Daily Fantasy Sports Firms Eye Breakout NFL SEASON
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SPORTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2015 Toronto, Baku mull 2024 Games bids as deadline looms LAUSANNE: Toronto and Baku are still mulling over whether to join the race to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games with the deadline for bids looming next week. As it stands there are five confirmed can- didate cities - Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg, inter- ested in staging the four-yearly sporting extravaganza. IOC executive director Christophe Dubi confirmed yesterday Toronto and Baku had yet to make up their minds on throwing their hats into the Olympic ring. “The two cities are still considering and we need a confirmation,” he said at IOC headquarters in Lausanne. Toronto’s potential bid is supported by Marcel Aubut, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee in the wake of the success of the Panamerican Games in the Ontario state capital in July. But in the run up to October’s General Election the cost and possible budget over runs are occupying voters’ minds. Canada has played host to one Olympic Games - Montreal in 1976 which resulted in crippling debts that took decades for the city to pay off. Baku, one of the also rans in the battle to stage the 2016 Games, is basking in the success of this year’s inaugural European Games, held in the Azerbaijani capital in June. But the powers that be in the miner- al-rich former Soviet Union republic are hesitating pitting themselves against heavyweight candidates even if a fresh bid could serve their case well in the future. The two cities have until midnight Tuesday to decide. The modified bidding process involves three stages, with the IOC members voting as to who hosts them in Lima in September BOSTON: In this Wednesday, Sept 9, 2015, photo, Len Don Diego, marketing manager for content at DraftKings, a daily 2017. Rome meanwhile on Friday sent off their official bid letter to fantasy sports company, works at his station at the company’s offices in Boston. The daily fantasy sports industry is eye- the IOC. “The true challenge for the Italian capital begins today,” Rome’s bid committee said in a statement. ing a breakout season as NFL games begin. — AP “Rome....already has much of the infrastructure needed for the 2024 Games in place and will focus on renovation and upgrades to existing facilities - many of which are themselves a legacy of the 1960 Daily fantasy sports firms Olympics,” it added. Rio beat Madrid in an IOC vote in Copenhagen in 2009 to stage next year’s Games with Tokyo chosen to host the 2020 Games. — AFP eye breakout NFL season BOSTON: The daily fantasy sports industry is eyeing a breakout sea- way through the baseball season. Kenneth Fuchs, a vice president at son as NFL games begin. And its two dominant companies, Yahoo Sports, says the Sunnyvale, California-based company has an DraftKings and FanDuel, are touting lucrative opening week prizes to obvious advantage: as one of the biggest players in traditional, sea- try to draw more customers as more competitors pop up. Major tech son-long fantasy sports competitions, it has ready access to a sizeable and media companies, including Yahoo and CBS, are entering the customer base. fray, signaling a potential sea change in the still-evolving market. “We’ve been in the space as a leader for a long, long time,” he said. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins says he doesn’t view the new rivals as a Elsewhere, CBS Sports is offering its own daily fantasy competitions threat, so long as his three-year old company based in Boston contin- under the revived Sportsline brand. But Jeff Gerttula, general manag- ues to succeed. er at CBS Sports Digital, says the company is not trying to go toe-to- “Having a company like Yahoo or CBS join the industry helps if it toe with DraftKings or FanDuel, for now. makes games more mainstream and introduces new players,” he says. Sportsline competitions will generally involve smaller groups of Flush with $575 million in combined new investor capital collected people, offer more modest prizes and require low or no entry fees, he this summer, DraftKings and New York-based FanDuel have been in a said. “We look at it more as a way to introduce a traditional fantasy marketing and promotional duel, each heavily promoting get-rich- audience to daily fantasy,” Gerttula said, noting CBS is in the second quick competitions through slick ads ahead of the season. year of a promotional partnership with FanDuel (DraftKings has simi- TOKYO: China’s Lin Dan dives to return a shot against his DraftKings is offering $25 million in guaranteed prize money for lar arrangements with ESPN and Fox Sports). compatriot Tian Houwei during their men’s singles match of opening week, including a $2 million top prize and a $1 million