How (and Why) To Start a Fantasy Football League at Your Company

Fantasy football kicks off on September 9. This popular activity can actually be good for your employees’ mental health. It promotes camaraderie and healthy competition and develops critical thinking, decision-making, and leadership skills. It has also been found to increase productivity and co-worker engagement. If you would like to start a fantasy football league at your company, this is how to go about it. 

Recruit team members.

The first step is to recruit enough workers who want to participate in fantasy football to make eight to 10 teams (one person per team). Stick with an even number of teams. Having an odd number can make scheduling difficult. 

Name your league and teams.

Next, choose a name for your fantasy football league and give each participant the task of choosing a name for his or her team. Your employees can have fun getting creative with the names.

Set a date for the draft.

Choose a date for the annual fantasy football draft, at which time you will choose players for your team. For many leagues, this date falls on the weekend before the NFL season starts.

Determine the entry fee.

This can be any amount you choose, high or low. All entry fees are pooled together in a pot as prize money for the winners. Fees are optional – play only for fun and bragging rights if you prefer. 

Appoint a commissioner.

This person serves as an arbitrator in any disputes that arise (which are likely to occur).

Draw up the league rules.

Fantasy football has standard rules. You have the freedom to customize these rules for your league, with the goal of keeping it fun and minimizing disputes. The rules you establish will cover matters such as scoring (how many fantasy points for each action), playoffs (how many teams and when games are played), trades (allowing or vetoing), and waiver wires (temporary freeze on unclaimed players). 

Establish a system for tracking and recording league statistics.

The easiest way to do this is to use a free fantasy football hosting site. A number of platforms are available to automatically track team and player statistics. This takes the manual work out of arriving at a score for each player and team every week. As an added benefit, the platforms track in real-time, so you and your coworkers can stay updated from minute to minute. Using a hosting site will free you up from the boring, administrative aspects of running a fantasy football league and let you focus on the fun part – playing the game with your employees. 

Starting a fantasy football league is a good way to raise morale, increase productivity, and enhance your company culture. A solid employee group benefits package can have similar benefits, in addition to improving recruitment and retention and reducing employee time away from work because of health issues. Our agent can help you secure the right group benefits package for your workers at the most affordable rates.