As we learned in class, an opportunity cost is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. We may not realize it, but this concept applies to a lot of daily activities we do. I realized that this specific concept is used a lot in one of my favorite weekly activities, fantasy football. For those who don’t know, fantasy football is a virtual ownership of a fantasy team composed of players from different NFL teams. Each owner drafts players to create their own unique roster. The players then earn points for their owner based on their performance in the live games each week. Owners play head to head matchups with other teams in the league every week and whoever gets the most combined points by the end of the week, wins.
Opportunity cost plays a big part in winning your matchups. Every week you are faced with lineup and roster decisions. In fantasy football, you are only allowed to start a certain amount of players. In most leagues, it’s one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one flex (wide receiver or running back), one kicker, and one defense. Although it’s only a 9 man roster, you can still have players on your bench. So every week you have to look at a players matchup and decide if he will be the best start for your team. For example, if one of your best running backs is going up against the best defense in the league, you have some risks to take. The best running back versus the best defense may mean a high scoring game, or it may mean that your running back will get very few points. This is where opportunity cost plays a big part in your decision making. You have to figure out the opportunity cost of starting a certain player over another to see what the best decision for your team is.
As you are the owner of this team, you become very involved. You will find yourself doing weird things like scouting players of the opposing team's defense and finding out small details like forced fumble average to make sure you're running back won't fumble that week. Doing your research and finding out the opportunity cost every week is essential to building a solid team. Although for some people with no hope of winning the championship (Kyle), it is better to just wait until the next year to start fresh.
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This is a great post Tyler. I think we can also step back and take a look at fantasy football as a whole. Some leagues have punishments for losers as an incentive to force everyone to try and make the league a perfect competition. However, clearly there are some players who don't try as hard and don't put in enough effort and the opportunity cost of doing that results in a lower standing or even the losers punishment itself. Can't wait to see your new haircut Weston!
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