bigboydan
08-19-2003, 01:01 AM
Fantasy life
Internet, bragging rights help fuel game's surging popularity
By KEVIN KADUK
The Kansas City Star
It's easy to tell when fantasy football season is about to begin.
Behavior just starts to change. Office conversations start involving names like LaDainian and Terrell. A running back's hip in Kansas City becomes a matter of national importance.
It's when the hottest sports debate isn't "tastes great" or "less filling" any more but rather whether Marshall Faulk or Clinton Portis brings a better value at the No. 4 draft spot.
For better or worse, it seems as if the United States has unofficially become fantasy football nation, an ever-growing culture of statistic-obsessed junkies itching for the season's first kickoff.
This year, the NFL estimates that more than 10 million people will draft and run at least one squad of players. Those numbers have spawned a multimillion-dollar industry and a phenomenon that has taken a permanent residency in the minds of Americans.
A walk through a bookstore shows shelves crammed with magazines promising exclusive tips to help teams win. Turning on the radio means hearing a one-hour show dedicated to fantasy football. Logging onto the Internet solicits countless offers to join leagues with big-money prizes.
How could fantasy football, once dismissed as a pastime for stat geeks, have gotten this big?
"There isn't a football fan out there that doesn't think they could coach or be general manager of their favorite team," Pro Football Weekly associate editor Trent Modglin said. "This allows them to do that, even though it's on a lesser scale. Throw in the ability to compete with your friends while making every NFL game interesting. It's pretty easy to see why it's so popular."
Those attractions have drawn in people like Todd Alton, a 29-year-old trader from Kansas City, who considers fantasy football one of his favorite hobbies.
Alton has been busy studying for his upcoming draft down in his basement, which he calls "The War Room." There, the walls are covered with newspaper articles, statistics and biographies of players, many of whom are still in high school and college.
"Do you remember the scene from "A Beautiful Mind" when they go in the shed and the walls are just covered with clippings?" Alton asked. "That's exactly what going down into my basement is like. People think I'm bi-polar or something.
"But I take this stuff pretty seriously."
Internet explosion
Popular legend traces the birth of fantasy football back to 1962, when two Oakland sportswriters and a limited partner with the Raiders created the game's rules at a New York hotel during a road trip.
The game soon attracted a small but loyal following, but fantasy football didn't take off until the rise of the Internet in the mid-1990s.
Suddenly, all the information that fans thirsted for was available in one place. Out-of-town newspapers became a new source for knowledge. Online systems easily kept track of stats and standings. E-mail allowed players to easily network across the country.
And more exposure meant more fantasy players. ESPN.com started its online league in 1995 and was followed by sites like CBS Sportsline (1996), Yahoo (1998) and SportingNews.com (2000).
"There's no question the Internet has been a big driver for this business," said Yahoo Sports general manager Brian Grey, who claims his site attracts more than 1 million fantasy football players each year. "It's made it so easy for people to sign up for a league. Joining is immediate, and it makes it more accessible for the casual fan."
ESPN.com, which gets 25 percent of its traffic from fantasy sports, estimates that 96 percent of the players on its site are male and that 87 percent have attended some college. The site's average player is 29 years old and has a household income of $72,000.
Getting exact numbers of fantasy football players is a trickier task since most major Web sites won't disclose their numbers.
NFL.com, however, likes to trumpet the fact it had 1.8 million players in 2002. The site implemented the game in 2000 with 400,000 initial subscribers.
The NFL's backing of fantasy football may have been the game's most important endorsement. Initially wary of fantasy's gambling implications (many players compete for a pot made up of entry fees), the NFL took a closer look and saw an untapped but burgeoning market.
A recent study by the league found that fantasy players watch three more hours of NFL games than a non-player. And since implementing the game on its Web site, the league has doubled its online traffic to 15 million unique users per month.
"We've found that fantasy football has been a good service to get more fans involved in the game," said Chris Russo, the NFL's director of new media. "Fans can use the league to enjoy football in a different way. Meanwhile, they're more likely to watch how their players do, even when some of the games have already been decided. It's been great for the league."
