With my new blog I have been experimenting a little on what subjects to focus on and write about for the upcoming year. As mentioned on my about page, since fantasy is centered on stats and numbers there will be many blogs dedicated to the world of fantasy sports. My day is full of fantasy sports research but I have kept the blogs to a minimum for the time being.  According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) participation has grown over 60 percent the past four years and there are almost 30 million fantasy sports players in the United States alone. There are countless stats on the industry but one sport I want to focus on in this blog is basketball and my experience.

Most of my fantasy sport blogs will breakdown player stats and recommendations of players I am focused on, avoiding or trying to trade.  This blog I am highlighting fantasy basketball as a whole. With the playoffs right around the corner and this season being my first time participating I had some interesting findings. According to the FSTA, fantasy basketball leagues currently sit fourth in popularity behind football, baseball and auto racing. That being said, there are still close to 6 million people participating.

The two styles of leagues I participated in were a yearlong rotisserie style scoring format on ESPN, and a head to head formatted league on Yahoo. As an avid fantasy football player I was automatically attracted to the head to head league through Yahoo.  Comparing it to football where your focus is scoring the most points overall, the head to head category match-up is a great format that forces you to focus on all player attributes, strengths and weaknesses. Even though ESPN’s rotisserie league has the same format of stat categories, without the head to head match-up it was hard to stay focused without providing me any gratification of winning or losing at the end of the week. With all the daily fantasy games available online it seems to me the focus on fantasy sports is starting to push towards instant gratification. Overall I have enjoyed the basketball leagues I am participating in and look forward to its growth in the future.

Every major sports league from NBA to NASCAR understands the importance of fantasy sports and its popularity among its fans. Week in and week out it provides someone the opportunity to get involved in a sporting event that their favorite player or team is not involved in. Where do you see the fantasy sports industry going and what sports will be in the forefront in the upcoming years?