Fantasy Football: The Setup

I’ll start by getting my $1000 fantasy football investment into action. To make this work, I need to use a trustworthy site that actually rewards paying winners with cash prizes. The four main sites I’ve seen used by fantasy football players are ESPN, Yahoo, NFL, and CBS. Of these, CBS has the best pay-to-play cash reward system (as the other three don’t really offer that option, and I haven’t found any better site for that). The only problem with CBS public leagues is that they only pay out 1st place. If I wasn't so lazy, I might search out a site that pays out the top three, thus offering a greater chance at seeing a return on my investment.

I’m already in five other leagues, one with work friends through Yahoo, one with high school friends through CBS, and three with college friends through ESPN. The breakdown of these leagues is as follows:

The Brooklyn Lions
Work Friends, Yahoo, 12 team league
Roster (QB, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, non-QB Flex, K, D)
Cost: $100
Payouts: 1st - $670, 2nd - $300, 3rd - $100, $10 weekly high score winner x 13 weeks

Megatron & Bumblebee
High School Friends, CBS, 12 team league
Roster (QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, K, D)
Cost: $100
Payout: 1st - $480, 2nd - $240, Best Record - $100

Yeezy Taught Me
College Friends (co-owned with two other people), ESPN, 20 team lifetime keeper league
Roster (QB, RB, WR, WR, TE, WR/TE, WR/RB, Flex, K, DL, DL, DL, DL, LB, LB, LB, CB, CB, S, S, DB, DP, DP)
Cost: $100
Payout: 1st - $600, 2nd - $400, 3rd - $400 (would be split three ways)

Bring On The Best
College Friends, ESPN, 20 team lifetime keeper league
Roster (QB, RB, WR, WR, WR/TE, TE, Flex, K, DL, DL, DL, DL, LB, LB, LB, CB, CB, S, S, DP)
Cost: $50
Payout: 1st - $600, 2nd - $400, 3rd - $200

Alligators Eating Swans
College Friends, ESPN, 20 team lifetime keeper league
Roster (QB, RB, WR, WR, TE, Flex, K, DL, DL, DL, DL, LB, LB, LB, CB, CB, S, S, DP)
Cost: $50
Payout: 1st - $600, 2nd - $400, 3rd - $200

So that’s approximately $400 already invested. I’m not going to duplicate that effort, since I count these teams and leagues as “acquired knowledge” and taking on ten brand-new teams would basically ruin my life. To fill out the remaining $600, I’ll be drafting six $100 CBS teams. Each of those teams will look something like this:

CBS, 12 teams
Roster (QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR/RB, TE, K, D)
Cost: $100
Payout: 1st - $600 (they only pay the winner)

For each team, I’ll take a slightly different approach, from WR-heavy investments, to RB-heavy, to QB-focused, all depending on my draft position. It also allows me to try different approaches for each team, which if this becomes a yearly event, will help me learn what’s most successful. Each of the other league also has slightly different scoring systems, which I won't really get into. But trust that I know the systems and the differences (unlike the differences between stocks I own).

If you look on CBS, you'll see they offer higher payouts and higher fees for leagues, but I figure my best bet is to play against people who have a low level of commitment ($100 fee instead of $300 means they might be less confident and less committed). Each league will give me a 1-in-12 shot at $600 (not counting the 20 team leagues). And I only need to win two leagues to finish ahead of the game. So the odds aren’t exactly in my favor.

Potential ROI: $6550
Potential Net Profit: $5550
Odds that’ll happen: 0%
Anticipated winnings: $1500
Anticipated Profit: $500
% gain: +50%

Even though I went to business school, I’m not really sure I’m using the right terms or ways to evaluate the success/risk of this investment. Maybe as I learn about the stock market my knowledge and assessment of the situation will improve. I should also monitor my “time” investment. Because if I spend 100 hours and only make $500, that’s not really a good use of my time.

Either way, I'm excited to have a reason to play 10+ fantasy football teams. I'd also like to apologize in advance to my new wife, who is already displeased with the amount of time I spend on fantasy sports.