“Until there is definitive word from the league, we are proceeding as if the season will not be impacted by the lockout,” Yahoo’s David Geller, a fantasy football product manager, wrote in an e-mail. “This means we will continue with our standard development and release schedule for the fantasy football game.”
‘Uncharted territory’
Geller indicated it was too soon to assess the impact of the lockout on Yahoo because its fantasy football registration does not begin until later this week. But CBSSports.com, meantime, is trying to attract customers now with discounted fees for early registration and a “Gridiron Guarantee” that promises credit or a refund if games are lost or the season is canceled.
Still, it’s all but unthinkable that players would make substantial financial commitments to fantasy football while labor strife is threatening the start of the regular season, multiple games or the entire schedule.
“We’re really in uncharted territory here because since the fantasy industry has matured, we haven’t had a really significant work stoppage that’s been meaningful to us,” Charchian said. “Clearly if there’s lost games, there will be fewer fantasy leagues. I don’t think there’s any way around that.”
That also means fewer fantasy football draft parties, which generate sales during a period when the restaurant industry is annually at its most sluggish, according to food service experts. At Buffalo Billiards, a popular destination in the District on NFL Sundays, owner Mark Handwerger, himself a member of several fantasy leagues, estimated he would lose tens of thousands of dollars if the lockout compels fantasy football players to abandon draft parties.
Handwerger also said that if the lockout isn’t settled by mid-June, he would not travel to Las Vegas to participate in the World Championship of Fantasy Football, a high-stakes competition that stages player acquisition conventions in four cities across the United States.
Tom Lawler, a lobbyist who lives in the District, travels as well for his league’s draft, but the trip to Waco, Tex., could become a casualty if the lockout persists. Lawler, who has played in his league for roughly a decade, said he devotes approximately $1,000, which includes travel, food and lodging, to fantasy football each year.
“Everybody’s got schedules and various other interests,” Lawler said. “Once [fantasy football participation] falls off, something else is going to take its place, and I think that’s the biggest concern that the league has. Once everybody goes away, how do they get them to come back?”
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