Figment Football League

The Figment Football League, like the other sports under the umbrella of the "Figment Universe" uses fictional-players & fictional-teams. Unlike the original Figment sport (baseball), the Figment Football League actually comprises both a college league and a professional league, each using their own simulation engine. Also different (but similar to basketball), the football leagues will have an "offline" period where a simplified boardgame-esque approach is used to generate game results. This is largely due to the lack of a good simulation engine for the infancy of football (and basketball as well). Therefore, the early years of the college game will see the results for Figment's fictional schools limited largely to game scores and occasionally notes on specific performances and players. All-American Awards will also be awarded for each season. 

The history of the college game itself will be divided into three periods: the formative years (which are completely abstracted and essentially no real records will be generated for these years) which covers the first recognized game in 1869 thru the season in which the forward pass was legalized (1906). The second period will be the "ironman" years where platoon football essentially did not exist and will begin with the 1906 season and likely last until the late 50s (this is yet to be decided). Finally, the "modern era" will cover the game in its current form and will use either Bowl Bound (from Greydog Software) or possibly Draft Day Sports College Football (from Wolverine Software). It is possible that the college league at this point will become an online league with human coaches running some of the schools. This will ultimately depend on the level of interest and commitment found among the Figment community.

The professional game will follow a somewhat similar path, but the initial period will begin with the formation of the first pro league in 1920. The ironman period for the pros will likely run through at least the end of the Second World War, but unlike the college game, the pros will be simulated using Action!PC Football from Dave Koch Sports. This is not a career-based game, but a single-season replay, so actual pro seasons will be used as a basis with the players being fictionalized. This approach will allow the generation of stats and records while maintaining a historical feel in that the players will play both sides of the ball. Once the era of platoon football begins, the league will use Draft Day Sports Pro Football as the simulation engine, and the league will become an online league with human GMs running the franchises.

NOTE: Because of the way the sport operated, the football league will not by synchronized to the baseball league's era (the baseball league became an online league in 1926 - the football league will not do so until the 1950s, so they will run independently of each other, but share a common universe in terms of players, colleges, etc).

The Rules for the Figment Football League will appear here as we approach the dawn of the online league.