10 Facts About Fantasy Football
1. 40 Percent Of Players Use Multiple Ways To Keep Track Of Their Teams
If you follow your team on your laptop, while you follow your team on your phone, you are not alone. 4 out of 10 will be joining you.
2. It Isn’t Just For Sports Nerds Anymore
The average fantasy football player is going to be married with kids. On average the fantasy player is going to be 36 years old.
3. The First Version Of Fantasy Football Started In 1962
A group of Oakland sportswriters and fans started the first league back in 1962 in the hopes of drawing better coverage of the AFL.
4. Women Play As Well
Over the past decade, female participation has increased in fantasy sports, particularly football, as they have become more interested in the sport. Roughly 6-10 percent of all players are women.
5. You Can Purchase Fantasy Insurance
Did you buy Peyton Manning this year? If so, you lost a lot of money on the deal. Fear not, you can buy insurance that covers you in case of this ever happening.
6. The Fantasy Version Of Football Is Worth 2 Billion Dollars
The NBA is worth 4 billion a year, which makes a fantasy game almost as valuable as a real sport.
7. Companies Lost 7.4 Billion A Year Due To Lost Productivity
Forbes estimates that the average worker spends 10 minutes a day working on their teams. With 13.4 million players playing at work, you get 7.4 billion in lost work.
8. NFL Players Play As Well
The NFLPA actually has a league in which NFL players can participate in the fantasy games each week. Some players even own themselves in the league, so fans aren’t the only ones upset if a fantasy player has a bad performance.
9. Most Football Fantasy Players Are Well Educated
The average player has at least a bachelors degree and the average income of a player is 80,000 dollars a year.
10. 11 Percent Of The US Population Plays
It might seem that everyone has a league, but 1 in 10 play every week. That equates to roughly 29.9 million people who play each year.
The History of Fantasy Football
Fantasy Football has become a staple in the American sports world. With the NFL’s popularity eclipsing that of Major League Baseball and the NBA, the popularity of fantasy sports is certainly a major factor. Fantasy Football has come a long way since its inception, possibly up to 50 years ago, when statistics were recorded and kept track of using newspapers, calculators, and a notepad. Back then, fantasy football was a relatively obscure hobby and many considered it for trouble than it was worth. The growth of the internet, changed the game, and in many ways the actual sport of football forever.
The existence of fantasy sports has created a stats obsessed contingent of football fans around the country, and the National Football League has seemed to cater to the demands of fans with yearly rule tweaks that have favored the offensive side of football, the side that the fantasy game primarily deals with. All time records now seem to be broken on a yearly basis and the offensive explosion does not show any signs of stopping any time soon. This all makes for exciting statistics and fantasy match ups for fantasy fans.
The popularity of the fantasy game hit an all time high with the introduction of a new series The League, by FX Productions. The show revolves around a group of fantasy players and the day to day dealings of their league and lives in general. The mainstream success of the show all but proved that the fantasy version of football is here to stay. The National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball have attempted to copy the model of success of the National Football League by marketing the internet based versions of fantasy basketball and fantasy baseball. While the games have certainly had some degree of success, they are not nearly as omnipresent as the football version is in homes and offices throughout the country.
While the game was born as an innovative idea from a couple of bored football fans wanting to make the game more interesting, it has come a long way thanks in part to the growth of both the internet and the sport of football itself. The future is certain to see even more innovations to the game.
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