Citizen Sports Fantasy Football for Facebook to Test Ability to Build Major Business in Social Network Application Category
Market Wire, August, 2008
Citizen Sports Network today said that it has surpassed 200,000 Facebook sign-ups and secured seven figures in sponsorship deals from AT&T, FinishLine and others in advance of its inaugural season of Fantasy Football 2008 on Facebook. This customer and investment combination has strongly positioned Fantasy Football 2008 on Facebook to rank as the largest ever first year fantasy sports game when the NFL season begins on September 4.
Citizen Sports is the first company to launch a major commissioner style fantasy football product on a social network. Launched in July in partnership with Sports Illustrated, the product ( www.fbfantasyfootball.com ) is the most complex application available on Facebook today, and represents genuine innovation in the incredibly lucrative and fast growing fantasy sports market. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates that 29.9 million people currently play fantasy sports and that fantasy sports has a market impact of $4.48 billion.
"Thousands of third-party applications have been built on Facebook since the launch of the Facebook Platform in early 2007. With the exception of a few, most applications fall dramatically short of engaging users on a level that will attract major blue chip brands like we already have," said Mike Kerns, founder and CEO, Citizen Sports Network. "As we look to build out a global sports media experience we recognize the incredible value of fantasy sports in that effort."
All advertising inventory on the application has been sold out since the first week of August and Citizen Sports was actually placed in the unique situation of having to turn away some major brands. This is unique in the application development world where often advertising inventory goes unsold and is incredibly difficult to monetize.
Key features of Citizen Sports Fantasy Football 2008 include free live scoring, custom leagues and scoring settings, multiple draft options, including online, offline and auto-pick, virtual 'smack talk,' 'Easy Button' line-up arrangement and free projections, analysis and Rotowire player updates.
Fantasy Football 2008 also features a celebrity league comprised of sports writers, former NFL athletes and other noteworthy individuals affiliated with professional sports. One Fantasy Football 2008 user chosen at random will get the chance to compete head to head in this league. Current league participants include:
-- Billy Beane, current general manager and minority owner of the Oakland
Athletics and former Major League Baseball player
-- Peter King, senior writer for Sports Illustrated and TV analyst and
reporter for "Football Night in America," NBC's Sunday night NFL studio
show
-- Jim Nantz, is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his work
with CBS Sports television
-- Michael Lewis, bestselling author of "Moneyball," "Liar's Poker," "The
New New Thing" and "The Blind Side"
-- Brent Jones, tight end who played most of his career with the San
Francisco 49ers from (1987 to 1997)
-- Ronnie Lott, hall of fame NFL cornerback, free safety and strong
safety for the San Francisco 49ers
-- Brooklyn Decker, fashion model who appeared in the 2006, 2007 and 2008
Sports Illustrated swimsuit editions
-- Jeremy Roenick, player for the NHL's San Jose Sharks and 18-year
veteran of the NHL
To join a league or to start your own, visit www.fbfantasyfootball.com .
About Citizen Sports Network
Citizen Sports Network brings the world of sports to fans' favorite social networking sites. Built on the philosophy that sports are more fun with friends around, Citizen Sports professional, college and high-school sports fan applications can be found on Facebook, MySpace and hi5. Founded in 2004, Citizen Sports Network is based in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.citizensportsinc.com/
Press Contacts Nate Hermes or Evan Solomon SutherlandGold Group for Citizen Sports 415-848-7171 Email Contact
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