How Fantasy Football Changed the NFL Fan Experience

Spectators of football have always cherished the viewing experience of the NFL, and with the massive uprise in Fantasy Football leagues, that experience has continued to evolve and develop. Along with the rise of the popularity of the sport comes the growing interest in catered sports markets such as NFL Fantasy Football.

Throughout the last decade especially, Fantasy Football has shaped a new fan experience by creating a fun and competitive atmosphere where you can build a team of your favorite players and compete head-to-head against your friends. Let’s take a look at the many ways Fantasy Football has changed the NFL fan experience, including the different viewing habits as well as how it’s impacted the league overall.

NFL fan support becomes more diversified

Any participant in a Football Fantasy league will have to draft a team of players from all teams in the NFL, meaning that even if they have a specific favorite team they support, they still need to draft players from other teams as well. The first thing you’ll notice about playing Fantasy Football is that your support for certain teams and players becomes broad as you’ll want each player you drafted from specific teams to perform well and earn you more points than your opponents on the ladder. It not only creates a fun, creative, competitive environment for close friends and family members, but it also opens a gateway to other avenues such as allowing for extremely accurate statistical gathering.

NFL viewership increases with fantasy football popularity

The whole point of Fantasy Football is that it lasts the entire season as players continuously face off against each other’s fantasy teams throughout each week of the NFL. So, the next thing you’ll notice while creating your fantasy football teams is that fantasy players tend to follow more NFL games because they want to watch the drafted players on their fantasy team perform well in live games. It makes it more interesting for the viewer because the stakes are higher, it gives them something to talk about and compete with friends, and there’s even a potential to be recognized as drafting one of the strongest Fantasy League teams to earn exclusive prizes!

Football is in fact the most played Fantasy Sport out of all sports. Data from a Fantasy Sports Gaming Association in 2019 survey revealed that out of all players who participate in fantasy-based sports leagues, approximately 78% of them follow Fantasy Football. It’s also important to note that the interest in fantasy sports, Fantasy Football in particular, is rapidly increasing, with a growth of about 3.2 million more fantasy participants from 2017 to 2022. While there’s no evident percentage of NFL viewership growth from Fantasy Football alone, it’s safe to assume if more people are hopping on to play fantasy football, more people are tuning in to watch their drafted Fantasy NFL players perform as well.