Like millions of other Americans, I’m gearing up for this year’s fantasy football season. It’s a special time for football fans, especially those of the armchair quarterback variety. It’s a chance to put together that dream team, or teams as the case may be, and go head to head against friends, family, colleagues, and strangers in vicarious sporting fun. While excited, I am admittedly apprehensive. I haven’t played in a few years, and during my efforts to get back up to speed on the players, it seems that the fantasy football universe has taken on a life of its own beyond even what I remembered.
By some estimates, fantasy football alone has grown into a $1 billion industry, and that doesn’t include the unofficial financial transactions that typically go on. According to a recent story in Time, the average player pays $73 to join a football league. Most sites, such as those run by ESPN, Yahoo!, and the NFL, offer players basic fantasy football services for free. These services let you create and customize your own league or join a public league as well as track scores for you. They charge for extra services like Yahoo!’s StatTracker which lets you follow your players’ performances in real time.
Outside these basic fantasy services, a whole host of ancillary businesses are capitalizing off of fantasy football fever in new and creative ways. Fantasysportsinsurance.com offers insurance that allows you to recoup entry fees if a key player suffers a season ending injury, and for $14.95 fantasydispute.com will help you settle disputes that arise within your league. Fantasysportstropies.com offers players the option to buy a $10 victory wreath for the league’s winner or, if you prefer, a $325 full-sized brass football trophy for those that take their fantasies seriously.
Of course, there are those who do not share the fantasy football fan’s enthusiasm. Employers stand out in this category. According to Time, they suffer in the form of lost productivity to the tune of $9 billion a year. I’m guessing the bulk of that is used up on Tuesday mornings when the dust settles from the previous week’s match-ups.
Then there are the significant others. As the (mostly) male fantasy football enthusiasts spend more time engrossed in team related activities, it undoubtedly means less time spent with their (mostly) female companions, a fact that has spawned the seasonal term “fantasy football widow,” and a Web site — Womenagainstfantasysports.com (aka WAFS). The site offers up tips for ruining your man’s draft as well as identifying when his fantasy activities have crossed over into addiction. Founded by three fantasy football widows, WAFS was created to “ridicule, mourn and lament the loss of their partners who spend an inordinate amount of time online consuming player data.”
Despite the efforts of the anti-fantasy contingents, fantasy football, and fantasy sports in general, continue to broaden their appeal. This year, in a rather unusual twist, 11 mayors from major cities around the US have formed a league. That’s right. Cities with fantasy football teams. While the event will raise money for local sports programs, the irony is all but three of those cities actually have real, professional football teams — you know the kinds of teams from which the rest of us choose the players to be on our make believe teams. And women are increasingly participating in fantasy football. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is one of those participating in the mayoral fantasy league. One woman out of 11 men trails slightly estimates that say between 12% and 20% of fantasy football players are women, and the numbers are growing each year. That fact makes the founders of WAFS seem a little misandristic.
Personally, I’m rooting for Mayor Iorio. Not unlike her, I’m the only man up against 13 women in a league antagonistically called “Beat the Boy.” My commissioner asked me how I will feel when I get beat by a bunch of girls. I asked her how she and the rest of them will feel when I win. Let the fantasy games begin!
Danny, a fascinating and funny post! Kudos on your Bizmology debut!
Thanks Jeff. I appreciate the kind words from a Bizmo vet such as yourself.
Great blog post.
Great article – I’m gearing up for this year’s FF season and got me wondering about the business side. I’m also working on at St. Ed’s – just started my DMBA – so that was a pleasant surprise, too!