How to Run a Fantasy Football League
- In This Quick Guide:
- How to Start Your League
- Scoring
- The Roster and Starting Lineup
- Determining a League Winner
For the person trying to learn the game of football, there may be no better training ground than a fantasy league. Joining and managing a fantasy team forces one to learn quickly the many rules of the game, the names of the players and the teams, and how the NFL schedule works. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about starting and running your own league.
How to Start Your League
Starting a fantasy football league is as easy as getting a card game together or organizing a night out on the town. All one needs is a group of reliable buddies, an agreed-on set of rules, and a meeting area where a draft or auction can be held—and with online technology, even this is optional.
Most fantasy leagues have anywhere from 8 to 12 teams, each managed by an individual owner. Finding the right group is important, but once you have a league, it often lasts for years. Pick 10 people from your bowling league or from the office. It works best when the people in the fantasy league are the same people you interact with on a regular basis; the more you all discuss the league, the more fun everyone will have.
It’s recommended for leagues to choose a commissioner—someone to keep track of the rules and act as a centralized voice of reason when disputes arise. The commissioner should be someone everyone in the league trusts, and someone willing to do a little more work than everyone else. People can trade off handling this post from year to year, but not everyone makes for a good commissioner. When you find the right person for the job, try to convince him or her to stay.
The most important thing to know when assembling a league: fantasy football is all-inclusive. People of all cultures and ages play it. Diehard fans and people who watch very little football at all play it. Men and women play it. In fact, females are one of the fastest-growing demographics in fantasy sports.
The greatest thing about fantasy football is that there is no set system for rules or scoring. You can customize everything depending on your and your league’s preferred tastes.
However, some rules have evolved over time and become common for most leagues.
Scoring
In most fantasy leagues, the game is dominated by offensive skill players. Quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, and kickers score the bulk of the points.
Here’s the most common scoring system:
- 6 points for all rushing and receiving touchdowns
- 4 points for passing touchdowns
- 3 points for every field goal
- 2 points for a 2-point conversion, whether the player passes, catches, or runs with the ball
- 1 point for every extra point
For yardage, leagues typically award the following:
- 1 point for every 25 yards passing
- 1 point for every 10 yards rushing or receiving
Points per reception (PPR) leagues also award 1 point for every reception a player makes. Some leagues opt to award partial points, such as ½ point for 5 yards receiving, or extra points based on the length of the field goal or touchdown.
For defense, every league is different. Some prefer to use individual defensive players (IDP) and score points for tackles, sacks, interceptions, fumbles, and touchdowns, while other leagues use a team defense each week and award it points for mostly the same categories. In general, touchdowns are worth 6 points, with sacks, safeties, and turnovers worth 2 points and tackles worth 1 point.
The Roster and Starting Lineup
In most leagues, fantasy players set up a starting lineup consisting of a quarterback, two running backs, two or three wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker, and either a team defense or a collection of defensive players. This lineup can change each week, but once the games start, the lineup is locked until the last game of the week is played.
To allow for backups, a fantasy roster usually reserves two spots for every one player in the starting lineup. For example, in leagues where you start two running backs, each fantasy player can draft four running backs to add to a roster. Again, leagues can add or subtract from these numbers, but generally that’s the rule of thumb.
As a fantasy player, you collect players through a draft held before the season. No NFL player can be selected by more than one fantasy player. Each fantasy player takes a turn selecting a player for his team until every roster spot is filled. For many, the draft is one of the highlights of the fantasy season.
Other leagues use an auction to build team rosters. The players take turns throwing out the name of a player, and the bidding begins, with the highest bidder winning the player. Each fantasy team is given a budget to purchase all its players, so remember to bid wisely.
After the season begins, you can change players through the waiver wire, a collection of players left undrafted. To pick up one of these players, you have to discard one player already on your roster.
Some leagues even allow trading. Just like football cards, you can trade one of your players for a player on someone else’s team in the hopes the trade makes your team better.
Determining a League Winner
Some leagues keep a running tally of each team’s points, and at the end of the year, the fantasy player with the most points scored is crowned champion.
The other way to play is to mimic real football by creating a weekly schedule and each week, fantasy players pair up. At the end of the week, the player with the most points wins. The league counts wins and losses and has a playoff and a championship game.
Following is a quick rundown of how to manage the season, playoffs, and title game for leagues of any size.
Map out a regular-season schedule, beginning in week 1 and running through week 13 or 14.
Depending on the playoff format, the top four to eight teams will qualify for the playoffs. In a four-team playoff system, the regular season should end after week 14; for six or eight teams, it’ll end after week 13.
For a four-team system, the number-1-ranked team faces the number-4 team in round 1, with numbers 2 and 3 facing off as well. The winners of those two games will play in the championship game in week 16 of the NFL season.
For a six-team system, the number-1- and -2-ranked teams will receive a bye for week 13, while number 3 faces number 6 and number 4 faces number 5. The highest-ranked winner of the first round faces the number-2 team in week 14, with number 1 facing the lowest-ranked club. Again, the winners of those games get to play for the title in week 16.
For an eight-team system, number 1 faces number 8 in the first week, and so on. The method continues for the next two weeks, same as with the six-team system.
Now that you know how to run a fantasy football league, it’s time to call your friends and get your league underway. Have fun!
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Football by Mike Beacom
