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Small-Business Fantasy Football

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) recently burst on the scene as a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Every sports fan in America has seen commercials for these contests, and they provide a fun (and often expensive) way to add enjoyment to watching NFL games.

Because these short-term contests carry many similarities to wagering, the lawmakers of many states have stepped in and provided much-needed regulation to the industry. Traditional season-long fantasy contests, though they are entirely different in nature, have by association fallen under the same scrutiny, which can be a good thing.

However, the regulatory requirements and often expensive licensing fees meant for the mega-giants of daily fantasy sports can put onerous restrictions on the small businesses who provide season-long hobby-level contests. Especially when the regulations are written to target daily games, with little understanding of how traditional fantasy games work.

We've prepared this short comparison of large daily providers to small-business season-long providers in order to help regulators and customers understand the struggle.

Season-Long Games	Daily Fantasy Games
▶ Personal commissioners attend to every league individually, providing a service on very thin margins. This personal service is typical of small operators.	▶ Games begin and finish daily, with serious money changing hands on short notice rather than once a year, providing leverage for large operators to deal in billions of dollars.
▶ Owners purchase a team in the preseason and manage it all year long. In fact, "keeper" or "dynasty" leagues are a common variant, in which owners keep the same players on the same team for years.	▶ Contests last hours or at most days, so customers develop no pride of ownership.
▶ Small ten- or twelve-team leagues and the length of the season help promote camaradarie and friendship between hobbyists.	▶ Contestants never meet one another in these mega-contests, so the focus is generally on winning money rather than sharing a fun time.
▶ Team managers draft together, then make lineup decisions, trade players back and forth, and pick up players from free agency every week, resulting in literally hundreds of decisions by each owner.	▶ There is no draft, no free agency, no trading, no team management whatsoever beyond the initial selection of players.