Though the number of Web sites offering the game is hard to quantify, all are going head-to-head to attract users. That has led many sites to add new features.
NFL.com users can receive personalized highlight reels that feature their players every week. CBS Sportsline allows owners to leave one another voicemails.
Magazines are also in direct competition for readers. Many publications print fantasy previews as well as normal season previews. Pro Football Weekly prints equal numbers (45,000) for both while The Sporting News sells two of its popular season preview guides for every fantasy preview.
Fantasy football has been one of the surefire ways to make money on the Internet. The Sporting News used to give away "exclusive information" for free on its site, but now releases it through a subscription service.
By the end of the year, sportingnews.com should be turning a profit for the first time in its history, senior managing editor Mike Nahrstedt said.
Fantasy experts have also become multimedia quasi-celebrities. Pro Football Weekly's Modglin has received questions about Priest Holmes' hip all the way from Korea and soldiers stationed aboard aircraft carriers.
Brandon Funston, who writes for ESPN.com, appears on the company's Web site, television station and radio network. Last week, he received more than 1,500 e-mails.
"I work about 50 hours a week during the season," Funston said. "That doesn't count watching the games on Sunday. I do that work pro bono."
A competitive game
All the magazines, radio shows and Web sites wouldn't exist if it weren't for the dedicated fans who buy, listen and visit.
But why have those fans turned fantasy football into a fall tradition that ranks with back-to-school shopping and Halloween?
Why do people relentlessly hype the game to those around them?
"We've done studies and have found that knowledge is an indicator of people who have very strong affections toward a sport or team," said Christian End, an associate professor who studies sports fan behavior at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
"Fantasy football is something that gives people the opportunity to get that knowledge and show that they're the `real fan.'
"There's also a competitive nature to the game. In sports and fantasy football, one team scores more points than the other, so some players are seeing it as a way of gaining status among their peers."
Players say they play fantasy football for a number of reasons. Some see the leagues as a way to make the games more interesting without paying a visit to the neighborhood bookie.
Others enjoy the opportunity to perform the tasks of Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson without the headaches of salary caps or agents.
But most like the way the game brings them closer to their family, friends and co-workers.
"I really like the social aspect of the game," said Sharon Wirkus, a 25-year-old from Kansas City who competed in a league for the first time last season. "At work, we've got a small group of hard-core fanatics. It's really fun when it becomes a big theme at work."
Playing in leagues allow friends to remain close, even when spread across the country. One group of friends from the University of Wisconsin-Madison started a league in 1997 and kept it in place when they graduated and moved apart in 2000.
Today, they trade from 25 to 50 e-mails per day, discussing possible trades while also mocking one particular owner for drafting Kordell Stewart over Terrell Davis in 1998. (The owner still won the league.)
The league meets in Madison each spring for the annual draft lottery and vacations together later in the summer for the fantasy draft. This year's draft will be in Myrtle Beach, S.C., after previous visits to Las Vegas and Montreal.
"This really keeps you in touch with your friends," league member Brian Michnick said. "Why wouldn't you want to own your own team, draft a bunch of players and have them go out and win you ball games?
"Then you get to talk trash about how much more you know about football than the rest of your friends."
The league has its share of drama, such as when a favorite player faces off against the hometown team. ("Root for four touchdowns from your player and hope for four touchdowns and a safety from your team," one member said.)
Or when a trusted player makes a big blunder in a big game. ("Keyshawn Johnson says give me the damn ball? I say catch the damn ball," said another member who lost a league title when the Bucs receiver dropped a last-minute pass.)
League members pay $200 for the privilege and spend much of their free time researching players, sending out e-mails and "talking smack" to other league members. Most members have bought at least three fantasy preview magazines and are eagerly anticipating the trip to South Carolina.
Many don't know what they would do without fantasy football.
The NFL would still be there, but it might not be as fun to watch.
"This is do or die. Every Sunday and Monday is fantasy chaos," league member David Assa said. "You're watching six televisions at the same time, your phone is ringing off the hook from other teams and you're following more action on the Internet. It's a season-long battle for sports-knowledge supremacy.
