Bloomberg News Reports on the NFFC!

[lichtman]

BN 07:02 Fantasy Football Players Turning to High-Stakes Money Leagues

Fantasy Football Players Turning to High-Stakes Money Leagues

By Erik Matuszewski
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Dave Cushard, a 32-year-old
financial planner from Marshall, Michigan, sits in his
office scanning streams of statistical data and lists of top
prospects.
He's not searching for a hot stock, but a productive
running back for his fantasy football team -- a team that
cost him $1,250.
Cushard, who works for American Express Co., is among a
growing number of armchair quarterbacks participating in
fantasy games with entry fees and payouts that dwarf the
typical office pool. At least seven leagues have grand
prizes of $100,000.
``High-stakes games are just exploding in popularity,''
said Cushard, who teamed with rock singer Meatloaf on a
baseball fantasy team this year. ``It's a chance to
challenge yourself against the best of the best. These
tournaments are the ultimate arena when it comes to fantasy
sports.''
Cushard will travel to Las Vegas on Saturday to compete
in the National Fantasy Football Championship, which also
has drafts in Chicago and New York, and pays out $250,000 in
total prize money. He's among 224 participants who have paid
$1,250 each to draft a team of National Football League
players that scores points based on statistics.
Alex Kaganovsky, a married, 36-year-old father who owns
a medical supplies business in Brooklyn, New York, has
already spent close to $5,000 for fantasy teams this year.
He's participating in the New York draft on Saturday and the
separate World Championship of Fantasy Football in Las Vegas
on Sept. 12.
The World Championship of Fantasy Football has a $1,450
entry fee and a $200,000 grand prize.

Free Start

Like many fantasy sports participants, Kaganovsky
started playing free leagues on the Internet. He joined
money leagues about five years ago and recently made the
jump to high-stakes games. While most players say they
thrive on the competition of fantasy sports, Kaganovsky said
the gambling is the biggest draw for him.
``The money made it that much more interesting,'' said
Kaganovsky, who spends three to four hours a day doing
research for his fantasy teams. ``It's definitely time-
consuming, but it's not work, it's a hobby.''
Glenn Karrant, a 45-year-old financial planner for
Mellon Financial Corp., calls fantasy football his passion.
``I live it, breathe it, sleep it,'' said Karrant, who
is married, with a 3-year-old son and lives in Plantation,
Florida. ``I spend a lot of time on it, much to my spouse's
regret. But I'm not a gambler, I'm a family man. I hardly
spend any money on myself, so (my wife) didn't disagree with
what I've spent on fantasy sports.''
For Karrant, the allure of the high-stakes fantasy
leagues is the competition. He said he's spent up to two
hours a day during the past several months preparing for his
draft.

Touchdowns From Whom?

On Monday, he spent part of his morning at work trying
to figure out if running back Chris Brown will get
significant opportunity to score touchdowns for the
Tennessee Titans after Eddie George's offseason departure.
``The money would be great, the icing on the cake,'' he
said in an interview. ``But to say I beat all my peers would
be the ultimate. I want to put what I've learned to the
test.''
Greg Ambrosius, who runs the National Fantasy Football
Championship, said he envisions a time when fantasy drafts
are televised to a national audience.
Ambrosius, the editor of Fantasy Football Magazine,
said there are similarities to the World Series of Poker, an
event where the grand prize rose to $5 million from $1.5
million in five years.
``It's the kind of thing where everyone who is drafting
a fantasy team this weekend would watch and say, `Boy, I
could win that $100,000,''' said Ambrosius. ``It's the
ultimate armchair sport where everybody feels they're
smarter than the next guy.''

High Stakes

With the surge in popularity of high-stakes leagues --
there were only two last year with a first prize of at least
$100,000 -- Ambrosius said there's more of a risk that
leagues will fold.
Payday Sports planned to award a $1 million to its
overall winner this year, but reduced its first prize to
$100,000 after getting only 60 players instead of the 600 it
wanted to pay $3,600 for a team.
``Maybe America is not quite ready for that yet, at
least not at the volume we were looking at,'' said Dave
Cella, the president of Payday Sports. ``But there's
definitely a market. Fantasy football is not going away.
It's getting bigger and bigger.''
More than 15 million people in the U.S. played fantasy
sports last year, including 12 million in fantasy football,
according to a survey conducted by the Fantasy Sports Trade
Association. Many are in free leagues available on the
Internet, or in leagues with friends and colleagues with
entry fees in the range of $10 to $100 and total payouts of
$100 to $1,000.

NFL's Game

The NFL hasn't missed the opportunity, either. The
league had 1.3 million people play its fantasy football
games last season on NFL.com, according to Neilsen Media
Research Inc.
The NFL, which bans players and all other employees
from betting on its games, doesn't consider fantasy football
gambling since it doesn't involve direct wagers on the
outcome of games, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has said.
Owners of fantasy teams draft players from NFL clubs
and field a roster each week, usually with a quarterback,
two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, a place-
kicker and an NFL team's defense. A fantasy team earns
points based on the statistics its players compile, such as
yardage and touchdowns scored. Each week, a fantasy owner
plays another team in his league and the winner is
determined by points scored.

Not Higher

Paul Sidikman says the $1,250 entry fees for the high
stakes games are about as high now as he's willing to go. A
former vice president for Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank,
Sidikman is entering the New York draft this weekend after
traveling to Las Vegas the past three years.
The 59-year-old said he doesn't have any illusions of
winning the grand prize, but feels he has a good chance to
win his 12-team league. Sidikman's team would have to finish
in the top four in his league to make the playoffs, and then
win two head-to-head matchups to take the title and $5,000.
If he does, Sidikman might buy something nice for his
wife, who he says ``doesn't have the foggiest'' idea of how
fantasy football works.
``Does she really understand how much I spend?,'' said
Sidikman. ``Probably not. Will you tell her? You better
not.''

[lichtman]

Jersey Paul -- was your "good chance" quote made before or after you got stuck with a lousy draft spot?

[ September 01, 2004, 04:08 PM: Message edited by: Ico Jones ]

[JerseyPaul]

Originally posted by Ico Jones:
Jersey Paul -- was your "good chance" quote made before or after you got stuck with a lousy draft spot? LOL...before.

[TradeStar28]

Wow Jersey Paul....first we see you profiled on HBO Real Sports dressed in a Wizards outfit and now you hit the news wire on Bloomberg!

Nice job!

BTW - did you ever meet Sandy Weill ?

[JerseyPaul]

Originally posted by Liquid:

BTW - did you ever meet Sandy Weill ? No, but I met John Reed and Walter Wriston.

Many years ago a bunch of young and upcoming guys were standing waiting for an elevator outside the VP dining room. Wriston came along and said "with all this talent, did anybody push the button?.

A great gentleman with a sense of humor.

Reed was all business and rarely showed himself to the troops. He did get snookered by Weill and wound up losing his company and ending the careers of many of us as Weill brought his guys in and changed the entire culture.

[Nag']

Link???

[Greg Ambrosius]

Great job guys. I just say this story for the first time and it's apparent I hooked this writer up with some interesting guys!!! Excellent for our industry.