Sports Media & Technology, II: Fantasy, Videogames Discussed

A panel discussion at the 7th Annual Street & Smith's/Players Inc Sports Media & Technology conference titled, “Fantasy Sports’ Emerging Markets,” included Fantasy Sports Magazine Editor Greg Ambrosius, Head2Head Sports Founder Bill Reinking, ProTrade Founder Mike Kerns, EA Sports National Marketing Dir Brian Taptich and Players Inc Senior VP Clay Walker. Walker, on fantasy football advertising: “I think what you are going to see perhaps as early as 2006 is a company like Pepsi really embrace it and put their entire fall campaign around fantasy football. That is where we think a lot of growth is going to come from, a consumer products company embracing it.” More Walker, on the potential international expansion of fantasy gaming: “People that are watching NFL games in Europe tend to be hardcore fans. You really have to look to find NFL games in Europe, Asia or Mexico. I think that’s a ripe market for fantasy.”

NEW TECHNOLOGY: Taptich, on fantasy football: “On the horizon is the ability to integrate our interactive experience with what to date has been a very stats-driven passive experience. So imagine a world where your draft, instead of being done on a piece of paper or through a Web spreadsheet, is actually graphics-driven through your ‘Madden’ game.” Kerns, on content produced from fantasy sports: “The challenge is: can you create a platform interactively where fans can interact with information? When T.O. gets cut, what does that mean to your fantasy team? And can you manipulate that fantasy team immediately through wireless? ... There are derivatives in applied content that come from fantasy sports that I think major media providers are not exploiting appropriately.”

GAMES ON: A later panel on “Video Games and the Next Big Frontier” included EA Sports’ Taptich, Players Inc Assistant VP LaShun Lawson, Massive CMO Nicholas Longano, Amiga VP/Sales & Marketing Gregory Sigel and Harris Nesbitt analyst Edward Williams. Williams said the next generation of videogame consoles, such as Xbox 360, “will allow for more lifelike quality in game play. And they will lend more realism to the quality of the graphics and make the games that much more immersive for those who are playing them.” Williams, on mobile strategy considerations: “With the wireless model, you are trying to figure out what you can charge for the products and the implications of that. For example, if you have ‘Madden’ available on PSP and it is selling for $50 and you put it on a mobile phone for $12, are you devaluing the PSP because you may shift the consumer to the mobile phone?” Taptich said EA Sports’ exclusive deal with the NFL will “make for much greater innovation in the game. ... This allows us to invest freely without fearing for the competition. You can work very closely with the NFLPA and NFL and get unfettered access to, for example, the NFL Films content.”