Fantasy Football Sites Being Shut down?

[Grind 0]

They don't own the stats! Don't worry       

it will be like the music industry trying to regulate the illegal burning of music...not going to happen.

 

 

Exactly. Worst comes to worst, leagues will start their own web pages, and owners will go back to manually doing the score with newspapers.

 

It sucks because it'll shut this site down, and that really does no good for the NFL.

 

If this happens, everyone who plays FF should never buy another product endorsed by the NFLPA ever again.

I would doubt this site would be affected. From what I gather, this site does not host fantasy football leagues and is purely informational and opinion based.

[cbfalcon 825]

This sounds like the type mistake baseball would make.

 

 

No Fantasy = less viewers = less tv revenue

 

I hope the NFLPA makes billions off the few people that keep playing fantasy football, because they'll be losing billions in tv revenue

[FunkyMcCool 0]

They don't own the stats! Don't worry       

it will be like the music industry trying to regulate the illegal burning of music...not going to happen.

 

 

Exactly. Worst comes to worst, leagues will start their own web pages, and owners will go back to manually doing the score with newspapers.

 

It sucks because it'll shut this site down, and that really does no good for the NFL.

 

If this happens, everyone who plays FF should never buy another product endorsed by the NFLPA ever again.

I would doubt this site would be affected. From what I gather, this site does not host fantasy football leagues and is purely informational and opinion based.

Exactly. I think fftoday would be okay because they don't host leagues and therefore don't require this new license. If they tried to shut down sites like fftoday they would likely run afoul of the First Amendment.

 

I think Yahoo pays 25 cents to NFLPA for each user of its fantasy football site.

[wreckincrew1 0]

As I have stated previously, the NFL cares about one thing, MONEY. If there is a way to extort a little more from the fans they will do it and not think twice. The problem is we will continue to pay whatever they want until the cost outweighs the enjoyment. How else can you explain the willingness of fans to spend $6.00 for a beer in a stadium but yet we will drive half way across town to save $2.00 on a case. The issue I have is that FF is not just about stats and watching games, it is the interacting with friends, bragging rights, etc... that is as much a part of the whole experience as the NFL portion is.

[waveman 0]

I hope the dumb arses at the NFLPA are reading this....They will gain a profit for the short term. However for folks like me this mostly a free hobby for me and a lot of other folks that play FF. The players will definately be hurt by this because there will be alot folks that just walk away....without FF would anybody give a rats arse about who X player who btw get y$ for advertising because of their name popularity??? I almost quit watching NFL altogether, and if it weren't for FREE FF, I would probably spend more time fishing than watching games for teams I could otherwise give a ratz azz about.

[Grind 0]

My family would probably like this change and support the additional charges to play fantasy football. It may make me deside to spend less time on fantasy sports and more time with my wife and kids. What are their names again???

[Theyhateme459 0]

The bottom line. If you are making money off the NFL, they want their percentage cut.

 

They also have the right NOT to grant you a license and control the material for themselves.

 

This includes....

 

Jerseys & T-Shirts

Films (DVD, VHS, TIVO)

Books

Video & Computer games

NFL logos

Retired uniforms & retired logos

Sport memorabilia

Sports autographs

Photos of games and players and stadiums

 

and yes finally...........fantasy football

 

Sports is a business, not a free game. Sports is a billions dollar business, they are only protecting their business rights.

 

Remember baseball didn't allow radio broadcasting for the first 15 years because they thought radio would take away money at the gate. The NFL blacks out local TV of games (this been upheld in court several times).

 

If you are playing fantasy football for fun and not for profit, then you have nothing to worry about.

 

But if you have an internet fantasy football site making $100 a pop for each team and you have 10,000 teams playing, thats a gross of 1 million dollars. You making money from the NFL. They are going to come after you. Beacuse they come after the small T-Shirt vendor selling un-license logo t-shirts.

 

If you invent the greatest NFL computer game of all time, you are going to also need a license from the NFL if you sell the game for profit. Unless the game has no NFL logos or NFL players or NFL stadiums.

