Fantasy Sports

Wilfred "Bill" Winkenbach is credited with starting fantasy sports .He devised fantasy golf in the latter part of the 1950s.[1] Each player selected a team of professional golfers and the person with the lowest combined total of strokes at the end of the tournament would win.[citation needed] Golf is a simple fantasy game to administer and keep tabs on, since each participant is concerned only with the scores of his or her team members without anything else to complicate it. However, it was never organized into a widespread hobby or formal business.

Rotisserie League Baseball was invented by Daniel Okrent. Rotisserie League Baseball, also know as Fantasy Baseball, is an online game where participants may assemble virtual teams made up of real players. These teams then compete based on the statistical performance of those players' players in actual games.

Okrent, a magazine writer/editor, was a well known member of the media. Because of his role other journalists were soon introduced to Rotisserie League Baseball. During the Major League Baseball strike in 1981 journalists were left with very little to write about so they wrote about rotisserie sports. Many players were introduce to these sports thanks to the journalists.

The inaugural league was called the GOPPPL (Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League), and the first draft took place in the rumpus room of Winkenbach's home in Oakland, California in August 1963.[2] The league consisted of eight members, made up of administrative affiliates of the AFL, pro football journalists, or someone who had purchased or sold 10 season tickets for the Raiders’ 1963 season

Fantasy sports close to a billion dollars. it is estimated that there are 57.4 million people playing fantasy sports this year. (2016)

The legality of fantasy sports has been questioned because of contests that require an entry fee, and that pay out cash prizes, varies by state. Pay-to-play contests that offer prizes to winners can be considered illegal gambling under certain circumstances, depending on the jurisdiction.As discussed numerous times on this site, the legality of fantasy sports contests that require an entry fee, and that pay out cash prizes, varies by state. Pay-to-play contests that offer prizes to winners can be considered illegal gambling under certain circumstances, depending on the jurisdiction.

Many people believe that fantasy sports should be illegal because they view it as gambling. Although most haven't, some states have already banned certain fantasy websites.

Impact of the internet on the growth of fantasy sports

A large factor in the growth of fantasy sports was the rise of the Internet and personal computers in the mid-1990s. The new technology lowered the barrier to entry to the hobby as stats could quickly be compiled online and news and information became readily available.

In 1997, CDM Fantasy Sports, a St. Louis, MO-based fantasy sports company invited competitors Sportsline, Prime Sports Interactive, Sports Buff Fantasy Sports, and Sporting News to St. Louis to discuss pending legislation that could severely limit the growth of the fantasy sports industry. Over the next year, the companies communicated without an official organization and tracked the legislation. In 1998, during a fantasy sports conference in Las Vegas hosted by Fantasy Insights, a meeting was organized to again discuss pending legislation and several other topics related to the industry. The representatives from CDM, Fantasy Insights, EA Sports, The Sporting News, and USFANS decided that it was time to create an official organization to help promote fantasy sports, and the Fantasy Sports Trade Association was born

As fantasy sports grew more and more rapid, more player information was getting out so the Sports leagues began doing whatever they could to protect what they consider copyrighted material from free exposure on fantasy gaming sites. On October 16, 2007, the U.S. Eighth Circuit ruled that the First Amendment protected the use of player names and statistics on fantasy baseball sites established by C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. That company had brought a declaratory judgment action against MLB Advanced Media to permit the unlicensed use of names and statistics of Major League Baseball players in connection with fantasy baseball products available online.

Fantasy people is something that is loved by many people because not only is it something fun that can help you earn extra cash, but it also makes watching the football games more interesting,

The ethical dilemma presented by online fantasy sports sites that require you to pay to play is that it is considered gambling to many people.

While there is an element of luck involved, owners are more likely to succeed are likely to best able predict how a player will preform and adjust accordingly by adding and releasing certain players, and trading players with other owners to build a more complete team. Media is being impacted because there are more people tuning into watch games to get the stats on the players in their current line up.

Athletes and teams have also been impacted by fantasy sports. The athletes face a lot of pressure and hate. They are under pressure because they're being bet on and if they have a bad performance during a game then the participants bash them for ruining their team.

I believe that the participants for fantasy sports will continue to go up due to the thrill that It is giving people world-wide,