Pro football was the nation’s most popular sport — and the highest-grossing — long before there was a fantasy version. But it wouldn’t be nearly as popular or financially successful without it.
The reason: Fantasy fans put together a hypothetical team of real players from teams across the country, and that’s changed the way people follow the sport.
It used to be that NFL fans mostly paid attention to local games, tuning into big, nationally broadcast games now and then. Now every game — even those involving last place teams thousands of miles away — can be crucial to a fans’ fantasy team. The upshot: people are watching a lot more football, making those out-of-town games more valuable to the league than ever.
A year ago the league renewed its exclusive contract with DirecTV to show those out-of-market games, for an average of $1.5 billion a year. That’s $500 million a year more than the previous contract. The league also started NFL RedZone, a premium cable channel with highlights and up-to-the-minute fantasy stats.
Stadiums now list fantasy stats of other games on their scoreboards so fans can follow along. And teams are upgrading wireless and wifi coverage in stadiums to help fans stay up-to-the-minute.
But it’s not just the league raking in more money thanks to fantasy games. The fantasy companies themselves are also big winners.
CNN Money
How Fantasy Sports Changed The NFL
By Chris Isidore