Fantasy football was invented by Wilfred "Bill" Winkenbach, a limited partner and minority owner of the Oakland Raiders. He conceived the idea in 1962 during a Raiders road trip in a hotel room in New York City, where he met with two sportswriters, Scotty Stirling and George Ross, to develop the concept. The first fantasy football draft took place in August 1963, creating the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League (GOPPPL). Winkenbach had previously developed similar fantasy games for golf and baseball in the 1950s, which inspired him to create fantasy football.
Thus, Bill Winkenbach is widely credited as the inventor of fantasy football.
