This dissertation analyzes the transformation of fantasy sports from a deviant, outside-the-mainstream fan culture to a billion-dollar industry that comprises almost 20 million North American participants. Fantasy sports are games in which participants adopt the simultaneous roles of owner, general manager, and coach of their own teams of real athletes and compete in leagues against other fantasy teams with the individual statistical performance of athletes determining the outcome of the match and league standings over a season. Through an analysis of how fantasy sports institutions are co-opting an existing fan culture, the dissertation seeks to contribute to an emerging body of scholarship on the communication dynamic between fans and media institutions in the digital age. In order to understand this cultural shift within the context of fantasy sports, it focuses on three research questions: What is the history of fantasy sports? Why do fantasy sports stimulate avid and engaged fan behaviors? How do fantasy sports institutions communicate with fantasy sports fan cultures? The methodology employed in this study combines both an ethnographic approach and textual analysis. Personal interviews were conducted with fifteen decision makers from fantasy sports companies such as SportsBuff, Rotowire, Fantasy Auctioneer, Mock Draft Central, Grogan's Fantasy Football, CBS Sportsline, and ESPN. In addition, textual analysis of the communication strategies of fantasy sports institutions as well as an examination of fantasy sports fan behaviors are used to explicate and clarify the fantasy sports phenomenon. The fantasy sports industry has co-opted fantasy fan culture not only with considerable success but also with important implications for communication research. This dissertation illustrates the processes by which fantasy sports institutions have analyzed their audience and strategically facilitated fantasy fan culture for commercial gain. While institutions have had difficulty in the past managing the mass market commercialization and monetization of grassroots cultural products, the mainstreaming of fantasy sports has resulted in growth across most industry platforms. As a consequence, it serves as a case study for the ways that persuasion functions in today's communication marketplace where the audience has become a critical player in both the production and consumption of media.

Last modified

• 09/06/2018

Creator

• Ben Shields

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/N2BB2T

Subject

• Media, Technology and Society

Keyword

• sports
• popular culture
• audience studies
• fan culture

Date created

• 2008-04-22

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright