Over the past 30 years, fantasy football participation has emerged as a cultural phenomenon. However, little is known about the individuals who engage in the activity and what drives them to do so. This thesis explores the individual trait characteristics that exist among fantasy football participants, including those of extraversion, competitiveness, Machiavellianism, sensation seeking, and impulsiveness. The meaningful purposes by which participants depend on the activity are also addressed, including to what extent fantasy football participants identify and interact socially within the fantasy environment. Accordingly, analysis of the relationships between theoretically relevant trait and motivational variables allowed for predictions of time invested in the activity and a meaningful model of participation was developed. A survey of 457 undergraduates and fantasy football forum members revealed that fantasy football participants demonstrate significantly higher levels of competitiveness as compared to non-participants. Fantasy football participants are also significantly less extraverted and impulsive as compared to non-participants. An exploratory factor analysis determined five distinctive motivations for participation: Desire to Win, Social Identification, Sport Involvement, Appearance, and Financial Gain. A path model revealed the trait of sensation seeking and competitiveness were mediated by the competitive motivation and Machiavellianism was mediated by the social identification motivation, as related to time invested in fantasy football participation. No direct relationship emerged as significant from individual trait characteristics to time invested in the activity, suggesting that individuals with particular trait propensities only engage in the activity when driven by a particular motivation. Implications for further research are discussed.