Scroll through TikTok toward the end of football season, and you may see a group of friends dumping condiments on someone in a cage. At first glance, this might seem like bullying and something that should be reported, but the video’s caption clearly says, “Don’t lose fantasy football.”
Fantasy football is an online game where fans serve as team managers, drafting real NFL players to create a virtual lineup. Each week during the NFL season, players score points based on their performances, including yards gained, touchdowns scored and field goals made.
Upper School (US) Math Teacher Joe Cyr said playing fantasy football can get students engaged with data analysis.
“Any time you get kids interested in working with data and increasing data literacy, that’s a good thing. You need to understand people’s previous stats and what affects them. But there’s definitely a lot of luck involved, as well, because a player could tear their ACL and be out for the season.”
Within a group’s fantasy football league, typically consisting of eight to 14 people, managers compete head-to-head every week, making decisions about who to start in their lineups, bench or trade.
“I know groups of friends all over the country have played it and bonded over it,” Dr. Cyr said. “Certainly, it’s a great thing whenever kids socialize over common interests.”
Along with awards for winning fantasy leagues, punishments are frequently dealt out to losers at the end of the season.
“If it really is just something small and harmless, that can be part of the fun for some people,” Dr. Cyr said. “But it can easily turn into something more damaging.”
Some students bet on fantasy football, a more concerning trend.
“Any sort of sports gambling, such as in fantasy football, is troublesome, especially for minors,” Dr. Cyr said. “Sports gambling is an increasing issue at school and in this state. It’s really ballooning out of control. It can be addictive and can take over your life.”
Jack Reinfeld ’27 has played fantasy football with friends for nine years.
“It makes watching NFL games so much more interesting because you have someone to root for in every game,” he said. “It also brings you and your friends closer together because you’re always having something to talk about, making trades and having friendly banter. With my friends from my town, we’ve grown up playing in a fantasy league together, and we’ll always go to this one guy’s house on Sunday and watch the games.”
According to a 2023 Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association study, 65% of fantasy football players identified as male and 35% as female. Fantasy football manager Sarah Baker ’28 doesn’t have any female friends at school who play.
“Most leagues are formed between friends, and I just haven’t been able to find one with my own friends to join,” she said. “That’s why I’ve only ever joined random online ones. For boys, it feels like fantasy is just built into their friend groups. They’ll draft together, they’ll spend all season talking about it, and it’s just this core part of how they hang out. For girls, even if we like football, there really isn’t the same opportunity or incentive to play because you’re not automatically included in that social piece of it.”
For Nick Narasimhan ’26, playing fantasy football is ingrained in his friend group.
“For most girls, it’s just a way to spend time with friends or because their boyfriend is in the league,” he said. “With guys, it’s more intense and very competitive. Ninety percent of my friends play fantasy.”
Fantasy football provides a common conversation topic.
“When my friends and I go to college and are scattered all over the country, fantasy will be something that keeps us connected,” he said. “It’s just a backbone of connection. We get together on Sundays, we do something fun for the draft and it’s just another way we can all hang out.”
