Third and goal from the six-yard line. The Broncos are going to score. But wait, I don’t want Emmanuel Sanders to score because I have Demaryius Thomas on my fantasy team. I, like the 33 million other people who watch football religiously, don’t root 100 percent for the home team because of fantasy football.
There are two things wrong with fantasy football. It has destroyed my fanatical loyalty to the Dolphins, and it brings up the question of whether or not fantasy football is gambling.
Let’s address the loyalty point first. Last year, when I went to the Dolphins-Patriots game, I had tight end Rob Gronkowski on my team, so I wanted him to score more than I wanted the Dolphins to win—even though I am a diehard Dolphin fan who hates the Patriots. Fantasy football generates a lot of attention and has increased the popularity of the game, but it has limited the amount of fan loyalty. The enthusiasm is there but for the wrong reasons. More people are checking their phones for individual players’ stats than watching the action. I, too, am a victim of the same “fantasy” disease.
The second question is, “Is fantasy football gambling?” Of course, it is. The NCAA has banned student-athletes from participating in any fantasy league for any fantasy sport. I completely understand the NCAA’s ban and remember vividly that one of my favorite baseball players, Pete Rose, was banned from MLB and has never been allowed in the Hall of Fame because of gambling. Some fans have advanced the idea that the NCAA could set up policing policies to determine which fantasy leagues are free and which ones do in fact constitute gambling. What a mess that would be. It would take a full-time task force to determine which student-athlete paid $20 to join a league and which ones did not. The NCAA has made a wise decision for student-athletes.
However, the question is really for the rest of us. While I am not a gambler, I don’t understand why people want to limit the fantasy leagues that charge money. I have heard that gambling can get out of hand and some people could conceivably lose a lot of money. That can be true of anything: a guy who likes Italian food, eats far too much pasta and ends up with a weight problem. We cannot protect everyone from himself or herself. Fantasy football and its gambling is a victimless crime because no one is forced to join a league.
Fantasy leagues, particularly football, are big businesses. Americans spend an estimated $800 million on fantasy sports media products, so the fantasy leagues are not going anywhere. Whether it is gambling or not does not make a lot of difference. It is here to stay.
I could write volumes more, but right now, I need to make a trade.