 

This is a serious business. The NFL has a $16 billion dollar, 6 year, TV rights contract with ESPN, ABC, CBS and FOX.

 

Why do you think there is only one professional football league. Like the mafia they eliminated all the competition.

My whole thing is the NFL is allready making their money!!!

 

Why do they think they are seeing record numbers visit their website? Huge amout of people paying $200 + For sunday ticket.... IF they try to increase and get more money from us, I hope majority of us FF PLayers will be smart and walk away. I won't pay extra prices to play fantasyfootball, I won't order sunday ticket, I'll just sit at home an watch my Panthers play and thats it.

 

If they try and pull what MLB is all ready trying to pull I will be done with the NFLPA. They're making focking billions off of us allready, let us play and enjoy our FF in peace.

 

But the sad thing is that they do have a case from what I read. Places like RTSports, MFL, and other sites would have to pass that cost on to us. So leagues would cost even more to run on these websites. Then they can shut down who they want, and decide who gets to host these games so now we have a limited choice which means less competition for our business which means worst and higher costing service.

 

I hate to ramble on but ever since I've been hearing about this crap on Outside the lines, newspapers and online I have been getting really pissed. Did anyone here use stadium.com, because they have really been shut down, and some of this information can from an administrator over there. I don't play fantasy baseball so if baseball wins It wouldn't effect me that much, but the NFLPA better have some brains and not mess with a good thing.

[swirvenirvin 25]

not going to happen they know the impact that fantasy football has had on the game

[thunderbolts 0]

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[marinerate 0]

I wonder what percentage will actually walk away? Probably some but many will pay additional charges to play. Not me though. I've played sports my entire life, you name it, I've played it. When baseball started being too greedy, and the payrolls became ridiculous between rich and poor teams that some could not compete, I stopped watching. This was years ago. The other day I was talking to someone and they mentioned the world series. I said, who's in it, he said Houston and Chicago White Sox. I said, wow I didn't know the White Sox were in it. It's been a long time since they have been there. I guess that statement shows how much I care about baseball now, and this comes from a guy who played it as a kid almost daily with friends as well as on teams. The same thing will happen with the NFL for me. I've already given up going to see the games at stadiums, costs too much. I'm too cheap to pay for Sunday ticket. If you went to a couple games and ordered Sunday ticket, you would have paid as much as I pay for a YMCA family membership for a year. My family loves to swim, and I use the weight room as well. So, if they want to be greedy in the NFL, I will leave them just like I left baseball and not look back. I can still watch college football, where players don't get paid to do something they love.

[Theyhateme459 0]

I wonder what percentage will actually walk away? Probably some but many will pay additional charges to play. Not me though. I've played sports my entire life, you name it, I've played it. When baseball started being too greedy, and the payrolls became ridiculous between rich and poor teams that some could not compete, I stopped watching. This was years ago. The other day I was talking to someone and they mentioned the world series. I said, who's in it, he said Houston and Chicago White Sox. I said, wow I didn't know the White Sox were in it. It's been a long time since they have been there. I guess that statement shows how much I care about baseball now, and this comes from a guy who played it as a kid almost daily with friends as well as on teams. The same thing will happen with the NFL for me. I've already given up going to see the games at stadiums, costs too much. I'm too cheap to pay for Sunday ticket. If you went to a couple games and ordered Sunday ticket, you would have paid as much as I pay for a YMCA family membership for a year. My family loves to swim, and I use the weight room as well. So, if they want to be greedy in the NFL, I will leave them just like I left baseball and not look back. I can still watch college football, where players don't get paid to do something they love.

I honestly think a big enough % would walk away that the NFLPA would see that they made an horrible decision. I think this will be seen in the reduction of people who would order Sunday Ticket, and visit their high traffic website.

[rocket1012 0]

Can you imagine just HALF of the active FF team owners assembling for a organized protest in NY or DC...That'd be a statement....I'll go!!

[Theyhateme459 0]

Can you imagine just HALF of the active FF team owners assembling for a organized protest in NY or DC...That'd be a statement....I'll go!!

