FSTA Industry Awards and Name Change to Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA)

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) is to be known as the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA). The name and business change beginning in April was announcement at the Winter Conference in Tampa this week. Today, the old FSTA guard gave awards to companies leading the way in the industry. Yahoo won five fantasy sports awards while CBS Sports and Fantasy Footballers each won three. The Sports Techie community blog applauds the FSGA for their new focus on sports betting, games of skills and non-sports contests while staying true to their FSTA core competencies.

Fantasy Sports and Gaming Rebrand

It is easy to understand why this rebrand is happening. Help one industry rise up then enter into another heading in the right direction. The FSGA wants to take on the rapid pace of changes to the legal and technological aspects of fantasy sports business and include sports gaming.

“We see a need for an association of companies that not only offer fantasy sports, but also emerging gaming opportunities,” said FSTA president Paul Charchian. “Non-sports fantasy games, eSports and sports betting have gameplay similarities, shared vendors, shared customers and shared legal goals. We will build on our 21-year track record of helping to grow the businesses within these industries.”

Fantasy basketball, MMA and eSports are heating up while fantasy baseball, golf and NASCAR are right around the corner. Fantasy football has one more major game, Super Bowl LIII here in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Daily fantasy sports have a ton of fantasy sports to offer anytime of the year.

The FSGA will continue to be the leading association for the fantasy sports industry, but its expanded focus will offer a forum for companies that offer games, services, analytics, and content for both legal contests of skill and sports gaming.

Does anyone not know a gamer? How about a sports gambler or punter as it known in the UK? Be it a grandkid, a Dad or a young girl, every demographic group has their share of gamers, right.

Kids and adults of all ages spend large amounts of time playing video games and eSports. Overwatch, League of Legends and FIFA are as household of names as Madden, GS; GO and PlayerUnkown’s Battleground are, or Dota 2, Arena of Valor and the one video game everyone should know by now, Fortnite.

The U.S. Supreme Court made a decision last May to overturn PASPA and to allow states the right to decide if sports betting should be legal. The association plans to allow members to the opportunity to network with dealmakers in these new gaming markets while and to collectively working to ensure that new laws allow members to compete in the marketplace.

The FSGA debut event is June 27-28 Summer Conference in New York City.

Industry Awards

Yahoo took home awards for Fantasy Business of the Year, Best Fantasy Commissioner, Best App, Best Long Form Video and Innovator of the Year.

“The fantasy sports industry has grown dramatically over the past decade. In that time, the quality of the products provided to fantasy players has improved exponentially, as well,” said Charchian. “The companies recognized by the FSTA’s awards have been selected from groups of highly deserving nominees, and represent the pinnacle of the industry’s abilities.”

Eleven companies won awards in nineteen categories after votes by fans, the FSTA membership and an awards committee consisting of accomplished industry leaders , television and film executives and producers, and of course, fantasy players.

The Fantasy Footballers once again won Small Fantasy Business of the Year and Most Outstanding Social Media categories. They also took home Humanitarian of the Year for working with the American Cancer Society and together raised  $20,000 for the Crucial Catch campaign from sales of their football draft kit.

CBS Sports represented well with wins for Best Host (Adam Aizer), Best Analyst (Jamey Eisenberg) and Best Podcast program, “Fantasy Football Today.”

Other significant winners included FanDuel winning Best Daily Fantasy Sports Game, ESPN selected for Best Season Long Game and Rookie of the Year awarded to The Athletic.

The 2018 FSTA Award Winners are:
   
HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR
The Fantasy Footballers

BEST SHORT FORM VIDEO
The Pat Mayo Experience (DraftKings)

BEST PRINT PUBLICATION
Ron Shandler’s 2018 Baseball Forecaster (Baseball HQ)

BEST DAILY FANTASY SPORTS GAME
FanDuel

BEST APP
Yahoo Fantasy Sports

BEST DATA PROVIDER
FantasyData

BEST NEWS & ANALYSIS SITE
Rotoworld

MOST OUTSTANDING SOCIAL MEDIA
The Fantasy Footballers (@theffballers)

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
Yahoo Fantasy Sports

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
The Athletic Fantasy

FANTASY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Yahoo Fantasy Sports

SMALL FANTASY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
The Fantasy Footballers

BEST LONG FORM VIDEO
Fantasy Football Live (Yahoo)

BEST ANALYST
Jamey Eisenberg (CBS Sports)

BEST RADIO SHOW
Pro Football Focus on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio

BEST HOST
Adam Aizer (CBS Sports)

BEST PODCAST
Fantasy Football Today (CBS Sports)

BEST SEASON LONG GAME
ESPN Fantasy

BEST FANTASY COMMISSIONER
Yahoo Fantasy Sports

FSTA

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association represents the fantasy sports industry with over 150 member companies ranging from small startups to large media corporations. As the voice of the industry since 1998, the FSTA has been the leader in providing demographic data, annual conferences and collective action to ensure unfettered growth. For more information, visit www.fsta.org.

Sports Techie, the FSTA is about to be no longer. The new FSGA will not skip a beat as they ramp up to include all aspects of gaming.

This space between fantasy sports and gaming is the new sweet spot for the FSGA.

Play on.

See ya later sportstechie in Seattle, Atlanta and around the world!

Sports Techie Social Media Networks
Sports Techie Twitter: @SportsTechieNET:  http://twitter.com/SportsTechieNET
THE #SportsTechie Twitter: @THESportsTechie: https://twitter.com/THESportsTechie
Sports Techie Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/SportsTechie
Sports Techie YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/sportstechie
Sports Techie Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/108376451503395073827/
Sports Techie Google+ Community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103708211458464405078
Sports Techie (Robert Roble) Google+: https://plus.google.com/+RobertRoble
Sports Techie LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Sports-Techie-2958439
Sports Techie LinkedIn (Robert Roble): https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertroble
Sports Techie Instagram: http://instagram.com/sportstechie
Sports Techie Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/SportsTechie/
Sports Techie Moby Picture: http://www.mobypicture.com/user/sportstechieNET
Sports Techie Myspace (Bob Roble): http://www.myspace.com/549000677
Sports Techie Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86791607@N04/
Sports Techie Vine: https://vine.co/u/906354614369136640
Sports Techie Quora: https://www.quora.com/Bob-Roble
Sports Techie Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user36773456
Sports Techie Skyword: http://robertroble.skyword.com/
Sports Techie Skype: sportstechie
Sports Techie Periscope: Sports Techie
Sports Techie Snapchat: sportstechie
AND
Sports Techie Guy: https://twitter.com/sportstechieguy