Players compete for money, pride or entertainment
Fantasy football is a $4-billion industry that boasts 15 to 18 million participants and increases by 7 to 10 percent annually, according to a report from the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.
Front office members from the Oakland Raiders and staff members at the Oakland Tribune created fantasy football in 1962 as a better way to predict the statistics of players. NFL players on a team score points based on their statistical performance from game to game. The format for participants, who are known as team owners within fantasy football, takes place through head-to-head competition or an overall point total calculated at the end of the season. Any rules for scoring or otherwise in the league can be customized to suit an owner’s preference, and are decided upon before the draft.
Gamers play for pride and for money. The footballers put in money collectively, usually $100 or more, and then decide how the money is divided up for the winner of each league. Some leagues offer money just for the overall winner, while others pay out for the scoring champion, division winners and second place.
For some gamers, fantasy football is simply a way to make all of fall’s real football games interesting.
“I could care less about the Detroit and Carolina game, but if I have someone from my fantasy team involved, it’s a different story,” said Ryan Margolis, a senior mechanical engineering major and commissioner of his fantasy football league.
“There’s nothing wrong with playing for money, but the biggest problem is getting people to pay,” Margolis said.
Other participants play just for the money. Brian Whitfield, a senior business major, said he has no allegiance to any NFL team; fantasy football is the only thing that makes the games interesting.
The draft is the most crucial event for any fantasy football owner. The most common form of draft, the re-draft league, starts all owners with a clear roster, making all current NFL players available. The draft order is decided by chance or may be based on a team’s record from the previous season.
Auction-style drafting gives owners the opportunity to draft any player they desire, depending on how much fantasy money they want to spend. In an auction, each owner starts with a salary cap, like the NFL. The salary cap is anywhere from $100 to $200, and roster requirements cause owners to make tough decisions. The minimum bid for a player is typically $1.
A keeper league allows owners to protect a certain number of players off their previous year’s roster from being drafted. Dynasty leagues are those that keep the same roster from the previous year and only draft the NFL’s incoming rookies. With this concept, fantasy owners get to make the same sort of decisions as general managers in the NFL.
Ryan Burke, a senior broadcast production major, has played on-and-off for the last six years and enjoys the competition among his friends.
“There’s a lot of strategy involved and it’s fun being your own coach,” Burke said.
A typical starting line-up includes one quarterback, two running backs, two to three wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker and a team defense. Offensive players score points through yards gained and touchdowns scored.
Yahoo, CBS Sportsline, the NFL and Real-Time Sports are just a few of the thousands of Web sites that host fantasy football.
Although fantasy football continues to grow in popularity, not all football fans share the same appreciation for it. Robert Lizardy, a junior psychology major, said he thinks fantasy football is helpful in promoting the NFL, but does not like the negative aspect of it.
“I’m not opposed to gambling,” Lizardy said. “I just don’t think it’s right to bet on certain players.”
Lizardy is a fan of the Broncos, but does not play fantasy football. Lizardy said that by playing fantasy football, people are cheering for one player and against another, even when they may be on the same team. He said that some people root for players to get hurt and that is not what the game should be about.
