think
it's ruined the game", and retired New York Giants RB Tiki Barber
said about fantasy fans, "there's an incongruity in the wants."
[31]
However, former Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley plays
in four fantasy football leagues himself,
[30]
and former Indianapolis
Colts linebacker Cato June benched New England Patriots
quarterback Tom Brady from his fantasy team to avoid a conict of
interest when the two teams played in November 2006. Fans
frequently ask players on their fantasy rosters to score more often; Peyton Manning reported that only
autograph requests exceeded fan requests for "more fantasy touchdowns" from him. Fans often seek inside
information on injuries and future stars from coaches,
[31]
and players have been known to receive harsh
criticism from fans in response to unsatisfactory fantasy football performances.
[32]
In 2011, the NFL directed teams to show fantasy statistics during games on the stadium video boards.
[33]
In
fact, NFL executives have recognized the importance of fantasy footballs success to the NFL overall.
[25]
One of the primary effects on spectatorship includes fans tracking injuries of NFL players throughout the
season in order to better manage their starting line ups. Critics charge this translates into fantasy fans
becoming more concerned with whether an injury will bench a player, rather than the nature, extent or
seriousness of the injury, or sympathy toward the player. For strategy reasons, many teams refuse to disclose
the seriousness of a player's injury until game time. This frustrates many fantasy owners trying to determine
whether to start or bench a player whose participation is listed as "questionable" or "probable".
Wasted Productivity
Despite all of the benecial impacts to the economy that fantasy football provides, there are some concerns
about potential economic drawbacks. The addictive nature and widespread popularity of fantasy football,
combined with the relative ease of obtaining information about a managers team has led to many hours of
lost productivity at work. A rough calculation based on estimates regarding the average amount of time team
managers spend on their teams, combined with the number of team managers and their average wages puts
the estimated impact at about $6 billion in wasted productivity. However, the study admits to being non-
scientic and that its estimates are rough. Furthermore, it reports that managers tend to view the impact as a
minor distraction. In a poll conducted for the same study asking managers to rate the impact of fantasy
football on their workplace from 1-10, about 70% reported a 4 or lower. Less than 8% reported a 7 or 8. No
respondents reported a 9 or 10. Additionally, employers can even take advantage of fantasy football by
embracing it and starting sanctioned work leagues. This may increase employee morale and loyalty,
improving retention rates. This study also reported 40% of respondents considered fantasy football a
positive inuence in the workplace, with 1 in 5 also saying theyve made valuable business contacts through
fantasy football.
[34]
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External links
Fantasy Football (http://www.dmoz.org/Sports/Fantasy/Football) at DMOZ
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title=Fantasy_football_(American)&oldid=622633325"
Categories: American football Fantasy sports
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