This weekend between glimpses of March Madness on TV, millions of baseball fans, mostly men, will be huddled around computer screens, spread out checking out spread sheets in basements, trolling through magazines on kitchen tables and looking for every discernible edge to one up eight to 12 other guys in the same room or on the same computer screen. It is fantasy baseball time, the opportunity for every fan to become his or her GM and try and show the world that baseball, perhaps the most stats-laden game in the world, can be managed by the fan as well as by any of the pros. Fantasy sports, especially baseball and football, is a growing multi-billion dollar industry that dozens of brands are now finding ways to activate against.
While there are countless free services to assist, big analytic and statistical brands (BloombergSports.com is perhaps the latest and most advanced) that will offer assistance for a nominal fee, helping anyone break down the alphabet soup of calculations one may go through to pick his or her team.
In many cases fantasy is as much obsession as fandemonium, with the ability to get consumed in a wave of numbers, decisions and permutations sometimes very very high. How hig.? While the industry has spawned a number of books over the years, this weeken. Endgame Entertainment and Wonderland Sound and Vision are launching a feature length documentary called Fantasyland, which will.follow Jed Latkin, an amateu.fantasy baseball fan who earns the chance to compete with the industry’.best in an expert league called Tout Wars during the 2008 baseball season. It is the perfect example of the all-consuming edge of fantasy play. Jed was a rising young financial analys.planning to start a family with his new wife, but ended up traveling thousands of miles to personally connect with hi.players, pulled countless all-nighters, and nearly missed the birth of hi.twin son and daughter, all in the relentless pursuit of one, increasingl.elusive goal. winning Tout Wars..As much as Latkin and others in the film are about an obsession (the film is based on the book of the same name by Wall Street Journal sports editor Sam Walker), brands see them as NASCAR like in devotion as well. Products, websites, and tools that are integrated into the tools or promoted with the tools can achieve a high level of consumer loyalty, making fantasy play an intriguing alternative for brands looking to activate in the digital space.
In truth, a majority of fantasy players are not the all-possessed and all-engrossed players that are portrayed in the film. Many find fantasy a release, just like board games have been in the past, and perhaps a safer release than poker, online video games or other bonding platforms so popular today in the world of the male first adopter. Fantasy play does take a good deal of thinking, attention to detail and concentration to be successful. Therefore the majority of players engage in less complicated and more tailored play, but are still highly involved in the goings-on of their respective leagues. At the end of the day fantasy play is a fun, thoughtful and (somewhat) enjoyable activation alternative for those who love sports, and continues to be a great opportunity to access those who play and love the sport, or multiple sports, as well. The fantasy idea has even moved off sports and into celebrity, wit. US Weekly and The Bachelor recently launching games produced by Rotohog, for a female demo who follows entertainment. building celebrity teams and competing against others.
Is it too niche for all brands, and maybe too segmented for som.? Perhaps. But like other niche activities, from video games to even X-Games and MMA, fantasy sports provide access to a passionate core, a core which brands should look to attach to.
So when you hear shouting around the big screen in the basement this weekend, it may be March Madness of a different kin.the kind that is not part of hoops winding down at the Final Four next weekend. It is an amiable kind of madness of the baseball kind that is just beginning its long summer grind.
