Fantasy football has been a fun and competitive way to follow teams and players throughout the season over the past 25 years. Despite other sports that have fantasy leagues, football is the most popular by far.

The record for most fantasy football users in the U.S. and Canada was set this year at over 41 million.

Recently, several statistics about fantasy team owners were released by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association:

• 80% are male
• 51.5% are not married
• Average age: 34
• Years in Fantasy Sports: 9.51
• Hours consumed of Fantasy per week: 8.67
• Favorite Fantasy Sport: Football (69.4%)

The question is, why do fantasy leagues make the season so much more fun to follow?

“After the draft, you know that you own a set of players,” said sophomore Ryan Wick. “This gives you more reasons to watch games so you can follow your players’ statistics.”

Fantasy sports are a fun challenge, especially when you are in a league with people that you know. However, it can be a noticeable distraction. Just setting your line up takes a lot of time and thought that could be put somewhere else. Notice a similarity to another distraction?

“I became so drawn up in it that I started following games and players more than I ever would,” said senior Nakul Narendran. “It’s just like another form of social media that takes up just as much of my time.”