Name: Mike Beacom
Nickname: none
Job title(s): Publisher for World Fantasy Games, President & Chairman of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association
Age: 32
Education: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Family status: Partner, Lisa, and our two daughters
Favorite fantasy sport to play: College Football
Favorite sport to watch: College Football
Favorite team (any sport): Green Bay Packers
All-time favorite athlete: Emmitt Smith
Years playing fantasy: 19

I got my start in the fantasy industry when: I wrote a piece for Fantasy Sports magazine in 2000

Since then, my fantasy résumé includes: A year at DraftSharks.com, three years as the senior editor for Fantasy GMs, three years as the senior editor for Pro Fantasy Sports, one year as the publisher for SportsBuff.com/World Fantasy Games … four years as the chairman of FSWA (2004-07), one year as president and chairman.

1) How important to you is your work with young writers? Why?
It’s a large reason why I remain in this industry. I was fortunate to have a couple of mentors during my formative years as a writer, and now I try to do what I can to help young fantasy writers perfect their craft and find jobs. As Woody Hayes put it, it’s about “paying forward.”

2) What motivated you to launch your own site with Fantasy GMs? What have you gotten out of business management that just isn’t there for a writer?
I had been with Draft Sharks for a season and decided I could do this on my own. It was the first real business risk of my life, but it was exciting. I knew nothing about operating a business — organizing the paperwork, screening potential employees, tracking growth — but I was young and anxious to learn everything I could. I think every man/woman should operate their own business at least once throughout the course of their life.

3) You have performed in central roles with the FSWA since its inception. What makes it so important to you? What do you hope to get from it, and what are you trying to make sure it gets from you?
The FSWA is the purest organization I’ve been a part of. No one is paid a nickel, yet everyone involved gives freely of their time for the greater good of the fantasy writers. I think it’s because all of the people involved — the executive committee, the board — we’ve all experinced what it’s like to be a young writer with big dreams. I need nothing for my contribution; but I’ve committed to do all I can to grow this organization, and I hope to be involved for a long time.

Fantasy college sports have grabbed a lot of attention over the past few months, following the announcement from CBSSports.com that it would give names to the players in its college football game.

Because of the growing interest in college fantasy contests, the Fantasy Sports Writers Association is recognizing a top college writer for the first time in the five-year history of its writer awards.

John Baker, who spent his first season handling college football for SportsBuff.com in 2008, is competing with ESPN’s Will Harris and RotoWire’s Adam Mankuta for the inaugural trophy. SportsBuff.com, of course, is part of the company that also owns this site.

The FSWA will announce the winners on the first day of next week’s FSTA winter business conference. The association also plans to begin naming a college football fantasy player of the year in 2009.

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– Among the predictions made by sports marketing veteran Glenn Horine in this Sports Business Journal column is the following: “Look for an uptick in consumer electronic expenditures as stay-at-home fans enhance the home entertainment experience. Young and old will spend more discretionary time with social media outlets and fantasy sports. It’s affordable, entertaining, and a connection vehicle for friends and family.” Add him to the list of those who think sports to be recession-proof.

– Dave Del Grande is hosting his own college-bowl competition. Although he refers to it as “fantasy,” it looks more like a pick ‘em contest, at least at the outset. Still, though, he’s Dave Del Grande — Mr. Fantasy.

Fantasy sports are good for your league.

It doesn’t take an advanced degree or in-depth research to determine that. It’s common sense. Look around.

The NFL has exploded over the past five years or so, at the same time as fantasy participation has been growing by about 25 percent a year. Every outlet for football content has begun to cater its coverage to fantasy players. The NFL itself was the first of the major sports leagues to host fantasy leagues on its website.

Or check out baseball highlights on ESPNews. The “Fantasy Impact” box might not always present a stat that is actually relevant to fantasy owners, but the box is always there when they display the final score. Meanwhile, baseball continues to set attendance records and make a ton of money from broadcast rights.

The NBA and NHL now run fantasy games through their official websites, too. It’s just a good idea. It engages your fans, gives them an increased stake in the results of your events, and offers a potential entry point for new followers. Fantasy not only appeals to fans of a sport, but it can welcome in new consumers who might have no rooting interest in a particular team or might not have paid much attention to a particular league in the past.

I can’t help but wonder if that’s why the NCAA’s objections to fantasy haven’t made their way to the level of legal action.

Major League Baseball and now the NFL have taken fantasy providers to court over access to their athletes, and those two entities exist for the sole purpose of profiting from athletic contests. The NCAA, meanwhile, has stuck to writing op-ed newspaper pieces and sending letters to about how it doesn’t like the use of athletes’ names or the attachment of prizes to the college fantasy contests.

As we’ve pointed out here before, U-Sports has been running college fantasy games with player names included for more than 10 years. Obviously, CBS’ decision to name the players in its college football game this season put the issue on a much larger scale, but are we really expected to believe that no one in the NCAA was aware of U-Sports or any of a few other providers before? The governing body of college sports is simply too large an organization with too much concern for player eligibility to have not come across the games until this year. It seems far more likely that the CBS hoopla finally generated the kind of publicity that required an official response.

It does make some sense for the NCAA to come out against fantasy games publicly. As the official website states: “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a voluntary organization through which the nation’s colleges and universities govern their athletics programs. It is comprised of institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals committed to the best interests, education and athletics participation of student-athletes.” From an academic standpoint, fantasy games offer no redeeming value to student athletes.

Of course, as stated here in the past, neither do a three-week championship basketball tournament, bowl games over winter break, Thursday night games on ESPN or baseball championships that stretch well past the end of classes in the spring.

That’s why it also makes sense for the NCAA to mount no formal challenge to fantasy sports. Fantasy offers free-of-charge marketing exposure and consumer engagement for college sports — the same sports that generate millions from broadcasting rights for the “voluntary” governing body and many member institutions.

Will the public push between the NCAA and fantasy providers take on a more official capacity at some point? Maybe. It would be hard to make much sense of such action, though.