Yahoo Sports Taps Liquid Death to Shake Up Fantasy Football

Fantasy football just got more brutal... but also a lot more fun.

Yahoo Sports is officially launching fantasy guillotine leagues for the 2025 season, powered by a new brand partnership with canned water disruptor Liquid Death.

The game mode, long popular among hardcore fantasy fans, eliminates the lowest-scoring team each week.

Now, Yahoo has fully integrated the format into its fantasy platform and injected it with Liquid Death’s dark humor.

“This launch is an exciting, different, and new way for our millions of fantasy fans — and for the next wave of fans — to play fantasy sports,” said Ryan Spoon, President of Yahoo Media Group.

In a guillotine league, players aren't just trying to win. They're trying not to lose.

The lowest scorer each week is cut, and their entire roster is released to the waiver wire. This gives surviving teams a chance to scoop up top talent.

Previously, Yahoo users could only run guillotine formats manually by customizing settings and managing eliminations on their own.

Now, the experience is automated, complete with a dynamic matchup screen that pits users against the lowest projected team and a visual "survival meter" that tracks their risk level in real time.

Heads Will Roll (Literally)

The hero spot starts with three sports fans in the bar watching a game with a Liquid Death on their side and literal guillotines on their heads. 

After one of them makes a wrong call, he bids farewell to his friends, as the blade falls over him off-screen.

The two others give their friend a look of concern before continuing to cheer on for their teams. 

Viewers are then introduced to how the new Yahoo Fantasy guillotine leagues work, with a glimpse at the playful interface of the mobile app.

The spot ends with a new player joining the fray and the campaign's slogan: "It's fantasy football, but with more beheadings."

True to Liquid Death’s tone, the partnership goes beyond co-branding.

The league experience is filled with bizarre, gory humor, including a flickable “severed head” animation fans can launch through the uprights every time a team is eliminated.

Fantasy avatars can be customized with 18 color variations of a Liquid Death-designed skull.

The brand also appears throughout the interface, from league invites to the draft loading screen to the dramatic weekly elimination visuals.

It’s the first of several updates Yahoo Fantasy plans to unveil this month.

The guillotine launch kicks off the company’s “28 Days of Fantasy” push, which is a month-long campaign featuring one new fantasy feature every day in honor of the platform’s 28th year.

Fans can join public 14-team leagues or start private games with up to 18 teams, even mid-season, so long as there are enough weeks left to finish by Week 17.

Our Take: Can Fantasy Be Fun Again?

Yahoo and Liquid Death do more than tweak fantasy mechanics and have reframed the whole tone of the game.

Most fantasy platforms push stats, data, and wins. This campaign doesn't lose sight of that, but finds a way to also build on absurdity and spectacle.

It’s a smart play to re-engage fans who may be bored with the same formats.

I think more platforms should take notes: making fantasy more “watchable” (and frankly, weirder) might be the next edge in keeping users engaged longer into the season.

In other news, MANSCAPED recently launched its "Face Pics" campaign to reframe grooming as a social currency.