The Growing Popularity of Fantasy

BaseballBy: Alyssa Davis

Chris FaduleLacey Bowman

Part of an 800 million dollar industry Approximately six to seven million people participate Began with a group of guys who played a board game

called American Professional Baseball Association (APBA) and Strat-O-Matic

With these games, every February new cards would come out, and players would buy the cards and play the game by rolling dice

By the 1990’s, fantasy baseball expanded to the computer with a computerized dice roll

About Fantasy Baseball

Some major online sites such as CBS Sportsline, Yahoo, and ESPN make it easy for people to manage their fantasy teams

These companies pay Major League Baseball Advanced Media $2 million per year for the rights of the player’s statistics, photos, and logos on their sites.

About Fantasy Baseball

Research Hypothesis: Fantasy baseball has evolved from a board game in 1951

into a multi-million dollar industry in 2010; this growth, for reasons we will determine with our research, has produced more positive than negative implications.

Research Planning/ Exploration

General Questions

Do more players play annually than casually? Do more people play fantasy baseball because it

makes games more exciting to watch or for the chance to win money?

Do people find immorality in playing fantasy baseball for money?

Do the positive aspects outweigh the negative aspects of fantasy baseball

Does the desire to play for money outweigh the sports betting expansion factor?

Research Planning/ Exploration

Online Questionnaire created through surveymonkey.com, 55 total

responses

1.) How many have times have you played fantasy baseball?

2.) What was your main reason for playing fantasy baseball?

3.) On a scale of 1-5, would you say it is immoral to play fantasy baseball for money?

4.) Do you agree or disagree that the positives of fantasy baseball outweigh the negatives of fantasy baseball?

5.) What is the main factor that contributed to the expansion of fantasy baseball.

Data Collection

One-on-one Interviews 15 total interviews

1.) When did you first hear about fantasy baseball?

2.) How did you first get involved with fantasy baseball? (Choices were the following: Did you create a league of your own? Were you invited by friends to join a league? Did you join an existing public league?)

3.) Which of the following types of fantasy baseball leagues do you prefer to play in? (The choices we gave them were free entry leagues for bragging rights, free entry leagues for prizes, or cash leagues.)

4.) Do you foresee continued growth in the popularity of fantasy baseball in the future? Why?

5.) Do you feel as though fantasy baseball is more of an annual habit or a one-time affair for you and why?

Data Collection

Online Survey Results

1. the answers ranged from 0 times played to 15 times played. 2. the most popular answer was that playing fantasy baseball

makes baseball games more exciting to watch, with the chance to win money coming in a very close second.

3. the most selected answer was “strongly disagree” that playing fantasy baseball for money is immoral.

4. most of the people that filled out the survey agreed that the positive implications, such as entertainment and friendly competition, outweigh the negative implications, such as possible illegal gambling linked to fantasy baseball.

5. the most popular answer was that easier access to online availability is the biggest contributor to the growth and expansion of fantasy baseball.

Data Collection

One-on-one Interview Results

1. the majority of the people said they heard about fantasy baseball by word of mouth.

2. the most popular answer was that they were invited to join a league.

3. the overwhelming majority said that they play for the cash.

4. the majority agreed that fantasy baseball will keep growing because of the easy set- up and availability of many sites that offer fantasy baseball online

5. the answers varied, with several saying they would play fantasy baseball again but haven’t, a few saying they play every year, and a few believing they would not play again.

Data Collection

Use of Descriptive Statistics

It makes baseball games more exciting to watch

for the competition

for the love of the game

to win money

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Which of the following is your most important reason for playing fantasy baseball?

Use of Descriptive Statistics

Use of Description Statistics

2 SHT for the Mean

1SHT for the Proportion

Do the positives outweigh the negatives?Null: the positives do not outweigh the negatives

Alt: the positives outweigh the negatives

Obs. > critical yesP-value< alpha level yes

Reject the Null, the positives do outweigh the negatives

Results

1SHT for the Proportion

Do most fantasy baseball players agree that it is immoral?Null: Most fantasy baseball players do not disagree it is immoral

Alt: most fantasy baseball players disagree it is immoral

Obs. > critical yesP-value< alpha level yesReject the null, most fantasy baseball players

disagree it is immoral

Results

1 SHT for the Proportion

Do half fantasy baseball players credit popularity with internet growth?Null: Half do not credit internet with growthAlt: Half do credit internet with growth

Obs > critical noP-value < alpha level no

Accept the null, half do not credit internet with growth

Results

1 SHT for the Proportion

Do most people get involved by invitations by friends?

Null: Most players do get involved by friendsAlt: Most players do not get involved by friends

Obs.> critical noP-value< alpha level no

Do not reject the null, most players do get involved through friends

Results

2 SHT for the Proportion

Do more people play fantasy baseball because the chance of winning money makes the game more exciting?

Null: More people do not play because it makes it more exciting

Alt: More people play because it makes it more exciting

Obs > critical noP-value < alpha level noDo not reject the null, more people do not play to

make the game more exciting for money

Results

2 SHT for the Proportion

Do more people play fantasy baseball for the love of baseball rather than competition?Null: More people do not play for love of baseball than competitionAlt: More people do play for love of baseball than competition

Obs. > critical noP-value < alpha level no

Do not reject the null, more people do not play for the love of baseball than competition

Results

2 SHT for the Proportion

Does the desire to play for money outweigh the sports betting expansion factor?

Null: The desire to play for money does not outweigh the sports betting expansion factor

Alt: The desire to play for money does outweigh the sports betting expansion factor

Obs. > critical yesP-value < alpha level yes

Reject the null, the desire to play for money does outweigh the sports betting expansion factor

Results

Regression Analysiscorrelation coefficient = -0.19909

slope = -0.0505y-int = 4.7217

What we found

Certain aspects of our research turned out like we expected, while others proved us to be incorrect about some of our very basic assumptions

The third, fourth, and fifth hypothesis tests proved to us that our assumptions that the positive implications of fantasy baseball, such as bringing people together, entertainment, and friendly competition outweigh the negative implications of the possible immorality of fantasy baseball

The main appeal of fantasy baseball is a combination of both making baseball games more exciting to watch and playing for money

Our findings seem to show that fantasy baseball is not as popular today as we had previously assumed.

Our survey findings prove that the online accessibility of fantasy baseball has been the main contributor to the game’s growth.

Reporting

Our most interesting finding came from our first hypothesis test, dealing with the amount of players who play annually compared to casually

This test showed us that not as many people as we previously thought play fantasy baseball consistently year after year.

Since it is a fact that fantasy baseball has expanded from the days of the Strat-O-Matic board game of the 1950’s and the early Rotisserie leagues of the 1980’s, we cannot say that fantasy baseball has not grown and expanded tremendously

Reporting

Improvement Possibilities

Finding more experienced fantasy baseball players to survey may help

Locating fantasy baseball participants through online sites could help to provide a more accurate view of it

Reporting

Questions?