What are the origins of fantasy football?

What are the origins of fantasy football?

Gregg Rosenthal (Fantasy Sports Sr. Editor) gives expert video advice on: What are the origins of fantasy football?; How were the first rules of fantasy football made? and more...

Fantasy football really got more popular once fantasy baseball became popular, which was probably in the early to mid 80s, and it just started growing. I think fantasy football lends itself more to fantasy sports than fantasy baseball because it's only once a week so it's a little easier to follow and you don't have to make as many moves. If you go back to when fantasy football really started, there are a lot of different stories. Some people think fantasy football started with the teams and different people working for the teams. I read one thing about the Raiders back in the 60s and 70s that they would pick which players around the league would score the most touchdowns, sort of like fantasy football. I think sports writers used to do similar stuff. But fantasy football really didn't become organized and popular until fantasy baseball kind of took off in the mid 80s, and then people started playing fantasy football as well.