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Women And Their Fantasy… Sports
by Paul on 11/20/08 at 10:13 AM ET
Comments (4)
from Carly Weeks of the Globe and Mail,
In order to cast their net to a wider audience, an increasing number of fantasy sports companies have started offering simpler games that can appeal to a more mainstream audience - one that doesn’t have the statistics of every player and team in a league memorized.
The changes have helped attract a growing female fan base, who now represent up to 25 per cent of the North American fantasy sports industry, according to some estimates.
“It’s all in fun,” said Jeffrey Thomas, president of the U.S.-based Fantasy Sports Trade Association. “Some [women] will do it to say ‘Hey, I can beat you,’ and it’s fun, and it’s fun competition and it’s fun interaction.”
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Hmmm. I wonder if I’m over-reacting if I read the words “fantasy sports companies have started offering simpler games that can appeal to a more mainstream audience” followed by the words “The changes have helped attract a growing female fan base” and I take that to mean that my gender is a bit slow at understanding complicated “manly things” like sports.
Or perhaps I’m just misunderstanding. 
Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 11/20/08 at 12:47 PM ET
Please don’t use the phrase “dumb down”. Simplicity is a virtue. And don’t confuse a woman with women in general.
Furthermore, it has nothing to do with ability. People don’t play in fantasy leagues just because they’re able to, they do it because they enjoy it. It’s entirely possible that women will, on average, enjoy a “simpler” fantasy league more than a traditional one.
Men and women are most definitely equal (or in some cases, should be), but that doesn’t mean they’re the same.
Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 11/20/08 at 02:55 PM ET
Ryan -
Bill Simmons on ESPN.com has mused on this in the past, and the concept of a “simpler” fantasy league was shot to shreds when he asked his wife to come up with her own fantasy league for something… and she can up with some incredibly-complex system for a Hollywood Fantasy League.
If someone’s not interested, they’re not interested. Simple or complex.
Posted by Primis on 11/21/08 at 12:20 PM ET
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How incredibly stupid. Fantasy Sports have to be “dumbed down” for women? What kind of retarded article is this?
Tell that to my wife, that is in more leagues than I am and runs her own keeper/career league. She only started last season, and she beat me in the Sporting News pool I ran last year, finished 2nd behind me in the NHL.com league we did together, and she’s beating me in both the leagues we’re in together this year.
She gripes that +/- is a stupid roto stat (like any poolie would), makes moves on her teams daily, and obsesses over watching On The Fly to get updated stats from games as they are in progress.
And she only started watching hockey last year.
So tell me again why they need to be “dumbed down” for women?
Posted by Primis on 11/20/08 at 11:47 AM ET