Who Doesn't Love To Score? (OK, I admit it, I dig the puerile humor in the commentary on the Mutant Football League Video Games). On a slightly more serious note, let's talk about Fantasy Football and scoring.
Fantasy Football has been one of the biggest innovations in terms of both increasing fan engagement and just increasing the fan base in general that could have ever happened to Football. I'm currently in 11 fantasy leagues myself! I've played under all sorts of rules, all sorts of formats, and they all require different strategies to be successful. There are different scoring systems such as PPR (1 point per reception) and half point PPR (half a point per reception). There are also leagues with team defenses, leagues where you have individual defensive players, and some fantasy leagues ignore defense altogether. There is so much variety in fantasy football which is one of the things that makes fantasy football special. There are different types of drafts, different league sizes, I could go on. Let's do a little history lesson about fantasy.
Fantasy Football started at some point most likely in the late 1970s (there are disputes over when it actually started). The original system is what is now known as Rotisserie scoring where it was based upon season-long point accumulation. Transactions were done over the phone or by mail, there was no internet in everyone's homes back then. Of course it has since evolved and the internet has made it as easy as possible for anyone who wants to have a fantasy football team to have as many fantasy football teams as they'd like. Now most fantasy leagues have H2H (head to head) match-ups and the win-loss records determine playoff seeding just like the real thing. There are exceptions such as Guillotine Leagues, where the entire point of the league is to not finish in last for the week and while these leagues are beginning to rise in popularity, they are not mainstream among most fantasy players yet.
Now it's time to talk about scoring. Football has had pretty much the same scoring system for decades with no real changes:
6 Points for a Touchdown
1 Point for an Extra Point
3 Points for a Field Goal
2 Points for a Safety
2 Points for a 2 Point Conversion after a Touchdown.
That's pretty much it. There have been some leagues that have modified the extra points and/or have added a 3 point conversion after a touchdown. In the CFL in Canada, touchbacks are currently worth 1 point each which is currently known as a “rouge” but that rule is going away soon unfortunately. Other than that, the scoring system in football has remained stagnant and it is probably time for someone to rock the proverbial boat on the subject.
What the on-field product can learn from the fantasy product is that there are a variety of ways to determine who wins and who loses. The scoring system is something that can be tinkered with to create something special. Even the way some drafts are conducted in fantasy could be interesting to see play out in a real league.
In short, whatever becomes of the Brand New Shield is going to embrace Fantasy Football, and it may do so in more ways than one. Stay Tuned.