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Fantasy business proposition...


ABearWithFurniture
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A chain of Fantasy Sports Bars (FSBs). The basics would be a sports bar, conferencing center, and internet cafe all rolled into one. You'd have the main sports bar with all the TV monitors, bar, and such that you normally see, but the bar and the tables would all have network drops built into them for PC/LCD hookups and laptops. The emphasis would be on the ability to watch sports and manage your fantasy teams online while drinking heavily surrounded by your friends and busty waitresses.

 

There would also be 3-4 conference rooms off by themselves that would be utilized for drafting and end of season parties/awards ceremonies. The conference rooms would offer a bridge link to the other FSBs scattered around the country and allow online/live drafting plus technical capabilities for linking up home PCs from web cams. You'd be able to seat 4-20 guys in the same room at a conference table with laptops/PC interfaces. On the monitors/LCDs you'd have links to the team owners from other bars, team owners from their own homes, plus sports clips, player stats, league management software, and any thing else you'd need to run your draft. The laptops/PCs would be linked to the internet and would also run league software managed by the sports bars themselves. The servers could be onsite or farmed out.

 

As food/restaurant/kitchens drive up the startup and monthly overhead considerably, food would be catered in for each site.

 

As there is fantasy football, baseball, hockey, basketball, and other fantasy sports played all year round, the bars would not be limited in it's abilities to offer fantasy sports at any time of the year. And since the bar is also a conference center, businesses would be offered use of the facilities for business conferencing that wouldn't conflict with the drafts/parties.

 

A fantasy sports package of some type could be offered to a league and would include...3-4 hrs draft usuage of a draft/conference room, league software, and 3-4 hrs usuage of a draft/conference room for the end of the year/awards party. As an hour of bridging multi-points for tele-conferencing is running about $25 an hour right now...I'm thinking all this, including the league management software could be offered for about $120 for a typical 12 team league. As with any bar, the profit would come from the alcohol sales and the draft conferencing/software would roughly be break even.

 

My plan is to open up 3-4 of these bars every year until all the major sports/technical hubs are covered in the US.

 

I currently work for a major computer company and computer/conferencing hardware is dirt cheap right now plus I get a huge discount. Now, all I need is the $300K-$500K to build the facilities and purchase the liquor licenses, plus I need some savvy business partners to share in on this venture...

 

You can reach me through abearwfurn@yahoo.com if any of this interests you...

Edited by ABearWithFurniture
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The areas I'm looking to start the first 3-4 in are the bay area, Dallas, and the Tampa Bay area. All the demographics I've run so far on fantasy players has these 3 areas having the 3 key ingredients. A major sports hub, a large technical center, and a large base of fantasy players...New York, Chicago, and Seattle would be next on my list...

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It is ambitious, but you may have problems raising capital....it is a lot of overhead for a seasonal target, plus you isolate non-fantasy football fans in the process who would be put off by all the hoopla.....ESPNZones are very similar, but are profitable because of year round sports, and a well-rounded menu & staff (the busty waitresses don't go over well w/ the family crowd)

 

Don't get me wrong, as a business man in my early thirties who loves fantasy, it is heaven for people like me but I would only be going for 3-4 months out of the year. Good Luck.

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Shoot me your PayPal account address & I will zap that half-mil right over.

 

But seriously, I admire a guy who thinks big. But it seems to me that you would be better off trying to pitch your idea to ESPN SportsZone management & try to set up one of their bars as a test market using your expertise (and somehow, of course, doing whatever you need to do to keep them from ripping off your plan & doing it themselves).

 

I would be concerned that the bulk of your revenue would come only on Sundays and only for 1/3 of the year. I just don't think fantasy in other sports will ever be that big.

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I like the idea, but here are a few things I would be concerned with?

 

1. People drinking and using any kind of expensive equipment is not a good mix.

 

2. Not sure of the setup, but I would not want to bring my own laptop to a bar.

 

3. Since its a bar you are going to lose the 18-20 demographic.

 

4. There would be no women within 10 miles of this place.

 

These are just my opinions. I think its a great idea. Good luck.

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Sounds very interesting

 

You remarked that the profit would come from alcohol, if you realize this, why cater out for food?

