Two fantasy football items (FYI: I don't do fantasy football; I am, however, a huge fantasy golf guy). First, a question: how big do you think the fantasy sports phenomena is? Whatever you guessed, you were low (probably!). According to The Sports Economist blog, it's a $70 Billion/year market! Here's a slice of interest from TSE contributor Brian Goff's
recent post:
How big is the market? In terms of actual expenditures, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association
– yes, there is a trade association – estimates that 32 million
Americans spend $467 per person or about $15 billion in total playing.
Roughly, 11 billion flows toward football. These figures don’t count ad
revenue for fantasy hosting sites. The NFL’s annual revenue falls just
under $10 billion currently. So the “derivative” market has grown larger
than the foundational market.
Read the rest of Goff's article to see how he arrived at the $70 billion figure. And the second item: amazingly, you can actually buy insurance on your fantasy players in case of injury.... I kid thee not! From
another TSE post a few weeks ago:
Companies have long been able to insure their most valuable assets
against loss. In sports this means that teams can take out insurance
policies that protect them against injuries to their marquee players.
But apparently, player injury insurance is no longer available solely
to real team owners but also to fantasy team owners as well. Fantasyplayerprotect.com now
allows fantasy football owners to salvage their season in case of
injuries to their key players. For example, for a mere $16.50, you can
insure a $100 league entry fee against a season-ending injury to Adrian
Peterson.
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