Redlands, CA Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Anyone catch the recent episode of outside the lines on espn. Well, a huge court case is forth coming. Changes as well could be changing the way we do fantasy sports.MLB is trying to get companies to pay more money than they do already. In the end, we could be paying somewhere near $150 to participate. From basements to board rooms and beyond, 15 million Americans are spending an excess of 150 million dollars a year on fantasy sports. It's an industry that has grown exponentially and now nearly 200 plus internet sites are providing services that utilize actual sports statistics and scores to create fictional leagues and teams for recreational use. But access to these statistics by the fantasy service providers is now in question. Major League Baseball says it has the proprietary rights to the statistics created by it's games and that fantasy sports companies must purchase those rights in order to use them. That battle is now in court. Tonight on OUTSIDE THE LINES we examine "Who owns stats?". Do professional sports leagues own the exclusive rights to their statistics, or should that information be considered public domain, free to be used by other companies for their own profit. Bob Ley hosts.Guests include:Alan Schwarz, Baseball America and New York Times Baseball WriterRyan Houston, CEO-Fantasy Football.com, 15 years covering Fantasy Sports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkrdevil Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I think MLB will loose this suit. The make the stats public and free of charge. You can look in any newspaper or on any baseball website including mlb.com and get the stats for free. All these companies are doing is organizing the stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC97 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I think MLB will loose this suit. The make the stats public and free of charge. You can look in any newspaper or on any baseball website including mlb.com and get the stats for free. All these companies are doing is organizing the stats. True, but they are using player's names and in some instances logos. --- Chris Creamer Founder/Editor, SportsLogos.Net "The Mothership" • News • Facebook • X/Twitter • Instagram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlands, CA Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 Yes, we don't own the player or his stats. The stats can be seen in the paper but it is also connected to the player themselves. The one guy made a good point on the show, I think he runs NFLPA, he said you can open up a phone book and get a name from there but you don't own that person. Something to that extent.I think MLB is going to win. This will cripple the little companies that don't pay a licensing fee to use the logos, names, and stats. Yahoo pays 25 per user. That could go up by a lot. MLB is going to win, IMO, football leagues could be done by hand but baseball leagues we might have to pay for in the end and might be a really high fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian in Boston Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Bottom line? Don't use a fantasy sports "service" to get your stats. Just turn to the sports section of your local newspaper, find the box-scores and calculate your league's stats the old fashioned way. It will mean a return to more work for some leagues' statisticians, but it can be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC97 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Bottom line? Don't use a fantasy sports "service" to get your stats. Just turn to the sports section of your local newspaper, find the box-scores and calculate your league's stats the old fashioned way. It will mean a return to more work for some leagues' statisticians, but it can be done. It's also an excuse to pay more attention to your league --- Chris Creamer Founder/Editor, SportsLogos.Net "The Mothership" • News • Facebook • X/Twitter • Instagram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAD! Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Bottom line? Don't use a fantasy sports "service" to get your stats. Just turn to the sports section of your local newspaper, find the box-scores and calculate your league's stats the old fashioned way. It will mean a return to more work for some leagues' statisticians, but it can be done. You can go to various sports news or league websites. For stats. It may take some time depending an how your fantasy league worksLuckily the AFL posts stats, I use the AFL website to gather stats for the WAFA scores. ExampleI copy and paste stats from each game onto a pre-configured spreadsheet. Of course those calcualtions are very simplified,,,, I saw, I came, I left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlands, CA Posted August 16, 2005 Author Share Posted August 16, 2005 It will be really hard to do baseball, hockey, and basketball leagues.l Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juddley Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Speaking of fantasy sports. I started up a fantasy football league and would like to see if anyone would care to join. either e-mail me at the forum here or at hall_judd@yahoo.com. I'll send the invites ASAP. Looking to have a 32 team league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkrdevil Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 It will be really hard to do baseball, hockey, and basketball leagues.l How do you think it was originally done. In fact It was Fantasy baseball that started the fantasy craze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnWis97 Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Bottom line? Don't use a fantasy sports "service" to get your stats. Just turn to the sports section of your local newspaper, find the box-scores and calculate your league's stats the old fashioned way. It will mean a return to more work for some leagues' statisticians, but it can be done. That's what my league will be doing for football. No problem really.If someone wants to do it for baseball, fine, but it's not going to be me. So our league may be in its final year.So be it. Disclaimer: If this comment is about an NBA uniform from 2017-2018 or later, do not constitute a lack of acknowledgement of the corporate logo to mean anything other than "the corporate logo is terrible and makes the uniform significantly worse." BADGERS TWINS VIKINGS TIMBERWOLVES WILD POTD (Shared) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJR Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Statistics can't be copyrighted. MLB can refuse to release them, but someone else will compile them then. It only effects the places that pay MLB to get pre-compiled stats. FantasyHockeySim.com || DetroitHockey.Net || DetroitHockey.Net FHL || cjr.dev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 I really don't think it's worth the time, money, and bad press for the MLB to come down on these services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlands, CA Posted August 17, 2005 Author Share Posted August 17, 2005 MLB is fighting for stats that are attached to MLB players and teams. They have a great case because companies already pay a fee to use those stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJTank Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 MLB is greedy and if they force out fnatasy sports tehy will be shoc ked at how much it loses them fan support, because it is one tool at drawing fans to watch their games. www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgesL Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 I used to play fantasy baseball on Sandbox.com because it was a free site, and they awarded points well for every stat. Now you have to pay for one year's membership to play, so I stopped using the site, and shifted over to Yahoo! I play the free fantasy baseball pool only. I mean the extra features are nice, like division play, but I shouldn't have to pay for it, so why bother?Most web sites turn to pay-as-you-play web sites in order to stay in business, which is the case for Sandbox. I really don't think it has anything to do with MLB financially speaking, just the sites itself that provide fantasy sports and keep track of players' stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redlands, CA Posted August 17, 2005 Author Share Posted August 17, 2005 well, ya, mlb is going to charge the companies more and in return will charge us more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMac Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Fact of the matter is unless the league is willing to stop publishing their own stats they really cannot say boo about fantasy sports... infact you would think they would embrace fantasy sports as it raises more interest in the games i could care less about how the yankees are doing infact i down right hate them but when randy johnson is pitching for the saskatchewan prairie fire that night I need to know how he's doing... being the stats guy for the TNFF last year we relied on the leagues website to do our own scores and unlike the NFL where stats are done during the game and you can follow along via their game tracker (which i love when im at work, i like that mlb does it too)... there were some weeks where the CFL didnt update their stats for an entire week... it was a giant pain in the ass but once you get your spread sheets or databases made it just a matter of plugging in the numbers... MLB is being a bunch of greedy pricks when it comes down to it... who owns the stats... you would think they would belong to the fans who track each and every hit, pitch, error, and catch... but hey what do i know GDB... Brothers from other Mothers www.pifflespodcast.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stampman Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Well if a stats service is making money--MLB wants a cut--but if you do it yourself--well that shouldn't bother them...But I agree with Tank... Comic Sans walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve your type here." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 First Napster, and now possibly fantasy sports??fluff that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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