sec- the Japan Open badminton championship in Tokyo yester- ond prize as part of its marquee contest, the “$10 Million Guaranteed Online customers day. — AP Millionaire Maker.” Industry observers are also closely watching the entry of Amaya, a FanDuel, meanwhile, has guaranteed $12 million in prizes open- Montreal-area online gambling company that owns the popular ing week, including a $1 million top prize for a “Sunday Million” con- PokerStars and Full Tilt poker websites. Like Yahoo, experts say Yamaguchi beats test that it will offer every week of the NFL season. The hefty prizes, Amaya’s daily fantasy offering, StarsDraft, will have an advantage Robins says, show how far the daily fantasy genre has come in just a because of a readily-available pool of online poker customers. Olympic champ Li few short years. The games involve picking teams of real-life athletes The company is also the first licensed gambling enterprise to who score fantasy points based on what they accomplish on the field. wade into daily fantasy sports, which has tried mightily to distance Unlike season-long leagues, daily fantasy players win or lose immedi- itself from the traditional gambling world and even the word “gam- at Japan Open ately each week based on a single performance by each athlete they bling,” based on legal definitions. Daily fantasy sports are legal in pick. “Right now, you’re seeing an unbelievably explosive period of every state except five - Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and TOKYO: London Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui of China growth,” Robins said. “No one can really predict where this is heading. Washington - where they’re either explicitly banned or the law is so crashed out of the women’s singles quarter-finals of the Japan It’s exciting.” Cal Spears, CEO of RotoGrinders, a community forum unclear that companies generally stay away. Open yesterday, as local star Akane Yamaguchi moved toward that’s developed a ranking system for daily fantasy players, says the But traditional sports betting is legal only in four states - Nevada, reclaiming the crown. Yamaguchi, winner here in 2013, beat Li attention-getting campaigns during opening week highlight the Oregon, Delaware and Montana, according to the American Gaming 21-19, 13-21, 21-16, to reach the semi-final where she will face most important single week for drawing in new customers. Association. “Regulation is a major issue, as (daily fantasy sports) former world number one and seventh-seeded Wang Shixian of “Acquiring more customers enables the sites to have bigger tour- appears to be on a collision course with the commercial casino indus- China. naments and more liquidity, which in turn helps them acquire and try,” said Chris Grove, editor of the Las Vegas-based Legal Sports It came a day after reigning world number one Saina Nehwal retain more customers,” Spears said. Daily fantasy companies make Report, which focuses on sports wagering. of India suffered a shock defeat to Japan’s player Minatsu Mitani. money by taking a slice - usually around 10 percent - from entry fees, In the meantime, daily fantasy remains on sound legal footing and Mitani, however, was also ousted from the tournament yesterday which range from $1 for low stakes contests to thousands of dollars. continues to draw seasoned gamblers and novice sports fans. Anjon by her compatriot Nozomi Okuhara, who will fight fourth-seed FanDuel’s “Sunday Million” competition costs $25 to enter, while a Roy, a digital marketing consultant in Mankato, Minnesota, plans to Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan today. few head-to-head contests were available on the site this week for test the daily fantasy waters the first time this NFL season. He admits In the men’s singles field, two-time Olympic gold-medallist entries of $10,600 by each player (the winner netting $9,400 in profit). he isn’t the most avid football fan. and five-time world champion Lin Dan brushed off a challenge But the onetime online poker player believes there’s money to be from fellow Chinese player Tian Houwei 21-14, 21-18. Dominance made, so he’s studying up on strategy and game play. “There are far Lin will face Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia on Saturday. Sixth- Major players coming online this NFL season could eventually more recreational players right now,” he says. “I don’t think people seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan downed Parupalli Kashyap of challenge the dominance of DraftKings and FanDuel, who claim as who play fantasy have that much understanding of the math of the India 21-14, 21-18. He will face Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who much as 90 percent of market share right now, according to industry game. I’m not saying I do yet. But there’s definitely edge to be had for beat South Korea’s Lee Dong Keun 23-21, 21-17.