David M. Houghton
Edward L. Nowlin
Doug Walker
and Bryan T. McLeod

Fantasy sports is a favorite form of sports consumption, and sports betting is becoming increasingly more popular and accessible. Following the recent Supreme Court decision concerning legalization, many fantasy sports operators are now incorporating sports betting into their platforms to capitalize on this opportunity. However, little research examines the motivations behind why some fantasy players bet on sports while others do not. Using a trait-based model, we investigate the likelihood that fantasy sports players would also engage in sports betting, revealing that traits are...Read more

Vojtěch Kotrba

This paper aims to answer the question of whether fans discriminate against foreign athletes. It uses data from the fantasy sports environment. The sample consists of 11 rounds in the football competition in Czechia during the 2015–2016 season. A total of 8,036 people participated in the game, and they completed a total of 53,951 squads. The final dataset consists of 3,741 observations of a specific footballer in a single round. The results show that Czech fantasy sports users prefer domestic players. The influence of the players’ origin varies depending on the region they are from. The...Read more

Brody J. Ruihley
Andrew C. Billings
Coral Rae

Fantasy sport now involves over 41 million Americans (Fantasy Sport Trade Association, 2014). Past research has identified reasons why adults are motivated to participate; yet little research has focused upon why younger participants—a key demographic for the growth of the industry—are participating. Utilizing 1,360 online questionnaires pertaining to player’s demographics, habits, consumption, and motivations, comparisons were made between the 12-19 year-old demographic and other older age groups. Teen motivations for participation varied considerably from other age demographics, as this...Read more

Brendan Dwyer

Guided by the Attitude-Behavior Relationship framework, Drayer, Shapiro, Dwyer, Morse, and White (2010) qualitatively developed and proposed a conceptual model to explain the relationship between fantasy football and National Football League (NFL) consumption. Within this framework, it was proposed that in-season game outcomes related to one’s favorite NFL team and fantasy football team impact a participant’s attitudes and trigger additional NFL consumption. Utilizing a pre-post research design, the purpose of the current study was to assess a fantasy participant’s attitudinal and...Read more

Joseph E. Mahan III
Joris Drayer
Emily Sparvero

The sports gambling industry represents a multi-billion dollar enterprise composed of a variety of activities, the composition of which is under constant debate. Among the topics of importance is the effect of sports gambling (both legal and illegal) on the attitudes and behaviors of sport fans. In particular, investigation into the nature and extent of involvement in activities such as betting on sport events and fantasy sport participation—along with any resultant effects on attitudes and more ‘traditional’ forms of sport fan behavior— could be of interest to sport marketing scholars and...Read more

Brendan Dwyer
Stephen Shapiro
Joris Drayer

Fantasy sport consumer behavior research is a burgeoning area of inquiry as this growing segment of sport fans exhibits unconventional, yet robust media consumption habits. In addition, consumer motivation and market segmentation represent core principles within the study of marketing, yet the integration of these two essential concepts with regard to sport consumers is limited. The purpose of this study was to explore fantasy baseball motives, develop a motive-based taxonomy of users, and quantify the differences between segments through an examination of mediated sport consumption. An...Read more

Young Ik Suh
Paul M. Pedersen

The purpose of this study was to examine participants’ perceptions of the service quality of fantasy sports websites and to understand the relationship between service quality, satisfaction, attitude, and actual usage associated with the websites. Furthermore, this study compared the proposed service-quality model with a rival model to examine the role of satisfaction and attitude as mediating variables. The proposed service quality measure consisted of four perceived service quality dimensions (i.e., ease of use, trust, content, and appearance). A convenience sample of 279 participants...Read more

Anita M. Moorman

The fantasy sports industry continues to present interesting legal issues for sport managers. Last year, this column featured a discussion of C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (2006, 2007) which held that an operator of a fantasy sports league was not infringing on the players’ state law publicity rights and that the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution preempted the players’ state law publicity rights (Grady, 2007). The case that is the subject of this column identifies yet another issue surrounding fantasy sports. In Humphrey...Read more

John Grady

Fantasy sports have become an increasingly popular outlet for average sports fans desiring “ownership” in a fantasy professional sports league. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (2006), 15-18 million players participate annually in fantasy sports leagues. “With fantasy sports generating an estimated $100 million in revenue and growing at a 7%-10% [rate] annually, unions and leagues see a lucrative opportunity to cash in on players’ names and performance” (McCarthy, 2006. p. 1). Given the driving force behind fantasy sports is the combined use of player names and statistics...Read more