Review by Cara Yaworske in SRM 435 (section 2)
Fantasy sports are a booming industry. With football being the most popular sport in fantasy, people will play in leagues regardless of their interest or knowledge. Players participate by joining leagues, either with their friends or random. Some require buy-ins and others are free. There is a set date and time where the league will complete their draft and players will take turns creating their fantasy team. Each player will act as though they are the general manager for their team by making executive decisions such as drops and pick-ups each game. Some leagues are just for the social fun whereas others have monetary prizes. One lucky man defied the odds and took his winnings further than anyone would ever think of going.
The article chosen primarily talks about Drew Dinkmeyer, a 31 year old male, who felt that he was successful enough in fantasy sports to quit his full time job and make a living off of his earnings. Dinkmeyer began playing fantasy sports when he was 9 years old and now plays every single day with up to $500 on the line per game. He became very popular for his decision that he now writes and hosts his own radio show about fantasy. The article goes on by talking about how in 2012, $1.7 billion dollars were spent on fantasy sports and daily-fantasy games, like the ones Dinkmeyer participates in, contribute $492 million of that total. Fantasy sports have gained up to about 30 million participants in North America alone and the percentage of women participants have increased to 20%. A small handful of people in 2012 won at least $40,000. While the number of people winning that much money is very small, the fact that it is still a possibility is what is making this industry boom.
Fantasy sports are a very smart aspect of the sport marketing industry. It is exempt from the law forbidding online sport gambling, which makes it legal to participate. It increases viewers during every game of every sport and also increases the use of social media and apps so participants can watch their results. It is a booming industry because there are plenty of free leagues available. There are leagues with different buy-in amounts and different grand prize winnings that it is almost guaranteed to find one to please everyone.
This subject is very important to our course and our subject because there are many aspects to the sport marketing industry and it does not always include physically being at a sporting event. Fantasy leagues alone promote teams, players, apps, social media, and the game day providers. It is an industry gaining more and more participants every year and hopefully working to continue to grow.
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Review by Matt Kaiser in SRM 435 (section 2)
Fantasy Sports is beginning to become more than just a hobby in America. With what started as a group of friends competing against each other, people all over the world have begun making serious money playing a tactical game behind their computer screens. So much money in fact that jobs are being quit in order to focus on this game of luck. The article we chose talks about this exact phenomenon that is sweeping the country and some of the few that have already left their jobs to become professional fantasy sports players while offering their expertise and helpful insight on fantasy radio shows and websites. The two individuals discussed were working more than decent jobs as a stock broker and investment analyst, where interestingly enough both jobs deal greatly with numbers. Fantasy sports is an industry that brought in $1.7 billion in 2012 alone with $492 million of that coming in the form of daily fantasy games. It says that up to a quarter of the 30 million fantasy players engage in daily games and that around 100 people earned as much as $40,000 last year, slightly less than average national income. Certain websites have available winnings of $2 million weekly and even held a $200,000 fantasy baseball championship in August of last year. Buy-ins for websites like these are usually $1 to $500 and considering the amount of players and amount of big winners, numbers will prove the same people keep winning while millions of others leave empty handed. Which is where this game of luck suddenly seems to be a game of talent. The main players look in to many statistical factors before putting together their team, which shows that maybe there is an actual science behind what these “pro’s” are doing.
As the fantasy world has exploded, many more commercials are popping up promoting fantasy sports. Almost all of the major television stations offer their own version of fantasy sports and while airing a national game they will promote their networks fantasy games. Certain channels even offer their own television shows geared solely towards fantasy sports and websites where daily money winnings are available have begun promoting on major television networks through cable and radio ads. Marketing campaigns are more than viral now, as they are now featured on billboards and magazines. If you go to the sports section of a magazine rack you will most assuredly find more than a few different magazine publishers version of fantasy sports filled with expert predictions and analysis. Whether through paper or fiber optics, fantasy sports is becoming a cash cow and everyone seems to have taken notice. Potential earnings are being realized in this booming business and I truly feel there will only be a heavier emphasis on marketing and sales in the very near future. Fantasy sports are relevant to this course because of the increase in marketing promotions that have taken place over the last several years. TV shows are being made focused around fantasy football and with what started out as one or two players featuring in fantasy commercials a season has turned into several players running many different commercials. As the business begins to grow and more people start playing for money the sales will go through the roof.
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