As previously reported by White Wolf, ESPN has now publicly confirmed that fantasy football league histories are safe. In a “what’s new” post going over ESPN Fantasy Football updates, improvements like the ability to set your roster for future weeks and an update to FantasyCast were shared, but many long-time players will be most interested in the note toward the bottom:
“There are some features that are not yet available on the new website. Fear not. Your league history is safe, and we are working to bring all the features and functionality you love (and more) to the updated site — either in their previous form or new and improved.”
This public confirmation from ESPN should indicate that the company knows league history can and will be brought back. It might have been too difficult of a task for the website developers to bring past league history back after the feature was seemingly eliminated, but they have apparently figured things out, thankfully.
The statement includes the note that things can return “either in their previous form or new and improved,” so hopefully that “new and improved” aspect of that doesn’t mean marking things worse for league history. We’ll see.
The return date for ESPN Fantasy Football league histories is not stated, but it’s expected to be before most drafts take place in August or early September. If league history is not restored by then, ESPN risks losing millions of frustrated users that simply won’t take ESPN’s word about the feature actually returning.
ESPN is also asking for feedback on the update post, so now is the time to share any thoughts about features they should add to the fantasy football experience—or you can just tell them restoring league history in a timely fashion is the top priority for longtime users of the site.
When league histories are restored, it might be a good idea to manually record league history for future safekeeping. With some of the decisions ESPN has made over the years, the complete, un-reversible elimination of league history at some point in the future would not be a surprise.
Good to see they haven’t turned back on their word yet.
Wow this is a surprise they announced it. I feel like there’s still a chance it doesn’t happen if the devs can’t figure it out.
Great news.
Thank goodness.