Thursday, June 30, 2011

Fantasy Sports Feeling Lockout Pressure

With Fantasy Football participation numbers unknown exactly (some estimate greater than 24 million annually), it is difficult to get a firm handle on the amount of impact that the NFL lockout has made on the upcoming Fantasy Football season.

While legacy/dynasty and keeper leagues are still maneuvering via trades and rookie drafts, the average fantasy player is in limbo as to what will happen.

Because of the lockout, there are numerous free agents that are available in the NFL. Some prominent fantasy names include Matt Hasselbeck, Marc Bulger, Pierre Thomas, Mike Tolbert, Ronnie Brown, Vincent Jackson, Randy Moss, and Sidney Rice.

These names could all have dramatic impact on your fantasy team if they are signed by a new team that utilizes them well. Tolbert did well for me last year as a backup in San Diego.

However, one caveat to all this is that if a labor agreement is signed late into the off-season, the NFL may decide to force all these free agents to stay with their current teams for one year minimum.

That could dramatically affect production for different players, such as Marc Bulger.  As a backup for the Baltimore Ravens, he has little chance to see the field.  If he signs with a team like the Arizona Cardinals, he could be a top 10 QB this year.  Other examples abound throughout the league.

One other way in which Fantasy may be affected is in overall attention paid to the NFL.  Many pundits point to the rise of Fantasy Football as a major reason why the NFL has grown in popularity over the past decade to the point where it is overwhelmingly the most popular sport in America.

Time will tell, but eager fantasy owners (like myself) are anxious to get the labor dispute settled so that OUR season can start.

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