Fantasy Football Sites Being Shut down?

[RTSportsDude 0]

Peyton's backup (WHOEVER that may be -- it does not matter)

Jim Sorgi

or if CDM loses, we'll refer to him as Unnamed Indianapolis Colts Team QB

I am not claiming that Jim Sorgi does not matter, I am stating that players are interchangable in the fantasy industry due to the statistics they generate. This was no slam on Sorgi.

[RTSportsDude 0]

guys like you (RTSports) myfantasyleague.com, etc - the CBS Sportslines and ESPNs of the world would essentially have a monopoly and the way FFBers suffer is from lack of competition/choices in the FFB marketplace and potentially pay more for it.

It sounds like there'd be a single company or a small number of companies that could obtain a license from the NFLPA and be charged a fortune. The only companies that *might* be able to afford such a deal are the biggies like Yahoo! and CBS. And these companies would likely pass the cost onto us. Smaller companies that couldn't afford a license (like RTS, MFL, etc.) would be left out in the cold. So your choices would be even less than you imagine - and you'd have to pay $$.

 

 

 

Bingo.

 

But let me expound a little further...the NFLPA does not want to give licenses to smaller companies, even if they could afford to pay for them! The NFLPA reps came right out and said so at a recent FSTA conference.

 

The 200+ FSTA members stood up and offered to pay a large amount of money -- as a group -- to the NFLPA in return for receiving a "blanket license" for all the members of the association. They politely said no...it was not in their interest to have that many members.

 

They want a monopoly and they are not shy about admitting it.

[Theyhateme459 0]

guys like you (RTSports) myfantasyleague.com, etc - the CBS Sportslines and ESPNs of the world would essentially have a monopoly and the way FFBers suffer is from lack of competition/choices in the FFB marketplace and potentially pay more for it.

It sounds like there'd be a single company or a small number of companies that could obtain a license from the NFLPA and be charged a fortune. The only companies that *might* be able to afford such a deal are the biggies like Yahoo! and CBS. And these companies would likely pass the cost onto us. Smaller companies that couldn't afford a license (like RTS, MFL, etc.) would be left out in the cold. So your choices would be even less than you imagine - and you'd have to pay $$.

 

 

 

Bingo.

 

But let me expound a little further...the NFLPA does not want to give licenses to smaller companies, even if they could afford to pay for them! The NFLPA reps came right out and said so at a recent FSTA conference.

 

The 200+ FSTA members stood up and offered to pay a large amount of money -- as a group -- to the NFLPA in return for receiving a "blanket license" for all the members of the association. They politely said no...it was not in their interest to have that many members.

 

They want a monopoly and they are not shy about admitting it.

Isn't that illegal??

 

Monoply money hungry pigs I love the support I get from the smaller companies. They actually care and put in ALOT of time an effort. I have a league on MFL and one on RTS and if I got to the message board for help i get it. Everyone does... they try to make continuous improvements for us. If it ever comes down to it we will have a million Geek March as stated in the thread earlier.

[football_scooter 0]

If it ever comes down to it we will have a million Geek March as stated in the thread earlier.

I've since copywrited and trademarked that phrase.

 

you now owe me $5.00

[Theyhateme459 0]

If it ever comes down to it we will have a million Geek March as stated in the thread earlier.

I've since copywrited and trademarked that phrase.

 

you now owe me $5.00

Damn!!

 

I'll see you in court

[zr3441 0]

I have to say if the only FF provide where to tell my league that it was $500 to join, $42/team my league would simply desolve. I would go back to watching my favorite teams and maybe their top rivals.

 

I think people underestimate the backlash this would have. My league, and I suspect many peoples leagues on this site, is not what I would call a big money league. We are a 12 team league, we use CBSSportsline and we kick in $112 per team. Of course the $12 is for site fees, and the remaining $1200 makes up our league prizes, and we are all accepting of the fact that 10% of what we throw in the pot goes to adminstration fees. However if you kick that amount up to $42 out of $142 you are now talking about 30% adminstration fees and me and my fellow owners won't go for that. As for free leagues and even lower entry fee leagues, they would simply go by the wayside. Even if you are talking about 25 - 35% of the FF players out there you are talking about millions of folks, all of whom pay more attention to the NFL then they did prior to FF. Even if those aren't the people buying the Sunday Ticket, they certainly are the ones tuning into the Monday night game, eventhough they don't care which team wins, because their WR might score just enough points to eek out a win this week. Ratings on nationally televised games will definantly suffer, and that is where the leagues big money comes from.

 

As for MLB, I trully believe they simply have a self destructive nature. They have been on life support for many years, people are bored with the product the provide, even if they let their players take steriods, build smaller stadiums with short fences and sup up their balls. So MLB should just thank god that people are paying any attention to their games, and not interfer with the fantasy sports that have difinantly added to the big four television ratings.

[RTSportsDude 0]

I have to say if the only FF provide where to tell my league that it was $500 to join, $42/team my league would simply desolve.  I would go back to watching my favorite teams and maybe their top rivals. 

 

I think people underestimate the backlash this would have.  My league, and I suspect many peoples leagues on this site, is not what I would call a big money league.  We are a 12 team league, we use CBSSportsline and we kick in $112 per team.  Of course the $12 is for site fees, and the remaining $1200 makes up our league prizes, and we are all accepting of the fact that 10% of what we throw in the pot goes to adminstration fees.  However if you kick that amount up to $42 out of $142 you are now talking about 30% adminstration fees and me and my fellow owners won't go for that.  As for free leagues and even lower entry fee leagues, they would simply go by the wayside.  Even if you are talking about 25 - 35% of the FF players out there you are talking about millions of folks, all of whom pay more attention to the NFL then they did prior to FF.  Even if those aren't the people buying the Sunday Ticket, they certainly are the ones tuning into the Monday night game, eventhough they don't care which team wins, because their WR might score just enough points to eek out a win this week.  Ratings on nationally televised games will definantly suffer, and that is where the leagues big money comes from. 

