COULD FANTASY GAMES KEY SPORTS ON-LINE FOR THE FUTURE?

     In this morning's WALL STREET JOURNAL, Stefan Fatsis
profiles sports in cyberspace.  Noting ESPN's claim to have well
over 10,000 SportsZone subscribers, Fatsis writes that
subscription sites will become more commonplace.  He also notes
while major networks have enthusiastically entered the online
world, many involved believe "a great shakeout in the industry
awaits when the thrill the companies get by going on-line clashes
with the mounting costs of feeding a multimedia department."
Many believe "one niche that may prove to be the Holy Grail of
on-line sports" could be fantasy games.  ESPNET reports 2,000
entrants to its fantasy football league and anticipates 4,000 for
its baseball league.  In addition, the four over-the-air networks
are all developing on-line fantasy games, while on-line providers
such as AOL and Prodigy are looking to "beef up" their fantasy
sports areas (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/28).