What’s Your Fantasy?
Leave it to a couple of Jersey guys to come up with RotoBowl, the fantasy football league with tens of millions of fans
by Dave Bontempo
Sharpen your pencils. Compile your worksheets. Rank your players and prepare for RotoBowl IV, the Fantasy Football version of the World Series of Poker. The most serious players on the East Coast, joined by some from other countries, invade the Atlantic City Convention Center September 6. During the 20-round draft, played in one gigantic room, players seek $27,500, which includes two Super Bowl tickets and $20,000 cash. More than 300 teams are expected to participate, encompassing live drafts in Atlantic City, Baltimore and online. Fantasy Football keeps growing. Most of the approximately 20 million players participate in small leagues, making RotoBowl the source of bragging rights and one big payoff. “We’re really happy with how this has taken off,” says RotoBowl founder Chris Clarke. “Word of mouth and publicity have really helped. Slowly but surely, we’re building a real foundation. We have about a 75 percent retention rate, which I think is excellent. Players leave the draft saying they’ll come back the following year with their friends, then they do that. “People mark this event on their calendars. It coincides with the beginning of the NFL season and it’s a good time in Atlantic City, right after the summer season ends. Players gamble in the casinos after our draft.” RotoBowl is a New Jersey production. Clarke and co-founder Matthew Pepe are from Fairlawn. Local resident John Hansen, the Fantasy Guru, connected them with Atlantic City officials for the 2005 debut. Hansen, one of RotoBowl’s financiers, views it as another level of enjoyment with subscribers and a recruitment tool. This event combines the reasonable odds of a card game with the long-shot dreams of a lottery. Entries cost $250 for each team, which is placed in a six-team division of a 12-team league. Win the division over the course of 12 weeks and you’ll make $300, a realistic profit probability. Capture the Week 13 playoff and you are assured $900. Then it gets tricky. Anywhere from 50 to 100 teams will be placed in a post-season pool, comprised of weeks 14 to 16. Only a handful from that elite group capture the big money: $20,000 for first place, $3,000 for second, $1,000 for third and $500 to $250 for fourth through eighth. Top teams are not separated by much. One play, one crucial mid-season free-agent pickup or the bounce of a ball can determine who wins $27,500. Let’s examine one of the world’s most interesting Fantasy Football tournaments. Reasons to Love RotoBowl • It’s above-board, honest and fair. There’s no commissioner cheating, which hampers many local leagues. There are no lineups put in after games have started, and no questionable free-agency pickups. There are no arbitrary rule interpretations. And there’s no collusion, because there are absolutely no trades. • RotoBowl is so fair, even the “experts” have no edge. Hansen, who publishes the Fantasy Guru report to thousands of subscribers, has also been a commentator for the NFL Network and Comcast’s Fantasy Football programs. He plays in this tournament against people who take his published advice. Hansen has played well in RotoBowl without winning, proving there’s enough public information for anyone to triumph. • High scores are not wasted. Teams play two games every week. One unfolds against the scheduled opponent. The second occurs against the entire six-team division. The top three scores in the division receive an additional victory, while the low three take an extra loss. This eliminates the dreaded feeling of scoring more points than everyone in the league on a given week, except the team you play, and thus losing. • Free agency is a neat wrinkle. Every team has 1,000 free-agency points to spend throughout the year. Teams bid on free agents every week, and therefore must manage a bankroll of points. Shoot the budget too soon and there’s nothing left for a late-season pickup. Hold onto it too long and you’ve missed valuable acquisitions. The free-agency element requires a management skill. This year, a second free-agency period has been added for Saturday. Survival Tips • Success depends on gut interpretation of players. Before injuries ravaged Casino Connection’s 2007 team, for example, we had the thrill of choosing Randy Moss as the 50th pick of the draft. He was an unknown quantity, but enjoyed a monster season. • Try to laugh. You can’t affect the variables, nor does a player have any idea how opposing teams draft or select free agents. There are always crazy surprises, like a marginal player going for 500 units. You can’t predict how desperately another team will need a player on a given week. For league updates, go to www.rotobowl.com.
Dave Bontempo is an award-winning sports writer and broadcaster who calls boxing matches all over the world. He has covered the Philadelphia Flyers in the playoffs, as well as numerous PGA, LPGA and Seniors Golf Tour events, and co-hosted the Casino Connection television program with Publisher Roger Gros.
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