Company: FantasyTrophies.com
Launch date: launched in 1995 but became an LLC in 2008
No. of employees: We have 4 employees during the busy times of the year.

We’ve learned that the fantasy sports consumer can be an attractive target for marketers because “he” is devoted to the hobby and willing to spend money. Dave Mitri has been intimately familiar with those facts since launching FantasyTrophies.com about 15 years ago. He took some time out recently to tell FSB.com about building a business around handcrafting trophies for fantasy players … and divulge the identity of his “Armchair Quarterback” inspiration.

1. So, really, who buys a fantasy sports trophy?

I think any fantasy player that really wants to “kick it up a notch” and recognizes a bit of the humor in fantasy sports purchases one of our trophies. Fantasy sports, when you boil it all down, is mainly about bragging rights, having fun and rubbing victory in your buddy’s face. It’s the reason FantasyTrophies.com exists. Playing for a cash prize is nice, but playing for cash and the rights to have your name on a hand-crafted trophy, specifically designed for fantasy, is tough to outdo. Also, let’s face it, the amount of time and energy that we put towards fantasy sports should deserve something in itself. I realized this when I won my league in its inaugural season in 1991 and wanted the trash-talking opportunities to continue long after I spent the cash prize. Leagues everywhere are all the same. Winners love to cherish victory for as long as possible and make the losers boil over with envy. I believe our trophies help to do just that … and then some.

2. How long does it take to create one? How different is the process (and/or processing) today from when you started in “a garage in Cleveland”?

The initial sculpting process can take me months to complete. We then make a mold of the sculpture so that we can pour multiple trophies from that one mold. After that we need to clean up the cast, give it a bronze finish and build the base. Our workforce can fluctuate depending on the season, but usually we can have a trophy from start to finish within a few days. The process itself, since moving to a shop in Brooklyn, hasn’t changed a whole lot from the days I was doing it in my garage in Cleveland. Having heat in the winter though is a nice thing. You can see more of the process at http://blog.fantasytrophies.com/insidelook/.

3. Which design in your current lineup got things started, and what was your inspiration? Your model must be proud.

My cousin Johnny can be credited with posing for the first trophy I ever sculpted: The Armchair Quarterback. He still brags about being my model and displays a trophy in his basement (to the disbelief of his wife). I talked to him about my idea and how I wanted to create something that wouldn’t be mistaken for anything else besides a fantasy football trophy. He was all in. Posing for the Throwback was a little more challenging for him, but he was still game. I’m just glad he didn’t pull something trying to get in that pose. It could’ve been ugly.

4. How did you go about introducing your company and product to the industry and the consumer?

When I first launched FantasyTrophies.com on the web I had no clue what I was doing. I was in college at the time and just thought it would be a cool thing to try and start up. I had my buddy Mario put up a webpage for me and would later realize how lucky I was to get my domain name when I did. Remember, it was 1995 and the Internet was just starting to take off. Leagues mainly found me by just doing searches for trophies. It was pretty barebones at the time.

5. At what point did business really start to pick up? Was there a particular event or promotion that kind of brought everything together?

You know, business really picked up when I finally got the Throwback out there and teamed up with a couple other artists and craftsmen in Brooklyn, N.Y. Having great partners and employees helps with everything. We redid the website and introduced new product — including the Armchair Big Man (basketball), the Armchair Crew Chief (NASCAR) and the Ultimate Loser. We’ve also been fortunate enough to have a few high-profile athletes play for our trophies — including Chris Cooley and Curt Schilling. You can even see Cooley presenting our trophy to CB Fred Smoot at http://blog.fantasytrophies.com/2009/06/chris-cooley-presents-the-trophy/.

We also have some of the top fantasy writers playing for our trophies. Both Gregg Rosenthal of Rotoworld and Dave Richards of CBSSports.com have one of our trophies representing their experts leagues. Being members of the FSTA (Fantasy Sports Trade Association) since 2008 really helps too. Both their baseball and football leagues play for one of our trophies and the contacts we’ve made through them have been a big help.

