Wanting to start your own fantasy football?
Football season is much more than just getting together every week at the friend’s house with the largest television for the games. It’s more than the commercials during the Super Bowl. It’s even more than the pizza, chicken wings, nachos and beer. It is about anything that makes the whole experience even more fun! That is why die-hard fantasy fans start building their own fantasy football team even before the season begins. The following ten websites are heavily trafficked by football fans as evidenced by the global Alexa rating for each.
1. Yahoo! Fantasy: http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/
Global Alexa Rating: 4
Yahoo! Fantasy is hands down the most popular fantasy football website and for good reason. It is crammed with all the information you just have to know – player updates, injuries, stats, NFL news and more. Players can either create a league of their own or join a league. For those that are either new to fantasy football or haven’t played in a while there is a handy link right on the homepage to an article that provides an overview along with additional articles about how to join a league, how to create a league, understanding draft types, season dates and deadlines, finding your league’s position and more. The message boards are another great feature with a place to get expert fantasy advice.
2. ESPN Fantasy Football: http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/football
Global Alexa Rating: 105
The ESPN website goes a bit further in terms of teaching with a nice set of training videos. The access to these videos is located on the page that comes up when you select ‘Join a League’ which also has some FAQ’s at the bottom of the page. There are more FAQ accessible on the FAQ tab. Players can create or join up to 10 free leagues and as many prize eligible leagues as they would like. The free leagues do not have prizes. The homepage is well organized including links to podcasts, links to fantasy football insider tools (for those with Insider membership which has a 30-day free trial link also on the homepage), links to various free games to join, articles by columnists, a link to their toolkit and even an area at the bottom to find NFL tickets.
3. NFL.com Fantasy Football: http://www.nfl.com/fantasyfootball
Global Alexa Rating: 545
The NFL fantasy football website is loaded with videos and articles. The homepage is extremely user friendly with four clear options front and center: Sign in to access your fantasy teams, Create a league, Join a league and Activate a league. The Activate a League option is for those that wish to continue with the league they operated in the previous year to allow access to league history and record book. There are plenty of useful tabs right along the top including research, draft kit and rankings. A nice feature is the ability to access past episodes of Fantasy Live which is broadcast weekdays at 4 pm and Sundays at 11:30 AM ET. Look for some of their other games as well including the NFL Perfect Challenge and NFL Playoff Challenge. There are links to these and more right on the homepage.
4. Fox Sports.com Fantasy: http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/football/commissioner/
Global Alexa Rating: 611
Fox fantasy football has an easy-to-use interface that should appeal to the new or casual player as well as those that are more advanced. Public leagues are available that are easy to join and easy to play. Private leagues offer more tools allowing for complete customization and control. There are a number of great features besides private league settings including commissioner tools, easy to use draft and rosters, up to the minute live scoring with real time player notifications and even the ability to set your lineup, view standings and recent transactions and access live scoring on your mobile phone. Rosters can be viewed in three ways: classic mode, point-and-shoot and drag-and-drop. So much flexibility is one thing that makes fox’s fantasy football website quite popular.
5. CBS Sports.com Fantasy Games: http://www.cbssports.com/fantasy
Global Alexa Rating: 676
A nice aspect of CBS fantasy football is the ability to sign in with Facebook or Google+ once players have registered on the website. They also have a mobile app available for iPhone and Android mobile phones. Something worth looking at is their Player Challenge which is a four-week game that really tests your fantasy football skills. It is a 12-team challenge in which the top scorer takes home the prize money. Besides this challenge there are seven other ways to play: free leagues, prize leagues, office pool manager, commissioner, game pick’em, franchise football and playoff challenge. One benefit of this website is that even the free leagues have weekly and grand prize drawings.
6. NBC Sports RotoWorld: http://www.rotoworld.com/sports/nfl/football?r=1&rw=1
Global Alexa Rating: 2,608
Rotoworld is well known for the speed and quality of their newswire and also is the place to go for their On Demand Draft Guide which is a printable document with profiles, stats, rankings, charts, injury reports and more – all updated in real time and customized to player league settings. They also have an app players can purchase so they can access while on the go. The Season Pass section of the website is phenomenal with tons of features and ranking information for those that have purchased access which is very reasonably priced. The homepage itself is not as easy to follow as some other websites but once a player learns their way around it they will be glad there is so much right at their fingertips.
7. MyFantasyLeague.com: http://www.myfantasyleague.com/
Global Alexa Rating: 10,844
This is not the cheapest option around but serious players owe it to themselves to take a look and there is even a free trial to let you do just that. Use it free of charge through week 4 of the regular season. This website has more customization options, is accessible all year round and is actually less expensive than some – and to top it off, if you already started a league on another site they can automatically import your league. In fact, if you do switch from somewhere else they will offer you a discount. With MyFantasyLeague players have customizable league appearance including color, layout, graphics, skins and choice of navigation menus. Their live scoring updates every 90 seconds during the games unlike others that take as long as 15 minutes. They also allow up to 96 teams and 80 players per roster with the added benefit of allowing players to be on multiple teams.
8. FootballGuys: http://www.footballguys.com/
Global Alexa Rating: 16,691
There is plenty of great content available for free and even more when players gain access to their statistical and forecasting tools in their Inside Access area with either a one-season or three-season subscription. They have three mobile apps that are useful: Footballguys Magazine Draftkit, Footballguys Draft GM and Footballguys FBG Mobile. There is also a low bandwidth mobile site. The articles on the site are very helpful and one can even access past articles from the previous three seasons. Take advantage of the three free downloads offered right on the homepage: 40 Situations to Monitor, 12 Team Experts Mock Draft and Rearview QB Analysis. The community forums are a great aspect of this website.
9. FanDuel: https://www.fanduel.com/
Global Alexa Rating: 17,936
FanDuel is a great option for those that might not have the ability to participate in an entire season of fantasy football. The ability to take part in weekly leagues can be a nice way to first get involved in fantasy football as well. They offer both free and cash prize formats. Players need to set up a login to access any of the website which means there is nothing to refer to here for someone just wanting to browse and read articles. Once players sign up they will find the site easy to navigate. Nice to have a place to go without a long-term time commitment.
10. Pro-Football Reference: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/
Global Alexa Rating: 24,499
While you can often get plenty of information on any of the above websites, this is the one to turn to when you want to be able to find out absolutely anything about players, teams, past seasons, coaches and more. It is very well organized and easy to navigate with more historical information than any other site. It is like an encyclopedia of football making it the most complete reference tool any fantasy football player could ever want. An interesting feature is the ability to vote for your favorite players in NFL history. Also a great tool for seeing the entire NFL schedule with links to games already played and a preview of upcoming games. The preview feature includes a win probability figure based on team quality and current game situation.
Whether you are completely new to fantasy football or an advanced player these website offer plenty of information and tools to help you have the best leagues possible. Even someone that simply enjoys football can find things to read and enjoy. Although the sites are listed in order according to their traffic counts as compiled by Alexa.com that in no way means your favorite has to be at the top of the list. Each website navigates differently and has special things to offer so you may find yourself using one for a prize league and other for looking up stats. It’s all up to you.
