Fantasy gridiron football emerged in 1962 when Bill Winkenbach, then part owner of the
Oakland Raiders football team, gathered with some friends in a
New York City hotel, and together they created the first fantasy football league, which was dubbed the GOPPPL (Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League). The original concept was simple. The league members would “draft” actual
National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (a
rival professional football organization that merged with the NFL in 1970) players to their fantasy franchises, and, on the basis of the actual performance of those players in games, the members would
accrue points and compete against each other.