I can see it on National News Now....

[Stalker711 0]

The only reason I bought Sunday Ticket at a paltry $220, was to better enjoy the fantasy football games.

 

I already think it was a waste, what with games getting blacked out despite the fact that they are 2,000 miles away from my house, and other crap. You make a guy PAY to see all the games on TV, then don't allow them to see the games they want to watch. NO WAY I give that much money to those blood sucking vampires ever again.

 

Charge me to look at stats of some football players? I'll give up this passion I have loved for eight years.

[Ignition Technition 0]

They don't own the stats! Don't worry

[O-dogs 0]

USA Today has to be liking this. The sales of their Monday and Tuesday papers will increase dramatically, as leagues go back to manual calculation of weekly scores.

 

Fantasy changes:

 

1. Simpler scoring systems, which make it easier to calculate using the box score in the paper.

 

2. Increase traffic for free web hosting business as leagues create their own basic web sites to pass along weekly stats and information.

These were my first thoughts as well. I know someone who has already created a website to run his league. A lot of people will do that or do their scoring by hand. This is a really bad idea by the NFL. FF is the biggest reason the NFL is as popular as it is.

[football_scooter 0]

Can you imagine just HALF of the active FF team owners assembling for a organized protest in NY or DC...That'd be a statement....I'll go!!

Million Geek March?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

where's Louis Farrakhan when you need him?

[Guest TheCheat]

Can you imagine just HALF of the active FF team owners assembling for a organized protest in NY or DC...That'd be a statement....I'll go!!

Half's a good figure to shoot for...since the other half rarely leaves their mom's basement. :ph34r:

[Ilov80s 0]

They don't own the stats! Don't worry       

it will be like the music industry trying to regulate the illegal burning of music...not going to happen.

 

We'll see about that when the next format after CD comes out.

won't happen

The next format has been here for 7 years, its called MP3

[football_scooter 0]

Can you imagine just HALF of the active FF team owners assembling for a organized protest in NY or DC...That'd be a statement....I'll go!!

Half's a good figure to shoot for...since the other half rarely leaves their mom's basement. :ph34r:

(((...as TheCheat types from the basement, his mother can be heard upstairs making scones for breakfast for her special little lamb...)))

 

 

[2bmayhem 1]

Can you imagine just HALF of the active FF team owners assembling for a organized protest in NY or DC...That'd be a statement....I'll go!!

Million Geek March?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROFLMAO......

[Guest TheCheat]

Can you imagine just HALF of the active FF team owners assembling for a organized protest in NY or DC...That'd be a statement....I'll go!!

Half's a good figure to shoot for...since the other half rarely leaves their mom's basement. :ph34r:

(((...as TheCheat types from the basement, his mother can be heard upstairs making scones for breakfast for her special little lamb...)))

 

 

But maaaaaaaam, where's the damn syrup?!

[Guest TheCheat]

http://www.sportsbusinessconferences.com/s...ference&conid=6

Thanks for your whole summary, 02035.

 

Interesting that the conference has a panel for "Fantasy Sports Legal Issues" and also includes this:

 

Fantasy Sports Track

Case Study: Demonstration of the DirecTV “SuperFan” Platform

PANELISTS INCLUDE: Eric Shanks, Senior VP of Advanced Services & Content, DirecTV

Hope this indicates that DirecTV and, by extension, the NFL know which side their bread's buttered on.

[HeirCoryell 0]

I can still watch college football, where players don't get paid to do something they love.

Does College Fantasy Football become the next big thing if they don't charge for the use of their stats?

[traders2001 0]

BS BS BS BS .

Like the bird flu . BS BS BS.

[Niners_fan 0]

Baseball seems more and more like the devil's sport. B/t leading the charge against fantasy sports, steroids, and gambling just to name a few the sport is becoming more and more negative. I love baseball and all but FOOTBALL has and will always be my favorite sport. Hopefully this can be resolved without all of us getting focked. I do know that yahoo pays the NFLPA $.25 per every fantasy player it has so at least we're alright there.

