Word: oneseason
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...OneSeason doesn't take long to learn how to play. A trader can deposit up to $2,500 into an account over a 12-month period, and then electronically buy and sell "synthetic ownership interests," a convoluted name for fake shares, of current baseball, basketball, football, and hockey players. Like any self-respecting stock site, the home page details the day's biggest winners and losers, as well as which traders are red-hot. You can easily access data on each athlete: performance charts, shares outstanding (which start anywhere from 50-250 depending on demand, and can change when...
...Every day, OneSeason rolls out IPOs of new players, which now includes everyone from Kobe Bryant to Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler. (Saturday hockey star Sidney Crosby debuts!) Each IPO is priced at $5 per share, and after that, the share price is determined by basic supply and demand. Fantasy sports enthusiasts, who are used to obsessing over player stats, may be surprised to find that prices aren't tied to specific performance criteria - touchdowns, home runs, rebounds. So if Peyton Manning throws five touchdown passes on Sunday, his price won't automatically shoot...
...Therein lies the potential problem with the OneSeason concept. The market is totally dependent on the fluctuating passions of a group of people willing to play a game. An invisible share of Peyton Manning has no underlying value. "This is the ultimate 'beauty contest' market," says Raymond Sauer, a sports economist at Clemson University. "If there are no fundamentals backing it up, something like relative productivity among a pool of athletes, the market will ultimately collapse. It just seems like a very odd game to play, and to set up in the first place...
...Stroka, the OneSeason CEO, and his investors, which have given the young entrepreneur some $2 million to start the company, are betting that, in the Internet age, people feel comfortable with virtual property. He points to Second Life, the wildly popular simulation game where you can speculate in digital real estate with real money. He also mentions Facebook, where you can spend a buck on electronic flowers for your girlfriend. But in these examples, at least you can see that pretty house or flower on your screen. For a $15 share of Brett Favre, you see his headshot and statistics...
...Despite these shaky fundamentals, OneSeason's early returns are strong. By the end of its second day of existence, the site attracted about 2,000 accounts. The market value of all shares has already passed $300,000. And if the site remains successful, sports marketers might want to pay attention. The price paid for an athlete's synthetic share could be a pretty sharp measure of fan perception. With an estimated 30 million people now participating in the $800 million fantasy sports industry, sports stock just might fly. After all, in our sports addicted society, one should never underestimate...