In the past ten years, fantasy football, and other apps, promotions and sports contests, have become a bona fide boom to bars, and a cottage industry unto themselves.
You’ve no doubt seen friends or coworkers obsessively checking scores on various games to see how the various “players” on their “teams” are doing. Or maybe you’ve broken up with a boyfriend after losing him to the TV every Sunday. Or maybe you were that boyfriend. If so, we’re sorry. If not, then you are not part of the 75 million people who help fantasy football rake in $4.6 billion in the US. If you like betting but find online poker too physically—or financially—strenuous, then get ready to meet your newest hobby/money suck.
For the uninitiated, fantasy is typically a season-long, group activity where real people manage virtual teams comprised of actual professional athletes from multiple teams throughout the league. Technically legal at the federal level, vague state laws have enabled this governmentally challenged but financially rich business to flourish. Currently it is legal in 39 states, with many working on legislation
to bar it. But, like anything, once lawmakers figure out how to get their cut, everyone should fall nicely into line. After settling a much-publicized $12 million lawsuit this summer with NY state, it was game-on once again. Then two weeks ago, DraftKings and FanDuel—apparently there’s simply no time for spaces in fantasy—the two biggest sites in town, announced a merger to fight their common enemy. The message is now loud and clear: Fantasy football is officially too big to fail.
In a 2016 American Express study, it’s estimated nearly one-quarter of the American population—both men and women—will suit up this year. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association claims that while players are 67% male, all involved will spend about $550 on “league-related materials” throughout the season, with 64% claiming they watch “more sports because of fantasy.” So, how do you make this seemingly unstoppable trend work for you? There’s more than a few ways, so go deep and let us pass you the info.
Fantasy drafts, much like actual drafts, are when league players gather to choose the players for their teams that season. Draft Party USA is a Vegas–based company that helps bars plan such parties for patrons. But owner Frank Corto doesn’t consider it strictly a “fanasty” thing, but more a party-planning service, “We leave that aspect of things to the guests.” The company successfully developed packages for local bars, while continuing to grow events in size and scope each year. “We’re now able to offer supplies and provide everything the bar owner could need to deliver a successful event, from the planning stages all the way through to the execution of the event, allowing them to recreate a Vegas-style experience at any bar in any state,” Corto says. The service takes the work out of the bar owner’s hands by providing custom marketing materials including posters, bar decor, table-tents and all online and social media ads at no cost to the venue itself. Fans select from various packages on the company’s site which include things like draft boards, trophies or ‘Draft Hostesses,’ who act as “professional on-site promotional models” who ease the stress of “owners” choosing players for their fake teams and actual owners upsell patrons. Draft Party then collects all player fees, leaving 100% of food and booze sales with the estbalishment, freeing up its servers to concentrate on…well, serving. And while the draft may not be until later this summer, new laws will bring increased competition and it’s never too early to start planning for the big day, in what’s become a rival to Super Bowl sales on-premise. Cadillac Cantina in Hoboken, NJ utilized Draft Party USA’s service this year, and felt that patrons got considerably more for their money. “All the supplies arrived a week before the draft and they helped us set everything up,” according to Manager, Robert Chanda. “The customers were really happy with everything too, and financially, it was definitely better than a regular weekend or our drafts in years past. We will absolutely do it again.”
It’s not just about the draft, though. There’s still plenty of opportunities for added revenue throughout the regular season as well. Odds On Promotions are part of nearly 13,000 events annually—the majority of which are sports-related—and have awarded $45 million in prizes since 1991. The company, which began as a golf event insurance company Hole In One International, later expanded their reach into all sports. “We try to create three things: driving more traffic, collecting data—if that’s something the bar is looking for—and, most importantly, excitement,” says President Mark Gilmartin. Earlier this year, the company launched their Pro Football Challenge app which offers fans the opportunity to make picks to win weekly prizes, as well as a “life-changing season-ending prize” right from their phones. “It obviously doesn’t do a bar any good if people can make picks and win right from their couch,” says Gilmartin, so through a technology known as ‘geo-fencing,’ the user must be on-premise both to enter and to win.
While owners may not be able to literally fence customers in (…yet), the fantastical world of fantasy football—and other sports as well—is something to take a good hard look at for your bar to help score some major points throughout the year.