"There's just nothing like it."
Internet, bragging rights help fuel game's surging popularity
By KEVIN KADUK
The Kansas City Star
It's easy to tell when fantasy football season is about to begin.
Behavior just starts to change. Office conversations start involving names like LaDainian and Terrell. A running back's hip in Kansas City becomes a matter of national importance.
It's when the hottest sports debate isn't "tastes great" or "less filling" any more but rather whether Marshall Faulk or Clinton Portis brings a better value at the No. 4 draft spot.
For better or worse, it seems as if the United States has unofficially become fantasy football nation, an ever-growing culture of statistic-obsessed junkies itching for the season's first kickoff.
This year, the NFL estimates that more than 10 million people will draft and run at least one squad of players. Those numbers have spawned a multimillion-dollar industry and a phenomenon that has taken a permanent residency in the minds of Americans.
A walk through a bookstore shows shelves crammed with magazines promising exclusive tips to help teams win. Turning on the radio means hearing a one-hour show dedicated to fantasy football. Logging onto the Internet solicits countless offers to join leagues with big-money prizes.
How could fantasy football, once dismissed as a pastime for stat geeks, have gotten this big?
"There isn't a football fan out there that doesn't think they could coach or be general manager of their favorite team," Pro Football Weekly associate editor Trent Modglin said. "This allows them to do that, even though it's on a lesser scale. Throw in the ability to compete with your friends while making every NFL game interesting. It's pretty easy to see why it's so popular."
Those attractions have drawn in people like Todd Alton, a 29-year-old trader from Kansas City, who considers fantasy football one of his favorite hobbies.
Alton has been busy studying for his upcoming draft down in his basement, which he calls "The War Room." There, the walls are covered with newspaper articles, statistics and biographies of players, many of whom are still in high school and college.
"Do you remember the scene from "A Beautiful Mind" when they go in the shed and the walls are just covered with clippings?" Alton asked. "That's exactly what going down into my basement is like. People think I'm bi-polar or something.
"But I take this stuff pretty seriously."
Internet explosion
Popular legend traces the birth of fantasy football back to 1962, when two Oakland sportswriters and a limited partner with the Raiders created the game's rules at a New York hotel during a road trip.
The game soon attracted a small but loyal following, but fantasy football didn't take off until the rise of the Internet in the mid-1990s.
Suddenly, all the information that fans thirsted for was available in one place. Out-of-town newspapers became a new source for knowledge. Online systems easily kept track of stats and standings. E-mail allowed players to easily network across the country.
And more exposure meant more fantasy players. ESPN.com started its online league in 1995 and was followed by sites like CBS Sportsline (1996), Yahoo (1998) and SportingNews.com (2000).
"There's no question the Internet has been a big driver for this business," said Yahoo Sports general manager Brian Grey, who claims his site attracts more than 1 million fantasy football players each year. "It's made it so easy for people to sign up for a league. Joining is immediate, and it makes it more accessible for the casual fan."
ESPN.com, which gets 25 percent of its traffic from fantasy sports, estimates that 96 percent of the players on its site are male and that 87 percent have attended some college. The site's average player is 29 years old and has a household income of $72,000.
Getting exact numbers of fantasy football players is a trickier task since most major Web sites won't disclose their numbers.
NFL.com, however, likes to trumpet the fact it had 1.8 million players in 2002. The site implemented the game in 2000 with 400,000 initial subscribers.
The NFL's backing of fantasy football may have been the game's most important endorsement. Initially wary of fantasy's gambling implications (many players compete for a pot made up of entry fees), the NFL took a closer look and saw an untapped but burgeoning market.
A recent study by the league found that fantasy players watch three more hours of NFL games than a non-player. And since implementing the game on its Web site, the league has doubled its online traffic to 15 million unique users per month.
"We've found that fantasy football has been a good service to get more fans involved in the game," said Chris Russo, the NFL's director of new media. "Fans can use the league to enjoy football in a different way. Meanwhile, they're more likely to watch how their players do, even when some of the games have already been decided. It's been great for the league."
