Are You Ready for Some Fantasy Football?

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Rafferty</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">John P. Rafferty writes about Earth processes and the environment. He serves currently as the editor of Earth and life sciences, covering climatology, geology, zoology, and other topics that relate to...</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> John P. Rafferty</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div></div> </div> <article class="topic-content content mt-20"><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/61/196561-050-83D3E48E/football-gridiron.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/61/196561-050-83D3E48E/football-gridiron.jpg?w=600&q=60" alt="close up of a football, gridiron" data-width="1600" data-height="1067" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">© Yobro10/Dreamstime.com</cite></figcaption></figure> <p class="topic-paragraph">As reliably as the swallows returning to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/San-Juan-Capistrano-California" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">San Juan Capistrano</a> in March, the end of summer sparks a migration of a different sort, as aficionados of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/American-football" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">American football</a> cluster in basement man caves, pubs, and Internet hangouts to draft their fantasy football teams. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), an organization that has tracked statistics for the greater fantasy sports industry since 1988, some 59 million people are expected to play <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/fantasy-sport" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">fantasy sports</a> in the U.S. in 2017—double the number of fantasy sports players in 2010. But, for the uninitiated, fantasy football (and fantasy sports in general) may seem like a riddle wrapped in an enigma. Why do people play fantasy football, and how do you “play” this game anyway?</p><span class="MOD1"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph"><em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Walter-Camp-on-football-2215532" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">(Read Walter Camp’s 1903 Britannica essay on inventing American football.)</a></em></p><span class="MOD2"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">First of all, what’s the draw? Well, competition, of course! The attraction to fantasy football (and other fantasy sports, such as fantasy <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">baseball</a>) is often rooted in winning bragging rights within a league typically made up of about 10 to 12 friends or associates. This competition is often combined with a financial reward, since many leagues require that each league participant donate <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/money" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">money</a> into a league pot, which is then doled out to either a single winner or a group of the top teams at the end of the season.</p><span class="MOD3"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">So, how are fantasy football games played? First, the members of a fantasy league take turns drafting (that is, picking and choosing) a number of current professional football players based on how they think those players will perform statistically in the upcoming season. Most leagues follow the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Football-League" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">National Football League</a> (NFL) season. (But there are leagues that follow college football or the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Canadian-Football-League" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Canadian Football League</a> too.) The fantasy league games follow the NFL’s game schedule. To win a fantasy football game, one league participant pits his or her players against another league participant’s. Each fantasy football team “starts” players in the same way that a real football team does (by activating certain players and “benching” others)—one at each on-field position. These players will garner yards, completed passes, points, etc., in their real-life NFL games in a given week, and those real-life statistics are translated into points in the fantasy league. The first fantasy football games were played in 1962, before the age of personal computers, so calculating player and team statistics from week to week was an arduous math-intensive process. Since the 1990s, however, many leagues have relied on Internet services and applications, which help with drafting, scheduling, and tabulating the statistics. For each head-to-head matchup, whichever league participant has the highest point tally wins the game for that week. Each fantasy football team in the league faces a new opponent each week. </p><span class="MOD4"></span> <p class="topic-paragraph">Finally, how is the league winner crowned? Some fantasy football leagues simply go by the number of wins and losses tallied by each team over the 17-week NFL season. Many leagues, however, have a playoff system. In these leagues, the winners of the league’s subdivisions (whose members are determined randomly and parallel the divisions in the NFL) play against one another in the final weeks of the NFL season to determine which team is the best, second best, etc., so that payment—and, more importantly, league bragging rights—can be doled out. </p><span class="MOD5"></span> <span class="AM-END-OF-ARTICLE am-inline"></span></article><div class="related-info grid"><div class="col"><div class="learn-more"><h3>Learn More About This Topic</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/fantasy-sport" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Learn more about fantasy sports</a></li><li><a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/American-football" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Read about the history of gridiron football</a></li><li><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Football-League" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Learn more about the NFL</a></li></ul></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="cm-rightrail d-none d-md-block ad-rail"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col"> <div class="md-loading hidden display-4 font-weight-normal"></div> <div class="text-center my-20 mb-100"> <button class="md-infinite-load-next btn btn-blue" data-value="next-page">Load More</button> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-da-320 hidden-xs"> </div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Story","templateName":"SPOTLIGHT","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":11,"pageId":6333,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/story-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Story","pageSubtype":"SPOTLIGHT","articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Are You Ready for Some Fantasy Football? | Britannica