Yahoo Sports grants fantasy football commissioners granular control over scoring rules
New platform features allow league administrators to customise point values for specific stat categories, including distinct settings for long field goals and defensive returns, as part of a broader digital product update.
Yahoo Sports has expanded its Fantasy Football platform with a suite of new scoring options designed to give league commissioners greater flexibility in defining game rules. The update, released as part of the company’s “29 Days of Fantasy” campaign, enables administrators to assign custom point values to specific positions and stat categories, moving beyond standardised scoring templates.
The primary objective of the update is to digitise the “house rules” that leagues have traditionally managed manually. Commissioners can now set specific values for touchdowns, receptions, yardage bonuses, and kicker rules. This shift reflects a broader trend in digital sports products towards offering granular user control to accommodate diverse competitive preferences.
Among the most significant additions are separate settings for field goals of 60 yards or more. This allows commissioners to award higher point values for longer kicks, such as making 50-to-59-yard field goals worth five points and 60-plus-yard attempts worth six. The feature addresses a common request among fantasy football participants who wish to reward precision kicking more heavily.
The update also splits previously combined return yardage categories. Kickoff return yards and punt return yards are now distinct categories, allowing commissioners to assign different point values for each. Similarly, kickoff return touchdowns and punt return touchdowns have been separated from a single six-point setting, enabling administrators to value specific types of returns differently.
Defensive scoring has also been refined. Interception return touchdowns and fumble return touchdowns are now separate categories, allowing a “pick-six” to be worth more than a fumble recovery if desired. A brand-new category for blocked punt or field goal return touchdowns has also been introduced, providing a mechanism to reward the rare event of a blocked kick being returned for a score.
All new categories are optional and disabled by default, ensuring that existing league scoring remains unchanged unless explicitly modified. Previous settings for combined return yards and return touchdowns remain available for those who prefer the older format. The features are available for the 2026 NFL season, with changes accessible through the Scoring Settings section of Commissioner Tools.
