Fantasy sports has been in the buzz lately mainly due to the thrill they’ve been giving their users. For people who still need to learn what a fantasy sport is, here’s a simple explanation of how they work: users select the sport they want to play through a suitable fantasy sports platform. Users get to form their teams by choosing the players of their choice. The user then selects an actual upcoming tournament, and the result of their selected team is based on the performances of players in the actual match.
A brief history of fantasy sports:
The first fantasy sport introduced to the global audience was fantasy baseball. It was in the 1980s. Soon other sports, like football and cricket, came into existence. Fantasy baseball was quite popular and inspired different fantasy sports and communities’ inception. In the 1990s, fantasy sports became popular enough to get themselves a section in the daily newspaper. Due to the rising popularity of fantasy sports, the fantasy sports trade association and fantasy sports writers association was formed.
When did the popularity shoot up?
Fantasy sports became popular as more people got access to the internet. In India, however, a significant rise was observed after 2015. The sport that dominates the fantasy sports industry in India is, undoubtedly, cricket. Cricket is often regarded as the country’s unofficial national sport due to its likability.
Almost every person once dreamt of becoming a professional cricket player at some point in their life. For some people, cricket is a religion, and the players are the gods. This sentiment was the most significant driving force contributing to the massive growth of fantasy cricket in India.
How do fantasy sports have any relevance to the actual sports industry?
All fantasy tournaments require excellent use of skills and knowledge. To succeed in a fantasy match, the users must know each player’s strengths, weaknesses, and talents. To do this, it’s essential for them to stay updated with the latest happenings in the sports industry. Users often binge on past and live matches of their sport of interest and read numerous articles and analyses to understand the strategy and performance of the sportsperson in the actual battles. Keeping this information in mind while building a team is integral because, ultimately, the players make the team win.
The growing popularity of fantasy sports has increased the audience base of actual sports tournaments. It is one of the primary reasons why the sports industry is increasingly becoming an economically strong sector and has been attracting international sponsorships. The most significant selling point of fantasy sports tournaments is the zest they deliver to the users.
The anticipation to see the match’s outcome keeps users and viewers lingering longer in front of their screens. It’s evident that once users win a fantasy match, they feel motivated to try their strategies in future tournaments. It is predominantly apparent that there has been a steep rise in the number of fantasy sports gurus or influencers giving advice and strategies to win fantasy tournaments.