Starting and Managing a Fantasy Football League

Starting and Managing a Fantasy Football League

By: Eric Artenstein

Today's Landscape in Fantasy Football

What is Fantasy Football? It seems like Fantasy Football is taking over the viewership of the National Football League. Fantasy Football has grown to 75 million users across many platforms. Fantasy Football has created a new way to watch the game and has created a community for millions of football fans who do not have a team to root for. In traditional Fantasy Football, you create your own team by choosing players from any National Football League to fill a roster of all different positions. You are awarded points based on individual statistical performances. Instead of rooting for a team to win, people have turned to rooting for players to fill up the stat sheet without any regard for the outcome of the game.

Starting Your Own League

The three most important aspects to starting your league on the right foot include:

     1. Finding the right members.

     2. Picking the best platform.

     3. Creating the rules.

Finding the right members. I have been the commissioner of my Fantasy Football League for 11 years and running. I believe that the main reason behind the consistent participation and lack of turnover characteristic of our league is due to the great members that I get to play with. In picking the right members for your league, you want to find the right balance between knowledge and commitment.

I have found that it is very important to pick members who you feel very comfortable with. Playing Fantasy Football requires you to be in constant contact with the other members in your league to discuss drafting, making trades and, although optional, the occasional banter. Having the right level of comfort amongst your league's members will allow the league to flourish and create a better environment for everyone involved.

Picking the best platform. There are many options available for a league commissioner to begin a league. The most popular sites include Yahoo, NFL, and ESPN. Each of these platforms provide the same general purpose but individually have specific functions which different users prefer over the other. They each offer unique features in the way you draft, update your lineup, and check live updates on game days.

Example: After playing on all three platforms, I chose to start my league on ESPN's platform due to it's easy to use interface, great app for completing your Fantasy Football tasks on the go, and it's "League Manager Tools" which easily allows you to manage your league.

Creating the rules. Although I took this advice literally, this advice can also be applied metaphorically. As a league commissioner, you will face a lot of controversy in every decision you make and will be asked to be consistent with your decisions. In order to avoid controversy, it is best to have a rulebook that you can always refer to when league member have disputes on issues such as trade veto's or point adjustments. In creating the rules, you will also set a buy-in and payout for the league winner. It is important to write down the rules before you start your league so the expectations are set from the beginning.

Another aspect of setting the rules is picking the league type. The type that I chose, which many consider the most traditional, is 10-man Head-to-Head league with a snake draft. What does this entail?

• The league is made up of 10 people who are matched up head-to-head every week against an opponent, which results in a win or loss. 
• The four teams with the best record move on to single elimination playoffs after fourteen weeks of regular season play. 
• A typical team consists of a Quarterback, two Running Backs, two Wide Receivers, a Tight End, a Flex (this can be a Running Back, Wide Receiver, or Tight End), a Defense/Special Teams, a Kicker and seven bench players. 
• The snake draft consists of drafting in a random order from slot 1 to 10 and then vice versa in the ensuing round. 

Other formats include changing the amount of players in a league, deciding wins based on total points as opposed to match-ups, or drafting with auction drafting money.

Managing the League

Once you have commenced your league, it is time to have fun and make sure it is sustainable for years to come. The two most important aspects to being a great commissioner are:

     1. Differentiating from being a commissioner and a league member.

     2. Knowing how to handle disputes.

Differentiating from being a commissioner and a league member. When you play in the league for which you are also the commissioner, you must be aware that people are constantly wary of your every move. As the commissioner, you have the power to change scores, rosters, and even team names. This authority can cause others in your league to question your every move. It is very important that you are able to differentiate from when you are acting as the commissioner versus when you are acting as a league member.

Knowing how to handle disputes. Whether you like it or not, there will be someone who is unhappy with almost every decision made. When dealing with disputes, it is most important to have a reason behind your ruling which you can disclose to anyone and to be as consistent as possible in your rulings.

Example: I had a scenario where two teams in my league were constantly making trades where they would alternate players only to trade them back the following week. Although this was not explicitly against the rules, everyone uninvolved in the trades complained. As the commissioner, I had to find the reason behind these trades and look at the situation from an unbiased standpoint. I concluded that these trades were a form of collusion and had to outlaw what we dubbed the “one week trades”.

Works cited:

Dwyer, Brendan. “Divided Loyalty? An Analysis of Fantasy Football Involvement and Fan Loyalty to Individual National Football League (NFL) Teams.” Journal of Sport Management, vol. 25, no. 5, 2011, pp. 445–457.

Lee, J. & Ruihley, B. J. & Brown, N. & Billings, A. C. "The Effects of Fantasy Football Participation on Team Identification, Team Loyalty and NFL Fandom." Journal of Sports Media, vol. 8 no. 1, 2013, pp. 207-227. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jsm.2013.0008

Lewis, Nicky, et al. “Trait and Motivational Differences in Fantasy Football Participation.” Trait and Motivational Differences in Fantasy Football Participation, 2012, pp. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

Kolodny, Lora. “ESPN Adds Tilt's Group Payment Tech to Fantasy Football Apps.” VentureWire, 2014, p. n/a.