For most fans of football all across the nation, the term “fantasy football” is not at all foreign. However, few people actually view this activity as anything more than a fun game with punishments for the loser. To unpack fantasy football, including the origins, how it helps the NFL, and what it can teach fans is to delve deeper into a whole new space, left untouched to many.
It all began with one man and a couple of friends in 1962. Bill Winkenbach, part-owner of the Oakland Raiders, was in the midst of a discussion about his love for football with a couple of his buddies. Despite the Raiders atrocious 1-13 record at the time, the men bonded over their appreciation for the football and landed on a new idea, one that would transform sports forever. This new idea was the concept of fans being a general manager of their own team, drafting players at the beginning of the season, and benefiting from their touchdowns, receptions, yards, sacks, etc throughout the season. This groundbreaking idea excited them all and the following year, Winkenbach and his friends formed the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League. The GOPPPL, for short, which will forever go down as the world’s first fantasy football league.
Unknown to Winkenbach at the time, he had just transformed the way fans would watch the NFL. In 1988, 500,000 people participated in fantasy sports. That number reached new heights as a 2017 study discovered that about 59.3 million people were involved in fantasy sports. As participation skyrockets, as does the success of the NFL. The NFL benefits enormously from the amount of views and and attention fantasy football brings its way. Even on days where your personal favorite team isn’t playing, viewers are incentivized to tune in and cheer for their own players. Although the league currently consists of teams exclusively in the United States, games in England, Brazil, and Germany have been inviting international fans for several years now and expanding the global audience of the NFL. Additionally, fantasy apps such as YahooSports, Sleeper, and ESPN also benefit from the attention fantasy football brings their way. The players’ statistics are recorded and updated within each app and managers can bench, trade, and monitor their status throughout the year.
However, it’s not just major corporations like ESPN and the NFL that gain benefits from fantasy football, the individual fan does as well. Managing fantasy football teams allow people to pursue their passion in sports, make deeper connections with friends, learn time management, and improve on organizational skills. Many responsibilities of a real general manager in the NFL are simulated through this game, providing fans with the perfect balance of work and fun to make fantasy football so successful.
People around the nation have conflicting opinions as to whether or not the fantasy football is ruining or improving the NFL. Junior Henry Sellers claims that “Fantasy football, even though it is a ton of fun, does sometimes take away from the enjoyment of rooting for one team. For example, when my fantasy quarterback is playing against my personal favorite team, the Patriots, I don’t know who to root for”. This matter does complicate issues for fans, but other participants believe the enjoyment of managing a team and competing against others is well worth it. Junior Sam Ruddick feels that “Playing fantasy football is such a fun way to get people together. My extended family has a league and the competitiveness during the playoffs around Christmas time makes watching football so much more exciting”.
Although fantasy football may not be for everyone, there is little to loose by giving it a try. Given the success, there is no doubt that Winkenbach and his idea dramatically changed the NFL forever.
