Keeper Leagues In Jeopardy

We had great weather in NYC for Memorial Day, but a different kind of cloud hung over my head this weekend. Usually I spend Memorial Day thinking about how to win yet another QFL Championship, but this year… not so much. Then I get to work Tuesday and see this WaPo article confirming I am not alone in my apathy.

Fantasy football: Another NFL lockout casualty? [Washington Post]

Typically, Memorial Day weekend is a time of promise for the $800 million fantasy football industry and an important milestone for the game’s estimated 30 million players.

Not this year. With the NFL lockout in its 77th day, ESPN The Magazine has scrapped its annual fantasy football guide, which would have appeared on newsstands and in 2 million mailboxes in early June, at a loss of millions in advertising revenue, according to one industry analyst.

Sports bars that count on fantasy draft parties for revenue stand to lose thousands of dollars, as do hotels in places such as Las Vegas that host more elaborate fantasy football gatherings.

With each passing day of the work stoppage, the offseason pursuit of evaluating players’ fantasy value becomes almost pointless. Will Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald’s stock rise, say, if the team acquires a quarterback such as Donovan McNabb? It’s not worth speculating yet, fans say.

Tom Lawler, a lobbyist who lives in the District, travels … for his league’s draft, but the trip to Waco, Tex., could become a casualty if the lockout persists. Lawler, who has played in his league for roughly a decade, said he devotes approximately $1,000, which includes travel, food and lodging, to fantasy football each year.

“Everybody’s got schedules and various other interests,” Lawler said. “Once [fantasy football participation] falls off, something else is going to take its place, and I think that’s the biggest concern that the league has. Once everybody goes away, how do they get them to come back?”

I’m not worried about the QFL, but its not a stretch to imagine other keeper leagues struggling to recover from this lockout. If regular fantasy football is hurting, keeper and dynasty leagues will be hit twice as hard. Without knowing how NFL free agency is going to shake out, how can a keeper league team make informed player cuts? And without knowing when the NFL season is going to start, how can any league schedule the annual draft? Only the strongest of keeper leagues will survive this nightmare.