6. What methods do you use today for getting your product in front of fantasy players? (Besides answering questions for wildly popular industry-news sites.)

We do what any other small business is attempting to do in today’s economy. We try and get the word out through social networking sites, a blog http://blog.fantasytrophies.com/, paid advertising when we can, and by staying creative and open. I believe you have to keep two goals in mind though during the entire process. One is to produce a top notch product that will speak for itself and the other is to have great customer service. People are always willing to spend a few extra bucks if they know your product is quality and that they can count on you in the end. I know I’m doing something right when I have leagues invite me out for beers, if I’m ever in their city, because they appreciate the commitment I have to achieving both goals.

7. You recently launched an affiliate program. What does that entail, and what are your goals for it?

Yes, our affiliate program is new and I’m really excited to get it off the ground. We’re offering 10% of any product sold. That comes out to $37.50 for our best selling trophy: The Throwback. If you have a website and you’re interested you can check it out at http://www.fantasytrophies.com/ft/faq. I think affiliate programs are a great way to get a product like ours out there more and we’re hoping to attract not only larger sites, but also the smaller ones who hopefully see the potential in teaming up with a company like ours.

8. Obviously football is king around the fantasy industry. How do orders for the other sports you treat compare, though? Have you seen growth outside of football? Do you have plans for adding any further sports?

Football is definitely king, and the other sports really don’t even come close. However, I’m hopeful that our other trophies can make a little niche for themselves once they get noticed a little more. Our Armchair Crew Chief has received a great response from racing fans since its release and I think the hockey trophy I’m working on will do the same. I’m excited to be sculpting something new and you can imagine the unique characteristics a hockey trophy can possess. Stay tuned.

9. You offer trophies with big bases to allow for new league-winner plaques to be applied going forward. How much business do you get, though, from leagues that return to buy a new trophy every year?

Getting return customers is an important element to our business. As a result, I recently introduced the Armchair Quarterback Mini. It’s a smaller version of the large Armchair Quarterback. The Mini is our smallest trophy yet and sells for $99. I’ve had numerous leagues say they’d love to have something to hand out each year and a trophy to keep after the large one moves on to another proud recipient. Believe me, it’s tough giving that big guy up, but it should be made a little easier now that the Mini is around. A smaller version of the Throwback is also in the works.

10. There’s an increasing amount of study done on the fantasy sports consumer. What have you learned about “him” through running and growing your business?

I’ve found that players are always searching for ways to enhance their overall experience no matter how established their league may be. Because of this, they’re willing to spend their hard earned dollars, even in these trying times, if they feel they’ve discovered something of quality that will do just that. Also, I know how competitive not only fantasy players can be within their own league, but with leagues themselves. Fantasy players want to feel that their league is top-notch and is better than the league down the block or in the office. They’ll try and differentiate their league from the others by holding their draft at unique locations, having a fantasy league golf outing prior to draft day, or just about anything else to stand out from the crowd. Take it from me; I’ve heard plenty of stories that prove this to be true. Some I can’t repeat. That is also where we come into the equation. A trophy like ours definitely makes a league stand out from the rest.

I’m truly grateful that players and leagues continue to see our trophies as part of their heightened experience.

Company: For Players - By Players LLC (dba Fantasy Football Players Championship)
Launch date: March 2008
Became full-time operation: April 2008
No. of employees: 3

The World Championship of Fantasy Football introduced us to the gathering of high-stakes fantasy football players for annual drafts in Las Vegas. The Fantasy Football Players Championship has used that model as a starting point and expanded to varied entry points into high-stakes play — both online and in-person. Co-founder Alex Kaganovsky took some time recently to tell FSB.com about his company’s entry into a growing market and what differentiates it’s platform from others.

