Fantasy sports are a relatively new age genre of online sports in which many imaginary or virtual teams that are based entirely on a real sport played by real players are assembled. Currently, fantasy sports are hugely trending, and they constitute an industry that is worth several billions of dollars and rapidly growing.
Fantasy sports have their origin in a tradition known as rotisseries, which trace back to the second World War. Fantasy golf is reported to have first been developed in the 1950s, and the first reported fantasy football game being played at Oakland in 1962. This was closely followed by the initiation of the first fantasy baseball league in 1963.
The arrival of the internet era significantly contributed to the mushrooming interest in fantasy sports with even well-known sites such as Yahoo offering its users a chance to play fantasy sports free of cost.
In fantasy sports, be it football, baseball, or any other such competitive sport online, the virtual teams and players mirror the statistics achieved by the actual teams and players. The performance of each competing team and player is then converted into a standardized system of points that are tallied and managed by a fantasy league commissioner. Just as players are recruited, traded, and cut off in the actual games, players in the fantasy sports are also recruited, traded, and cut off.
Significantly, over 58 million people in the country are known to be avid players of fantasy sports, with the industry continuing to boom in leaps and bounds.
Many fantasy sports players are of the opinion that the drafting process is the most exciting part of the online gaming trend, where each team owner takes turns to fill up his roster with the names, statistics, and profiles of the actual players and teams.
The American Fantasy Sports Trade Association has research evidence that indicates that each online player of fantasy sports spends upwards of $450 on these online fantasy sports, with interest being typically divided between football and baseball. These fantasy sports are closely followed by auto racing and basketball.
A shorter, accelerated version of the regular fantasy sports are the daily fantasy sports, in which the virtual game is conducted over the span of a single day or a few days, as opposed to virtual play that mirrors the actual play that goes on for the entire length of a season.
Today, there are literally hundreds of websites and apps that offer fantasy sports, and a huge proportion of Americans state that they commonly play fantasy sports on their smartphones, especially while commuting by public transport.
While some people play simply because it offers a sense of connection to others who share a passion, there are many who are addicted to fantasy sports for the sheer thrill of competition.
