If you were a follower of cricket and had played the cricket fantasy earlier introduced by ESPN, this game is nothing but a similar one played with Footballers. You will be selecting players that you think will perform the best in the football leaguethats going to begin soon and everyday specialists team analyses the players performance and awards points to the players that perform well. If your "Virtual" team got the highest points , you are to win grand prizes.
What is new, however, is the growing number of pay-to-play leagues. According to market-research firm comScore Media Metrix, as many as 20 million people are paying to play fantasy sports in the United States, and most are vying for cash prizes if they win.
One of these leagues, the inaugural Fantasy Football Open Championship ( www.ffoc.com), has recruited former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice to be its commissioner and will award a $1 million grand prize for fantasy football. Buy-in for this league is $125; the top 15 finalists will receive a trip to Las Vegas to attend the event finale and compete for additional cash prizes.
Other leagues, many of which are run by individual players using engines on Yahoo Sports, CBSsportsline.com and ESPN.com, are doling out much smaller potatoes - anywhere from $500 to $5,000.
Marcus Njissang, a student who lives in Oakland, recently paid $113 to join a 10-team fantasy league that includes family and friends.
The league is run on CBSsportsline.com; at the end of the season, the owner who comes out on top earns about $800. While Njissang says he doesn't consider his activities in the fantasy league to be gambling, the payout is an extra incentive to do well.
"It's like poker, in a way, since everyone thinks that they can beat the other and they're willing to put money on that belief," he says. "The money aspect is more of an extra incentive."
Mike Tannenbaum, an investment analyst who lives in the Oakland hills, recently forked over $50 to compete in a 10-team league run through Yahoo. The league will pay the winner somewhere around $400.
While Tannenbaum says the prospect of pocketing this cash is nice, he notes that he really joined the league for the chance to "talk smack" with his wife's cousins.
"The sum is insignificant to me," he says. "I am only doing it to have some laughs with family members."
Whatever the motivation, fantasy football could end up being a lucrative endeavor. One caveat: Manage your team wisely. Success in these competitions requires a significant investment of time and energy. Take it from one who has learned the hard way; I have never finished higher than seventh, and that was in an eight-team league.
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