New Dallas-based fantasy sports league trades players like stocks

by PegNews wire

Flickr user Katrina.Tuliao

It's stocks. But you're trading jocks.

DALLAS — FantasySportsTrader.com, the first fantasy sports community that combines the excitement of fantasy sports gaming with the skills of a stock trading environment, announced their official launch on August 18, 2009, to coincide with the upcoming NFL regular season. Starting now, athletes are stocks and will be judged on the same supply and demand principles that stimulate the economic market while their performance on the field will drive their stock price.

FantasySportsTrader.com keeps aspects of traditional fantasy sports leagues, where statistical performance leads to points, and adds the fast-paced stock market environment by assigning stock prices to each player that can be traded throughout the season. Based on the performance of their representative athletes during the season, the top stocks get a year-end cash prize.

Over 35 million people play fantasy sports every year, making fantasy sports a $5 billion dollar industry. FantasySportsTrader.com co-founders Brody Lipperman and Ty Whisenhunt saw an opportunity to create a new evolution of the game that incorporated the volatile, ever changing landscape of a traditional stock trading market.

"Jocks are the new stocks," said Brody Lipperman, co-founder of FantasySportsTrader.com and accredited actuary. "Every guy loves fantasy sports leagues and what we've done is add another element to the game that gives each trader a chance to put their money where their mouth is, on a player by player basis. The best part about sports is their fast paced nature, and when you include the ability to buy and sell options on players throughout the season, it makes the game that much more intense and exciting."

The current 2009 NFL fantasy football season is underway. Once signed up, a player will be able to buy and sell stock in their athletes the entire season, either from Fantasy Sports Trader (via IPOs), or from other players (via the open market). At the end of the year, all stocks are automatically redeemed for a cash prize which is determined by the athlete's ranking.

Source: Fantasy Sports Trader