Rooting for players, not teams. Rooting against your own team. Caring about obscure moments in obscure games. Bringing out the competitive spirit in everyone. That’s what fantasy sports can do to sports viewers.
By Ryan Leshko, Robert Kenly & Jalon Dixon
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writers
Competitiveness is a character trait that lies within all of us. A study conducted by a University of Michigan psychologist found that the tendency to self-evaluate by comparing ourselves to others is an important source of competitive behavior. The researcher cited a variety of individual and situational factors — the similarity of rivals, the closeness of relationships, the number of competitors — that influence one’s level of competitiveness.
That study wasn’t about fantasy sports. But it certainly describes it well. An estimated 59.3 million people played fantasy sports in 2017, according to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association. And many of those participants are driven by competitiveness to beat their friends and, of course, win some money.
Daily fantasy sports alone generates $335 million in revenue a year and just within the last year collected roughly $3.2 billion in entry fees. In addition to DraftKings and FanDuel — the leaders in daily fantasy — Yahoo! Sports and ESPN are major players in the industry. Another sign of the growing popularity of fantasy: the introduction of the Fantasy Sports Network dedicated to the industry, and media outlets like ESPN running “The Fantasy Show” with fantasy football analyst Matthew Berry.
Why are so many people emotionally invested in fantasy sports? How does fantasy participation influence their fandom? We interviewed several participants across a range of leagues to find out.
Corday Gaskins, an avid fantasy football player, said he’s out to show that he has an advanced understanding of football.
“My experience with fantasy football is good,” he said. “It’s a good way to show your knowledge of the sport while competing with your friends.”
Fantasy sports participation has unquestionably changed the way he watches games.
“Fantasy has definitely changed the way I root for teams and players,” Gaskins said. “It forced me to watch teams that I’m not interested in because I have players on the team.”
Miguel Figueroa, a casual football fan, said when he played fantasy, he often cared more about his players’ performance than his team.
“It can overshadow the actual game sometimes while you are worried about individual players doing well,” Figueroa said.
Dan Braswell, a longtime fantasy football player, said his love of the sport led him to get into fantasy leagues.
“I’ve been doing fantasy since I was in fifth grade, so about 10 years, and I’ve always had a lot of fun whether it’s for money or not it’s just always a cool experience,” Braswell said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that I ‘root’ for other teams or players but it definitely expanded my interest from just the Ravens to following the entire team and the entire league, and having favorite players outside of Baltimore.”
Will Carmen said rooting for his team trumps rooting for fantasy players.
“It does not affect the way I root for my favorite team, which is the Ravens, because at the end of the day, I always want to see them do well,” Carmen said. “It just gives me a reason to watch and cheer for other players and other teams that I don’t normally cheer for.”
Levi Joseph, a fantasy football commissioner, said he enjoys not only managing his team but also his leagues.
“With being a commissioner of two leagues, it changed a lot,” Joseph said. “You become more dependent on the players every week because you want them to do their best so they can maximize your chances of winning against your opponent. I have bragging rights due to the fact I run the leagues and I have some of the top players. However, when your friends’ knowledge football is immense, so is the level of difficulty per week.”
With many large media outlets now catering to the fantasy sports fan, other fantasy sports can get overshadowed. But one popular sport that also is increasingly popular with fantasy players — and young Americans — is English Premier League. In the past six seasons, an average of 34.6 million TV viewers have turned into English Premier League broadcasts on NBC Sports.
Angelo Petruccy, a senior at High Point University and commissioner of a Fantasy Premier League, said he watches soccer with an eye on his fantasy team.
“I would be lying if I said when I watch Premier League matches I don’t consider the FPL implications,” he said. “Often times, I will find myself cheering for individual players to have success because they are on my team and also because I am a fan of a team that does not play in the Premier League.”
Some fans don’t have a favorite EPL team given that they live in the United States. But fantasy sports gives them a rooting interest. And, of course, for Petruccy and others, the prize money is important — though his league has just a $15 buy-in.
Still, for Petruccy and others, it’s all about the competition.