Daily fantasy sports has become a billion dollar business seemingly overnight, with industry juggernauts DraftKings and FanDuel spending tens of millions battling each other for new users and visibility. Yet even with such vast sums of money being thrown around, neither has been able to capture a significant portion of the market when it comes to participants of traditional fantasy sports games.
A new mobile application, eloquently named "Draft", has positioned itself to capture the millions of users DraftKings and FanDuel are failing to reach, and in doing so will help daily fantasy sports (DFS) go mainstream among hardcore and casual sports fans alike. Launched in December of 2014 by Jeremy Levine, it took Draft only 3 months to raise $3.5 million in Series A Funding. Levine, who sold his previous daily fantasy sports startup StarStreet to DraftKings for an undisclosed amount last summer, quickly realized there was a giant vacuum in the DFS market waiting to be filled.
"There are 57 million fantasy sports players, yet only 2.5 million of them participate in daily... mostly because it's to much of a time commitment or they're afraid of playing against 'sharks' and other advanced users," explains Levine. "We looked at mobile gaming applications and realized that the most successful ones were turn-based, and so we asked whether it was possible to build a daily fantasy sports application that mirrored the slower, more user-friendly experience of such games. What we've built with Draft is essentially Words With Friends, but instead of making a word you are picking a player.”
Upon opening the app, users click a button to start a new draft and are prompted with the amount of money the want to play for (ranging from $0 - $50). They are then asked if they want to play against a friend, or be matched with a random opponent who is interested in playing for the same amount. Once the players are matched, a snake draft commences in which each user selects a total of five players (1 quarterback, 2 running backs and 2 wide receiver/tight end flex positions) through a simple drop down menu and search function. Once all 10 player selections are made, the rosters are locked and users can move on to another draft.
The simplicity of playing Draft is also it's greatest weapon against traditional DFS platforms. A user friendly interface that makes finding players simplistic and less time consuming will translate better to player retention and engagement. Moreover, the one-on-one nature of the game is far less intimidating and complex than then other sites that have tens of thousands of participants playing in a single pool.
"If we get this right, we're going wider than the 50+ million fantasy players today," Levine says, continuing "We're going to anyone who watches any football at all."
With the right marketing and a little luck, the sky is the limit when it comes to Draft's potential. DraftKings and FanDuel have raised more than $500m combined over the last calendar year, and investors are clamoring to find the next big product in daily fantasy sports. Draft just might be the unicorn they're looking for.
Jason Belzer is Founder of GAME, Inc. and a Professor of Organizational Behavior and Sports Law at Rutgers University. Follow him on Twitter @JasonBelzer.
