The study found that playing fantasy football would increase overall interest in the NFL because (fantasy) managers have players on a number of teams, not just their favorite team. This leads to increased viewership for NFL games as a whole since millions of people will watch all the games on Sunday as opposed to just the one their team is involved in. This results in a impact on not only the NFL, but by extension all of their sponsors as more revenue is presumably generated with more people viewing advertisements on a weekly basis. Not surprisingly, the level of participation in a fantasy league was also a decent indicator of NFL fandom. Those who are deeply involved in fantasy football, managing multiple teams and leagues, are also those who show the most interest in the NFL as a whole. As such, the NFL launched its own sponsored fantasy football league just a few years ago in order to keep demand high and to capitalize on the obvious relationship the league already shared with fantasy players.
As far as economics is concerned, the marketing aspect of the relationship the two entities share is the most significant. With 30 second advertisements during prime time games costing upwards of half a million dollars, the more viewers that can be pulled in the better. The symbiotic relationship the NFL and fantasy sites share has been improving each year with newer and more user-friendly websites and apps designed to lower barriers to entry and get more and more people playing the game.
A more interesting find from the study was that nearly half of respondents to the survey would prefer their fantasy team to win in a given week than their "favorite" NFL team. This emphasis on individual performance and not on overall team success as well as the fact that many leagues are played for a cash prize has led to many managers forsaking their chosen football team fin order to cheer for their fake football team.
So, which team would be your favorite? Your hometown NFL team or the team you carefully assembled on the internet to win bragging rights over your friends?
Ha. I'm 100000000% guilty of rooting for my fantasy team(s) over my actual one. It's rough. Every year there is another story of spousal abuse, ignoring concussions, crimes, and generally boorish behavior from NFL players. As such, it becomes harder and harder to commit to a team in the same fashion I used to. Fantasy gives me the opportunity to enjoy the games, while not being as morally conflicted.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really a fan of football or fantasy football but they hype and commitment surrounding both is something that has always interested me. I think that the act of being involved and also winning something form doing fantasy football is probably they main draw for the people involved. I didn't know people did studies about fantasy football so thank you for enlightening me about this subject!
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