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Fantasy football (gridiron)

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Fantasy Football is a fantasy sports game in which participants (called "owners"), arranged into a league, each draft or acquire via auction a team of real-life American football players and then score points based on those players' statistical performance on the field. A typical fantasy league will employ players from a single football league, such as the NFL or an NCAA division. Leagues can be arranged in which the winner is the team with the most total points at the end of the season, or in a head-to-head format (which mirrors the actual NFL) in which each team plays against a single opponent each week, and at the end of the year the team with the best win-loss record wins the league. Most leagues set aside the last weeks of the regular season for their own playoffs.

Origins/evolution

The games origins, claimed as far back as the 1960s, are hotly debated, with no conclusive proof from any person or group. It slowly got a foothold in America as a hobby in the 1970s and 1980s, but didn't really take off until the 1990s.

Fantasy football has evolved in recent years from a mere recreational activity into a big business industry due to the explosion of the Internet. It's estimated that as many as 15 million or more consumers play fantasy sports, with that number reportedly growing at a rate of 7% to 10% annually. Fantasy sports have an estimated economic impact of US$1.5 billion within the industry and close to $4 billion total economic impact, according to FSTA research completed by the University of Mississippi[citation needed]. Fantasy football has surpassed fantasy baseball in popularity and is now the most popular fantasy sport in the United States.[citation needed] It is continuing to grow with countless new websites, magazines, and drafting software dedicated to fantasy football being released each year.

Competition format

The two main types of competition formats are Head-to-head, with weekly games played against specific opponents (much like in the NFL) and total points, in which cumulative points during the season determine winners (or playoff teams).

League types

Leagues normally consist of 8-14 teams. There are three major types: redraft, "keeper" leagues, and dynasty leagues. In a redraft, each owner starts with no players at the beginning of each season and drafts an entire fantasy team. Other popular formats include keeper leagues and dynasty leagues. Each owner in a keeper league is allowed to retain a small number of players they owned during the previous season, eliminating these players from the draft, while each owner in a dynasty league is allowed to retain as many players as desired from the previous season, with the draft encompassing only rookies and other unowned (or un-retained) players.

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.

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 "dropped" (aka become free agents) or are traded. 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" (aka "snake") draft, owners take turns drafting players in a "serpantine" method, ie the owner who picks 1st in the odd rounds picks last in the even rounds, in the interests of fairnesss. In an auction draft, each owner has an (imaginary) budget which he must use to purchase all his players in an auction format, ie players are nominated and bid on, and the owner who bids the highest on each player receives that player (reducing their remaining budget accordingly).

It is widely accepted that the draft is the single most important day in the fantasy football season, despite the fact that no games are played. As the old adage goes, "you can't win your league on draft day, but you can certainly lose it."

Free agents and trades

Undrafted players become free agents. They are not assigned to any current roster and available for any team to pick up. During the season, owners may add players from the pool of free agents within pre-determined rules. Normally for each player picked up, a corresponding player on the team must be dropped. There are three major ways of handling free agent transactions: either first-come/first-served, "worst to first", meaning teams with the worst record at the time getting first choice on any given free agent, or bidding, in which each team that wants a given free agent bids on him and highest bidder wins. Note: the "waiver wire" is often used to mean any free agent, but this is not always the case. Some leagues mandate that a dropped player cannot be claimed for a given period of time, so although he is on the "waiver wire" (not on a team), he is not technically a free agent right away.

The other method of altering one's team composition during the season is by making trades with other owners. Typically there are not many restrictions or rules regarding this and it is left to the involved teams to trade however they want. One important and common rule, however is that trades are not extremely lopsided, as this may indicate one team is trying to "dump" better quality players to another team to help them win. This is usually considered cheating. To help prevent this, most leagues have a deadline after which no teams can trade—normally about 2/3 of the way through the season.

Team rosters

Each team is allowed a pre-determined number of players on its team, as well as a specified 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 matchups, and so on.

Starters

Each team owner must designate which players from the team roster will be starters each week - ie the only players who will "score" any points. The following example is similar to many common formats required for a starting lineup:

There are of course many variants on this. Some leagues also use Individual Defensive Players (IDPs) and a Punter, instead of a combined Team Defense/Special Teams. Another variant is the "flex position", which can be filled by any player in one of two positions. Examples of this are "WR/TE" or "RB/WR". Some leagues actually allow the flex player to be any position. Traditionally, this flex was always designated to be a QB, RB or WR as those positions seem the most logical choice for a team to accumulate points, however, some unconventional owners have chosen Team Defense/Special Teams to fill this position in hopes of gaining an advantage.

Scoring

Players earn their team points based on their performance in their weekly games; for example, each touchdown counts as 6 points, a certain number of yards gained counts for points, and so on. In almost all cases, players earn points for passing, rushing, and receiving yards. Passing yards (sometimes touchdowns as well) typically earn about half as many points as rushing/receiving yards, since QBs normally get many more. Negative points are also usually given for turnovers, and kickers earn points for field goals and extra points (somtimes negative points for missed kicks). Bonuses can also be given for exceptionally good performances, like a QB throwing for over 300 yards, or a kicker making a long field goal. Team defenses earn points for things like sacks, turnovers, safeties, etc. Individual defensive players typically do not earn points for team-wide stats such as keeping the opponent under a certain score or yardage total, but rather for tackles or turnovers made.

A typical scoring format follows. Again, there are many variations used:

  • 1 point for 50 passing yards
  • 1 point for 20 rushing and receiving yards
  • 1 point for every reception (aka "PPR" for "points per reception")
  • 6 points for a passing touchdown
  • 6 points for a rushing or receiving touchdown
  • -2 points for every interception thrown or fumble lost
  • 1 point for each extra point made
  • 3 points for each field goal made (often points are awarded for long kicks, eg over 40 yds)
  • 1 point per sack and turnover gained by defense
  • 2 points for a safety by defense
  • 6 points for each touchdown scored by defense
  • 2 points for each blocked kick

An alternate scoring format is the "pure yardage" league, in which touchdowns are ignored, and each player's passing, rushing and receiving yards are totalled. 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 players

Many leagues have now incorporated Individual Defensive Player (IDP) play into their scoring systems. IDP play typically has roster space for three groups of defensive players: defensive linemen (DL), linebackers (LB) and defensive backs (DB). Most leagues do not use the defensive statistics individually. It is pretty tedious to have stats on the defensive players.

Effect on spectatorship

The explosive popularity of fantasy football, coupled with the availability of venues showcasing numerous live football games via satellite, has had significant effects on football viewing and rooting habits among participants. Rather than supporting a favorite team in any one game, some fantasy owners may instead support the players on their fantasy rosters. This causes behavior that is often incoherent from a traditional sports fan perspective.

In addition, individual NFL players have complained about the effects of fantasy football on fans' habits and preferences. In interviews with ESPN, Broncos QB Jake Plummer stated, "I think it's ruined the game." And, as New York Giants RB Tiki Barber noted about fantasy fans, "there's an incongruity in the wants."[1]

For instance, a fantasy owner might have the quarterback from one team and the running back from another on his roster, and end up hoping both teams score frequently. However, he will only cheer passing scores from the first team and running scores from the second, creating a scenario where the owner supports both teams but in a qualified, dispassionate manner.

References

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