Interview with Ian Allan

Fantasy sports pioneer Ian Allan, cofounder of the industry’s first and longest-running magazine, Fantasy Football Index, discusses the activity’s origins and why people love it so much.

Who started fantasy sports?
Its origins are generally credited to a man named Bill Winkenbach, who was actually a limited partner of the Oakland Raiders. He dabbled in things like fantasy golf before coming up with his football idea in 1962. He brainstormed rules with a pair of sportswriters and started the first fantasy football league.

How did your publication come about?
Fantasy Football Index started as a college project when I was at the University of Washington in the 1980s. I worked on the student newspaper there with fellow journalism major Bruce Taylor, and we ended up becoming roommates. Bruce had to come up with a creative idea for a business class and then take a step to implement it—he decided to start a fantasy football magazine since to that point, only football publications existed, not fantasy-focused ones. He made me the writer, and we created the first issue and started distributing it.

In your opinion, why are fantasy sports so popular?
I think it’s mainly because they’re interactive. Before fantasy sports, you’d go to a game, and your job as a fan was to sit and cheer when your team scored, boo the other team, and hope yours won. But through this activity, you can do something more active: create your very own team and try to figure out how to make it stronger. In fantasy football specifically, you draft NFL players—quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, etc.—and then pit your team against others in your league. So you’ve got some skin in the game, even if you’re not really a football fan, and that’s a very powerful thing.

Camaraderie is also a big part of the appeal. It’s like a college or family reunion for a lot of people. Everyone in my fantasy football leagues enjoys getting together for our draft each year, checking in with our old friends, and then having our shared experience of going through the season. No matter the sport, money usually isn’t the primary motivator. For me, it’s more about competing against my eleven buddies and trying to emerge with the championship.

Are there any downsides, such as the activity impacting your real life?
It can certainly get addicting or overwhelming. Some people have ten, twenty, or even a hundred teams. I can’t do that. When I get to five teams, it feels like they all start blending together. In 2024, I was actually in only one fantasy football league for the first time ever—even when I started playing in 1986, I was in two leagues. Today, because of my job, I can get the same enjoyment from providing numbers, tendencies, trivia, and advice to Fantasy Football Index followers as I do from playing it.

And the line between fantasy and reality can easily blur, such as when you are playing against someone in your league who has players from your favorite pro team: you’re almost forced to root for the latter to fail so your fantasy team can win. It happens all the time. I think there’s often a tipping point when you have to decide whether you care more about your fake team or your real-life one. Would you rather win your league or have your favorite pro team win the Super Bowl? Personally, I flipped over to the fantasy side long ago.

I also try to separate fantasy sports from real life whenever I can, which is probably a good suggestion for anyone involved in it. Whether I’m participating in fantasy leagues or spending time with my wife, Denise, I want to be totally present. For example, leading up to and during the football season, I’m often working seven days a week and cranking out a lot of hours. But the past few Februarys, Denise and I have gone to Hawaii, where I largely detach myself from the sport. And in our day-to-day life, I only share People magazine- type stories with her. She’s more interested in the personality dynamics of fantasy sports, like who’s annoyed at who in the league, but that’s it. I don’t discuss my teams with her.

Overall, how has the fantasy sports experience been for you?
I’ve been blessed. It has provided so many fun times and bonding experiences since I started playing it, which is the main reason people join. I could have done any number of things with my life, but I happened to stumble onto fantasy football at the perfect time and place, and my life has been enriched because of it.

For more info, visit fantasyindex.com