I would like to implement a project into class, which has the students participate, weekly, in fantasy football. This project requires the students to use the Internet and other media sources to research player statistics and make decisions based on this information. In this project, the students will be required to keep records for the team they put together. These records are financial records important in any business and transaction records and reports that would have to be provided to business partners and shareholders in the team. They will have to manage money and learn to work with others in a business setting. Compromise and running a business to the best of their abilities are an important aspect of this project. Knowing when to push and when to give are very important features in business ventures. This also helps with public relations, which is very important for sports teams and athletes to be successful and have the support of fans and local cities and businesses for endorsements and advertisements. Students will get out of the project what they put in. This can be a good project for students to participate in. They can learn much dealing with money management, how professional sports work, and what problems face business owners both nationally and locally. They will be able to take much of this project into their lives and own school and business ventures and hopefully work well with others developing some ethics in life and business.
Topic: Owning and Running a Business through Fantasy Football
Grade Level: 11th and 12th grade students
Purpose:
The purpose of this project is to integrate the use of the Internet into the classroom and utilize this resource to run a business. The project’s intent is to help students develop their business skills by working with a group of people (partners in a firm) and begin developing an understanding of compromise and public relations. Also, students will develop spending plans and make decisions based on economic issues.
Objectives: At the end of this project, the students will be able to:
1. Use the Internet for research.
2. Keep track of buying and spending.
3. How to run a business, a professional football team.
4. The process of compromise and public relations.
Time Line:
This project will begin one week prior to the start of the National Football League and will last 17 weeks, the length of the NFL’s season, culminating in an in-class playoff and championship game. This season spans from approximately September 3 to January 20. These start and end dates are dependent on and correspond to Week 1 and Week 17 of the NFL season. Friday will be the day we participate in this project in class, unless there is a rare Thursday game during the season.
Materials needed:
Students will have to use the computers and Internet to research player statistics and use these to make decisions on whom to play each week. The following web sources can be used, but you are not limited to these:
www.espn.com, www.sportingnews.com, www.fftoday.com, www.fanball.com, www.yahoo.sports.com, www.cbssportsline.com, etc.
You can also use television programs such as the nightly news, ESPN, ESPN News, ESPN 2, CNN, etc.
Magazines – Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, Football Weekly, etc. – and Newspapers – NY Times, Washington Post, USA Today, etc – can be used to do further research.
1. To play Fantasy Football, we will first draft players. Theses players play their respective games for the week and you get the points for your team that they score in a real game. These will be totaled and you will compete against other classmates.
2. You have a salary cap of $68 million, which you cannot exceed when signing players. If you surpass this amount, you will be penalized 1 point for each dollar over. You have been given player lists and assigned the salary of each player; you may choose players not listed by finding them on the given web sites.
3. You can trade with other teams until the trade deadline, November 1, week 9.
4. You can sign/waive/cut players any time during the season. The deadline to add players is November 28, the last day of the regular season. The rosters are set in stone as of this date.
5. We will be doing all football on Friday, unless there is a Thursday game or a holiday. On this day you need to provide me with a copy of your roster, including starters, bench, and salary for your team. I will total salaries, costing your team 10 points for that week.
6. Rosters can have an unlimited number of players provided it does not exceed the salary cap.
7. 10 players can play on a given week. The players include:
a. 1 quarterback (QB)
b. 5 offensive players not counting the QB
- running backs (RB)
- wide receivers (WR)
- tight ends (TE)
c. 1 place kicker (K)
d. 3 defensive players consisting of any combination of lineman (DL), linebackers (LB), and defensive backs (DB)
8. I have the schedule made. The regular season consists of 13 games. There is also a single elimination playoff. The way to win, hopefully, is self-explanatory.