Outside Source

I emailed several sports writers for my research project about how fantasy sports affects the way people now watch sports. The one writer that got back to me was Steve Wulf, the former executive editor for ESPN The Magazine, and still writes for the magazine today. He told me that he was part of one of the first fantasy baseball leagues ever back in 1980 which I thought was really cool. He said that you will often find yourself rooting for players on a team that are opposing your team in real life just because you have them on your fantasy team. He said one positive is that it has caused more people to gain interest in watching sports. The main negative he brought up was that fantasy has changed rooting interests from geographical and legacy allegiances to interests based on how much money you stand to win or lose.