(12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,192.260 B2 Fleming (45) Date of Patent: Jun
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USOO8192260B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,192.260 B2 Fleming (45) Date of Patent: Jun. 5, 2012 (54) METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR A FANTASY 767; E: : 3.29% S. et al. ...................... E. W-1 - Oll . SPORTSDRAFT GAME 7,762,878 B2 * 7/2010 Nicholas et al. .................. 463f4 2004/O110552 A1 6/2004 Del Prado (75) Inventor: Christopher Scott Fleming, Totowa, NJ 2004/0266530 A1 12/2004 Bishop (US) 2006/0252476 A1* 11/2006 Bahou ............................... 463f4 2006/0258421 A1* 11/2006 Nicholas et al. .................. 463f4 2007/0021165 A1 1/2007 Ma et al. (73) Assignee: Sports Draft Daily, LLC, Totowa, NJ 2007/02439.17 A1 ck 10, 2007 Wojewoda et al. 463.9 (US) 2007/0243918 A1* 10/2007 Wojewoda et al. ............... 463/9 2008/0026804 A1* 1/2008 Baray et al. ....................... 463.9 (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 OTHER PUBLICATIONS U.S.C. 154(b) by 702 days. International Search Report and Written Opinion dated Jan. 11, 2010 in corresponding International Patent Application No. PCT/US2009/ (21) Appl. No.: 12/326,258 064936 filed Nov. 18, 2009. (22) Filed: Dec. 2, 2008 * cited by examiner (65) Prior Publication Data Primary Examiner — David E. Graybill (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Lewis and Roca LLP US 2010/O137057 A1 Jun. 3, 2010 (57) ABSTRACT (51) A63FInt. Cl. 3/00 (2006.01) A fantasyantasy sportSports game proV1desides forIOr a league OIof fantasvtIantasy teams, each managed and owned by a fantasy gameplayer. Teams are (52) U.S. Cl. ......... 463/1: 463/4; 463/9: 463/10; 463/25; filled through a player draft of active players followed by 463/42 ranking each drafted fantasy team utilizing current season (58) Field of Classification Search ........................ None player statistics in multiple predefined categories. The rank See application file for complete search history. ings in the various categories are totaled to determine team, and thus fantasy game player, rankings. The player statistics (56) References Cited utilized are current as of the previous night during regular season play, and as of the end of the season between seasons U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS of play. The draft may be an online web application or utilize 5,018,736 A * 5/1991 Pearson et al. .................. 463/29 live Video conferencing. 5,263,723 A * 1 1/1993 Pearson et al. ... ... 463f41 6,758,746 B1* 7/2004 Hunter et al. ..................... 463.9 20 Claims, 3 Drawing Sheets 62 64 NETWORK 66 (INTERNET) 88 70 72 74 Calculate Standings U.S. Patent Jun. 5, 2012 Sheet 1 of 3 US 8,192.260 B2 NETWORK (INTERNET) FIG. 1 U.S. Patent Jun. 5, 2012 Sheet 2 of 3 US 8,192.260 B2 Collect Statistics Calculate Standings U.S. Patent Jun. 5, 2012 Sheet 3 of 3 US 8,192.260 B2 PROCESSOR 20 32 Se 31 28 MEMORY FIG. 3 US 8,192,260 B2 1. 2 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AFANTASY In March 1981, Dan Okrent wrote an essay about the SPORTSDRAFT GAME Rotisserie League for Inside Sports called “The Year George Foster Wasn't Worth S36.” The article included the rules of FIELD OF THE INVENTION the game. Founders of the original Rotisserie league pub lished a guide book starting in 1984. In 1982, Ballantine The present invention generally relates to online games published the first widely-available Bill James Abstract, and, more specifically, to a fantasy sports draft game. which helped fuel fantasy baseball interest. Fantasy fans often used James statistical tools and analysis as way to BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION improve their teams. James was not a fantasy player and 10 barely acknowledged fantasy baseball in his annual Abstract, It is estimated by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association that but fantasy baseball interest is credited with his strong sales. 29.9 million people age 12 and above in the U.S. and Canada Soon the hobby spread to other sports as well and by 1988, played fantasy sports in 2007. A prior study by the FSTA USAToday estimated that five hundred thousand people were showed 19.4 million people age 12 and above in the U.S. and playing. Canada played fantasy sports in 2006 and 34.5 million people 15 In the few years after Okrent helped popularize fantasy had ever played fantasy sports. A 2006 study showed that 22 baseball, a host of experts and business emerged to service the percent of U.S. adult males 18 to 49 years old, with Internet growing hobby. Okrent, based on discussions with colleagues access, played fantasy sports. Fantasy sports are estimated to at USA Today, credits Rotisserie League baseball with much have a S3-S4 Billion annual economic impact across the of USA Today’s