Fantasy leagues feel 'trepidation' over COVID-19 as they prepare for drafts and uncertain NFL season

Paul Charchian serves on the board of directors of the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, hosts a popular radio show and podcast of 27 years called "Fantasy Football Weekly" and helps run Guillotineleagues.com, a website devoted to a special variation of fantasy football.

In all these capacities, Charchian is well-equipped to gauge the general mood of those who play fantasy football, the annual endeavor that is casual fun for some, a determination of self-worth for others and an income stream for still more as part of a billion-dollar industry.

What does Charchian sense from the millions of players as Week 1 of the NFL season approaches while coronavirus threatens to derail it?

"In a word — trepidation," Charchian said. "People are nervous, and what we are seeing across the industry … is a lot of people are taking a wait-and see-approach [toward drafting teams]. They want to see if the season is really going to happen."

Coronavirus has touched every corner of American life, and fantasy football isn't immune.

Mid- to late August is usually the time leagues get together for their drafts, perhaps everyone's favorite part of playing. But amid this year's "trepidation," leagues have had to decide how to adjust for potential outbreaks, decide what happens if individual games are canceled or the season is canceled, and gauge whether it's even worth it to play fantasy football at all under these circumstances.

"Like everyone else in the country, our league members have watched the last six months of their lives either been canceled, postponed or significantly altered," said Matt Brandes, a 33-year-old property manager in Minneapolis. "It does seem a bit silly to be preparing for something that seems so unlikely to reach its completion."

Over the past few decades fantasy football has become more than a game to many. It's a way for friends to stay in touch, create memories, earn bragging rights — and maybe win some money they might not claim on their taxes.

Despite his awkward feelings, Brandes' primary league, one he maintains with college friends, plans to play out the season. He said fantasy can provide a welcome distraction.

"I feel extremely fortunate, and almost guilty, to be able to spend some of my time thinking about a game right now," Brandes said.

Added Ryan Garbe, a teacher in northeast Minneapolis: "If the season gets canceled, I will completely understand. I love sports, but I love sports when they don't put lives at risk on a second-to-second basis."

Charchian said he thinks people shouldn't feel guilty or "morally ambiguous" over playing fantasy football amid a pandemic because NFL players had chances to opt out of the season.

"Players are choosing to play," Charchian said. "They understand the risks and they've decided that they want to play. It would be different if somehow, some way they didn't have a choice in this or being strong-armed into putting themselves at risk, but they're not. So game on."

Tynan O'Hara, a 24-year-old from Mound who calls himself a "hard core" fantasy player, said his preparation for the draft — reading articles from Pro Football Focus and listening to Charchian's podcast — started later than usual. He said his leaguemates are "excited and cautiously optimistic."

"We just don't want to get our hopes up too early, but with the way the NFL is trending and how steadfast they are that the season is going to go on, we are getting more drawn in like normal," O'Hara said.

One of the best parts of playing fantasy football is in-person drafting, and even if that can't be accomplished this year, Zoom and other video conferencing can help facilitate some interaction and trash talk during that annual de facto holiday.

The thought of building up to a draft, watching a few games only to have the season cut short has caused some not to play, like those in Joseph St. Germain's leagues. St. Germain, 40, who grew up in Long Prairie, said some of his league members decided to opt out, not wanting to deal with that uncertainty.

"However, the folks who are playing seem to be amped up for the season …" he said. "It's always been important to me, but this [year] more than ever.

"It is a lot easier to look at these same four walls with the NFL being played."

Charchian offered a word of caution for all fantasy leagues before Week 1 of the season arrives.

"Leagues have to have their COVID plans in place in the preseason or friendships will end," he said.

That's not exaggeration, given the emotional investment people spend every Sunday tracking players and time they spend during the week tweaking rosters.

Fantasy leagues have to have contingency plans on a number of fronts. First, how to deal with players who may be unavailable because they are on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Some leagues may add bench spots or create special COVID-19 injury reserve slots to place players for the duration of their stay on the list.

Charchian recommends having an unlimited number of those spots on a team's roster to accommodate an unpredictable amount of absences. That way, owners don't have to drop players just because they are on that list.

A league also has to determine how many games the NFL has to play in order to award championships and payouts.

There are also considerations when it comes to more complicated leagues like keeper and dynasty leagues, where players' contract terms may be up for debate in a shortened season, along with the draft order for the following year, which is usually set by teams' records the previous season.

The right solution to this seems to be that there are no wrong answers as long as everyone agrees on the terms before the season. Leaving these tasks to the middle of the season could cause chaos and slanted agendas for rule changes based on how teams are doing in the standings.

"The awful answer nobody wants is, it depends on the league," said Jeff Hicks, who works for multiple fantasy websites. "It's something that has to be done before all players are picked in any drafts. It has to be decided by everybody, which is another hole to dig out of, because nobody is going to want to agree 100 percent. It's always a lot of effort to figure out."

As is anything in fantasy football. That's part of its charm — chasing the feeling of compiling the perfect roster to lord over your friends, to claim for a whole year that you're better than they are. Coronavirus is threatening to snatch that away, but Charchian said the effort is still very much worth it, perhaps now more than ever.

"It has always been an incredibly inexpensive distraction from regular life …" Charchian said. "Fantasy has always been this incredibly engaging force. That's why it has done nothing but grow for 30 years. We love to play. It's the ultimate sports distraction, and who doesn't need a distraction from the headlines more than America right now?"