If you live and die by the state of your fantasy team, Yahoo has the app for you — and some more games you might want to play.
Yahoo has long been a giant in the fantasy sports world, but its app has seen little in the way of meaningful updates over the years. However, as the 2024 NFL season approaches, Yahoo is rolling out a completely overhauled version of its Fantasy Sports app, boasting a cleaner design and a wealth of new content for fantasy players.
The revamped app is strategically divided into three main sections. Upon opening the app, users are greeted with a comprehensive list of all their fantasy teams across various sports. While football remains the most popular, Yahoo also offers fantasy baseball, basketball, and more. One of the primary goals of the new app is to entice users into exploring and participating in these diverse fantasy games.
In addition to the team list, the app features a News tab, specifically curated for fantasy players, and a Scores tab that highlights all the scores relevant to your fantasy teams. Previously, such content was scattered across the Yahoo Sports app, but now it is conveniently consolidated within the fantasy app itself.
Regarding the core mechanics of playing fantasy sports, Yahoo has opted for refinement over reinvention. The app’s design has been streamlined to allow users to view their entire team on one screen and switch between teams with ease. Enhanced customization options, including new logos and icons, add a personal touch, yet the app retains a sense of familiarity for long-time users. Despite its age, Yahoo Sports President Ryan Spoon asserts that the app remains a massive success. This update aims to enhance rather than overhaul the experience.
The overarching goal of the new app, according to Spoon, is to provide a more comprehensive experience for fans. “When I wake up on Sunday,” he explains, “give me the news. Let me change my team. And during the game, let me watch my team or watch the box score.” Previously, this process required juggling two or three different apps; now, Yahoo aims to streamline everything into a single, cohesive platform.
One of the advantages of developing a fantasy football app, Spoon notes, is the predictability of user behavior. “Tuesday morning is, ‘tell me what happened in the week, and set up the waiver wire,’” Spoon says. “Wednesday is waiver wire.” From Thursday night through Monday night, users are engrossed in lineup adjustments and numerous daily check-ins to monitor team performance. This cycle repeats over the course of the 14-week season.
Yahoo is diligently improving each facet of this process, with plans for a future redesign of the desktop web app. However, Spoon emphasizes that mobile is the core of the experience. “85 percent of our users used the mobile app last year,” he says, “and over two-thirds of them used it every day. The usage is really high.”
Since joining Yahoo from ESPN about a year ago, Spoon has been focused on enriching the Yahoo Sports platform with new content and features. As the football season kicks off this year, users can expect a surge in fantasy-related news, shows, and overall content. Despite its numerous corporate ups and downs, Yahoo has consistently remained a pivotal platform for fantasy sports — a role that it clearly intends to build upon moving forward.
In conclusion, Yahoo’s newly revamped Fantasy Sports app is poised to offer a more seamless and enriched experience for fantasy sports enthusiasts. By consolidating content and optimizing the user interface, Yahoo is ensuring that fans can manage their teams, stay updated with news, and track scores all in one place. This update underscores Yahoo’s commitment to remaining at the forefront of the fantasy sports industry, making it a must-have for true diehards.
