During the research I did on fantasy football, I came across several different articles from various sources that explored different aspects of fantasy football, and it's importance to both fantasy football participants and to the NFL.
The first article that I came across was from the Tahlequah Daily Press, a local newspaper from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The article is titled Oh the Beauty of Fantasy Football, and it is a short but profound tribute to the world of fantasy football that highlights some of the things that make fantasy football a billion dollar industry, and a huge part of the lives of football fans everywhere. This piece is credible because not only was it published in a city’s newspaper, but it was also written by a man named Kolby Paxton, a staff writer for the newspaper and a long time fantasy football player. I thought that this was a really well written piece, one that fantasy football lovers everywhere would be able to relate to. In the article Paxton mentions that many people, including professional football players themselves, fail to see the value of fantasy football, and that it is often unfairly labeled as a pointless and ultimately meaningless game. Paxton, however, points out what fantasy football aficionados worldwide all know and often try to express to people who are not part of the fantasy sports world; that those previously mentioned negative thoughts about fantasy football are completely unfounded and a sign of ignorance of the game. What many people view as fanboys and fangirls attaching value to meaningless statistics in order to gain bragging rights among friends is actually a carefully calculated series of decisions based on knowledge of the NFL that is all in an attempt to achieve every fantasy football players ultimate goal; a league champion title. Aside from pointing out the beauty of the game, Paxton also provides statistical evidence that fantasy football players of all genders on average watch more football than all other Americans, highlighting the importance of the game to the popularity of the NFL.
The next article that I looked at was an article from the popular newspaper The Chicago Tribune, titled "Real World Advances Alter Fantasy Sports." This article explores the connections between the technological advances of the last 30 years and the growth of fantasy sports. As high-speed wireless connections, laptop computers, and smartphones have become increasingly accessible in modern society, the world of fantasy sports has adapted just as rapidly as the technology. In the 1980’s, fantasy sports were completely different than they are today. Scores were calculated and recorded by the hand of the league commissioner, and the draft was commonly held on a big white board in a room with all league members in attendance. That is very different from today’s average fantasy league, which is run on a fantasy sports website, such as ESPN.com or NFL.com, and requires no face-to-face contact between league members, making it possible to play in leagues with anyone in the world with access to the internet. Fantasy sports have also benefited greatly from the advent of smart phones, which allow league members to manage their teams anywhere they want and anytime they want, making fantasy football much easier for a person with a busy schedule. And since the average fantasy football player is 41 years old and makes over $95,000 a year, it is probably safe to say that most fantasy sports players don’t have an abundance of downtime. The article also points out the huge profits that fantasy sports websites have been able to rake in, estimating the worth of the industry at over a billion dollars. This article is credible because it was in the business section of the Chicago Tribune, one of the most famous newspapers in the country.
The final article that I looked at during my research was a paper published by Dr. John A. Fortunato, an associate professor at Fordham University that specializes in business, communication, and media management. The article asked and answered several different questions relating to fantasy football and NFL TV ratings, one of which asked how much of an effect fantasy football has on the TV ratings of NFL games. This question was answered by calculating the number of players owned in a high percentage of fantasy football leagues in certain games, and comparing those games with lots of fantasy football star power to games that lacked an abundance of players commonly owned in fantasy football leagues. The results, although fairly complicated due to all of the controls involved in an empirical study such as this one, ultimately showed that games with higher fantasy football star power consistently rated higher than games with less fantasy football star power, proving that fantasy football has a positive impact on viewership for the NFL. At the end of the publication Dr. Fortunato also talked about some possible implications of the results of his study, particularly how the results of the study may affect the scheduling of televised NFL games.
Together these articles paint a picture of the importance and wide-reaching effects of fantasy football, both as they relate to the common fantasy player and to the National Football League.
The first article that I came across was from the Tahlequah Daily Press, a local newspaper from Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The article is titled Oh the Beauty of Fantasy Football, and it is a short but profound tribute to the world of fantasy football that highlights some of the things that make fantasy football a billion dollar industry, and a huge part of the lives of football fans everywhere. This piece is credible because not only was it published in a city’s newspaper, but it was also written by a man named Kolby Paxton, a staff writer for the newspaper and a long time fantasy football player. I thought that this was a really well written piece, one that fantasy football lovers everywhere would be able to relate to. In the article Paxton mentions that many people, including professional football players themselves, fail to see the value of fantasy football, and that it is often unfairly labeled as a pointless and ultimately meaningless game. Paxton, however, points out what fantasy football aficionados worldwide all know and often try to express to people who are not part of the fantasy sports world; that those previously mentioned negative thoughts about fantasy football are completely unfounded and a sign of ignorance of the game. What many people view as fanboys and fangirls attaching value to meaningless statistics in order to gain bragging rights among friends is actually a carefully calculated series of decisions based on knowledge of the NFL that is all in an attempt to achieve every fantasy football players ultimate goal; a league champion title. Aside from pointing out the beauty of the game, Paxton also provides statistical evidence that fantasy football players of all genders on average watch more football than all other Americans, highlighting the importance of the game to the popularity of the NFL.
The next article that I looked at was an article from the popular newspaper The Chicago Tribune, titled "Real World Advances Alter Fantasy Sports." This article explores the connections between the technological advances of the last 30 years and the growth of fantasy sports. As high-speed wireless connections, laptop computers, and smartphones have become increasingly accessible in modern society, the world of fantasy sports has adapted just as rapidly as the technology. In the 1980’s, fantasy sports were completely different than they are today. Scores were calculated and recorded by the hand of the league commissioner, and the draft was commonly held on a big white board in a room with all league members in attendance. That is very different from today’s average fantasy league, which is run on a fantasy sports website, such as ESPN.com or NFL.com, and requires no face-to-face contact between league members, making it possible to play in leagues with anyone in the world with access to the internet. Fantasy sports have also benefited greatly from the advent of smart phones, which allow league members to manage their teams anywhere they want and anytime they want, making fantasy football much easier for a person with a busy schedule. And since the average fantasy football player is 41 years old and makes over $95,000 a year, it is probably safe to say that most fantasy sports players don’t have an abundance of downtime. The article also points out the huge profits that fantasy sports websites have been able to rake in, estimating the worth of the industry at over a billion dollars. This article is credible because it was in the business section of the Chicago Tribune, one of the most famous newspapers in the country.
The final article that I looked at during my research was a paper published by Dr. John A. Fortunato, an associate professor at Fordham University that specializes in business, communication, and media management. The article asked and answered several different questions relating to fantasy football and NFL TV ratings, one of which asked how much of an effect fantasy football has on the TV ratings of NFL games. This question was answered by calculating the number of players owned in a high percentage of fantasy football leagues in certain games, and comparing those games with lots of fantasy football star power to games that lacked an abundance of players commonly owned in fantasy football leagues. The results, although fairly complicated due to all of the controls involved in an empirical study such as this one, ultimately showed that games with higher fantasy football star power consistently rated higher than games with less fantasy football star power, proving that fantasy football has a positive impact on viewership for the NFL. At the end of the publication Dr. Fortunato also talked about some possible implications of the results of his study, particularly how the results of the study may affect the scheduling of televised NFL games.
Together these articles paint a picture of the importance and wide-reaching effects of fantasy football, both as they relate to the common fantasy player and to the National Football League.