How to Play Fantasy Football

THE GAME

Fantasy Football is a game that allows the everyday football fan to become a General Manager of his/her own team. Teams are assembled from the pool of skilled position players currently on the rosters of NFL teams. Teams play head to head each week with points determined by the actual performances of the NFL players. Each week, Fantasy G.M.'s activate players from their own roster after evaluating injuries, weather conditions and key defensive match-ups. Each team plays a regular season schedule and tries to qualify for the playoffs with the chance to play in the ultimate game - the league's Fantasy Super Bowl.

GETTING ORGANIZED

Pull together a group of friends, family, co-workers, etc. who enjoy football, to serve as team owners. Generally, an even number of teams works best (makes for easy scheduling), and 8, 10 or 12 teams is optimal. A team can have more than one owner, but be sure owners are compatible.

Elect a commissioner. This person is the focal point to whom all Fantasy owners submit their weekly lineups, sees that scores are tabulated each week and distributes the results. Many Fantasy leagues (the generous ones) allow the commish a free entry into the league.

Decide on a scoring system. If this is your league's first season keep it fairly simple, a scoring only based system will do just that. The idea of this system is that Fantasy points are based solely on actual points scored. Here's an example:

Some leagues use a scoring system that awards points for yards gained by a player in addition to the actual point method. Although a combination system makes things more interesting, it also creates more work for the commissioner who must calculate the teams' stats each week. On the next page is an example of the yardage based system.

Determine roster size. This decision will determine the total number of rounds in your Fantasy draft. The league also needs to agree on the number of players that can be activated each week. Examples are provided below.

A consensus decision should be arrived at for the following issues:

1. A time when weekly line-ups are due to the commissioner.
2. Get everyone to decide how line-ups will be submitted. Phone, by hand and fax are a few ideas.
3. Decide what to do about undrafted players. Regardless of how you decide to handle free agents be sure that the league is in total agreement.
4. It's best to require a league consensus to approve all trades. It's also important to establish a trade deadline such as three or four weeks before the Fantasy playoffs begin.
5. Determine how many teams will qualify for the Fantasy playoffs and the playoff schedule. Reserving the last 3 or 4 weeks of the NFL regular season for your playoffs seems to work well.
7. Devising a prize structure. Once again, the commissioner's job is to get consensus. We don't ignore the fact that many leagues have a monetary payoff to the winning team(s). However, we have seen many leagues offering such things such as a traveling trophy or a dinner hosted by the league members to "honor" the Fantasy Bowl champ. Use your creativity!
8. Finally, decide on a place and time to hold your draft. Be sure everyone can make it (accept no excuses!).

DRAFT NIGHT

Here's where the fun begins. Everyone has done their homework (hopefully) and is ready to match wits with the other team owners. The commissioner has a big responsibility on draft night and that's keeping things organized, and believe us, things can get a bit chaotic. A draft board is very helpful. One of the best in the Business is the Draft Kit, with it's draft board and player labels. If no one else, the commissioner will greatly appreciate how smooth and organized the draft will go. The commissioner conducts the draft. He'll set a time limit for each team to make a selection (usually 1 minute). At this time too he will need to draw team names for the draft order.

The fairest way to conduct the draft is a "serpentine" or back and forth manner. For example, the first round will go teams 1 through 10 (if that's how many teams there are) then round 2 will go 10 through 1. The benefits of doing it this way are obvious. At least if you're team 10 you can see the benefits.

It's helpful if each team ensures that the agreed upon roster requirements are met. The commissioner should furnish a sheet to each team that lists the requirements and allow the team owners to fill in the player names as the draft proceeds. These sheets should be turned into the commissioner at the end of the draft for verification.

Congratulations! Your league is up and running. Good Luck!