One fantasy site points out that a recent survey claimed that 6.5% of all adult Americans said they played fantasy sports in 2005. That translates to almost 15 million adult Americans!
Well, last night it was time to complete one final review of all the on-line fantasy baseball marketing material that I have received. There was a lot to review, because customers in this hobby can be reached in a variety of ways, such as pop up ads, emails, word of mouth (viral marketing) from other league members, television ads and magazine ads. This morning the league reached a decision on which website, we are going to use for the up and coming 2006 season. In the end, we decided to go with the same website that we have used for the past 5 seasons: cbssportsline.com. Are we satisfied with the site or just lazy? Probably a combination of both. Half the league could probably care less, as long as they are in a league. And the other half, including myself decided to browse various sites, review features, monitor updates from previous years, look at the ease of use of the site, review cost, system reliability, etc. There are many aspects to a fantasy sports website and it can be difficult to compare them all. Which is often the case for a lot of things that people try to accomplish on-line - such as purchasing a gift for someone or choosing which email carrier to select. Well, when all was said in done, in our opinion, cbssportsline.com remains a notch above the rest. Now, it is time to finalize a draft date.
How do we go about choosing a draft date? Easily. We post a poll on the website that presents three options. The option that receives the most votes wins. Once the winning date is announced, it is up to everyone to either make it or to come up with an alternative plan. Some people have used conference phones, webcasts and email. Others have sent a replacement owner to select their team - something that I would never do. Sometimes the draft is the best part of the season.
Well, the site is in place and the draft date has been set. However, there is still a lot to do. It is time to go back through all of the websites (again) to focus less on site benefits and more on player analysis. This year, we are presented with an additional way to prep for the season as many major league baseball players are representing their country in the World Baseball Classic. It is almost like the players are trying out for a spot on everyone’s fantasy team. Ok, maybe not, but a strong performance in the WBC will likely prompt someone to draft a player higher than they originally planned. I personally am not sold yet on the WBC for a variety of reasons. For starters, if the players get injured, they hurt their major league team. The timing of the exhibition is also odd, as it is taking place at the height of spring training.
Anyway, there are other ways to prep for the fantasy season – check spring training results, injury updates, and minor league prospect reports. Who knows, maybe someone will catch my eye for the 2007 draft? I do not mean to get ahead of myself, but it is not a bad idea to plan ahead if you know that you are going to remain dedicated to one league. All of this prep work and analysis may seem like a lot of work. It is not really. At least not today. Ten years ago maybe, but not today. The fantasy sports websites do all the work for me. I just have to read up on everything. Times have changed. This is the Information Age! Good stuff. Time to go. I think I will save my next post for a post-draft analysis to see if all of my website browsing, preparation, brainstorming and blogging has paid off.
Well, last night it was time to complete one final review of all the on-line fantasy baseball marketing material that I have received. There was a lot to review, because customers in this hobby can be reached in a variety of ways, such as pop up ads, emails, word of mouth (viral marketing) from other league members, television ads and magazine ads. This morning the league reached a decision on which website, we are going to use for the up and coming 2006 season. In the end, we decided to go with the same website that we have used for the past 5 seasons: cbssportsline.com. Are we satisfied with the site or just lazy? Probably a combination of both. Half the league could probably care less, as long as they are in a league. And the other half, including myself decided to browse various sites, review features, monitor updates from previous years, look at the ease of use of the site, review cost, system reliability, etc. There are many aspects to a fantasy sports website and it can be difficult to compare them all. Which is often the case for a lot of things that people try to accomplish on-line - such as purchasing a gift for someone or choosing which email carrier to select. Well, when all was said in done, in our opinion, cbssportsline.com remains a notch above the rest. Now, it is time to finalize a draft date.
How do we go about choosing a draft date? Easily. We post a poll on the website that presents three options. The option that receives the most votes wins. Once the winning date is announced, it is up to everyone to either make it or to come up with an alternative plan. Some people have used conference phones, webcasts and email. Others have sent a replacement owner to select their team - something that I would never do. Sometimes the draft is the best part of the season.
Well, the site is in place and the draft date has been set. However, there is still a lot to do. It is time to go back through all of the websites (again) to focus less on site benefits and more on player analysis. This year, we are presented with an additional way to prep for the season as many major league baseball players are representing their country in the World Baseball Classic. It is almost like the players are trying out for a spot on everyone’s fantasy team. Ok, maybe not, but a strong performance in the WBC will likely prompt someone to draft a player higher than they originally planned. I personally am not sold yet on the WBC for a variety of reasons. For starters, if the players get injured, they hurt their major league team. The timing of the exhibition is also odd, as it is taking place at the height of spring training.
Anyway, there are other ways to prep for the fantasy season – check spring training results, injury updates, and minor league prospect reports. Who knows, maybe someone will catch my eye for the 2007 draft? I do not mean to get ahead of myself, but it is not a bad idea to plan ahead if you know that you are going to remain dedicated to one league. All of this prep work and analysis may seem like a lot of work. It is not really. At least not today. Ten years ago maybe, but not today. The fantasy sports websites do all the work for me. I just have to read up on everything. Times have changed. This is the Information Age! Good stuff. Time to go. I think I will save my next post for a post-draft analysis to see if all of my website browsing, preparation, brainstorming and blogging has paid off.
posted by Peter B at 12:51 PM
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