Fantasy Sports -- essentially a concept whereby participants get to act like professional team owners and build their own custom lineups and compete based on outcomes and scenarios dictated by actual scores, injuries, suspensions, and so on, in the parallel context of the games being played -- has come a long way since what's considered its inception in the late 1950s, where the subject game was golf, of all things.
Today, it's a multi-billion dollar industry, with the U.S. Fantasy Sports Trade Association or FSTA (which has almost 300 members, ranging from small start-ups to giant corporations), estimating that 42 million people aged 12 and over played Fantasy Sports in N. America last year, an explosion facilitated by the advent of the Internet, obviously. And the phenomenon is not limited to the U.S. and Canada by any means, having since spread to Asia, Australia, South America, and Europe -- the U.K. alone has an estimated 5-7 million players, which represents about 10 percent of the entire population!
In other words, Fantasy Sports is serious business.
A bigger business, however, is the National Football League, and last week the NFL came down on the big National Fantasy Sports Convention at the Venetian, citing a policy that prohibits players from promoting events or making appearances that are held or sponsored by casinos. That confab is toast, though it's all but certain to be resurrected next year in a "safe" location.
As for the Wynn convention, there are no special favors being granted there. The promoters were apparently willing to compromise and present their show with former NFL players (we're assuming Brandon Marshall is out) who aren't affected by the league's edict. As of now, that show is on.
The whole Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) story is a long, complicated, and fascinating one that will soon be told in an upcoming Huntington Press book authored by former Baltimore Sun writer Bill Ordine. More to come.