 

I think you would do better to offer the facility and leave the league management software to others (Yahoo, CBS, Fanball, ...) that way if people are happy with their league setup they can just rent your space / computer time.

 

And I'm not sure you need separate rooms for drafting / parties, just set up larger tables for those occasions, otherwise you have a big space (cost) that is seldom used.

 

Most people would prefer to come in and use your computer than to bring their own. You could have one of those monitor setups where it is under the (glass) table and maybe a cordless keyboard / mouse.

 

Will you allow full internet access or do you want to allow access to sports related sites only?

 

I don't think you lose the 18-20 crowd, anymore than a bar & grill like Applebees does. They can still go in they just can't drink.

 

Year round - football is the most popular fantasy sport but you will certainly have baseball / basketball / hockey fans that like to check stats while watching a game.

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This sounds like the ultimate! As a woman of drinking age, I assure you I would be a wonderful customer--and would even drag a boyfriend here [or better yet---meet one wink ] I like the idea of screens under glass and instant tracking. With dish networks and NFL Season ticket, I believe the biggest brawls would be over who gets the remote. I would reach out to other fantasy outlets---there are plenty! Hell, not to show my redneck, but I also play fantasy NASCAR and there is fantasy for the Busch and craftsman truck series, too. Heck---if people compete, somewhere, someone is betting. And with LeBron--PUHLEEZE! Fantasy basketball. Can you just picture the ultimate Fantasy Football Superbowl party? You could even run your own league so people wouldn't be paying for various FF sites---making money there, too. How about this for a piggyback----to reach the under-drinking age demographic have your conference rooms be Playstation and X box tournament rooms---put them in a college town and they will be packed all day and night.......keep the thoughts rollin' thumbs_u

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Honestly, love the idea, but no chance in he11 of making money (realize 2/3rds of all rest. fail - one that is so narrowly focused is going to struggle)...however, what I don't get is why sports bars haven't jumped all over wifi yet - now that I could see, cause while some folks wouldn't want to bring their laptops, a lot would - no skin off the sports bar's back - they just let the wifi vendor in...

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To answer some of the questions...

 

The PCs/Laptops would be industrial strength, and the keyboards/mouses would probably be digital tracking devices that would access the infra-red screens under glass.

 

Someone posted about the 18-20 crowd, and I don't think that would be a problem given they could still get in, just couldn't drink.

 

As for the food, my brother-in-law builds restaurants for a living as the site project manager and has given me tons of advice on this subject. He said that given the health licenses, the kitchen equipment, insurance, etc...the cost of making/selling food wasn't really worth it, and it was easier to have food catered in.

 

L.A. would definitely have a site in the first 3-4 years...

 

I would be looking for managers/part-owners...

 

I realize that football is the main fantasy sport but again we would be pushing other fantasy sports/seasons as well. I know that my fantasy fishing teams play 8 months out of the year and those guys drink a lot. Also, with the addition of the conferencing rooms and allowing businesses to utilize them would make up for some of the slower seasons...

 

Any software could be used with these setups as full internet access would be available. It wouldn't be that hard to run it over the routers/bridges into the conference/draft rooms and also onto the network drops. I've already invested some money in my own fantasy league management software that we are beta testing right now so that's also under consideration. The other option would be to team up with someone like MFL or Sportsline and get bulk leagues at a discounted rate.

 

As for putting an idea like this up on the internet I figured, hey, whatever...I'm an idea man and my ideas have been ripped off before...besides, I need business partners and venture capital. I only have about $100K myself right now and am looking for investors...

 

Just remember, fantasy sports has reached the billion dollar a year industry stage and very few people have tapped into that yet...

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MikesVikes:

It sounds like a great idea.  Imagine the liabilities involved with drunken FF'ers upset when KRob gets benched on Sunday. Better make that furniture the heavy duty variety.    :D 

lol...it would still be a bar and yes, dealing with drunks would be part of it...I'm 6'4 and used to be a bouncer so that might come in handy...
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i think it sounds promising, but i'd be concerned about the percentage of customers who actually own laptops. as i understand you, only the conference rooms have computers, and tables just have hubs for people to plug into. i mean, that is supposed to be the big draw, and not a lot of people can take advantage of it.

