The Fan Controlled Football league: where video games meet real life

The newly established Fan Controlled Football (FCF) league has fans eager to take part in on-field, real-time decisions. Photo illustration by JACK CLENDENING, Staff Photographer

After a long February night of delivering food to Orange residents through Postmates, Reed Vettel — a junior and quarterback for Chapman’s football team — returned home to his roommates huddled around the television, shouting in excitement at a sports game. 

Vettel stood there in confusion. He knew the NFL’s season had just ended, and the only two sports still airing daily were basketball and hockey. To his surprise, the event that had his housemates so excited was a football game; not just any football game, but a matchup between the FCF Zappers and FCF Beasts in the brand-new Fan Controlled Football (FCF) league, where fans can essentially act as a team’s coach.

“I couldn’t figure out how to pick the plays (for the teams), but my roommates did so they were picking them,” Vettel said. “I did pick one play … I went with the Statue of Liberty. I love that play.”

The concept of the FCF isn’t for everyone. Chapman’s head coach, Bob Owens, laughed for a minute straight when The Panther informed him of the league. Yet it’s attracted a fanbase due to an unprecedented interactive element. 

During games, fans can log onto the FCF website and pick the plays that will happen in real time during the game, very similar to a video game like “Madden NFL.” The league collects data from polls taken among fans on the website. Then, a coach relays the information to the players in the huddle, who have to execute that play. 

The trick play Vettel chose is one of the options a fan gets when they join the league, which entails creating a free account and picking a favorite team. Once fans complete that process, they can pick a “trick play” that a team will run in the future. 

That element isn’t the only thing different from a league like the NFL; while a normal football game generally features four 15-minute quarters and normally runs around three hours, an FCF game ends in about one hour after two 20-minute halves.

That change to the pace of play is surprising to some players like Lamarcus Caradine, a wide receiver in the FCF. The league holds a draft each week, so players shift teams weekly.

“It’s different because of how much shorter the games are, as opposed to a three-hour NFL game,” Caradine said. “But we’ve really enjoyed it because of the fact that it’s so fast paced.”

What’s more, the field is only 50 yards — as opposed to the conventional 100 — and there are only seven players on the field for each team at a time. Meanwhile, extra points, normally determined by a 33-yard “field goal” kick, are earned through one-on-one matchups between wide receivers and cornerbacks for a touchdown catch. Yet in added intrigue, plays for even those matchups can be determined by fans. 

“The fans told me to run a seam route, which means I have to get inside (of the defender),” Caradine said of his first one-on-one “point after” attempt. “Even though certain routes aren’t what you’re supposed to run in the red zone, we have to do it.”

There are, however, still major bugs to be worked out in the format of the FCF. Vettel, for one, believes the fan play selection process is the league’s biggest problem. 

“(The play calls) just take so long,” Vettel said. “They’re waiting one to two minutes in between plays for one to be called.”

The fans’ unorthodox decisions in ignoring traditional football concepts confounds Owens. 

“The hardest part of (football) itself is the ability to recognize the intricacies of what’s going on,” Owens said. “A lot of these fans can’t do that.”

That format, since it’s the entire conception for the league, is unlikely to go away soon. However, Vettel and Caradine offered solutions for how the league could improve its play selection process, both suggesting it could begin earlier or fans should preemptively pick plays for an offense’s entire drive so there is less idle time between each play. 

Vettel said despite the league’s issues, he’s excited to see players develop and eventually make it to the NFL one day. That’s something that Caradine has striven for his entire career, particularly now after he and his friends’ “pro days” — tryouts for college athletes in front of NFL scouts — were “messed up” due to COVID-19, he said.    

“This league gave us a chance to perform in front of a bunch of people to show our talents off,” Caradine said. “That’s what we’re here for.”