LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET THE HECK OUT OF THE WAY

Every one of my days is probably like yours. It is filled with priorities and distractions.  Mine has parenting, leadership at Fantasy Alarm and hard work for the FSTA, in that order. My journey in all three lives has taught me different things based on the people I encounter. 

At home, you need to have a sense of control, but at the same time create an environment which allows your children to grow and become more independent each day.  They need to have a routine which affords comfort, yet enough freedom to make mistakes from which to learn.  The key is to allow those mistakes that teach but not hurt and the teamwork with your spouse needs to be both unified and consistent in order to execute the necessary discipline which provides both routine and freedom. Our common goals make this work.

At work, we have a strong team-approach to each area of the business.  I am on most teams and play every role from commanding dictator to worker bee and every kind of person in between.  That is how I believe small companies become big.  You lead, follow AND get out of the way when not needed.  There is teamwork in all that we do and I embrace all three roles for different projects. Our team is the most talented that I have worked with over my extensive career and our common goals make this work.

With the fantasy industry, we alsowork together, but in a different way from the other two. There are two forces pushing against us.  Inside are a group of great people who care deeply about fantasy sports. On the outside, the popularity of fantasy sports, which was escalated by the recent and incredible growth of both FanDuel and DraftKings, has created jealousy, animosity, greed and vengeance from many groups. The gambling industry wants to legalize sports betting and sees the popularity of fantasy, coupled with favorable laws, to be a wedge to help them get there.  The lottery commissions of states are in an uproar that somehow DFS is cutting into their revenues.  Really?

State and Federal lawmakers were trying to sort everything out and, for the most part, just needed an education in order to understand the truth of fantasy sports games.  To be honest, all the lawmakers and office personnel of the Atorney General to whom I have spoken personally, have been supportive of what our industry gives to 51.6 million Americans -- the ability to make the games more fun to watch EVERY DAY! Others who have spoken to the same people offer similar, if not exact, accounts.

FOCUS ON POSITIVE THINGS

First let me say right here AGAIN: FanDuel and DraftKings are operating in New York and Illinois while they are awaiting legislators to decide on what should be done in their states regarding DFS.  In neither state, at this point, is season-long fantasy in jeopardy.  That is still positive and has not changed since December 11 when the stay was granted by the New York Appellate court.  Here are a couple of good stories from yesterday.

HENNY PENNY, THE SKY IS FALLING

So yesterday, in the news there were were also a number of “sky is falling” articles discussing New York and Illinois.  The writers need to speculate less and instead call the offices of the Attorney Generals in an effort to gather facts.  It is easy and convenient to write sensational stories since that is how we are taught to create interest, but both the New York and Illinois Attorney Generals want their legislature to rule on the issue of legality of daily fantasy sports.  They have created the conversation with the goal of getting an outcome the citizens of their respective state want.  The New York Attorney General also seems to want to punish FanDuel and DraftKings for their advertising.  This is not related to the legality of daily fantasy sports but rather to the practices of those companies with respect to their advertising. 

WHO CAN YOU TRUST TO GIVE YOU THE TRUTH

The leaders of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, Paul Charchian and Peter Schoenke can be trusted.  Eric Fisher of Sports Business Journal can be trusted.  Darren Rovell can be trusted.  Steve Gardner of USA Today can be trusted. 

Now, can you trust me?  Well, that is tough.  I am always positive.  The glass is always half-full so if you want to see all the good stories and all of what is great in the fantasy sports industry, then this is the place to be. 

It is tough to figure out how to get to the truth because the waters are so muddy. Let’s take Legal Sports Report for example.  Their site and people have been great about getting the facts straight.  However, a couple of weeks ago, their speculation turned to the sensational.  Let’s just take the last thirty-six hours where all of their work spun negative:

  • Daniel Wallach’s recap of what happened included negative speculation on what the Attorney Generals might do next and worst case scenario speculation in other states.
  • A story about Mark Cuban speaking at the FSTA conference speculated that he would talk about sports betting in his keynote.  There has been no indication of that.  
  • A story about Vulcun eSports, a fantasy sports site no longer offering pay leagues in order to focus on popularizing the sports through games/contests without the rigors of potential regulation, uses a picture of the words “Closing Down”.  They will still operate games to make eSports more fun to watch.

Wonder why there was no story about Indiana asking FanDuel to move to their state?

KEEP THE FAITH AND SPREAD THE WORD

We as an industry can filter the water when other people want to poison it.  We can continue to learn more about the players, teams and sports in an effort to make the games more fun to watch.  We can continue to educate everyone, and I mean everyone.  The fact that fantasy players, people who work at fantasy companies, major media, local media here in New York and many others still believe the companies are not operating in New York is mind-boggling.  Help me get the word out.  There is no reason to not have fun if you live in these states.  Let’s face it, creating a team of your own every night makes the games more fun to watch.