One of the most popular past times in America is sports. From football and baseball, to basketball and hockey Americans will fill bars, crowd living rooms, and show up in impressive numbers to root for their favorite teams and players.

In addition, we love to find ways to make sports even more competitive for the viewers. One of the ways this is done is through gambling. Putting money on a sporting event allows us to raise the stakes. However, fantasy sports allow the opportunity to make money and to compete directly with friends, family, and co-workers. The most popular fantasy sport is football, with the popularity of the NFL at an all-time high.

Fantasy leagues can vary greatly in their style. Traditional fantasy leagues are usually free, have a draft at the beginning of the season, and offer the ability to add or drop players throughout the season. Recently, there has been a growing popularity with one-day fantasy leagues that allow you to draft a new to team every time you play. While they do require a cost to play, they also offer immediate cash payouts for winning. Being a successful fantasy football owner requires a little research, a strong draft, and access to stay up to date on the latest league news.

Research and Drafting

The first part of having a successful fantasy football team is doing your research. Every offseason players change teams, and new ones are drafted into the league. This causes changes in chemistry, playing time, and situations where certain players receive the ball. All these things can affect how a team or player will perform, which could affect your fantasy team. Additionally, injuries and legal issues can also affect how much a player is expected to produce.

Many resources exist to conduct your own research into the upcoming NFL season. Television stations now offer specialized programming for fantasy football players who want insight on which players will stand out, which players they should get early, and which players they can take in the later rounds. In addition the internet is flooded with information and speculation on the NFL from a fantasy perspective. Utilize both electronic and print sources, like magazines, to ensure you have all the necessary information.

After you do your research you’ll get the opportunity to draft a team, what some regard as the most fun part of playing fantasy football. There are a couple components to drafting the team. Frist and foremost, know the format of your league and how many players you need for each position. A league that plays two quarterback instead of one will probably require quarterbacks to be drafted earlier. You’ll also need to draw on the research that you did. Knowing what players ended up where, and how that could affect their performance can help you draft a smarter fantasy team, and get better production out of players in the later rounds of your draft.

League Access

In order to draft and manage a team successfully, you’ll need the most access possible to all the breaking news in the NFL. This could be heavily affected by what television service that you have. DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket channels allow access to every single game played throughout the NFL season. In addition, NFL network offers all the breaking news, scores, and highlights that will help you have a successful team. Having all the games on Sunday Ticket means that you can check in on the progress of all your fantasy players, and monitor their success.

Additionally, this TV service offers the ability to keep track of the players on your team for you. You can watch whatever game interests you most, and will receive screen notifications when one of your players loses or gains points during a game.

Finally, the league is accessible like never before by offering fans the ability to watch games, news, highlights, etc. on their smartphones, laptops, or tablets. This gives you all the information you need to alter your lineup on the go and stay competitive in your league.

Fantasy football is rapidly growing in popularity, picking up more and more participants every year. Because of this rise in popularity, TV services and networks have made accommodations for fans with specialized programming and the ability to more easily track league news and scores, as well as the players on your team. The opportunity to make money through one-day leagues is also adding to this popularity. This doesn’t seem like a trend that is going to die out soon.