Fantasy Football Has Come so Far

Believe it or not, fantasy football continues to grow. Having evolved from a mail-order service to an internet behemoth, fantasy football is one of the most engaging (and lucrative) products associated with the NFL, or any sport for that matter.

I remember when I was 10 and I used to see all of these advertisements for fantasy football leagues in newspapers and magazines. I never mustered up the money to get involved in one until I was 13 years old, but when I finally did, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. An avid Madden Franchise Mode video game player, fantasy football was like franchise mode, only you could enjoy beating real humans instead of the computer.

Of course, back then, playing widespread fantasy football involved mailing in trades, acquisitions, drafts, and in most cases, you had to pay actual money for every transaction you made (not to mention the postage). And for a teenage boy with no money, that gave way. Thankfully, the evolution of the internet changed all of that.

Fantasy football began to pick up with the growing interest in the World Wide Web and the development of both DSL and broadband internet connections. By 1999, like many, I was in several startup online fantasy football leagues. Soon enough, I would join Yahoo! and Sandbox fantasy football leagues; destroying my friends and making new enemies. It was by the turn of the century that fantasy football started coming in all kinds of varieties, with free leagues, salary cap leagues, commissioner leagues and fee-mandatory leagues.

It wasn't too long before fantasy football became a way for NFL fans to prove their football expertise. It also became another way for fans to gamble on the NFL. Gambling's rich (and I mean RICH) history in football, quickly carried over to the fantasy aspect of the NFL, which is why it's almost impossible to get involved in a fantasy league without paying some type of cost these days.

While fans have long been supporters of fantasy football, it wasn't until about 5 years ago that the big media players began to get really involved. Now media outlets like ESPN, CBS, Fox and even the New York Times have continual coverage and analysis of fantasy football. Ten years ago, could you have ever imagined ESPN having a fantasy football lead writer or commentator, never mind fantasy football podcast? It's really amazing.

Just when you thought interest in fantasy football might be waning, Google Trends shows that the sport is remaining steady and actually demonstrated growth in internet interest in 2008. Also, according to Google Trends, fantasy football appears to be on the rise for 2009 as well, with search queries significantly up during the first quarter of 2009.

However, while fantasy football has had great success over the years, it has also had its problems, and will probably continue to do so. First, the NFL Players Association, and in someways the NFL itself, has gone to court with fantasy football providers like Yahoo! in order to restrict access to their players data and statistical information. Also, with online advertising in significant decline, many worry whether or not fantasy football can remain free for much longer, and if it can't, how successful can it continue to be?