Draftkings.com offers new style of fantasy football

By Ryan Molini (@molins_3)

Prospect 2011 graduate Eddie Mannix estimated he spends about $250 every year on fantasy football. That’s about 30 hours of minimum wage labor in Illinois, excluding taxes. Mannix has been participating in fantasy football for 12 years now and picked up the hobby from his father.
Fantasy football is a way to give amateurs of the sport a way to manage professional players online into imaginary teams.
Mannix practices two types of fantasy football.The first, more common in years past typically on espn.com, is the generic form where a participant is in a league of four to 20 participants. All participants are in charge of their teams as they draft players from the NFL and receive points in head-to-head matchups based on the professional players’ performances that given week.

The second, new to many in the Prospect community, is based off draftkings.com. Draftkings offers fantasy owners a fresh start every week, without having to compete for certain players.
“It’s daily fantasy, so there’s no commitment,” Mannix said. “You play when you feel like it, and you play different types of modes that you understand and feel you can be good at.”
Draftkings can also be sorted based on how much money is willing to be at stake for owners. Owners have a certain salary cap and can purchase players for a week-long contract, similar to how an NFL general manager would a real player.
Mannix alongside 10 of his friends play on draftkings and has noticed the difference monetarily compared to the more locally known espn.com.
“The payout is pretty incredible,” Mannix said. “Tonight, [Aug. 24], I’m in [a league] with 115,000 people, and the top half get paid. First prize takes home $100,000.”
Draftkings also offers a way to escape the dreaded star-player year-ending injury. Two top wide receivers have already been struck by this title as Carolina’s Kelvin Benjamin and Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson have already been ruled out for the entire season with torn ACLs.
Mannix also reaps the benefits of draftkings’ offer of $25 site credit for every friend he refers to create an account on the website.
Being a college student, Mannix still finds time three-to-four times a day to check up on his six fantasy teams.
“It’s definitely a way as you get older to keep people together,” Mannix said. “[I plan to play in the future] at minimum just for that.”
Mannix has also found some success in his hobby and has even won up to $500 in one season alone but still finds time for the fun in between all the money.
“[I play it] mostly for fun,” Mannix said. “But the money part is pretty sweet [too].”