Fantasy Share Trading
"About 25.1 million people play fantasy football in the US...About $3.38 billion is spent annually in the US on fantasy sports... [T]hree-quarters of that, or about $2.54 billion, is spent on football."
"Risks aside, the offering is intended to capitalize on the mammoth popularity of the National Football League and fantasy football, where fans draft players and score points for touchdowns, yardage and other notable plays during the season."If thousands of fans are willing to pay as much as $250 for an Arian Foster jersey, the thinking goes, why wouldn't they pay up for a few shares of Arian Foster stock?"
"Another indication that a historic extreme has reached its zenith is that in recent months, even individuals have become brands. A number of them, including Dick Clark, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart and C. Everett Koop, have become publicly traded companies. All are down substantially from their close on their first day of trading, but the effort literally to buy heroes continues to spread. The latest development is at the venture capital level, where numerous promoters are busily launching Internet investment funds with superstar athletes because 'athletes have tremendous brand presence'."
"The company pushed Nevada legislators this year to let investment funds bet on sports. It said this would widen the ways investors such as hedge funds could diversify."