ABSTRACT
Internet capabilities and capacity allowed many technologies, communication activities, and sport media outlets to thrive, due to the ease and speed of information sharing. Fantasy sport is one area greatly impacted by these advancements and is enhancing fandom across many sport segments. Fantasy sport as an industry has seen nothing but growth, now boasting an industry size of 59.3 million U.S. and Canadian participants (Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, 2020). Fantasy sport has many participation opportunities from season-long to daily and is based on individual statistics compiled for team success. Driven by motives of competition, sport socialization, self-esteem, and surveillance (among others), fantasy sport is changing the lens through which sport is viewed. Early on, the activity was met with concern over team and league fandom being diminished in favor of individual achievements. However, studies have shown fantasy sport users as highly active information-seekers, heavy sport consumers, who still value traditional sport fandom; all of this creating an amplified sport fan (Billings & Ruihley, 2013; 2014). This chapter discusses fandom in the realm of fantasy sport discussing motivation for play, consumption, fantasy sport media, and the fantasy sport industry.
