Published December 23, 2005
 |
Demand For Fantasy Football
Causes Problems For Some Sites |
Several fantasy football Web sites this season have “suffered from outages and
other glitches that have left many players infuriated,” as officials from some
services said that demand “outstripped projections,” according to Delaney & Kesmodel
of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. ESPN.com offered for the first time this season a
free fantasy service, and the company said that it drew “five times as many players
as it had in the past.” ESPN Senior VP/New Media John Kosner e-mailed an apology
to players in mid- September after problems with the Web site. Kosner said that
ESPN.com “ran into network troubles at a data center” the first week of the season,
then in Week Two “encountered problems trying to access the [NFL’s] official data
‘feed’ of game statistics.” He added that the site “has since avoided any major
mishaps.” Delaney & Kesmodel report Yahoo’s fantasy services were “unavailable
for a portion of Nov. 30.” Yahoo entertainment and sports head David Katz said
that the service “was out for a few hours,” adding that the inconvenience “was
minimal ... since the outage happened mid-week.” However, Deadspin.com Editor
Will Leitch said that he received 70 e-mails in 90 minutes that day regarding
the problems. CBS SportsLine.com Exec VP Steve Snyder, whose company charges $150
per league, said, “There is no Sunday that goes by without some problem. Your
customer service has to be really good.” Delaney & Kesmodel note New Jersey resident
Ori Schwartz this year launched a free, ad- supported fantasy site called FleaFlicker.com,
and he said that the site “attracted several hundred users who abandoned other
services” (
WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/23).
