Fantasy sport has attracted the attention of the world through its serious business potential. The daily fantasy games alone are expected to generate $ 2.6 billion in entry fees this year and grow 41% annually, reaching $14.4 billion by 2020. Let’s check out how fantasy sports has entered various fields:

Media House

Yahoo News was one of the first media houses to start fantasy football league. Soon media houses such as News Corp, The Telegraph, Golf News Net, TSN (Canada) and many others followed suit. And for good reason. Online surveys report that 60% fantasy sports players say they read more about sports because of fantasy. Most media houses – be it newspapers, magazines or news channels – wish to engage readers/viewers, and get their subscriptions coming. Newspapers like The Telegraph carry news, tips and suggestions on fantasy sports. Fox Sports online portal offers draft guides, analysis of fantasy sports along with fantasy leagues and games. Fantasy sports has allowed news and magazine portals to introduce their readers to an experience closer to the real games.

Sports Clubs Leagues and Association

Sports leagues such as British Premier League, Indian Premier League T20, National Football League,NHL, ICC etc use fantasy sports to promote their sports and leagues. Even sports clubs such as West Ham United or Roma Club have hopped onto the bandwagon. A 2015 survey revealed that 61% fantasy sports players say they were watching more live sports because of fantasy. Fantasy sports applications being based on the actual games, fixtures and players – take the fan loyalty to a whole new level. These games also help in selling merchandise related to teams or leagues. Fantasy sports educate new fans, and keep the old fans engaged. These already content-rich platforms are now able to provide a stadium-like atmosphere to millions of fans who cannot watch the matches/games live in a stadium.

Sports groups

Sports groups such as ESPN, Sky Sports and CBS Sports are actively trying to create a complete fantasy sports environment in various ways. And it’s not limited to just football and basketball. There’s hockey, basketball, golf and cricket too. While CBS Sports has Fanduel Football Championship exclusively for its subscribers, ESPN offers fantasy sports advice through its magazine, radio shows and podcasts. There’s exclusive news coverage on drafting, analysis of DFS, perfect draft tips, facts on the industry, videos and podcasts to continuously educate and engage users.

Online Casinos and Sportsbooks

The latest to join the fantasy sports party are the casinos. They have started including fantasy sports as an add-on service. Casinos are eager to get a branding that they are not behind in the fantasy sports race. Since fans in 45 states in the US are enamoured by daily fantasy sports, casinos are now exploring opportunities to get into fantasy sports legally. And now the craze has spread across the globe. Unlike gambling, fantasy sports require skill and knowledge, and this factor has become a matter of intrigue for casinos around the world.

Corporate Enterprises for Workforce Gamification

By far, the most unthinkable scope of fantasy that has surprisingly worked well is using fantasy games format for increasing employee productivity and gamification. Fantasy sports models are being used by companies to motivate sales teams. These games are drafted just the way usual fantasy football or hockey games are. One of the platforms has been fantasysalesteam.com that uses fantasy sports simulations as a framework for sales competition. There’s a commissioner, there’s drafting, live feeds etc of a sales team by members using their coworkers. This model has worked wonders for companies since the idea of a performance-based contest or games is naturally appealing to sales reps as these games are founded on healthy competition.

Fantasy Sports Startups

Led by the phenomenal success of DraftKings and FanDuel, startups around the globe have woken up to the fantasy sports dream. What’s interesting is even large corporations are looking to either invest in a fantasy sports startup or start their own fantasy sports application to get a share of the giant pie. In USA alone, on average, fantasy sports players spend $465 on league-related costs, single-player challenge games, and league-related materials over a 12-month period. With daily fantasy sports and the options of season long fantasy sports, enterprises are seeing the industry as a regular business opportunity that has paid large dividends to early birds already.