The CFL season is just around the corner with the first game kicking off on June 8. Now is the perfect time to get a small group of friends together for a head-to-head fantasy football league.
The popularity of fantasy football has grown dramatically over recent years among NFL fans. It is not well known that fantasy football is available for the CFL but it has great potential. I am aware of 2 websites you can play CFL fantasy football.
You can play at our website newshubfantasy.com which is in beta, or you can also play at 110yards.ca which has been running for years now. Both sites will be continuously improving. Even if you miss the start of the season it is still worth setting up a league partway into the season with your friends. Regardless of where you choose to play I strongly recommend CFL fantasy football.
The Canadian Football League provides a unique experience for fantasy football given the fact that it is a 9 team league. There are some key differences in CFL fantasy football that players who are accustomed to NFL fantasy football will notice.
“By default, the site will recommend that you limit teams to a single QB, RB and Kicker due to positional scarcity in the league. In my experience, if you allow teams to horde these key positions, you risk creating a situation where some teams may be unable to obtain a starter-level player (note that you can disable these limits as the commissioner, if you like).” 110yards.ca owner and operator, Michael Dryden explained in the site’s 2023 launch announcement.
Leagues are limited to no more than 10 teams, but I highly recommend you limit your league to no more than 8; above 8 teams you will bump up against the aforementioned positional scarcity.
In my opinion, 6 teams is the ideal league size.
The site also offers a “BYE” slot which can be configured for your league (by default, leagues will be configured with one, but this can be changed). The BYE slot allows you to limit bench sizes to avoid player hoarding, while also allowing teams to temporarily exceed roster limits for players who are on bye. For example, if your starting QB is on bye for the week, you can place him on BYE reserve and pick up a second quarterback, bypassing the usual 1 QB limit. When the week ends, you’ll be required to drop your pickup before you can put your regular QB back in your lineup.”
Unique Experience
CFL head-to-head fantasy football offers a unique experience. With the CFL having 9 teams there is a much higher likelihood of a CFL game having implications on your CFL fantasy football head-to-head matchup than what players experience in the leagues for NFL fantasy football.
The CFL schedule itself presents unique challenges and opportunities. Each team has 3 bye weeks. Most weeks have 4 games each week aside from a couple of weeks in the season that have only 3 games.
Camaraderie
If you’ve played in head-to-head fantasy football leagues in the past you know just how fun those communities can become. There’s something so fun about going up against your friends in a head-to-head setting that you just don’t get in a weekly team picker type of game.
Assemble your team and make the strategic decisions that demonstrate to your friends that you’re better at watching football than they are.
Broaden Your CFL Knowledge
In playing fantasy football you will gain a deeper understanding of Canadian football and become more familiar with teams and players. It makes following the league overall much more fun.
Stay tuned as later this week I will be releasing player rankings to help give players an edge in winning their league.
Follow me on Twitter if you’d like updates for my future articles: @JonathanClink
