BS Football vs Front Office Football — Which Football GM Sim Fits You?
Last updated October 2026.
TL;DR
Front Office Football is the long-running gold standard for hardcore, text-based football management. It costs money, runs on Windows, and rewards players who want to write game plans and run online leagues with other humans. BS Football is free, runs in any browser on desktop or phone, and focuses on a clean, modern front-office experience you can start in about a minute. If you want the deepest possible text sim and do not mind paying, Front Office Football is excellent. If you want a polished, free GM game you can play anywhere, start with BS Football.
At-a-Glance Comparison
| Feature | BS Football | Front Office Football Nine |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (optional Premium) | $29.99 on Steam |
| Platform | Any browser, desktop or mobile | Windows |
| Install | None | Download through Steam |
| Presentation | Modern card-based UI | Text-based, scoreboard game view |
| Scouting | 3-tier scouting with Deep Scout reports | Amateur draft with scouting |
| Game planning | Sim, watch drive-by-drive, or call plays live | Play scripts, depth charts, custom offensive playbooks |
| Salary cap | Hard cap with dead money | Salary cap |
| Multiplayer leagues | No (single-player) | Yes, up to 32 human GMs |
| League setups | Current NFL rosters or historical eras | 17 configurations, 9 to 32 teams |
About Front Office Football
Front Office Football is made by Solecismic Software, a one-person studio that has been building the series since 1998. The latest version, Front Office Football Nine, launched on Steam on October 31, 2023 for Windows. You act as general manager, handling trades, contract negotiations, free agency, and the amateur draft, and you can go as deep as writing play scripts for game situations and building custom offensive playbooks. It also handles the business side: ticket prices, stadium proposals, and even relocating a franchise whose fans will not support it. The series is famously text-driven, with games shown on a scoreboard rather than animated, and it has a loyal community that runs multiplayer leagues of up to 32 human GMs.
About BS Football
BS Football is a free football general manager simulator that runs in your browser. You take over a franchise, scout prospects through a three-tier system, draft across seven rounds, negotiate contracts under a hard cap with dead-money penalties, trade with 31 AI front offices, and sim season after season. You can sim a full season in minutes, watch games drive by drive, or take over play calling live with Call the Play. It starts from current NFL rosters or historical eras, plays on desktop or mobile, and needs no account to start.
Depth vs Accessibility
This is the real difference. Front Office Football gives you more knobs: detailed game planning, deep financial management, and an engine refined over more than two decades. That depth comes with a learning curve and a dense, text-heavy interface.
BS Football trades some of that raw configurability for speed and clarity. The information you need is surfaced on cards instead of tables, the draft has real uncertainty thanks to tiered scouting, and you can be making your first pick within a minute of opening the page. For many players, that difference decides whether they actually stick with a franchise past the first season.
Price and Platform
Front Office Football Nine is a paid Windows game ($29.99 on Steam at the time of writing; the previous version, Front Office Football Eight, is $19.99). BS Football is free in any modern browser, including on phones and tablets, with an optional Premium tier that removes ads and adds extra scouting points, free-agent intel reports, and Team Spotlight show episodes. Mac, Chromebook, and mobile players can play BS Football without workarounds.
Multiplayer
If running a league against friends is the main thing you want, Front Office Football wins outright: its commissioner-run leagues support up to 32 human GMs. BS Football is a single-player franchise game today.
Who Should Choose Front Office Football
- You want the deepest text-based football sim available
- You want to write game plans and custom playbooks
- You want to run or join a multiplayer league with other humans
- You play on Windows and do not mind paying for a premium sim
Who Should Choose BS Football
- You want a free GM game with no download
- You play on a Mac, Chromebook, phone, or tablet
- You want a modern interface and fast onboarding
- You want scouting uncertainty that makes every draft tense
- You want to sim fast but still call plays when a game matters
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a free alternative to Front Office Football?
Yes. BS Football is a free browser-based football GM simulator with drafting, scouting, a hard salary cap, trades, and multi-season dynasties. Football GM is another free, open-source option.
Does Front Office Football run on Mac?
Front Office Football Nine is listed for Windows on Steam. BS Football runs in any browser, so it works on Mac without any setup.
Which is more realistic?
Front Office Football offers more granular control over game planning and finances. BS Football focuses its realism on scouting uncertainty, a hard cap with dead money, player development, and owner expectations. Both model a real front office; they emphasize different parts of it.
Can I play BS Football with friends?
Not in a shared league today. BS Football is single-player. Front Office Football supports multiplayer leagues of up to 32 human GMs.
See for yourself
BS Football is free, runs in your browser, and you'll be drafting in 60 seconds.
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