DraftKings Enters the UK

Sports fans yearn for more involvement in their favorite sports where for the majority of them the closest they can get is fantasy sports. In the USA and indeed worldwide, fans obsess over statistical analysis in the stat-heavy sports like MLB, NFL with some fans keeping yearly dossiers of statistics that become minor works of art over time.

Every year huge amounts of attention is placed upon the assessment of young players measurements, sprint times and characters in the months leading up to the entry draft of the different sports and then their subsequent sporting development is watched closely. Fans just want to be involved, analyzing how this particular young athlete can fit into their team's lineup and making a more rounded team to go for the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup or whatever the big trophy is in their sport. They love to watch their sport, but this enjoyment is heightened when they can suspend their disbelief and feel like they are more involved than simply being a spectator.

Aside from the hugely popular simulation management games that every year are becoming more and more realistic and immersive, the game that has been around for much longer is the fantasy sports games. Combined with the Internet and the opportunities this brings to both companies and players like has seen a plethora of businesses appear that offers the opportunities for big wins and for the statisticians out there, tons of fun.

One such business is DraftKings and they have entered the UK market, boasting paying out one billion dollars to six million players. The question of today’s article is does the UK present DraftKings with a golden opportunity to grow their business exponentially?

(Photo: Arsenal.com)

It could do. A first glance at their website sees the design appear like a poker room. The games are complex, but this is their attraction. The first game I find is a fantasy (UK) football game, where I select a team of seven players, combining goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, strikers with points being awarded for fouls, goals, assists, crosses and points lost for the game's result, a foul conceded, a yellow or red card. Whilst the players play for their respective teams, they are also playing for me.

What is stimulating for the DraftKings player is a new team in a new sport can be selected every day so the joy of putting together a team and analyzing who to select and why is not a once per year activity, as it used to be. You can also play multiple sports so being bored is out of the question.

When I was at school the Internet was largely in its infancy and the annual fantasy Football league and the picking of teams and the formation of leagues with friends was a big event. The daily newspapers printed the list of players and their price and you filled in your team sheet, by hand of course, and posted it to the newspaper. This sounds archaic these days, but it was great fun and I remember vividly the seriousness my friends had in picking their team and how they argued about which player was worth what money and why their team was best. Dare I say it, some people got really carried away.

Inevitably only a few of the hardened enthusiasts still even knew their team a couple of months into the season. There was not the option of playing every day, picking a new team every day and like so many things online you have the option of doing it more often, on more sports and for bigger prizes. This is attractive in itself.

DraftKings, who now have an office in London and have partnered with Arsenal, Watford and Liverpool to help launch their brand, clearly feel this financial investment will pay massive dividends for them. My view is that it depends on their expectations. Sport in the United Kingdom is not set up like in the USA where a player must be drafted into the professional structure of their sport. It is entirely possible for a club to head to the local park, spot a young talent and offer them a professional contract and have them training with their first team squad by nightfall. Not so in the USA and by having limited draft picks, i.e. the amount of players each team can add into their player pool, they have to research players more diligently and accurately predict if they can develop into either saleable assets or, more preferably, first team players. Things cannot be left to chance as picks are too valuable to be wasted, even though inevitably many do not work out.

(Photo: Globalmgf.com)

Fantasy sports is also more of a cultural phenomenon in the USA than in the UK and I believe this happens for a number of reasons. The way their sports have developed, such as Baseball and American Football, are more stop-start than the UK sports, where the rules of UK Football (soccer) are constantly updated to keep the game flowing and remove the need for play to be halted by referees as often as possible. This is the reason video replay technology has been resisted as it slows down play, despite ensuring that in the multi-million pound arena of professional sports the correct decision is reached more often. The US fans love the tactics, the statistics and the intrigue of the delays. They participate in the fantasy sports and are willing to get down and dirty in the statistics and this is where their love of the sports comes from. The UK fans are not quite so keen in this area, whilst there is an element of statistical enjoyment I believe more fans want entertainment more than mental stimulation.

The intensity of the fantasy sport DraftKings offers is a new concept in the UK and it will undoubtedly need time to catch on. I see where the kernel of the idea to expand into the UK came from though, there is an interest in fantasy sports, not as virulent as in the USA but it does exist. It existed when I was at school and fans remain interested today.

One thing is certain, fans want to get involved in their chosen sports in any way that they can, so if a company like DraftKings are prepared to meet the significant marketing cost that would be required to place their offers in front of enough potential customers to find players willing to give their website a chance, there is a chance many fans, particularly young to middle-aged males, will rediscover their love of fantasy sports and get involved again. I personally think it will work, but perhaps at a level only managed expectations would class as a success.