Thursday, July 19, 2007

2007 FANTASY FOOTBALL IS BIG BUSINESS, THRIVING PAST TIME

If you're a fan of fantasy football, you have likely contributed to some amazing numbers involved with a past time that continues to grow and take on a life of its own.
In 2004, fantasy sports grew into an industry that generated an estimated $100 million in revenue and involved 29.5 million Americans according to a Harris Interactive Poll that year. This included nearly 20 million who played fantasy football, the most popular of all fantasy sports.
According to the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, those numbers grew to about $150 million in revenue and 40 million in American participation in 2006. And Connecticut is one example of the booming popularity of fantasy football, which has evolved into a big business industry due to the Internet.
According to estimates from officials at CBS.Sportsline.com and Mark Franco of francosportspicks.com, nearly 250,000 people in Connecticut played in on-line and off-line fantasy football leagues in 2005. That number is estimated to be nearly 350,000 in 2006.
At the end of the 2006 football season, Franco, a native of New Haven who relocated to Las Vegas five years ago, said, "Everywhere I go people are playing in fantasy sports leagues. I get calls and emails from hundreds of people who ask for advice to help win their football leagues. Fantasy football is huge."
According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, 93 percent of the people who play fantasy football are male with about 90 percent between the ages of 18-54. The average household income of a fantasy football player is over $80,000.
Fantasy football team owners spend an average of $154 a year on fantasy football and play in an average of 2.4 leagues a year. They spend three hours a week visitng their fantasy teams on their league's Web Site and another three hours doing fantasy football research.
Are you a fantasy football player? How much time and effort do you put into research? What is your secret for success?