Are you hurting for professional football with the Big Game in the rearview mirror? Get ready for what could be your next obsession — Fan Controlled Football. Just like it sounds, it's a game that the fans get to control.
What is Fan Controlled Football?
Well, if you ever wanted to call an actual football play and see it carried out on the field, Fan Controlled Football (FCF) is for you. FCF is positioning itself as pro football re-imagined for the modern digital world. Real games are played in a single, high-tech studio arena and streamed live.
Watch FCF on NBCLX this Saturday, as the Glacier Boyz take on the Wild Aces in the FCF Championship Game at 7:30 p.m. EST.
A condensed version of the outdoor game, the teams are seven on seven with a three-man line. There are no kickoffs, no punts and no goalposts. Teams start at their own 10-yard line and drive 40 yards for the score. The games are all one hour and the clock never stops. No replays.
Former NFL player and FCF Commissioner Ray Austin joined NBCLX to explain the growing allure of the league and why he believes it will be the next big thing on the sports map.
"We wanted to take fan engagement, gaming and live traditional sports and sort of smash them together and create this awesome product for the digital fan. We're dealing with a different fan now," Austin notes. "It's not like when I grew up and people would watch you play football sitting in the stands with a soda and a hotdog."
Austin says today's football fan is more apt to be someone constantly checking their fantasy rosters. It's someone obsessed with gaming and consuming football content on multiple channels. "We're dealing with a fan who wants more engagement," Austin says. "That's why we created FCF where you can not only scout players, you can draft players and even sit in our meetings with coaches and then ultimately on game day call the plays in real-time and control the football team that you own."
Ok, so how does it work? You download the FCF app onto your mobile device and then you can begin building your team via the draft. Then on the day of the game you open up the app, four plays will pop up and you'll have less than 12 seconds to call a play along with all other team owners across the country. The play that's voted on by the most owners is the play run on the field.
The league, which has a total of four teams, Glacier Boyz, Zappers, Beats and Wild Aces, has attracted the attention of a slew of big former NFL names including Johnny Manziel and Josh Gordon. Behind the scenes, the individual teams are owned by names familiar to NFL fans like Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman.
"The pandemic has really changed sports going forward for the rest of our lives," says Austin. "Not a lot of fans are actually in the stands anymore. So the great thing about Fan Controlled Football is that you can play this from home."
Watch FCF on NBCLX this Saturday, as the Glacier Boyz take on the Wild Aces in the FCF Championship Game at 7:30 p.m. EST.