A new National Football League season that will feature eight divisions, new division alignments, a expansion team in Houston, new coaches and two new stadiums kicks off on Sept. 5.

Many men and women from all over the country, including those at Iowa State, will participate – spending money for a certain player or paying nothing to participate in fantasy football.

Fantasy football is quickly growing across the country with some people playing just for fun while others spend a lot of time and money to put together that `perfect’ team.

According to NFL.com, a fantasy football league “offers one of the simplest and most enjoyable ways to assume the responsibilities of managing your own sports `franchise’.”

David Ortiz, ISU freshman in engineering, was the winner in one of the fantasy leagues he participated in last year.

“I play in a league on sandbox.com,” Ortiz said. “Fantasy football is another way to be competitive. You try to build the best team that you can.”

Ortiz’s team, `Counciltucky Mellet Men’, finished third in the 2000 season in the free league. Last season he had a team that included quarterbacks Steve McNair and Brett Favre and running back Ahman Green.

“There were a couple of us in the league that were trading players on and off,” Ortiz said. “I didn’t win anything because we didn’t bet.”

Just as the money spent on fantasy football fluctuates, so does the amount of time spent designing rosters.

“I spend one hour a week checking on my team, and that all my players had a game,” Ortiz said.

Todd Leet of Mason City is participating in the North Central Fantasy Football League for the fifth straight year. He won the league last year and spends quite a bit of time learning about his team.

“I probably spend four or five hours a week focusing on the players on my team,” Leet said. “I either watch TV, look at the Internet or read the newspapers.”

Zach Clark, ISU junior in history, played fantasy football in high school, but doesn’t participate in a league right now.

“I think people do fantasy football because [they] can watch TV and become interested in players,” Clark said. “People also can read the morning score lines in Monday’s paper to check out how their players did in the game.”

Clark said he spent a good amount of time checking how his team did during the week.

“When I was in high school, I spent about 30 to 45 minutes during my study hall time checking on my team,” Clark said. “One year I finished second in the league.”

Before a fantasy season starts, participants who own teams select players through a draft.

In a league on NFL.com, there are two different types of drafts.

One draft method is the live draft when owners come together at a set time and choose players following a draft order. That continues until all teams are filled.

The other method is the automated draft based on a rank list. If participants choose this method, they will rank every available player prior to the draft. The league then automatically selects the highest-ranked available player in each round to each participant.

There are three different point systems in NFL.com’s fantasy football contest.

One way scores are tabulated is by recording the total points, meaning points are awarded according to each statistic. A touchdown is worth six points and a field goal is three points.

Head-to-head – the second method of scoring- simply means that owners will square up against other owners.

Owners decide which statistical categories they want to factor into the scoring system, and then they decide how to assign points based on performance in those categories.

Rotisserie is the last type of scoring system, where the team’s place in the standings is related to how well it stacks up in each statistical category. No wins or losses are involved but instead the team with the best combined ranking in the statistical categories is considered the best team. Several categories are factored in, including touchdowns, passing efficiency and yards gained.

Owners pay close attention to figure what areas are weak. They then make transactions by releasing players, signing new ones or trading with other owners.

“I was 1-6 and I ended up finishing 10-7 last season,” Leet said. “The biggest difference for me was making some key trades. I picked up Shawn Alexander and some of my other players that were struggling early started to get hot as the season went along.”

Leet said fantasy football allows him to talk to his friends, and it allows people to imagine another world.

“It creates loyalty and it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Let the games begin.