By Nikki Phipps
Football is the most popular of fantasy sports and came into existence in 1962. A fantasy sport is a game where a person, the sports fan, builds an imaginary team in which skilled, individual players of a professional sport, such as football, can be drafted, based on the professional player’s real statistics. The game is then played weekly against friends in a league that rewards the team with the best record. The idea has since adopted over 15 million people players, mostly male.
In fantasy football, points are scored similar to real football, with extra points added for running or passing for many yards at a time, and points subtracted for turnovers. There are many other fantasy sports as well, including fantasy baseball and hockey. Fantasy baseball was made up from customized baseball cards with stats from recent seasons. Players then made up fantasy teams from these cards and played imaginary baseball games against each other. Fantasy hockey is similar to the other popular versions of fantasy sports and players are chosen from real NHL players. Other fantasy sports include basketball, golf, racing, and soccer.
If you are new to fantasy sports, one of the first things you will want to understand is what type of fantasy sport league you are joining. Standard draft leagues, or single-season leagues, are the most popular and generally begin with teams selecting all their players in a draft. Owners then set their lineups each week based on the number of players per position allowed by league rules. These follow a single-year format only and are the most common type league in fantasy sports today. None of the teams, rosters, or information is carried over to the following season. New drafts are held every year prior to the upcoming season and new rosters are drafted at that time. This is the traditional league for most fantasy sports owners who like to start fresh every year with an entirely new group of players.
Dynasty leagues are for the serious fantasy owner and require a commitment over multiple seasons. After the initial draft in a dynasty league’s inaugural season, players remain on the same roster from one season to the next unless they are traded or released. Each year after the initial season, a draft is held for rookies only. The league is geared for owners who enjoy managing their teams as much during the off-season as much as they do during the regular season. A keeper league is sort of a combination between a standard draft league and a dynasty league. Each pre-season, most of the players are drafted; however, owners are allowed to keep a predetermined number of players on their roster from the year before. Most league rules allow only a handful of players to be retained by each team from year to year. With a Rollover league, each team can keep a set number of players at the end of the season to be on their roster for next year. Anywhere from three to ten players are rolled-over, depending on the sport. The remainder of the roster is then acquired via a new draft prior to the beginning of the next season. This league is great for owners who enjoy the draft part of fantasy sports but want to keep players from year to year.
Whatever the sport, there’s sure to be a fantasy league waiting to be played. Since fantasy sports are gaining so much popularity, it isn’t hard finding information about them. The hardest choice seems to be choosing which sport.