An explanation of the fantasy football cheating scandal: An employee of the National Fantasy Football Championship was fired for manipulating a $150K contest.
For many NFL fans, the fantasy football season is done, but there are still certain games where players may assemble a team and make a deep playoff run.
One of those tournaments is the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC), however after an employee was fired and a contestant was disqualified due to cheating, the contest’s integrity is under scrutiny.
signs, but the infraction has raised concerns about the integrity of fantasy football games in general.
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The National Fantasy Football Championship scandal’s specifics are provided here.
The scandal of fantasy football cheating explained
During the NFL playoffs—both the divisional and wild-card rounds—an employee with access to the NFFC’s internal controls substituted a player into a contender’s lineup after the games had already started.
Packers RB After Aaron Jones had already scored a touchdown against the Cowboys, he was substituted into the starting lineup in place of Dolphins RB Raheem Mostert, who had played the night before.
The following week, there was another switch, with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce replacing
of fellow player Rashee Rice during the Kansas City game. After Kelce had already scored a touchdown, the substitution was made.
Both of those switches violated the contest’s regulations because NFFC rosters are meant to lock as soon as a player’s game begins.
“We successfully revealed a post-deadline move in one of our NFFC Post-Season Hold ‘Em contests that was detected and quickly confirmed,” the contest said on Wednesday. It further stated that SportsHub, the event’s parent company, was able to take “immediate action.” The contender who profited from the swap was barred, and the unidentified employee was fired.
The violation was discovered, according to the NFFC, thanks to “reporting by a public source”. The “Ship Chasing” podcast’s members served as that source, determining that anything wasThe National Fantasy Football Championship oversees the NFFC Post-Season Hold ‘Em Contest, a playoff competition that affords fantasy football players a chance to compete after the regular season has ended. Something went wrong and informed the contest about the potential violation. MORE: Why Falcons passed on Bill Belichick, others by hiring Raheem Morris. A podcast listener expressed concern that the incident will “spread the seeds of distrust.” “I think this is incredibly damaging,” Pete Overzet told ESPN. The contest will go on despite the infraction, which the NFFC says has been fully addressed now that both individuals have been removed.
is restricted to the 14 NFL playoff teams; in the first round, players may select one player from each club; in subsequent rounds, additional flexibility will be granted. The match spans the whole postseason, though lineups are subject to change when teams are eliminated.
One of the reasons the controversy has shocked the fantasy football community is the enormous stakes. More than 1,500 competitors took the field. The winner will receive a prize of $150,00. To compete, each candidate had to pay an admission fee of $200.
The disqualification improved each contestant’s prospects marginally, but people will surely question the competition’s fairness if a staff rearranges a player’s roster behind the scenes.