early success, since the paper provided much sports industry. Fantasy sports are also popular throughout more detailed box scores than most competitors and eventu the world with leagues for football (known as soccer in the ally even created a special paper, Baseball Weekly, that United States), cricket and other non-U.S. based sports. almost exclusively contained statistics and box scores. The concept ofpicking players and running a contest based Among the first high-profile experts were John Benson, on their year-to-date stats has been around since shortly after Alex Patton and Ron Shandler. Benson became perhaps the World War II, but was never organized into a widespread 25 most famous name in the business in the late 1980s, publish hobby or formal business. In 1960, Harvard University soci ing his first book in 1989 and developing one of the first ologist William Gamson started the “Baseball Seminar draft-software simulation programs. He had a 900 number at where colleagues would form rosters that earned points on the $2.50 per minute (or $150 per hour) in the mid 2000s. players' final standings in batting average, RBI, ERA and Patton published his first book (“Patton's 1989 Fantasy wins. Gamson later brought the idea with him to the Univer 30 Baseball League Price Guide') in 1989 and his dollar values sity of Michigan where some professors played the game. were included in USA Today Baseball Weekly’s fantasy One professor playing the game was Bob Sklar, who taught an annual throughout the 1990s. American Studies seminar which included Daniel Okrent, Ron Shandler published his “Baseball SuperSTATS’ book who learned of the game his professor played. At around the in November 1986. At first the book wasn't meant for fantasy same time a league from Glassboro State College also formed 35 baseball fans, but rather as a book of Sabrmetric analysis. a similar baseball league and had its first draft in 1976. But it wasn’t just baseball that saw new businesses and While those two leagues focused on baseball, it may be growth. Fantasy Football Index became the first annual fan football that produced the first version of the hobby. The tasy football guide in 1987. Fantasy Sports Magazine debuted Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators in 1989 as the first regular publication covering more than one League—began in the early '60s with eight teams and 40 fantasy sport. Fantasy Football Weekly was launched in 1992 included a cadre of Raiders followers from the media and (later becoming Fanball.com) and had $2 million in revenue ticket office including future league executives Scotty by 1999. A large number of companies emerged to calculate Stirling and Ron Wolf. the stats for fantasy leagues and primarily sent results to The landmark development in fantasy sports may have subscribers via fax. come with the development of Rotisserie League Baseball in 45 In 1993, USA Today included a weekly columnist on fan 1980. Magazine writer/editor Daniel Okrent is typically cred tasy baseball, John Hunt, and he became perhaps the most ited with inventing it, the name coming from the New York visible writer in the industry before the rise of the Internet. City restaurant La Rotisserie Francaise where he and some Hunt started the first high-profile experts league, the League friends used to meet and play. The game's innovation was of Alternate Baseball Reality which first included notables as primarily that “owners' in a Rotisserie league would draft 50 Peter Gammons, Keith Olbermann, and Bill James. The teams from the list of active Major League Baseball players hobby continued to grow with 1 million to 3 million playing and would follow their statistics during the ongoing season to from 1991 to 1994. compile their scores. In other words, rather than using statis But the seminal moment for the growth of fantasy sports tics for seasons whose outcomes were already known, the was probably the rise of the Internet in the mid-1990s. The owners would have to make similar predictions about players 55 new technology lowered the barrier to entry to the hobby as playing time, health, and expected performance that real stats could quickly be compiled online and news and infor baseball managers must make. mation became readily available. Because Okrent was a member of the media, other journal While several fantasy businesses had migrated to the Inter ists, especially sports journalists, were introduced to the net in the mid-1990s, the watershed era for online fantasy game. Many early players were introduced to the game by 60 sports was arguably in 1997 when two web sites made their these sports journalists, especially during the 1981 Major debut that forever changed the fantasy sports industry: Com League Baseball strike; with little else to write about, many missioner.com and RotoNews.com. baseball writers wrote columns about Rotisserie league.