[XToday 0]

I heard the UN is gonna take our guns, too! Damn them!

 

[doughboys_2002 11]

Yes it is true, the NFL won a law suit that stated, you have to pay in order to use NFL players names, and to post there NFL stats.

 

In short form..The NFL feels they own the rights that have anything to do with the NFL and it's players. If you do not pay for the rights, then you can't use teh players. ESPN was a big advocate of this, now they corner a large chunk of the NFL propaganda.

[Banana 0]

Yes it is true, the NFL won a law suit that stated, you have to pay in order to use NFL players names, and to post there NFL stats.

 

In short form..The NFL feels they own the rights that have anything to do with the NFL and it's players. If you do not pay for the rights, then you can't use teh players. ESPN was a big advocate of this, now they corner a large chunk of the NFL propaganda.

Yeah, that's one thing I think people need to realize, that ESPN is not a neutral party in all this, and they're doing lots of the reporting on the story. It's not that they actually come in to the reporters and say they have to report the story in a way that reflects a certain viewpoint, but the corporate attitude on the subject from the top down at ESPN affects the way all the people in the organization treat the matter. Their stupid fake news shows like Outside the Lines are just the type of program to let this type of thing affect them, so that their center for this story is off from where it should be and they're always viewing things from a perspective of, the NFLPA are legally right on this and would win if it went to court.

 

ESPN stands to gain more than anyone else if this ruling goes through because they'd be one of the only people in town with liscenced fantasy football.

[doughboys_2002 11]

Why does they way you explain it sound so much better than mine...

[Banana 0]

Ha, don't worry, I bet more people understood it the way you said it.

[jdwgig 0]

Im going to join European FF League....

[Let Da Big Dog Eat 40]

No one has yet mentioned the term "precedence." I don't know the legal definition, but basically if an entity allows other entities to do something for a long time then there is a precedent set.

 

Since newspapers have published box scores forever without license then the precedent is set. The fact that we live in an era where information can be decimated faster should not impact the precedent.

 

FF's rapid rise in popularity is really just a byproduct of this (live scoring).

 

Last, if a newspaper provided live scoring on it's website, I wonder what NFLPA would say? You can publish it, just not that fast? Yeah, like that would fly!

 

And, if you think about it, FF sites are not any different than the newspapers. They report news.

 

Just my .02.

[football_scooter 0]

No one has yet mentioned the term "precedence." I don't know the legal definition, but basically if an entity allows other entities to do something for a long time then there is a precedent set.

 

Since newspapers have published box scores forever without license then the precedent is set. The fact that we live in an era where information can be decimated faster should not impact the precedent.

 

FF's rapid rise in popularity is really just a byproduct of this (live scoring).

 

Last, if a newspaper provided live scoring on it's website, I wonder what NFLPA would say? You can publish it, just not that fast? Yeah, like that would fly!

 

And, if you think about it, FF sites are not any different than the newspapers. They report news.

 

Just my .02.

not sure it applies if someone is claiming copyright infringement or intellectual property or whatever the hell is it.

 

Think about Napster. They did it for a long time...then they got shut down, *bam!*.

[Let Da Big Dog Eat 40]

Just my .02.

not sure it applies if someone is claiming copyright infringement or intellectual property or whatever the hell is it.

 

Think about Napster. They did it for a long time...then they got shut down, *bam!*.

??????????????

What am I missing here? I see no relation between allowing people to download copyrighted material (Napster) and public domain historical data (stats).

 

Please enlighten me.

[football_scooter 0]

Just my .02.

not sure it applies if someone is claiming copyright infringement or intellectual property or whatever the hell is it.

 

Think about Napster. They did it for a long time...then they got shut down, *bam!*.

??????????????

What am I missing here? I see no relation between allowing people to download copyrighted material (Napster) and public domain historical data (stats).

 

Please enlighten me.

 

The NFL owns the rights to their game stats. Well, presumably - they charge Stats, Inc and others for the use of them. Stats, Inc then sells the feed to sites like sportsline, etc.

