The National Football League (NFL) is raking in roughly $10 billion in annual revenue. Media rights packages make up a large portion of the revenue received by the league, which includes a massive, multi-year deal with DirecTV that is said to be worth $1.5 billion per year for a total of eight years. The most key component of the DirecTV deal is the extension of NFL Sunday Ticket and the continued existence of the extremely popular Red Zone Channel, but the agreement also has allowed DirecTV to expand its offerings. The first test has centered around the engaging with the avid fantasy football fan with the creation of the DirecTV Fantasy Zone.
"We've been thinking for a long time about how to better serve the fantasy market," explained Alex Kaplan, DirecTV's vice president of revenue and marketing. "Over the past two years, a number of us came up with this idea of a Fantasy Red Zone Channel -- the CNBC for fantasy sports. When you look at the Red Zone Channel, it's very much focused on a team's performance. While fantasy is related, it's a little bit different. It is focused on how many catches someone has and injuries, whether a team is in the Red Zone or not."
Kaplan says that DirecTV is experiencing a very positive reaction from its consumers. That is to be somewhat expected considering that the football fan of 2014 is largely consumed by fantasy sports offerings and oftentimes cares more about how his or her fantasy players are fairing over how a particular team may be performing on the field. Latest statistics provided by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association indicate that there are more than 41 million people playing fantasy sports in the U.S. and Canada, with 14% of the total U.S. population aged at least 12-years-old participating in fantasy sports.
A shot of the DirecTV Fantasy Zone studio in SoHo, Manhattan. Photo by Darren Heitner.
DirecTV's Fantasy Zone Channel is part of its NFL Sunday Ticket Max Package, which is the service provider's most expensive and expansive offering. The package also comes with live game streams, highlights, scores and stats on computer and mobile devices. Kaplan judges the success of the Fantasy Zone Channel based on an uptick in subscriptions for the Max Package and attributes a great piece of the surge to the introduction of the new channel.
DirecTV has made a sizable investment in the success of its new Fantasy Zone Channel. It is well into the seven-figures in developing the channel, hiring broadcasters and perfecting the set located in SoHo, Manhattan. The next focus for DirecTV may be further exploring opportunities in the rapidly expanding daily fantasy market.
"I'm really excited about the daily leagues," said Kaplan. "They certainly have taken notice that our platform is where a lot of avid football fans tend to live. The more types of games that are out there, the more types of players and quite frankly, the more players that are out there, the better for us. This year we didn't do much on air with daily fantasy games. I'm not saying we will, but we could integrate a FanDuel or DraftKings into the program."
The aforementioned daily fantasy sports operators have been on a spending spree trying to attach their names to professional sports leagues and teams as of late. Either of the two operators would likely jump on the opportunity to create a close association with DirecTV's Fantasy Zone Channel as it wraps up the first year of its existence. Kaplan hints that the company employing him would have to take such an opportunity into careful consideration.
"We have an obligation to shareholders and customers to continue to innovate," added Kaplan. "What we're trying to do is enhance the experience that we have. Now we have a platform that is just for fantasy players."
Darren Heitner is a lawyer and the Founder of South Florida-based HEITNER LEGAL, P.L.L.C., which has a focus on Sports Law and Entertainment Law.
