Are fantasy players more engaged in their sport?
Over the past couple of weeks, I discussed fantasy games for the reality show The Bachelor and conducted a media experiment using daily fantasy sports to argue for the players further immersion into the form of entertainment they consume. A scholarly journal published by Sports Management Review delves further into this subject.
A quintet led by Joris Drayer examined how fantasy football players interact with other forms of media. “Using qualitative methods, the data indicate that fantasy football participants utilized various media sources, specifically the Internet, television, cellular telephones, and a variety of print media, at much higher levels as a result of their interest and participation in fantasy football.”
The idea of fantasy players using more media is not far-fetched. Heck, I don’t regularly play fantasy sports and I use many of those devices to follow the latest happenings in a variety of sports, usually to write about it or for general interest. I would imagine a person who has Joe Flacco on his fantasy team would care a bit more about his injury status than someone who only roots for the Baltimore Ravens.
The article uses a man named “Richard”, a Minnesota Vikings fan to exemplify the intensified devotion to the on field product:
“I only used to watch the Vikings, now I watch a lot more…I have my computer set up. I’m going to sound like a psycho. I have live scores and watch games on TV and I track stats all game. I tend to follow a game in multiple ways… It’s a day long experience. I watch all the highlights. Single team to a whole NFL experience for me now.”
The level of dedication of fans like “Richard” give the NFL justification for oversaturating their fanbases with nationally televised games featuring substandard teams and the continuous discussions concerning the expansions of the regular season and the playoffs.
Whether one or both of the teams are actually good or not is beside the point. What seems to matter is the level of participation with the fan through following the scores online, the Twitter activity (where some of the games actually streamed), and the fans watching to see a player they might have on their team. A fan who previously would not be interested in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game would likely tune in if Jameis Winston or Mike Evans was on his or her team. This plays a big role into the popularity of the league.
I wonder if this would apply to leagues like the NBA or MLB which are more regionally focussed. Most baseball and (less so) basketball fans pay attention to the team in their market and not much else (A Baltimore Orioles fan might be less inclined to watch a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, for instance). I wonder if fantasy games would have the same effect on those sports as football if there was as much of an emphasis on fantasy games as there is for the NFL.