1. What did the FFPC bring to the high-stakes market that you guys thought was missing?

As high-stakes players ourselves who participated in other events for many years, we felt that we had a pretty good feel for what was missing in the high-stakes market. The FFPC brought to the table the highest payout percentage in the industry in all its league offerings. Prize security and customer trust were also an important issue for high-stakes players, so the FFPC was the first and only high-stakes contest to place the entire Main Event prize pool in an attorney escrow for the duration of the season. Lighting-fast prize payouts was the FFPC’s motto. Our award winners had their checks in hand just days after winning their prizes. The FFPC offered a great community feel on its message boards, where players could gather and talk about any issue they deemed important. Customer service was a priority as well. All requests were answered within a matter of hours. And last but certainly not least, the FFPC league format, rules, scoring and prize structure were created to be as player-friendly as possible and were very well received by the high-stakes players.

2. How long was the idea in the works before the launch for the 2008 season? What kind of preparation and particular steps were necessary to bring the idea to fruition?

This is something we are probably most proud of, because the FFPC went from the initial concept to a ‘soft’ launch in a matter of about two months. In February 2008, we had our first phone conversation about starting a new high-stakes event. By April of 2008, we had a website built, rules and format created and Caesars Palace booked. We took our first Main Event signup on April 13.

3. What sort of experience with other high-stakes events did the founders bring to the creation of the FFPC?

Alex Kaganovsky and Dave Gerczak are the very definition of high-stakes veterans. Both have played WCOFF since its inception in 2002 as well as other contests like NFFC, AFFL, Fantasy VIPs, Fantasy Football Masters, Antsports and probably some others that they can’t even remember. Both have always been active members in the high-stakes community, as well as having pretty good success as players themselves. Dave achieved the pinnacle of high-stakes fantasy football by winning a national contest in 2008, along with its $100,000 grand prize.

4. What percentage of revenue comes from the main event entries? How important — financially and/or otherwise — are the various other play options?

The Main Event is probably the greatest single source of revenue and will continue to be so, but it’s also important to have a large selection of satellite leagues, tournaments and various contests. This obviously creates additional revenue but also offers something for everyone and allows players of all financial means to participate in the FFPC experience.

5. Did you consider any venues other than Las Vegas for the main event’s live draft, or was that always the focus? How much of the main-event participants opt for the online version?

Las Vegas was always the first and only option to host the live FFPC events. We’ve since talked about other locations, but Vegas will always be home. Surprisingly, more than 50 percent of our Main Event teams draft online. I say surprisingly because I personally expected that ratio to be more like 75/25 in favor of the Live draft. But we found out that there are a great many players out there that are very excited about drafting from the comforts of their home.

6. How important are your strategy variations: 1.5 points per reception for tight ends, “Dual Flex,” etc.?

An FFPC participant, Rich McClellan wrote an excellent strategy article where he talked about the 1.5 ppr for TEs, and the Dual Flex. It was written in 2008, before the inaugural FFPC draft took place, but Rich was very astute in breaking down the format and its possible effects on strategy:

“First, let’s examine two of the major changes that will affect both your draft and your lineup management: the 1.5 point-per reception TE rule and the FFPC Dual-Flex. This is a PPR league and to add some pizzazz to the TE position, the TE’s will receive 1.5 points for a reception instead of the standard 1 for WRs and RBs. This makes the TE significantly more valuable and that means owners are more likely to draft a TE early which leads to more variation in the somewhat predictable draft order we all face. Last year six TEs caught more than 60 passes and with Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez both flirting with the century mark in catches, it seems the perfect time to elevate the tight ends value in fantasy leagues. Even mid-level TEs with 40-50 catches can produce numbers that rival some 3rd and 4th WRs which means that this slight change will cause a ripple effect throughout the draft. Perfect timing to reemphasis the TE in fantasy football just as the position is surging in the NFL as well, nice job FFPC.