Though the number of Web sites offering the game is hard to quantify, all are going head-to-head to attract users. That has led many sites to add new features.
NFL.com users can receive personalized highlight reels that feature their players every week. CBS Sportsline allows owners to leave one another voicemails.
Magazines are also in direct competition for readers. Many publications print fantasy previews as well as normal season previews. Pro Football Weekly prints equal numbers (45,000) for both while The Sporting News sells two of its popular season preview guides for every fantasy preview.
Fantasy football has been one of the surefire ways to make money on the Internet. The Sporting News used to give away "exclusive information" for free on its site, but now releases it through a subscription service.
By the end of the year, sportingnews.com should be turning a profit for the first time in its history, senior managing editor Mike Nahrstedt said.
Fantasy experts have also become multimedia quasi-celebrities. Pro Football Weekly's Modglin has received questions about Priest Holmes' hip all the way from Korea and soldiers stationed aboard aircraft carriers.
Brandon Funston, who writes for ESPN.com, appears on the company's Web site, television station and radio network. Last week, he received more than 1,500 e-mails.
"I work about 50 hours a week during the season," Funston said. "That doesn't count watching the games on Sunday. I do that work pro bono."
A competitive game
All the magazines, radio shows and Web sites wouldn't exist if it weren't for the dedicated fans who buy, listen and visit.
But why have those fans turned fantasy football into a fall tradition that ranks with back-to-school shopping and Halloween?
Why do people relentlessly hype the game to those around them?
"We've done studies and have found that knowledge is an indicator of people who have very strong affections toward a sport or team," said Christian End, an associate professor who studies sports fan behavior at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
"Fantasy football is something that gives people the opportunity to get that knowledge and show that they're the `real fan.'
"There's also a competitive nature to the game. In sports and fantasy football, one team scores more points than the other, so some players are seeing it as a way of gaining status among their peers."
Players say they play fantasy football for a number of reasons. Some see the leagues as a way to make the games more interesting without paying a visit to the neighborhood bookie.
Others enjoy the opportunity to perform the tasks of Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson without the headaches of salary caps or agents.
But most like the way the game brings them closer to their family, friends and co-workers.
"I really like the social aspect of the game," said Sharon Wirkus, a 25-year-old from Kansas City who competed in a league for the first time last season. "At work, we've got a small group of hard-core fanatics. It's really fun when it becomes a big theme at work."
Playing in leagues allow friends to remain close, even when spread across the country. One group of friends from the University of Wisconsin-Madison started a league in 1997 and kept it in place when they graduated and moved apart in 2000.
Today, they trade from 25 to 50 e-mails per day, discussing possible trades while also mocking one particular owner for drafting Kordell Stewart over Terrell Davis in 1998. (The owner still won the league.)
The league meets in Madison each spring for the annual draft lottery and vacations together later in the summer for the fantasy draft. This year's draft will be in Myrtle Beach, S.C., after previous visits to Las Vegas and Montreal.
"This really keeps you in touch with your friends," league member Brian Michnick said. "Why wouldn't you want to own your own team, draft a bunch of players and have them go out and win you ball games?
"Then you get to talk trash about how much more you know about football than the rest of your friends."
The league has its share of drama, such as when a favorite player faces off against the hometown team. ("Root for four touchdowns from your player and hope for four touchdowns and a safety from your team," one member said.)
Or when a trusted player makes a big blunder in a big game. ("Keyshawn Johnson says give me the damn ball? I say catch the damn ball," said another member who lost a league title when the Bucs receiver dropped a last-minute pass.)
League members pay $200 for the privilege and spend much of their free time researching players, sending out e-mails and "talking smack" to other league members. Most members have bought at least three fantasy preview magazines and are eagerly anticipating the trip to South Carolina.
Many don't know what they would do without fantasy football.
The NFL would still be there, but it might not be as fun to watch.
"This is do or die. Every Sunday and Monday is fantasy chaos," league member David Assa said. "You're watching six televisions at the same time, your phone is ringing off the hook from other teams and you're following more action on the Internet. It's a season-long battle for sports-knowledge supremacy.
"There's just nothing like it."