If you did not have the pleasure of attending the 2014 Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) Winter Conference in Las Vegas, or are an attendee who would like additional information about our Elevator Pitch, please see the outline below. While it is essentially a simple tweak of the traditional Daily Fantasy Football model, its potential is indeed great – especially when viewed in concert with a Pro Football Focus Fantasy partnership.
Premise
Floating player salaries in daily fantasy football salary cap games.
Daily Fantasy Football has a unique opportunity that other sports do not. The five-day incubation period before a majority of the games take place is currently an untapped resource. We feel that the floating salary concept will drive week-long interest and allow that relatively dormant period to be capitalized on.
Structure
Weekly player salaries will be announced each Tuesday of the 2014 NFL regular season. They will immediately fluctuate based on demand by site participants (“gamers” or “users”). Prices will lock before the kickoff of that week’s games or at such time as stipulated in a particular league’s rules.
Gamers can add (“purchase” or “buy”) players to their roster at whatever the current (“market”) price is, and that salary will be locked for as long as the player remains on the roster. If the gamer drops (“releases” or “sells”) the player to pick up another at his position, the original player’s salary automatically defaults to the current price, and the player can only be purchased again at the current market price. If a purchased player’s salary falls while on a gamer’s roster, that player can have their salary renegotiated to the lower/current amount at any time.
The total salaries of all players at a position will remain the same throughout the week. If one player’s salary rises by $1,000, every other player at that position will have their salary fall at a proportional rate to absorb that $1,000. The inverse is also true, and if a player who has been rostered is dropped by enough site users to negatively affect their salary, the rest of the players at his position will see their prices rise at a proportional rate.
Appeal to Users
Accurate Pricing – Current salary cap games with static prices inevitably allow for obvious bargains and overpriced players due to inaccurate projections/salaries. Sharper prices will directly lead to more diversified rosters throughout each league.
Diversified Rosters – Currently, the core of many teams is essentially the same. This is undesirable, and gamers take on more risk than they would like when choosing their lineup, in an attempt to make it stand out from the rest. The floating price model will more organically promote roster diversification.
More Relevant Player Pool – Sharper pricing will lead to fewer players being eliminated from consideration. Just as with players whose prices eventually climb too high to be rostered, when the prices of lesser players fall they will naturally create values, resulting in fewer zero-percent owned players than in static price games.
A unique game structure that calls for increased strategy in lineup setting and maintenance, as well as week-long site interaction with a continuous flow of new information, will appeal to an increasingly savvy daily gaming market. The same quarterback will still be owned by two gamers, but depending on what price that player was locked in at, purchasing power for the balance of their lineups will be different.
Revenue Sources
1 – The current model of daily fantasy games (percentage of the buy-in) is successful and will continue to be the primary driver of revenue.
2 – Greater site interaction will spawn exponentially increased page views. Current formats require price checking and lineup setting by gamers, often during the same visit and rarely more than a handful of times per week on average. Floating salaries will prompt continual web traffic. Other ideas for driving site interaction include Twitter price change alerts, salary announcement promotions (“IPO Tuesdays”), analysis articles, and expanded rosters.
3 – The new format lends itself to the inclusion of nominal transaction fees, after the initial lineup is set. From a penny to a nickel, depending on the size of a league’s buy-in, it will be a tiny price for users to pay to maximize their lineups and insure their initial investment. However, for site owners it possesses cumulative potential as the game begins to become more popular.
Pro Football Focus Fantasy Partnership
Initial salaries will be based on PFF Fantasy’s Accuracy Award-winning rankings and projections. Sharp pricing from the start will minimize obvious bargains that stay locked into lineups throughout the week, which will lead to more site interaction and accumulation of transaction fees.
PFF’s established following and subscriber base will be crucial from a marketing and promotions standpoint.
PFF’s excellent reputation in the NFL and fantasy industry will serve as an additional layer of legitimacy during a time when the Daily Fantasy Sports industry is just gaining a foothold in the fantasy community.
What we are looking for
The first site that successfully brings this idea to market will have a leg up on subsequent competitors. However, doing it right (functional/reliable site, ease of navigation) will win the day as long as the consumers trust the product from a reputational standpoint. The outline above allows us to capture all three elements.
We are looking for a partner with either an already established site that has the capability of rolling out a streamlined platform to make a more detailed daily game format easy for users to navigate, or interested investors with the wherewithal to do the same.
If you are interested in hearing more about the pitch or getting involved, please do not hesitate to contact Mike Clay or Patrick Thorman. Thank you.
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