CHAPTER 2 - HOW TO PICK BETWEEN ESPN AND YAHOO

There are a number of online platforms where you can host your fantasy football league, but Yahoo and ESPN are the two heavyweights. We’ll go through the Pro’s and Con’s of both ESPN and Yahoo to help determine which platform makes the most sense for you.

We’ll share some of the major highlights as it relates to Mobile / App functionality, desktop functionality, options for the commish, default scoring settings, lineup assist options, and archived league history. Although each of these platforms go through regular updates each year, there are some key differences that are baked into each program. For the sake of this article, we aren’t going to be talking about daily fantasy football programs such as Draftkings or Fanduel, season-long /keeper/dynasty leagues.

ESPN Fantasy Football Review (Sign Up Now):

All in all, the ESPN Fantasy Football app is a solid program and a great choice for hosting your league. I’ve used ESPN for a number of leagues, including a dynasty league (with 21 keepers), an auction keeper league (keeping players at the price you paid for them), and regular season long redraft leagues. The mobile app/experience is very intuitive, and the ability to add/drop players is very easy. The desktop program is also very easy to use, propose trades, accept/deny trades, and offers the commish plenty of options for custom scoring settings.

Pro’s of ESPN Fantasy Football

• Very easy to set up a league and invite managers.
• Somewhat accurate weekly scoring projections for each player
• ESPN will alert you if a player is ruled OUT.
• ESPN will alert you if a player is ruled Questionable.
• ESPN will alert you if a benched player is projected to outscore a starter
• The ability to review previous draft results (especially important in an auction league).
• PPR is the standard scoring settings
• The App is easier to use than Yahoo. 
• Allows for the commish to designate rosters (for live draft parties)

Con’s of ESPN Fantasy Football

• If you are part of multiple leagues on ESPN, the alerts become quite annoying.
• No paid DFS options available

Yahoo Fantasy Football Review (Sign Up Now)

The part that I like most about Yahoo is their access to history books. By visiting the league archive, you can see records such as: Team with the most points in a single week, Team that scored the most points by an RB in an entire season, Biggest blowout, Closest game, the Largest margin of victory, and much more. The best part is that you can compare record for the season, or for the entire duration of your league, setting up what is sure to be a trash-talk filled season.

Pro’s of Yahoo! Fantasy Football

• Very easy to set up a league and invite managers
• More in-depth league history and record books
• Somewhat accurate weekly scoring projections
• The ability to evaluate potential trades and see how it may impact your season.
• Paid DFS leagues integrated into the App
• Paid Best Ball leagues integrated into the App
• Unique weekly player write-ups and recaps (great for trash talking)
• Win-Loss Projections Updated Weekly
• More options than ESPN
• Allows for the commish to designate rosters (for live draft parties)

Con’s of Yahoo! Fantasy Football

• No alerts for player injuries
• PPR is not the standard scoring
• App is slightly more confusing than ESPN
• Players on the bench can be dropped anytime (even after they've played that day). 

The Verdict - Yahoo Fantasy Football

At the end of the day, both the Yahoo and ESPN platforms are going to get the job done. Both platforms allow the commish to upload their own rosters after completing an offline draft party. If you are using Yahoo or ESPN for any other fantasy sports, such as fantasy baseball, fantasy basketball, or fantasy hockey, we suggest using the same platform for your football league. If you are starting new, we suggest going with Yahoo due to the more robust historical data that can be quite fun to review, the unique weekly recap notes, and their ability to integrate paid DFS leagues into the app. Since both platforms go through annual updates, we recommend following this thread on Reddit for more up-to-the-minute feedback regarding Yahoo and ESPN fantasy reviews. 

Now that you know which platform to use, you’ll need to determine what your fantasy football team name will be! Make sure to pick up a 2021 fantasy football draft board, for the ultimate live draft experience. We offer complete draft board kits with over 500 NEXT-LEVEL labels and a huge draft board!