So I know this is over, but in case anyone still watches it, I thought this pic was hilarious. I'm a pretty nerdy person, and definitely have tons of friends that play Dungeons and Dragons (to this day) so I laughed pretty hard.
S
Showing posts with label fantasy football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy football. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2011
LOL
So I know this is over, but in case anyone still watches it, I thought this pic was hilarious. I'm a pretty nerdy person, and definitely have tons of friends that play Dungeons and Dragons (to this day) so I laughed pretty hard.
S
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Fan or Manager?: How Online Fantasy Football has Changed the GameSports fans have engaged in conversations about their "dream team" for years. The NFL Pro-Bowl and the NBA All Star Game attempt to show fans what such "dream teams" can do. But for many fans, nothing compares to building and managing your own team and quantifying success based on real-time game play statistics. Hence the ever-growing popularity of internet fantasy sports.
While fantasy play is available for all professional sports, football is by far the most popular with 85% of fantasy users participating in football leagues (Randle and Nyland, 2008). That, coupled with this blogger's personal love for the NFL, make online fantasy football the primary topic of this post. While I could write a term-paper on the topic, this is just a blog! So, I will focus on two primary questions today. What new media applications are powering the fantasy football phenomenon? How do these new media applications change a fantasy owner's consumption of the game? So, here it goes...
What new media applications are powering the fantasy football phenomenon?
So, I already told you how popular fantasy football is...given that, it's no wonder that some of the biggest names in sports and the internet are giving power to and profiting from this phenomenon. Here are the top 3 results from Google:
In case you were wondering, the search for fantasy football yeilded 39,3oo,000 results! You can see here that Yahoo and ESPN are the top providers of fantasy football with the NFL itself also getting us into the game. Functionality doesn't differ greatly between the applications. Each of them offer league management tools, player drafts, live stat updates, live scoring, and team analysis. The NFL version is the most robust, which makes sense, ya know...the NFL should probably provide the best gateway into NFL fantasy football!
You may have also noticed the word "free" in each of the site descriptions. So, what do they get out of it? Randle says "If media outlets can develop good relationships with fantasy sports fans, by sponsoring leagues and providing up to date information, they have the potential to gain a devoted segment of the media viewing market. Such reasoning may be the impetus
behind new television programs like ESPN2’s The Fantasy Show..(2008)" Poulton thinks the media attracts us by exploiting our interest in violence (2007). I say it all comes down to the bottom line - $$$. Internet advertising is big money these days. According to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report "Internet advertising revenues (“revenues”) in the United States totaled $14.9 billion for the first six months of 2011. (2011)"
How do these new media applications change a fantasy owner's consumption of the game?
From fan to manager - fantasy football makes the sports fan an "owner" of his dream team comprised of the top players available at their position from all around the league. Personally, I experienced a huge fan conflict while managing a fantasy team last year. I cheered when my star running back tore up the field of my home team. I was secretly happy when an opposing team player was injured. Yup, I became a ruthless business woman - all for the chance to win $80. But it's not just fantasy team owners who are focusing more on individual performance than team success. Fantasy guides, fantasy draft programming, and constant fantasy analysis on the NFL network are all centered around the individual player as a fantasy commodity as opposed to a member of a team.
We've all heard the term "Monday morning quarterback"but the introduction of fantasy media has made owners 24-7 quarterbacks. Nesbit and King researched fantasy activity levels and tell us that 60% of fantasy players spend over 1 hr per day just thinking about their team, and 85% spend over 30 minutes (2010).
What other implications from the research could be discussed?
As I plan my next post on this topic, I'd like to know what readers and my fellow new media and sports scholars (Ashley, Sam, and Alex) want to read more about. In my research, I came across several interesting spin-off topics. Here's a couple that could be interesting - what do you think?
Creamer, 2006: What is the cost of fantasy football? This past time, "played by about 20 million Americans costs employers close to $200 million a year!"
Randle, 2008: Do persons who are unable to take
part in actual sports "because of lack of talent, physical capabilities,
and/or time and place constraints vicariously participate in sporting
events’’ through fantasy sports leagues?
Sources - (Cuz intellectual piracy is lame)
Creamer, M. (2006). For agency fan, football a game in more ways than one. Advertising Age, 77(5), 23. Retrieved from EBSCOhost October 16, 2011.
Nesbit, T. M., & King, K. A. (2010). The Impact of Fantasy Sports on Television Viewership. Journal of Media Economics, 23(1), 24-41. doi:10.1080/08997761003590721
Poulton, E. (2007). 'Fantasy football hooliganism' in popular media. Media, Culture & Society, 29(1), 151-164. doi:10.1177/0163443706072003
Randle, Q., & Nyland, R. (2008). Participation in Internet Fantasy Sports Leagues and Mass Media Use. Journal of Website Promotion, 3(3/4), 143-152. doi:10.1080/15533610802077180
IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report. http://www.iab.net/media/file/IAB-HY-2011-Report-Final.pdf
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