photo credit: Boy27wonder
It seems as if everywhere you turn, you hear someone talking about fantasy football. Fantasy football has gone from a game that was played by just a few people to a game that is played by millions of millions of people. Fantasy football is now responsible for a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing each and every year. By 2015, the fantasy football industry is expected to double in size.
What is fantasy football? Fantasy football is a game that involves the National Football League and the stats of its players. In fantasy football, a league is formed that consists of usually between eight and twelve teams. Each team is run by a different person. The teams in the league compete against each other until one team in the fantasy football league is declared the winner.
Fantasy football follows the flow of the NFL regular season. The first week of fantasy football is Week 1 of NFL action, for example. Each team in the fantasy football league has a roster comprised of NFL players. As the games are played each week, the real life statistics are used to determine how well the fantasy football teams do each week. Weekly winners are crowned, just like in the NFL. The best fantasy football teams in the league then go on to play in a fantasy playoff. After a single-elimination playoffs, a fantasy champion is crowned – usually either in Week 16 or Week 17 of the NFL season.
Nowadays, fantasy football is spoken about and tracked by the mainstream media. NFL players openly talk about fantasy football. Television networks that air NFL games have live updating stats, in large part to help their fantasy football playing audience. Primetime NFL-themed shows oftentimes discuss fantasy football busts, fantasy football sleepers, fantasy football tips and fantasy football strategy.
photo credit: RobotSkirts
If you want to form your own fantasy football league, the first thing you have to do is find a group of friends who wants to play in your fantasy football league. Once you have your group of fantasy team owners, you and the team owners need to agree on a set of rules you will use as guidelines for the forthcoming season. The next step is to decide if you are going to play for money. In a lot of fantasy football leagues, each owner pays a buy-in and the monies collected as part of the buy-in are then later distributed to the winning teams of the fantasy football team. However, be sure to check in your local jurisdiction concerning the legality of using money in fantasy football because doing so is illegal in many parts of the world.
The final step in creating your own fantasy football league is to pick a website to host your fantasy football league. Many websites exist that can host your fantasy football league – a lot of which are free to use. In addition to free fantasy football hosting sites, there are a number of sites that charge a fee, however these sites typically offer more features than its free counterpart.
The most important aspect of a fantasy football hosting site is that it can handle everything you desire. To make sure it can handle your fantasy football league, look at the rules of your league and compare your rules to the capabilities of the fantasy football hosting site you are considering. As long as the host can do everything you need, you can consider that particular host an option.
Many premium services should also be looked for when considering a fantasy football host. These services make life as a fantasy football team owner a lot easier. It also makes fantasy football much more fun for everyone involved! Here are some premium services to look for when picking your host site:
Online Draft
One of the most important days of the fantasy football season is the fantasy football draft. The draft is how the players are dispersed throughout the league. For example, if you have 12 fantasy football owners in your league, the draft will start with one team and will go team by team until each roster is filled with NFL players. Since this is such a vital part of the fantasy football process, you want to make sure that the hosting site you choose has an online draft that is reliable and easy to use.
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Live Scoring
When you are playing fantasy football, it is always better to have live updated scoring on your fantasy football team. For example, if a player on your fantasy football team scores a touchdown, you want the stats to update for your fantasy team online. If your league does not offer live scoring, you will either have to calculate the stats of your team by hand or wait for the scoring to update. Waiting for the scoring to update can sometimes take as long as 24 hours on some hosting sites – which can feel like an eternity to a fantasy football owner.
News, Rumors and Analysis
While you can use third party websites to get the latest information on the players who comprise your fantasy football team, it is much easier and much more convenient if the news, rumors and analysis are provided by your fantasy football hosting site. If you are looking over your roster, you want to be alerted if there is NFL breaking news regarding a player on your team. If you host on a site that doesn’t offer news, rumors and analysis, each owner in the league will have to individually research each player on their team continually to check for updates.
In recent years, a few fantasy football league hosting sites have emerged as the most popular options. While there is no perfect host as of yet, the number of options available to fantasy football owners is impressive and everyone should be able to find a suitable solution. Here is a list of the top fantasy football league hosting sites:
Yahoo Fantasy Football
Yahoo has many years of experience in the fantasy football field and they are currently the most popular destination for fantasy football owners. The best parts of Yahoo’s fantasy football hosting package is its fantastic draft software, its unmatchable news, rumors and analysis, and its overall ease of use. While Yahoo is free to use, you need to pay if you want live scoring. Additionally, Yahoo doesn’t offer nearly as much customization as other hosting sites.
Fox Sports Fantasy Football
Fox Sports has impressed fantasy football owners due to its free live scoring. It is rare to find a hosting site that offers free live scoring, however Fox Sports does just that. On the other hand, Fox Sports loses a few points due to being complicated to use.
ESPN Fantasy Football
ESPN, being at the forefront of the sports world, offers a hosting site that has a lot to like. However, the free version of ESPN’s fantasy football host is very limited in terms of customizations.
CBS Sportsline Fantasy Football
While CBS Sportsline’s hosting site doesn’t offer a free version, that hasn’t stopped many fantasy football owners from using their service. CBS Sportsline offers just about everything imaginable, with the only real drawback being their relatively high asking price for their fantasy football hosting services.
