Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Fantasy Sports Contests Should Not Be Popularity Contests

I have two basic points to make, both of which illustrate that the daily fantasy contest sites still don't get the big picture.

Recently, Fan Duel launched a survey about possible changes to their football scoring. Almost unanimously on RG, players commented that they would like to see the kicker position removed, since it was too difficult to project K scoring.

This is ridiculous thinking. Kickers decide NFL contests EVERY WEEK. Should they not also decide fantasy football contests?

Why not just remove the pitcher in fantasy baseball? That is a high variance roster spot.

There is a trend of dumbing down contest scoring to make it easier for the average player. Even on Draftstreet (which is my favorite place to play), the salary cap is too soft. You can afford too many studs and you are left with no difficult decisions to make.

I do understand where the contest sites stand on this. They want to appeal to the average Joe Sixpack fan, who thinks he has a fighting chance to win a large field event. And he does on most sites where the scoring has been simplified.

However, what the sites fail to see is that they are shunning their largest rake generators - players like me. I will spend regularly on high stakes contests, provided they have the appropriate skill level attached.

Who is worth more: Me throwing up $1k in entry fees a day, or 100 others throwing up $10 in entry fees a day. Over almost any time frame I'll still be around, while most of those other 100 players will have moved on from the site.

So listen up, contest sites: Add skill to your contests if you want high stakes action. It's really that simple.

1 comment:

Blinders said...

I totally agree. The product on most sites is laughable. If Daily fantasy sports is a hard sell, why would it be easier when you make it vastly different than a real world team (3 pitchers, no kicker, salary cap so loose that you have an all star team every night). I would comment on this at RG, but why help out the competition.