Response from: Mark Barnes

Hey Jeff, I've been playing fantasy football for 18 years; we had women (even spouses) in our league before, and it didn't work out. Not to sound sexist, but they just came to be with their significant others, and in the long run, our league suffered competitively. Unless the woman is a real football nut, it just won't work. Neat idea though.

Response from: Katie

I know this article is somewhat old, but I just found it while preparing for my fantasy football team this year. I am a female, who has had my own fantasy football team for two consecutive years. This year, I am co-managing a team with boyfriend (even though I played against him last year) to allow more people to play in our league. This is working out really well for us, because he watches ESPN more frequently and keeps up with all the different teams. I love football, but really only concentrate on my home team (Go Steelers!). The only thing I can see being a problem with this is if one partner says that it is a good idea to start a particular position, the other disagrees, and the partner who made the final decision was wrong (due to an unexpected poor performance by their chosen player). If the pair can realize it's only a game and that unexpected things can happen so no one gets accused of being stupid, then it is actually pretty fun. It lets the girl become more involved with the guy and he becomes more likely to open up about his sports world. Our league is really competitive even though wives and girlfriends are involved mostly because we are just a competitive crew. So I really think this idea can work, it just depends on the type of people involved in your league. If the people aren't really competitive, then it's not going to be fun and exciting no matter if females are involved.