Everything you need to know if you want to switch Fantasy Football platforms
Across the U.S. on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays, fantasy football occupies the minds of many National Football League (NFL) fans while a debate on which platform to play fantasy football rages in the background.
A fantasy football platform enables a group of users to come together to make leagues, draft teams, and compete with one another on a weekly basis.
The four most popular platforms are the established favorites ESPN, Yahoo!, and NFL.com, and the up and coming Sleeper App, a mobile-only service. Although the standard scoring remains constant in all the platforms, the user interface, customization, potential rewards, and player eligibility separate them.
Catlin Gabel School (CGS) Technology Support Specialist Daniel Flores, an avid Fantasy Football player, who has played on Sleeper, Yahoo, and ESPN, highlighted some key differences between them, especially between Sleeper and the others, in terms of user experience and stability.
User Interface:
Flores described his experience with the user interface in ESPN, Yahoo, and Sleeper.
“ESPN and Yahoo are almost identical in a way,” said Flores, “very clear and very intuitive.”
This contrasts to his experience on Sleeper. “Because there’s so much more that you can do, [Sleeper] can be daunting,” said Flored.
This was echoed by Bram Nutt, a senior at CGS, who has played fantasy football on ESPN and NFL.com.
“ESPN, for the most part, is pretty straightforward. It’s a bit clunky, but it’s not that bad,” said Nutt.
As for NFL.com, he said that it was similar to ESPN, but “trading was difficult, and I couldn’t really see the other teams.”
Sophie Kruse, another CGS senior, who played fantasy football for the first time this year on ESPN, described it “a little confusing, but easy to pick up,” with most struggles coming with the more nuanced football terminology rather than the actual platforms itself.
Stability:
A crucial aspect of fantasy football is the stability of the platform.
For Flores, Sleeper has struggled in this aspect. “The past two years, the servers have gone down during week one,” said Flores. He further explained how the newness and small size of the Sleeper team could be felt throughout the year.
Nutt had an issue three years ago with the ESPN draft, but he also mentioned that he was on his “old laptop that I hadn’t updated in a while.” Since then, he has had no server issues on ESPN or NFL.com.
Customization:
One of the major differences Flores spoke to was the amount of customization available on Sleeper, citing it as the main reason he switched to the app two years ago.
“I listen to the Fantasy Footballers podcast, and they were really big on [Sleeper] a few years ago so we decided to hop on it,” said Flores.
He went on to explain the customization a commissioner can add in terms of player acquisition and the time frames for said actions, such as waivers and free agency.
Access to Rewards:
The official NFL.com fantasy platform offers something unique that the other platforms can’t offer - unique rewards and exclusive access to NFL events.
By entering in the NFL Fantasy Sweepstakes, players can enter to win a trip to Las Vegas for a vacation to stay at The Caesars Palace and a trip to the Super Bowl, the opportunity to watch the NFL Draft live, VIP access to the Pro Bowl, and other exclusive meet and greets with players that only the NFL can provide with their unparalleled access to the stars of the league.
Positional Eligibility:
Another difference between the platforms is the positional eligibility for certain players. This was brought into the spotlight during week 11 of this year’s NFL season, when Taysom Hill was named the starting quarterback (QB) for the New Orleans Saints.
Although he is officially rostered as a QB, entering the season he was the third string QB for the Saints on their depth chart and was used as both a ball carrier and a pass catcher in their offense. Because of this, ESPN decided to grant him eligibility in the Tight End (TE) position, which is historically a low scoring slot.
Throughout most of the season, Hill was “fantasy irrelevant,” a term used for players who don't accumulate enough points to be worth playing. However, when he was thrusted into the starting QB role, ESPN decided to let him maintain his TE eligibility, creating opportunities for Taysom Hill fantasy owners to start a QB in the TE slot.
These positional eligibility disparities, although usually minor and unimportant, can create differences between the various platforms.
Recap:
There are some slight differences between ESPN, Sleeper, Yahoo, and NFL.com, but most of them are minor and mostly unnoticeable. Sleeper has more customization at the cost of a clunkier user interface and less stability, ESPN and Yahoo offer a straightforward platform that’s easy to use, and NFL.com is a little harder to use but comes with access to great rewards.
All four are great options, and at the end of day, as Kruse said, “It’s all about having fun.”