Baseball Courts Fantasy Crowd

A Growing Audience

The number of fantasy baseball players is less than half of the 12 million people who play fantasy football. In 2005, fantasy football revenue topped $711 million, roughly 44% higher than the $494 million generated by baseball, according to a study by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. (That doesn't include advertising revenue.)

The reasons for the disparity in participation between football and baseball are many. Most notably, football is a simpler fantasy sport for the casual fan -- NFL teams play 17 games a season, while baseball teams play 162.

Major League Baseball is hoping that the online game will help increase interest in the sport. Last year, the MLB paid $50 million to the Major League Players Association to take over the licensing of the games. It awarded deals to popular sports sites including Yahoo!, Walt Disney's (DIS) ESPN and CBS's(CBS)CBS SportsLine.

"We want people connected to the game," says Jim Gallagher, a spokesman for MLB.com, baseball's cyber arm. "Fantasy baseball is a great way to do that."

Web sites are trying to expand the game's appeal.

CBS SportsLine added a free game this year, Fantasy Baseball Basic. ESPN has added content to its site for players. Yahoo!, which has the most fantasy players, has also improved the functionality of its baseball game and added a feature that lets players "talk smack" to their opponents.

The challenge for Web sites is to expand the appeal of fantasy baseball without alienating its core fan base.

CBS SportsLine is hoping to make fantasy baseball appealing to younger fans. "The barrier to entry now doesn't exist," explains Bill Binenstock, the site's vice president in charge of consumer affairs. "Because there is no credit card [required], younger people can play."

ESPN is taking more of a wait-and-see approach to fantasy baseball, and for now continues to charge for its games -- though it does offer a free football contest.

"What we are doing is sitting back and looking at it really closely [to] try and change the game going forward,'" says Paul Melvin, a spokesman for ESPN.

Earlier this year, CDM Fantasy Sports filed a suit challenging baseball's right to license the fantasy games.

The company is arguing that the MLB is trying to unfairly limit the use of player statistics, a claim Gallagher denies.

Regardless, Web site operators say that the lawsuit hasn't bothered consumers, more of whom are signing up to play the sport this year.

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