Introducing the RotoGrinders DFS Timeline
The evolution of the Daily Fantasy Sports industry is a topic of mythical lore. Who was the first site? Where did the idea come from? Did FanDuel really start off as something other than a DFS site? Was the UIGEA really the very beginning of DFS as we know it today? When did RotoGrinders open its doors?
These are all questions that myself, and I’m sure many of you have had when taking a step back from making your lineups and thinking about how we got to where we currently are as an industry.
Well, RotoGrinders’ very own Jonathan Moreland has done all the work for us and created a very detailed and intricate DFS timeline that covers DFS from its inception to its current state today and all the goodness that comes with it.
Click here to check out the DFS Timeline, brought to you by RotoGrinders
So for today, let’s not worry about whether or not you should roster Russell Westbrook (hint: you should totally roster Russell Westbrook). Instead, let’s take a few minutes to peruse this excellent offering. Some of the highlights are listed below:
•October 13th, 2006 – The UIGEA bill was passed and made playing online poker illegal in the United States. This paved the way for Daily Fantasy Sports, as it was made clear that fantasy sports are explicitly legal within the United States. Eight months after the signing of the UIGEA, Fantasy Sports Live would run its first public contest in June 2007.
•January 1st, 2009 – FanDuel launches as a web-based prediction market game, FanDuel would later grow to be the biggest name in Daily Fantasy Sports as we know it today. Shortly after their launch, FanDuel raised $1.2 Million of funding in Series A, which was a precursor to their entering the daily fantasy space in July 2009.
•July 9th, 2009 – Founded by Cal Spears, Riley Bryant and Cameron MacMillan, RotoGrinders launches as the first site to provide daily fantasy strategy and content. RotoGrinders has gone on to partner with NBCSports, among other big names in the industry.
•December 5th, 2010 – The first FFFC is hosted, with a $40,000 prize pool and Joe Vance walking away as a $25,000 grand prize winner. The FFFC would grow to $10 million prize pool by 2014 with a $2 million grand prize winner.
•September 7th, 2011 – If you were there from the beginning, you remember the introduction of the RotoGrinders Daily Fantasy Fix Podcast, and you undoubtedly have heard that the podcast has been awarded the 2014 FSTA Podcast of the Year.
•Fall 2011- Spring 2012 – Several websites launching their platforms for DFS including DraftDay, DraftKings, FantasyFeud, StarFantasyLeagues. Over this period, there was almost $6 million raised by the sites, and the beginning of the boom was in sight.
•Fall 2012 – With football season in full force, six figure events (and pay days) became in vogue, with FanDuel, DraftStreet and DraftKings all offering grand prizes in the six figure range.
• In 2012 we began to see DFS personalities make their way to the forefront. Guys like Beermakersfan and CSURAM88 began propelling their DFS success to become ambassadors of the industry and help propel the DFS-space forward.
• 2013 saw RotoGrinders add GrindersLive to the docket as well as securing a weekly time slot with Sirius XM. GrindersLive would grow to multiple shows a day and the Sirius deal would grow to become a daily weekday show right before lineup lock.
Of course, we’ve seen staggering growth in the industry in 2014 and the early stages of 2015 as well, so it’s definitely an exciting time to be a DFS player!
For more details about these events and even more, you should check out the timeline yourself. Within the timeline you can sort by different categories: 1) General site/business 2) investments and 3) GPPs. You can filter the timeline in other ways, and you can switch to a 3D view as well. To join into the conversation, you are welcome to check out the dedicated forum post on the topic and send us your thoughts/ideas.
Or, leave a comment on here telling us what date you joined and which site was your first DFS site. Mine was FanDuel on January 21st 2013 in a $1 early only NBA 10-man league. I came in fourth and Chris Paul scored 17 fantasy points against the Warriors. I still refuse to roster CP3 to this day in cash games.
If you have some content you’d like to add to the timeline, let us know. The timeline can have video and images embedded, but be sure to include a credible source with a link in order to incorporate it in the timeline. We hope you enjoy our creation!