Is fantasy football part of the good life, is it just a colossal waste of time – or worse? This podcast is ordinarily about work, but this episode is about play, and whether any redeeming consequences come from the work that a $30 billion industry of analysts, podcasters, pundits, gamers, and other fantasy nerds put into it. To put that question to the test, in Fall 2024, 11 honors students at the University of St. Thomas and Professor Christopher Wong Michaelson formed a fantasy football league for a class called “Fantasy Football and the Good Life.” While playing fantasy football against each other, they also discussed ethical questions in fantasy sports: from fairness to conflicts of interest, racism to sexism in sports, collusion and punishment, and more.

For the final class assignment, students had to select and debate five propositions examined over the semester. The propositions concern the following topics: success, punishment, fair play, luck, and gambling. Who won and who lost each debate doesn’t matter any more than who won and lost on the fantasy football field. To judge the arguments, student judges were joined by one celebrity guest judge: University of St. Thomas Head Football Coach and multiple coach of the year award-winner, Glenn Caruso.

Listen and learn about "Fantasy Football and the Good Life."

Thanks for listening to Work in Progress with Christopher Wong Michaelson.

• Sponsored by The Melrose & The Toro Company Center for Principled Leadership at the University of St. Thomas.
• Produced by Nicole Zwieg Daly, JD, EdD, CPPM.
• Engineered by Tom Forliti.