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Love people with big ideas. thumbs_u

 

I bet you've already thought about this, but I've always kinda assumed that one of the reasons all this money from the fantasy football industry seems to go underdeveloped is it gets dangerously close to the line on what constitutes "gambling." It's one thing to own a bar that even sponsors fantasy football leagues, but if you have an establishment that's entire purpose is to promote and facilitate fantasy sports -- well, you could be stepping on some big-money toes there. I mean, in Ohio, for instance, you can sell pull-tab tickets where the establishment takes in no proceeds, if you meet two requirements: 1) All proceeds go to an approved charity; 2) Everyone who works in the establishment is a volunteer and receives no pay. Even though the bar receives no direct revenue from the sale of tickets, they're effectively prohibited from selling them because no one wants to work in a bar for free.

 

I think we take for granted the fact that fantasy football is not gambling, because we just love the game. However, you get some concerns from the state lottery people, or a nearby casino, or even a couple of influential wives who are upset that their husbands spend all their time there, and you're in for costly litigation.

 

Either through kickbacks or licensing fees or taxes, though, someone is gonna want their cut. At least, that would be my fear. I could be wrong, and usually am, though. :D

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Yeah, I've thought about the gambling issues of this, but as we'd just be selling our services/software/facilities and not touching any of the winnings/league fees, we'd be legit in that aspect.

 

As for the laptops, the bar would either supply them or we'd have LCD panels networked in at all the tables/front bar...again, the keyboard/mouse interfaces will be on infra-red to avoid the spills so the monitor panels wouldn't be that hard to arrange...and their would still be network drops for people to use their own equipment...I rebuild laptops every day and they aren't really that expensive, especially since I get a nice discount on them from the manufacturer...

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Pretty neat idea Bear. I'd say that you made a good choice posting here just to get some ideas/feedback from all the guys. Probably no cash here (we all spent it on our leagues), but can't hurt.

 

First, I'd like to state that if you already have 100k for this then I'm in the wrong job field. 100k extra eek! Anyhoo, I'd be really tempted to pitch this to ESPN, CBS, Fox, or someone that could eat the liability issues with their many corporate lawyers. Good job though man thumbs_u

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Sounds like a great idea and one well worth some real research. However, I see 3 potential issues right up front.

 

First, I doubt $500k gets you anywhere near the real estate, build-out/fixtures, technology, licensing, inventory, marketing and staffing costs involved in a single bar of the type you describe. Even if that's just 20% down on a $4mm loan, I think you'll be hard pressed to make the numbers in the markets you mentioned. Let alone covering the operating capital for the first 12mo while you get the word out and build a customer base in the community.

 

Second, the "barrier to entry" for this market is very low. I imagine that if it succeeds, very soon several companies will start selling "knock off kits" to existing bars (ala the "trivia network" kits sold to existing bars nationwide). Also while it's a natural for ESPN, why would they pay for the idea since they are already heavily invested in both sports-theme bars and FF (somebody over there must be assigned to figuring out possible cross-marketing). As for CBS/FOX etc., if they aren't already in the sport bar business, that will be a tough sell to get them into a totally new line...but who knows.

 

Finally, while Fantasy Football is big and might serve as the anchor theme/event 5-6 mo/year, I doubt any other Fantasy sport pulls enough to interest to fill the place the other 6-7mo. This may or may not be an issue, but it puts you in the straight bar/restaurant business (with a hook probably equivilant to a large game room)for half the year.

 

Lastly, I'd like to offer a place for you to get some additional ideas. Look into the FEC (Family Ent. Center) and related business. I think there are some strong parallels and existing research and articles written about that industry might give you some food for thought. Having read a bit about that market, I think I recall reading that a successful facility had to have something like 5-6 "anchor attractions" to keep drawing enough regulars to be profitable...otherwise no matter how novel the business goes under in less than 5 years (just like 7 out of 8 of all startups).

 

Sorry if I sounded like a wet blanket. (I can't turn off the consultant in me sometimes. :D ) I do think its a very interesting concept. Frankly, I think the possibilities of putting together and selling buildout kits for this to existing bars may be the more lucrative play. Still, either way it may be a money maker.

 

Good luck! thumbs_u

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