“TOUCHDOWN!!” In the world of American sports, football is a necessary staple. The National Football League (NFL) generated over 20 billion dollars in revenue last year and its famous Superbowl garners the most viewers out of any sports game in the country. Spending hundreds of dollars on merchandise and game tickets for one’s favorite team has become completely normal. But there’s an online game that allows fans to spend even more hours obsessing over the sport. That’s right, Fantasy Football was created in 1962 to generate even more hype for the NFL.  

Fantasy Football allows participants to be the owner, General Manager (GM), and coach of a make-believe football team. In the standard league, the team comprises a quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, a flex, a kicker, a defense and special team (set of players), seven bench spots, and one or two injured reserves. There are many other variation lineups, but one must join variation leagues to play those. Participants compete in a league with friends and families or strangers. 

During the drafting process, everyone takes turns picking their desired players one at a time. The “Fantasy” element is the ability to mix and match players from different existing NFL teams to create a personal “super team.” Simultaneously, waiver priority is decided based on who gets the last draft pick. 

Once the season starts, participants choose a set number of players (depending on the league) to play each game. This becomes unchangeable once the game begins. They score points based on when their offensive players score/assist touchdowns, assist/gain yards, or when their defense intercepts, tackles, sacks, recovers a fumble, or scores a defensive touchdown in real life. 

If a player is underperforming or injured, participants can drop them in between games and pick a new one from the free agency pool. If multiple people want to recruit the player, the highest waiver priority receives them. Some leagues provide participants with a bid budget at the start of the season, which must last the entire season. In that case, the highest bid receives the player. 

At the end of the season, the participant with the most points in the league is crowned champion. Depending on who one plays with, winners might receive a prize pool while losers might suffer a punishment or lose money. 

Fantasy Football can make football much more engaging. Eashan Wahi, a junior at Wilcox and football enthusiast, expresses “It makes you more excited about watching the games… [especially] the games you wouldn’t have before…People put a lot of time into it so they like to see if their work paid off each week.” Instead of just watching one’s favorite team, people are more inclined to branch out because of the personal investment in their fantasy players. 

The game has also increased the NFL’s engagement. As a result, they’ve made the effort to accommodate it into their commentary. Wahi notes “ESPN has a whole channel where they talk about who you should sit or start that week in Fantasy and then they give an in-depth rundown on why…Announcers [also talk] about aspects of Fantasy in real-time during the games.” 

Overall, Fantasy Football can be a great way to nerd out about football, connect with other fans, and enjoy a fun, adrenaline-filled game. Be wary though, this game is highly addictive and time-consuming. You might start finding yourself neglecting all responsibilities to check for the newest play-by-plays of a team you couldn’t care less about three weeks ago…