 

It's known as intellectual property - not sure of the details because I'm not a lawyer, but I do know that one aspect of the law may superceed another. So if the intellectual property is protected, it is exactly like the protected music on Napster - people were illegally distributing it. PLayer names, team names, logos - they're all a part fo the NFL's intellectual property.

 

So if the NFL wanted to get hard ass about it, they could go after those who distribute the stats unofficially.

 

But I don't see that changing anything to you or I, since CBS & ESPN both use Stats, Inc last I checked. Sites like rtsports, myfantasyleague.com, AOL and Yahoo might have to start charging (or charging more) - but otherwise this should be no big deal.

 

NFL wants to make money - they won't bite the hand that feeds them too hard...just hard enough to make sure that if any fantasy site hosts FFB, that they get a taste.

 

"historical data' would probably be ok...but I have no idea how long something has to be in public hands before it's considered 'historical'. Maybe it's only a few weeks...by all means, play in a league where your stats go live 3 weeks after the game's been played. I prefer live scoring.

[Captian America 0]

Well I for one will get back into betting College Football and do away with the NFL Ticket, right away I'll be saving $200.00. Since I'm a Steeler Fan I'll just watch my Steelers.

[Duff Bulgaria 0]

The NFL owns the rights to their game stats. Well, presumably - they charge Stats, Inc and others for the use of them. Stats, Inc then sells the feed to sites like sportsline, etc.

 

It's known as intellectual property - not sure of the details because I'm not a lawyer, but I do know that one aspect of the law may superceed another. So if the intellectual property is protected, it is exactly like the protected music on Napster - people were illegally distributing it. PLayer names, team names, logos - they're all a part fo the NFL's intellectual property.

 

So if the NFL wanted to get hard ass about it, they could go after those who distribute the stats unofficially.

 

But I don't see that changing anything to you or I, since CBS & ESPN both use Stats, Inc last I checked. Sites like rtsports, myfantasyleague.com, AOL and Yahoo might have to start charging (or charging more) - but otherwise this should be no big deal.

 

NFL wants to make money - they won't bite the hand that feeds them too hard...just hard enough to make sure that if any fantasy site hosts FFB, that they get a taste.

 

"historical data' would probably be ok...but I have no idea how long something has to be in public hands before it's considered 'historical'. Maybe it's only a few weeks...by all means, play in a league where your stats go live 3 weeks after the game's been played. I prefer live scoring.

scooter you have no idea what you are talking about. The NFL does NOT OWN THE STATS... The NFL will tell you that, ESPN will tell you that, and Paul Tagliabue himself will tell you that. They own the players names and are trying to say that FFL management sites are using what they own(Players's names) to sell a product.

 

 

HTH

[Let Da Big Dog Eat 40]

"historical data' would probably be ok...but I have no idea how long something has to be in public hands before it's considered 'historical'. Maybe it's only a few weeks...by all means, play in a league where your stats go live 3 weeks after the game's been played. I prefer live scoring.

Then if you have no idea what the term "historical" means why do you attempt to insult my intelligence? You pull 3 weeks out of your a$$ and allege that I would play under those conditions. Another poster said he thought definition was 15 minutes but could not provide a link.

 

Think you quit calling people douches because you realized you are one.

 

And a big PS pal. If you don't see the obvious disconnect between Napster and FF stats, you are truly one of the dumbest people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting in any format.

[Kitrick Taylor 0]

My prediction is if the NFLPA and MLB get their way, they'll probably be smart about how they go about getting their "taste."

 

I presume they are smart enough to know that Fantasy sports are fueling their industries in many ways. So to suddenly charge a lot more would put a serious dent in the industry. I think instead they'll go with an incremental type plan.

 

As an example it currently costs something like $120 per year to run our league on CBS Sportsline. My guess is they'd charge CBS just enough to raise it lets say 10-20%. So next year instead of $120 the fee is $135. Do you stop running your league where its been for years because of $15 between 12 guys? No way!

 

However the next year it goes up another 10% or so, and so on.

 

IMO they'll end up getting a ton of money from FF players, they'll just be a little smarter about it than what you might think.