Now add on an even bigger change in lineup management, the Dual-Flex. It means exactly what it sounds like; instead if the typical one, you get to play two flex positions in your lineup, to join the required, 1-QB, 2-RBs, 2-WRs, 1-TE, 1-K and 1-Defense. These two flex positions are chosen from RBs/WRs/TEs as usual but this feature opens up the sky to possibility for a creative owner who may also draft with a specific team-type in mind. Are you a hoarder of RBs? You could actually start four RBs in this league. Fancy a fleet of fast WRS? Bombs away, you could start four WRs as well. Did you fall in love with the TE rule above and snake Witten and Gonzalez to play a double or even a triple TE fantasy formation? It’s all yours. An owner also gains the ability to target his favorite late round sleepers based on his team type, for example gambling on late RBs if the team has gone the RB-heavy route in the draft.

Here’s another interesting angle the FFPC Dual-Flex presents. Normally, if you already have 3 solid starting running backs on your roster, you need not look in the direction of another RB who just happens to pop up on the waiver wire. Sure, you’d love to get him for depth — who wouldn’t? — but is it worth spending a large portion of your blind bidding bucks on a player who’ll just ride the pine for your squad as a 4th RB? But what if you can actually start him? Well, that possibility changes everything, doesn’t it? Not only would you be cornering the RB market in your league, but you’d be building a powerhouse roster in the process. The same goes for the TE position. With 1.5 point per catch and the FFPC Dual-flex, you can now try and go get that Eric Johnson or Tony Scheffler off the waiver wire as not only your second, but even your third starting TE.

As you can see, while the Dual-flex is just a subtle adjustment to the lineup requirements, it doubles the number of lineup configurations, allows for very individualized draft & free agency strategy and also provides for better bye week coverage. Why hasn’t someone thought of this before?”

7. Do you see the high-stakes segment as a growing market, or are you competing primarily for the same players? How has the recent economy affected business?

There is a fairly large base of high-stakes fantasy players, who play various contests including the FFPC — but new players are steadily entering this market. Many new players had no idea that the high-stakes industry existed prior to finding us. It’s pretty cool to hear their reactions when they first start to immerse themselves in the FFPC. I remember very well what that felt like back in 2002.

8. The FFPC sports various partnerships with other fantasy sports companies — Mock Draft Central, My Fantasy League and Titlecraft among them. First question: How important are the deals with MDC and MFL to keeping each season running smoothly? Were those deals in place from the outset?

We approach the selection of affiliates and partners in a very careful and meticulous manner. Titlecraft is the FFPC official trophy maker and one of the very few companies that we have chosen to affiliate the FFPC with. MDC and MFL are the FFPC’s most important partners. MDC provides an excellent live draft platform for all our live drafts, and MFL hosts all our leagues. We’ve been working with both from the beginning and are very happy with the results.

9. Next question: What do the more peripheral elements — the trophies, the Pros-Joes Challenge, etc. — do for the FFPC?

Pros vs Joes Challenge was a great way to introduce the FFPC to fantasy football industry pros, and it ended up being a pretty cool concept in the end. It’s definitely something we’ll continue for the future. Another interesting contest that we’ve offered is called Field of 64, which is a supplemental contest to the Main Event. Teams are placed in a March-madness type of a bracket and play in weekly H2H matchups against other teams. There’s a live bracket that we custom build exclusively for this contest, which is probably the only one of its kind in the FF world. These types of offerings differentiate the FFPC as an innovator in the industry. We believe that you need to continue creating new and exciting products for your customers to stay ahead of your competition.

10. What does the future look like for the FFPC? Any designs on branching out into other sports?

Our passion is fantasy football. We know how to play it, and we know how to run it — well. And we know it’s also our customer’s passion. We might look at other sports like baseball in the near future, but right now our goal is to continue pressing forward with football.

Company: Icon Sports Media, Inc.
Launch date: August 1999
Became full-time operation: Same
No. of employees: 4 employees, multiple contractors, 150+ contributing photographers

When launching a new fantasy site, it might be easy to overlook an aspect such as where you will get your photos. One provider that works with a number of fantasy companies is Icon, whose Jamie Calsyn took some time recently to answer questions for FSB.com.

