The robot in your fantasy football league
August 25, 2025
Ever wonder what happens when a computer tries to tell you whether to start a certain wide receiver in your NFL fantasy lineup next month? Well, a popular sports website decided to find out – and the results have been about as popular as trading away your star running back for a kicker.
Just one week after laying off two of their most experienced fantasy football writers, the site began publishing AI-generated content about fantasy sports. The timing wasn't lost on anyone paying attention. It's like firing your restaurant’s chef and replacing them with a vending machine in the kitchen, then wondering why customers are asking why their meals seem a bit off.
The backlash was swift and predictable. Fantasy sports analysts and fans took to social media (where else?) to express their frustration, with many pointing out what seems like an obvious flaw in the plan: AI content is essentially a sophisticated remix of existing human-created content. So what happens when all the humans creating original sports analysis get replaced? You end up with robots rehashing other robots' work – a content ouroboros (an ancient symbol of a serpent or dragon eating its own tail), if you will.
The economics of artificial intelligence in sports
This move reflects a broader trend across industries, where companies are experimenting with AI to reduce costs while maintaining output. It's understandable from a business perspective – paying a computer to generate content is significantly cheaper than paying experienced writers. But which of these two options better understand the nuances of fantasy football strategy, team dynamics and player psychology?
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s all about the stats, so who, or what better to put it together than AI?” says Ann DeRabbie, Vice President, Corporate Communication at OMERS. In her role, Ann serves as a strategic partner leading a team of communications professionals dedicated to engaging employees with compelling internal narratives and highlighting core corporate strategies. “If that were the case, you might be right, but there is something fundamentally human that writers bring into their work – a gut feeling based on experience, context, and a love for the game that AI just can’t match. That’s not to say that AI can’t be an invaluable tool – it absolutely can, but it just can’t act alone.”
The challenge becomes even more complex when you consider what fantasy sports content actually requires. It's not just about regurgitating statistics, though AI can certainly do that. The best fantasy analysis combines data with context, understanding of coaching tendencies, injury reports, weather conditions and even locker room dynamics. It's the difference between knowing that Patrick Mahomes scored 20 points last week and understanding why he is unlikely to repeat that performance.
The human element
Fantasy football isn't just about data – it's about storytelling. The writers laid off weren't just number crunchers; they were trusted voices who had built relationships with their readers over years of accurate predictions, insightful analysis and the occasional spectacular failure that made them relatable.
When you're trying to decide whether to risk starting an injury-prone wide receiver, you want advice from someone who's been watching football for decades, not from an algorithm that learned about sports by consuming every article ever written about it. There's a reason why fantasy football shows and podcasts are so popular – people want personality, opinion and the kind of insights that come from genuine expertise and passion for the game.
“Writing, as with any art, is ultimately about a relationship,” adds Ann. “The relationship between reader and writer has been largely overlooked, mainly because it’s just been assumed that the author is as human as the reader. When writing really hits home, you feel connected to whoever wrote it. And good writing pulls you in and builds that bond. But to suddenly find out the writer was actually AI throws that connection off and leaves you feeling a bit unsettled, maybe a bit let down.”
The irony is that AI-generated content relies entirely on the human-created content it was trained on. As more publishers replace human writers with AI, the pool of original, insightful content becomes diluted. Just like that aforementioned snake eating its own tail, eventually, there's nothing left.
The future of sports content
This isn't to say that AI has no place in sports media. The technology can be incredibly useful for processing large datasets, generating quick statistical summaries, or helping writers research and fact-check their work. Yahoo, for example, claims its AI tool is primarily used to create summaries of existing podcast episodes, which sounds like a reasonable application.
The problem arises when AI moves from being a tool that assists human creativity to a replacement for it entirely. Sports fans aren't just looking for information – they're looking for perspective, personality, and the kind of nuanced analysis that comes from years of watching games and understanding the sport at a deeper level.
The bigger picture
This AI experiment is part of a larger conversation about the role of artificial intelligence in creative industries. While the technology has advanced rapidly, there's still a significant gap between what AI can produce and what human experts create, particularly when context, intuition and relationships matter.
The market will ultimately decide whether readers are willing to accept AI-generated fantasy advice. Early signs suggest that the answer is "not really" – at least not when it comes at the expense of experienced human analysts who've built trust with their audience over years.
For now, fantasy football remains a human game, played by humans, arguably best analyzed by humans who understand the unpredictable and often irrational nature of both football and the people who play it. Whether that remains true in the age of AI is a question that's still playing out, one algorithm-generated article at a time.
The next time you're wondering whether to trust that waiver wire pickup recommendation, you might want to check the byline. Your championship dreams may depend on it.
The Relatable Economist is an ongoing written series focused on how the economy, geopolitics, markets and more are impacting our day-to-day lives, discussing topics that matter to you, even if just to share with your friends at your next get-together or in the stands at your child’s or grandchild’s soccer game. Have a topic you want to learn more about? Write to us at therelatableeconomist@omers.com.