Why doesn't the Cafe create a Fantasy League???

[Drdobs]

So, even though Fantasy sports have been around for nearly 25 years, we all know that it has really begun to proliferate in the last 5. Theortetically, we are very much at the beginning of the Fantasy industry.

The cafe has managed to do a great job of bringing together exceptionally talented players, but nowhere for us to go????

I'm really surprised a crew around here hasn't gotten together, pulled together some investments and started a fantasy sports company to rival all other competitors like CDM Sports, SandBox, CBS Sportsline, Fanball, TQStats, SportingNews, Yahoo, etc.

Is this viewed as just too much work for everybody or something? I mean, we all have to work hard to get anything so would you rather put your next 2-3 years into creating the "ultimate" fantasy site or just be coming back here in 2-3 years wining and complaining about how CBS just jacked their prices, or the MLBPA is now charging to use their names, etc, etc.

Just a thought......

[tlef316]

most people here are either students or have real jobs. The programming, testing and advertisment needed to make a working, economically successful league management site is a big comittment. I know that we have guys around here that are capable of it, but few have the time or energy to jump into the ring with the big companies such as yahoo and sportsline.

[mcqfesijiba]

Actually creating a league really wouldn't be THAT hard to someone with php/sql knowledge. It'd be a bit time consuming to get it just right. The only thing that leaves is an external stats source, particularly if you want live scoring. Most sites use Stats, Inc for their provider, but I'm sure they are rather costly. Of course, if you are going commercial, you might need to account for MLB/MLBPA licensing, but there are ways to legally get around that if you aren't profitting from the game.

[Drdobs]

most people here are either students or have real jobs. The programming, testing and advertisment needed to make a working, economically successful league management site is a big comittment. I know that we have guys around here that are capable of it, but few have the time or energy to jump into the ring with the big companies such as yahoo and sportsline.

I certainly couldn't disagree with the fact the committment would be huge both in terms of time and money. But the fact is, just because most people are "busy" with their jobs is probably not the best excuse not to do it. I'd be willing to bet the majority of those busy with their jobs aren't entirely satisifed and if given the choice to earn an income from a fantasy site and do that for a living, they would would choose the fantasy site. With that being said, thank God we still live in a country where it isn't going to come for free and the onus is on you/I to create the system.

I don't think the "Big" companies are necessarily as "big" as they would appear and there is a lot of room for improvement.

Yes, it would take an awfull lot of time, but if done correctly, could feed the mouths of many households for many years to come...

Jon

[Drdobs]

I think with enough time spent in research and development of a business plan and model, the funding could be secured to develop a site that can be profitable venture.

You never know what windows and doors can open up for you when you venture into something like this. Perhaps, with the right people, you put together a very competative site that ends up being the cornerstone and standard in Fantasy sports. Maybe you develop something that gets pretty big and generates some profits, but doesn't really ever explode and just remains one of the many different offerings out there.

I think the point is that right now, there is a lot to be desired amongs these fantasy providers and that should be capitlized on.

Jon

[Cleveland Steamers]

I like the idea. It would be expensive and time consuming. The marketing would be somewhat hard, but most of the business would come from word of mouth. I would love to earn a living through fantasy baseball, although I dont know how I would go about it.

[mcqfesijiba]

What I've been thinking for a while is that instead of making a fantasy baseball site, maybe an open source fantasy commissioner project should be started. People can host their own PHP/MYSQL files on their own computer using an Apache web server if necessary. Then they would just download the software, which would actually consist of some MYSQL databases and the php web pages. The trouble would be statistics. You can't expect the commissioner to go through and update hundreds of players' stats everyday which is why something along the lines of Stats, Inc is needed. I'm not sure how their service works, but I'm sure you get either direct access to their database or dumps of their databases to provide your stats.

I've considered such a project in the past, not just for my love of fantasy sports, but for a nice little project to put on my resume, but that roadblock about the stats always deters me.

As far as creating a funded method where access to a stats provider may be possible, I haven't even thought about that.

[Drdobs]

I like the idea. It would be expensive and time consuming. The marketing would be somewhat hard, but most of the business would come from word of mouth. I would love to earn a living through fantasy baseball, although I dont know how I would go about it.

The key is really gathering the right group of people and funneling their talents into the right direction to produce something of real value. Everybody has something they can add to the league, but how is it that as a group we can hanress all the talents of those involved.

I know if I had the proper programmers, and they'd have to be good, at my displosal as well as a solid group of people willing to do some good research and market analysis, I could find the funding to produce such a site.

Jon

[Drdobs]

I've considered such a project in the past, not just for my love of fantasy sports, but for a nice little project to put on my resume, but that roadblock about the stats always deters me.

As far as creating a funded method where access to a stats provider may be possible, I haven't even thought about that.

First of all, I'm not a fan of open sourcing anything as it limits the income potential.

Second, you said you think it would be "cool" to add to your resume. What would you ever need a resume for??? You can't look at a project like this in a small scale otherwise you are likely to go as so many do and spend a lot of time for virtually no money.

This "program" would be THE income revenue stream for the rest of your life! But to do it, you must commit a very strong business approach to it. Open sourcing anything for people to download and hack may offer some advantages, but generally the disadvantages far outnumber the positives.

Last I checked, I think Microsoft and Apple are doing a bit better than Red Hat.

Jon

[mcqfesijiba]

As a currently unemployed person who recently graduated from college with a BS in Computer Science, having projects on your resume is a good thing. As far as why I would consider open source, because everything doesn't have to be about making money. Of course it limits income potential. People don't usually open source stuff to make money. Open source is about the community it creates.

Open source has many advantages and disadvantages. This isn't the place to get into that, but remember most people here like to play free Yahoo fantasy baseball. Kind of like how I use Open Office, rather than Microsoft Office.

I've considered such a project in the past, not just for my love of fantasy sports, but for a nice little project to put on my resume, but that roadblock about the stats always deters me.

As far as creating a funded method where access to a stats provider may be possible, I haven't even thought about that.

First of all, I'm not a fan of open sourcing anything as it limits the income potential.

Second, you said you think it would be "cool" to add to your resume. What would you ever need a resume for??? You can't look at a project like this in a small scale otherwise you are likely to go as so many do and spend a lot of time for virtually no money.

This "program" would be THE income revenue stream for the rest of your life! But to do it, you must commit a very strong business approach to it. Open sourcing anything for people to download and hack may offer some advantages, but generally the disadvantages far outnumber the positives.

Last I checked, I think Microsoft and Apple are doing a bit better than Red Hat.

Jon