1. What kind of void was Icon seeking to fill in the market when the company launched in 1999?

When we launched there was only one company that was successfully marketing sports images to the professional media. We (The founders of Icon) worked at a company called Allsport Photography and broke away after that company was sold to another business. There were also numerous independent photographers who had great imagery but no way of getting these images seen by a majority of the buyers.

2. The Internet was already well in play at that point, but the way we all use it has constantly evolved since then. How has your business (and its services) had to change to match the evolving needs and demands of your customers?

Most industries deal with one fundamental technology shift, we’ve had to deal with two. In addition to the internet we have seen the emergence of digital photography. When we started, only newspaper photographers were shooting digitally. Most of our content consisted of transparencies/negatives and we shipped these hard goods to clients. This made the cost of production much higher. With the digital camera, gone is the cost of film, processing, and shipping fees. Those clients (at the time) that did utilize digital pictures only used expensive digital scans of slides. Gone is the cost to digitize film and the man-hours required to get physical slides online. As digital cameras evolved the digital images became comparable in quality to analog images. For the last 6 years we have been 100% digital, with clients accessing our images online.

3. What sort of changes have you seen in the sporting landscape that has altered your practices or the demands of your customers?

Speed of delivery. Many clients want images as fast as possible. With the entire production process from camera to image platform, that demand can be met. The constant battle is to achieve speed of delivery without sacrificing the quality of content.

4. What differentiates Icon from other photo and image providers today?

We see our clients as partners and try to offer them a specific licensing agreement and images which cater to their needs. Our competitors forget that relationships still matter and tend to offer “One size fits all” customer service and pricing.

5. How does business break down among the various sports — in terms of both your allocation of resources and the demand of your users?

Like anyone in the sports business, NFL is king when it comes to demand. NBA, MLB and college football/basketball are close behind. NHL, PGA golf, and NASCAR are also important, with Olympics and World Cup generating quite a bit of interest. Interestingly, we have seen a dramatic increase in interest for high school sports the past five years — and not just for football and basketball but all sports. As marketers and publications seek to target the teen audience, they are putting more of a spotlight on the top youth athletes.

In terms of resource allocation, we feel obliged to cover just about everything we can at a professional level, whether it be an NFL game, NASCAR race or PGA tournament. Difficulties in covering each sport vary. NFL has a pretty short season compared to baseball, which has a lot more games to cover and a longer season. The biggest challenge is NCAA sports. Generally there are 70-80 schools we feel that need coverage but this number increases every year as a number of mid-majors and non-BCS schools find success at the highest levels.

6. How has the ever-increasing trend from print outlets to online affected your user base and your service?

Dramatically! Many print outlets are shifting focus online. While the price per picture license is not as high, many clients are licensing a greater number of images. The first year of business we licensed 100 images per month and now we are licensing over 100,000 images per year worldwide. Much of this growth is directly related to online clients.

7. When did you start to see fantasy sports outlets emerge as customers?

We licensed images to various outlets as far back as eight years ago. After we attended our first FSTA conference in early 2007 we understood the dynamics of the industry. As an outsider to fantasy sports business, we were unsure of how the sports leagues viewed this segment of the industry and how we could work within it. Once we felt that we could license images without violating our media accreditation with the leagues we jumped in.

8. Judging by your attendance at events such as the recent FSTA conference, the fantasy industry must represent a decently significant source of business. For how long has Icon been reaching out to fantasy companies, and what kind of segment of your user base do they constitute?

We’ve been consistently working with fantasy companies since 2007 and it has grown into a valuable percentage of our revenue.

9. What size are the operations/outlets to which you tend to cater? Are there varying plans/rates/packages to appeal to clients at different economic and need levels?

We work with each client on an individual basis. My very first questions to the potential client are: How many images do you need and what is your budget? We have standard prices we like to charge but I want to make sure we understand what the clients’ needs are before we propose a licensing agreement. We work with individual writers as well as large media companies.

10. It’s called Icon Sports Media, but your site offers non-sports images as well. What does the non-sports segment of your business look like, or are such images simply there for when sporting outlets have such a need?

