The Historical Development and Marketing of Fantasy Sports Leagues

Abstract

By 2013, fantasy sports leagues (and games) were entered into and played by more than an estimated 32-million people (Dwyer, 2013) across American and Canada, and produced a projected economic impact of $3.1-billion dollars annually (Fantasy Sports Trade Association, 2012). This work seeks to explain both the historical growth and cultural transitions of in-home sport gaming in the United States as well as the technological evolution that drove the appeal of modern 'fantasy sports' and continued enhancement of professional league avidity by developing stronger brand allegiances for leagues such as Major League Baseball (MLB) or the National Football League (NFL). From a historical standpoint, the term 'Fantasy League' didn't garner popularity until the 1980s, but the concept of fantasy sports gaming can be traced back to the mid-1860s with a simple wooden tabletop contraption that simulated outcome elements of a baseball game (Cooper, 1995). Over the next 150 years, technological and social developments in the areas of in-home recreation and networked gaming have caused fantasy sports to reshape sports media coverage, sports marketing (particularly of sports data), fan avidity, technology engagement and general sport discussion. The impact of these fan-based developments might prove significant and increasingly leagues like the NFL have been forced to ask whether the at-home experience of following professional football (including the owning and managing of fantasy football league teams) is reaching a point where it could replace attending NFL games in person. A sea-change such as that (decreases in NFL game attendance, failure to sell out NFL games, etc.) would potentially threaten lucrative team and league sponsorships, stadium merchandise and concessions (food, beverage, parking, etc.) and possibly even TV network broadcast contracts (by way of diminished ratings and advertising demand).

Sports Market as a Data Source for Economics: With Special Emphasis on Betting and Fantasy Sports

“…Harvard professor William Gamson is considered the founder of fantasy sports (Burton et al, 2013). In 1960 he developed a game based on real athletes' drafts into the virtual teams of the individual users, who then received points according to their athletes' real performance.…”

“…This concept spread quickly into other sports and as soon as 1963 rules for competition according to American football was set and Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League was founded, which, to this day, still works (Burton et al, 2013). It must be noted that it still keeps the original way of drafting with the use of pen and paper.…”

“…The paper on this game system spread quickly across the United States and led to the foundation of many local leagues (Schwarz, 2004). Another step was taken in 1989 when the Dugout Derby company made it possible to play fantasy sports based on Rotisserie Baseball System over the phone (Burton et al, 2013). This product met such great success, that the offer was extended to NFL, PGA, and NASCAR as well.…”

A New Form of Fandom: How Free Agency Brought about Rotisserie League Baseball

“…Van Beek's 'National Pastime' (1930), was soon followed by others, including Ethan Allan's 'All-Star Baseball' (1941), J. Richard Seitz's 'APBA Major League Players Baseball' (1951), and Glen Head's 'Strat-O-Matic Baseball' (1961), each offering greater nuance and realism. 120 These games, versions of which remain popular to this day, simulated the performance of real major leaguers by using probabilities based on their previous statistical accomplishments as determined by the chance results of spinners and dice. In 1960, Harvard University professor, William Gamson, created a new type of baseball gamethe 'National Baseball Seminar' ('Seminar')which combined his lifelong interest in baseball simulation and his graduate studies in game theory.…”

Using Esports Efficiently to Enhance and Extend Brand Perceptions – A Literature Review

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This is Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. platforms, enhanced video game software, online fantasy leagues, and virtual/augmented reality (Burton, Hall, & Paul, 2013;Gawrysiak, Dwyer, & Burton, 2014). With the growth of in-home gaming and existing opportunities for revenue generation, esports has gained notable legitimacy in consumer culture, predominately among the influential youth demographic of 12 to 34 years in age (Leung, 2017;Burton & O'Reilly, 2019).

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