Fantasy football isn’t just the guys disappearing for four hours to hold a draft and argue about running backs anymore.
Women are getting WAY more involved.
According to data from the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, women made up just 19% of fantasy sports players in 2019. By 2023, that number had reportedly jumped to 35%, representing an estimated 20 million women.
And they’re creating leagues of their own.
Fatima Magpusao spent years helping her husband throw his fantasy football draft party before eventually asking a pretty reasonable question: Why am I doing all this work and not playing?
So she recruited wives and friends and started an all-women league.
Now she and her husband actually throw competing fantasy draft parties in the same event space.
Hers has friendship bracelets, sashes and a tiara for the champion, so I’m already giving the women the edge here.
And some of these leagues are SERIOUS.
One group of college friends created an eight-team league, complete with an annual draft trip, competitions, prize money and even an integrity contract promising they won’t ask their husbands or boyfriends for lineup help.
But there’s something bigger happening here too.
Women say fantasy football has become another way to maintain friendships and meet new people, especially in your late 20s and 30s when getting an entire friend group together can require six months of planning and a shared Google Calendar.
Football gives them a reason to keep talking every week for an entire season.
And if you’re thinking about starting your own league, the women already doing it have pretty simple advice:
Just start one.
Although if you’re adding tiaras and friendship bracelets, I’m going to need the men’s leagues to step their game up.