The first publicly available fantasy football league was launched in 1997, and within three years, every major football media website had launched their own sites  From 2000 until 2015, viewership for the National Football League rose by 27 percent, and it is currently the most popular televised sport in the United States
Fantasy football heavily contributed to the increased viewership since fantasy players had a vested interest in nearly every game
Some fantasy players watch National Football League games.