Fantasy Football (American) - History

History

The rules for what eventually became fantasy football were developed starting in 1962 at New York City's Milford Plaza Hotel by a limited partner in the Oakland Raiders named Wilfred "Bill" Winkenbach together with Bill Tunnell, former Raiders public relations manager, and Scotty Stirling, a former reporter.

The inaugural league was called the GOPPPL (Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League), and the first draft took place in the rumpus room of Winkenbach's home in Oakland, CA in August 1963. The league consisted of eight members, made up of administrative affiliates of the AFL, pro football journalists, or someone who had purchased or sold 10 season tickets for the Raiders’ 1963 season. Each roster consisted of the following in the GOPPPL: two quarterbacks, four halfbacks, two fullbacks, four offensive ends, two kick/punt returners, two field goal kickers, two defensive backs/linebackers and two defensive linemen. The current GOPPPL roster now includes: two quarterbacks, four halfbacks, six wide receivers/tight ends, two kickers, two defensive backs, one return team, and a bonus pick for any position. As of 2012, the GOPPPL will celebrate its 50th season and still maintains its TD-only scoring heritage.

In 1969, Andy Mousalimas, an original creator of GOPPPL and participant in the inaugural draft, brought the game to his sports bar, the King's X in Oakland, CA, where he added another couple leagues. When the patrons of other Oakland and San Francisco bars visited for trivia contests they soon learned of the game and passed the word about it. Due to the time consuming nature of the game's scoring it was difficult to pick up and spread slowly across the country.

One of the oldest continiously running known fantasy football leagues is the G'national Football League (GFL), founded in the Summer of 1979 in Lakeland, Florida by Wayne Wesley. The idea was inspired by a March 1979 Sports Illustrated score card column detailing clever team names of "fantasy teams" (including the Pomona Fighting Pimentos), but the GFL included completely re-written rules. Before switching to internet scoring in 1997, the team owners were required to send in weekly line-ups via postcard to both the commissioner and opponents. At the beginning, newsletters were typed on a manual Remington portable typewriter each Tuesday and mailed to team owners. The only scores that were counted were those reported by the designated newspaper, determined at the beginning of the season (usually the Lakeland Ledger or Tampa Tribune). The original scoring system included only actual points scored by a 7-man offensive team - no yardage, no special teams, no defense. The league still has two original owners, including the founder and Eddie Winoker, who has been hosting banquets and drafts since 1988. The league boasts several multi-generational team owners and several international team owners over its rich 34-season history. TV interview with the founders here.

Another early fantasy football league is “The league formerly known as Maria’s”. This league was founded in Spokane, Washington on September 2, 1981, at the now defunct Maria’s pizza parlor. Originally, Maria’s Fantasy Football League had eight franchises drafting from a single player pool. Today, the league boasts twenty-four franchises divided into two conferences each drafting from a separate player pool. The playoff system mirrors the NFL playoffs with weekly live auction redrafts as the player pool diminishes culminating in a Super Bowl between the two conference champions. Like other pre-information age leagues, Maria’s was founded as a TD only league to simplify manual scoring. Since, the rules have been modified by adding “bonus points” for milestone yardage achievements – but otherwise Maria’s franchise owners have opted to maintain the spirit of Maria’s TD-only history.

For years, the popularity of Fantasy football grew slowly. In 1997, CBS launched the beta version of the first publicly available free fantasy football website. The game immediately became widely popular. Within three years, all major sports media websites launched competing fantasy football hosting websites. Fantasy football is now the single most important marketing tool for the NFL. Today it is estimated over 19 million people compete in public and private leagues online nationally.

In 2009, Fantasy Football was christened mainstream with a fantasy football based sitcom, The League. The League was created by the husband-and-wife team of Jeff Schaffer (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld) and Jackie Marcus Schaffer (Disturbia, Eurotrip) who serve as executive producers and directors. The series is produced by FX Productions.