We represent many talented photographers who shoot events outside of sports, like news, concerts and entertainment. We give them an opportunity to license these images to our network of clients. But we are first and foremost a sports provider focusing on what we know and do best.

Company: Ultimate Fantasy Sports
Launch date: 1986

Ultimate Fantasy Sports is a testament to fantasy players who value the experience over just the financial reward.

Sure, it’s always nice to win money for doing something — particularly a hobby in which you enjoy participating no matter the stakes — and cash prizes go out to top-performing UFS players. The $550 awaiting each baseball league champion, however, is clearly not what keeps 90 percent of the players coming back.

“It’s never been totally about the prizes,” founder John Zaleski told FSB.com. “It’s more about the community. These guys just have a passion for playing in lifetime leagues.”

Zaleski — who started UFS back in 1986, when the primary source of player stats still came in 50-cent packages, some even with a rock-hard stick of gum — says he has always used the term “lifetime” rather than the more common “dynasty” for his leagues. He sees the difference as a symbol of his commitment to the consumer and each entrant’s commitment to his league.

Ultimate Fantasy Sports began enrolling teams in 1988, hosting leagues in baseball, football, basketball and hockey, and added the “lifetime” component in 1990. Owners of “lifetime” teams carry rosters over within the same leagues from year to year, engaging in rookie/prospect drafts each off-season.

“The lifetime leagues now, they’re awesome — just an awesome group of guys,” Zaleski said. “They love the lifetime teams. They love taking over bad teams, and they’ll work on them, build them up.”

“Bad” teams aren’t those judged to be lacking in any way. Those are just the roughly 10 percent of rosters that wind up without managers after each season. Zaleski puts all of those teams back on the open market via an auction system. Interested parties can pick up a team for less than the regular $200 annual entry fee, and Zaleski guarantees his customers that no new leagues will be formed until all open teams find new owners.

Such a promise is just a small example of the kind of focus on customers that has kept UFS rolling for more than 20 years.

“You just take care of people,” Zaleski said. “At the same time, I don’t put up with some of the BS that some of the guys bring in, and guys really respect that. Guys can try to take advantage of other people, and I just didn’t let it happen. Because of that, the service had a great backbone and it kind of thrived off of that. I didn’t realize it until about 10 years after it happened, because you’re just so busy trying to get through the day-to-day.”

Taking care of people has left Zaleski with a strong group of loyal players. UFS currently counts 50 baseball leagues, 45 for football and five in hockey. Basketball has been out of the mix for a few years now, after interest waned following the 1998-99 NBA lockout.

“The interest just died,” Zaleski said. “I did everything possible to keep it going, but we just couldn’t. There were just too many open teams.”

In the beginning — that ultra-labor-intensive, pre-Internet fantasy age — running all of the UFS leagues took a series of phone calls to an answering service that allowed owners to submit lineups and transactions and listen to reports on team results and player moves.

Zaleski said the introduction of the Web gave him his life back, but he still reviews every trade in every league, rejecting those that he deems unfair. That happens much less often at this stage, though, as the explosion of information availability has completely changed the landscape.

“The knowledge base is 1,000 times better than it was when we started in 1988,” Zaleski said.

Although several factors have kept UFS from growing its user base beyond current levels, today’s fantasy climate has Zaleski exploring potential expansion.

“There are a lot of companies that aren’t doing a lifetime business, and they’re afraid of it because of the turnover. But they’ve never talked to me,” he said, referring back to his astonishingly strong annual renewal rate of about 90 percent. “You’re always having to beat the drum to get new people. I don’t have to beat that drum because of the way I’ve got it set up.”

Whether the right growth scenario presents itself, however, won’t impact Zaleski’s satisfaction with the business he launched more than 20 years ago — back when the Seahawks resided in the AFC, the Brewers in the American League and hockey teams in cold northern cities.

Ask him what his initial goals were for the company that has served as the primary source of income for his family since the early 1990s, and his answer is simple and unequivocal.

“The greatest thing I can say is that I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do.”