Fantasy News
In fantasy football, it’s tough to beat draft day (or days, if you’re in more than one league). This is the day where there’s still hope for every team. So when FanDraft sent over a copy of their new drafting software, we figured we’d give it a whirl to see what it might add to the draft day experience.
The concept itself is pretty simple: take the draft board you and your league have been posting on a living room wall for years, and digitize it. That means that by linking a laptop to a television or projector, an interactive computer program is now viewable to the entire league. Where a draft board typically features a stagnant, excel-sheet like view of players listed below team names, FanDraft has a menu of alterable views, including position breakdowns by team, round-by-round summaries, and a combo board that displays a team’s current roster along with the top remaining available players.
It’s a fairly nice range of features, especially because it saves league members the sometimes messy task of juggling three highlighter pens in an effort to keep track of a still sleeping “sleeper” pick, players that have been drafted, and players still available.
There’s also a full range of customizable bells and whistles: a streaming ticker, live clock, customizable music options, a voice announcer, and the ability to implement team logos and owner images. This means that if Chris Johnson helped carry my team to a championship last year, I can remind everyone of it through a well-executed photo. FanDraft helps open up these little touches of draft day personality.
If there is any drawback to FanDraft, it’s the projector or TV/computer linkup. It’s really not a complicated process, but it does require hookup cables, and at least a modicum of tech ability. The range of customizable features also requires a fair amount of planning, since commissioners will have to gather photos and sound bites from each league member.
Still, what FanDraft does offer is a simplification of the drafting process, an electronic presentation medium, and features that allow a league to infuse draft day with personality. Unless Vanna White has been cat walking the length of your paper draft board, stylishly writing draft picks down in calligraphy, there is really no reason not to give FanDraft a shot.
For a free demo of this software, go to the
FanDraft website.
—Brian Hutchinson
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Posted by Shaun Hawkins | Aug. 23 at 12:36 PM
Does anyone still use posterboard? I have been in a league since 1988 and even those old geezers are online now.
Posted by James Geist | Aug. 23 at 04:13 PM
We draft this Saturday, and just this past week my buddy and I put together our 6 foot x 4 foot giant Draft Board. The guys in my league, most of which are in their 20s, voted to go with the traditional draft board over FanDraft, when presented both options. What can I say -- we like keeping it old school. We make a nice giant one, because each owner walks to the board and writes in their picks. Allows for a bit of suspense, the fun of the reveal as you write it up there, and the interactivity of actually taking "ownership" of your team.