Upping the Weekly Ante
My nightly routine has been the same over the past couple of weeks. After the rest of the family has settled down, I turn on whatever NBA Playoff game happens to be featured that evening. This would test my memory, but I don’t think I’ve ever watched an entire regular season NBA game. I am familiar but I’m far from a die-hard fan. As I enjoyed Dame Lillard drain unbelievable shot after shot, my mind drifted and I wondered why I even cared about this game. Why was I cheering so enthusiastically for a team and player I had never supported before and why spend my time watching these games instead of catching up on a movie or doing more fantasy football research?
Ultimately, I decided the answer was importance. In an NBA Playoff game, there is something on the line that is not always true of a regular season game, which explains why I ignore those. The same could be said of all other sports as casual fans tune into the playoffs when the stakes are the highest. It’s also why I become a bandwagon golf fan on a major Sunday but opt out of the first three rounds.
So, what does this all have to do with fantasy football leagues? Much like a regular season baseball game, I have noticed some managers in my leagues (including myself, at times) losing interest in weekly fantasy football matchups. This could be due to so many of us die-hard players joining multiple leagues or simply because there are many other distractions in the football and real world. I can even remember times I had to check out league standings to see if I had won my game from the previous week. This should not be the case for a game we love so much. How can we, as fantasy football commissioners, make sure this doesn’t happen to our league managers? Let’s up the stakes!
This past season, I played in my first ever Vampire League. I’ve discussed this here before, but to say I loved the format would be an understatement. I even created a new league format, Sniper-Active, based on the concept. The reason I and many other fantasy players are drawn to the Vampire format is the adrenaline rush that comes with the chance to steal (or have stolen) a key player from your roster. Getting even one win as a Vampire team is massive, while you certainly don’t want to be the team losing to the dead roster.
Unfortunately, not every league can be a Vampire or Sniper-Active league. There are some other ways to up the ante on a weekly basis for typical fantasy football leagues. Some ideas…
· Offer weekly prizes for highest-scoring team
· Create a rivalry system
· Use a double-header schedule, making each week twice as important
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