 

As for MLB, I trully believe they simply have a self destructive nature.  They have been on life support for many years, people are bored with the product the provide, even if they let their players take steriods, build smaller stadiums with short fences and sup up their balls.  So MLB should just thank god that people are paying any attention to their games, and not interfer with the fantasy sports that have difinantly added to the big four television ratings.

 

Although I admire your cavalier approach, unfortunately the numbers do not confirm the hypothesis of your opinion. Let's use your numbers in a hypothetical situation....

 

There are -- conservatively -- 250,000 fantasy leagues currently being administered by fantasy football services on the Internet (CBS Sportsline runs at least 100,000 leagues themselves, and they are not even the largest provider.)

 

Right now, CBS hauls in about $13M in gross revenues from the sale of their commissioner service alone (we are not even including ad revenues from their site.) Let's say that CBS wins the "right" to be the sole fantasy commissioner service for the NFL. As a result, CBS ups their price to $500 per league. This causes 35% of the leagues to fold or go on their own (the high end of your estimate), meaning there are now only 162,500 fantasy leagues willing to pay the $500 per league to the only service out there -- CBS.

 

Well, 162,500 * $500 = $81,250,000. CBS (or any other big-time company) would be more than happy to pay $10M for the right to be the sole fantasy provider. And that does not even include the prices they could command from advertisers to be on the site which is viewed by 162,000 league members.

 

The NFLPA gets $10M per year, CBS makes out like bandits, and you lose. Sure, maybe some people might not view as many games, but I doubt this would make a dent in the multi-billion dollar TV contracts which currently exist.

 

It is all about cornering the market. There is a reason why the NFLPA is going after this so aggressively. They know what they are doing.

[Theyhateme459 0]

I have to say if the only FF provide where to tell my league that it was $500 to join, $42/team my league would simply desolve.  I would go back to watching my favorite teams and maybe their top rivals. 

 

I think people underestimate the backlash this would have.  My league, and I suspect many peoples leagues on this site, is not what I would call a big money league.  We are a 12 team league, we use CBSSportsline and we kick in $112 per team.  Of course the $12 is for site fees, and the remaining $1200 makes up our league prizes, and we are all accepting of the fact that 10% of what we throw in the pot goes to adminstration fees.  However if you kick that amount up to $42 out of $142 you are now talking about 30% adminstration fees and me and my fellow owners won't go for that.  As for free leagues and even lower entry fee leagues, they would simply go by the wayside.  Even if you are talking about 25 - 35% of the FF players out there you are talking about millions of folks, all of whom pay more attention to the NFL then they did prior to FF.  Even if those aren't the people buying the Sunday Ticket, they certainly are the ones tuning into the Monday night game, eventhough they don't care which team wins, because their WR might score just enough points to eek out a win this week.  Ratings on nationally televised games will definantly suffer, and that is where the leagues big money comes from. 

 

As for MLB, I trully believe they simply have a self destructive nature.  They have been on life support for many years, people are bored with the product the provide, even if they let their players take steriods, build smaller stadiums with short fences and sup up their balls.  So MLB should just thank god that people are paying any attention to their games, and not interfer with the fantasy sports that have difinantly added to the big four television ratings.

 

Although I admire your cavalier approach, unfortunately the numbers do not confirm the hypothesis of your opinion. Let's use your numbers in a hypothetical situation....

 

There are -- conservatively -- 250,000 fantasy leagues currently being administered by fantasy football services on the Internet (CBS Sportsline runs at least 100,000 leagues themselves, and they are not even the largest provider.)

 

Right now, CBS hauls in about $13M in gross revenues from the sale of their commissioner service alone (we are not even including ad revenues from their site.) Let's say that CBS wins the "right" to be the sole fantasy commissioner service for the NFL. As a result, CBS ups their price to $500 per league. This causes 35% of the leagues to fold or go on their own (the high end of your estimate), meaning there are now only 162,500 fantasy leagues willing to pay the $500 per league to the only service out there -- CBS.

 

Well, 162,500 * $500 = $81,250,000. CBS (or any other big-time company) would be more than happy to pay $10M for the right to be the sole fantasy provider. And that does not even include the prices they could command from advertisers to be on the site which is viewed by 162,000 league members.

 

The NFLPA gets $10M per year, CBS makes out like bandits, and you lose. Sure, maybe some people might not view as many games, but I doubt this would make a dent in the multi-billion dollar TV contracts which currently exist.

 

It is all about cornering the market. There is a reason why the NFLPA is going after this so aggressively. They know what they are doing.

Thoes Mother F------ Bast----

[markf 0]

And, believe it or not, many people will pay $500 (as a league) for a service if it is the only one out there. They will justify it as "Hey, it is only $50 per person" just like they justify paying $139 for CBS right now. Some hardcore players will go back to pencil and paper, but -- with all the other providers going out of business -- the one high bidder will receive so many new leagues at $500 a pop they will do just fine (not to mention the advertising revenue they can generate.) There are an estimated 13 million people playing fantasy sports right now. The NFLPA knows the money they can reap if they corner that market.

Far be it from me to disagree... but I respectfully disagree. If the issue is only player names... then for the single company that purchases the license, there will be twoo hundred services that will pop-up with a clever way around the names... or simply go by city and jersey number.

 

You need look only as far as the NCAA video games and the roster swapping community that goes with it. No service or game can provide the names of amateur players... but if someone happens to quietly release into the public domain a file that will "fill in" the names... etc...

 

Just my opinion. Thanks again for the info.