Yahoo Daily Fantasy Sports Will Debut This Summer
DraftKings and FanDuel will be feeling the heat this summer, as a second big name has thrown its hat in the ring and will enter the daily fantasy sports industry. According to reports stemming an earnings call, Yahoo will be developing and releasing a daily fantasy game this summer (as reported by Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal). The season-long fantasy giants will join PokerStars’ parent company Amaya as two big names in online gaming and sports to enter the daily fantasy scene this year (as reported by Chris Grove of LegalSportsReport.
And while little is known about what these two companies will offer that will help them stand out from the industry’s current leaders, they both have the name recognition and userbase required to get up and running quickly, and have the trusted names that daily gamers will trust with their deposits when games launch this summer.
According to Fisher’s notes from the earnings call, Yahoo plans to take a unique approach to daily fantasy sports, which could mean a different take on the way the games are handled to better cater to their season-long userbase currently competing on their platform. Will the product be watered down and remove the edge for experienced DFS players, or will Yahoo create a unique, robust DFS product that gives gamers a different set of rules and strategies to consider?
There was some speculation that Yahoo was removing itself from paid fantasy gaming altogether, as Marc Edelman of Forbes noted when the company did not release its “Pro Leagues” for MLB this season. Edelman cited the questionable legality of online fantasy sports as a possible reason for Yahoo’s delay in releasing their paid MLB product, but today’s announcement seems to indicate the opposite. (It’s interesting to note that Edelman also points out the rakes taken in by Yahoo for their season-long contests, as users saw around 10% of their entry fees kept by the hosting site, with the other 90 paid out to users.)
Yahoo is definitely the biggest name to announce a daily fantasy product to date, as the search engine and fantasy sports powerhouse has the name recognition to help grow the industry more and more. Fantasy sports players who haven’t yet dipped their toes into DFS will see the Yahoo name and feel more comfortable putting their money on the line, but how will this impact the industry as a whole?
As Dustin Gouker of LegalSportsReport points out”, this likely cuts off a major source of advertising for both DraftKings and FanDuel, as the fantasy sports players at Yahoo will now likely see only ads for Yahoo’s DFS offering, rather than seeing any suggestions to check out either of the current leaders in the industry. But with both DraftKings and FanDuel working to secure major partnerships with professional leagues, SiriusXM, and ESPN, the loss of the Yahoo userbase may never be felt by the two “big sites.”
This will bring competition to the industry, and that’s always a good thing. Competition from outside sites, especially ones with names as big as Yahoo and PokerStars, will inspire every site to step up its game and provide better options for players, or risk losing them to a site with a more appealing product. It also brings legitimacy to the industry, as Darren Heitner points out on Twitter. In fact, that’s the sentiment shared by DraftKings, who issued a comment to Heitner, pointing out that it’s encouraging for them to see a company like Yahoo enter the daily fantasy realm.
With both Yahoo and PokerStars reportedly set to release their products this summer, we’re sure to see a very interesting start to the NFL season, with two additional options for daily gamers to partake in as football kicks off. The increased competition should inspire even more improvements and creative additions to the existing sites, and help grow an industry that has seen astronomical advancements over the past year.