Group Roles in Fantasy Leagues

      The world of sport seems to evolve right alongside business and technology. Sports coverage and broadcasting often change to take advantage of innovations that come along. Fantasy sports league may be one of the most drastic and noticeable developments in recent sports history. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) reported that in 2013, there were 33.5 million people playing fantasy sports in the USA, amounting to billions of dollars spent on fantasy sports per year.

     While fantasy sports may have had a somewhat obscure start, they have recently exploded into a major branch of sports consumerism. They have even changed the way sports producers themselves broadcast their products. One writer points out that fantasy sports have changed pre-game, in-game and post-game coverage. This growth has given fantasy sports a culture all their own.

     DudePerfect, a well-known sports Youtube channel that produces satirical sports stereotype videos released the “Fantasy Football” edition last September. It has been viewed on Youtube over 4 million times!

     As I watched their video, I was reminded of Benne and Sheats’ small group theory. They suggested that each member in a group plays different roles that either help or hinder the group from reaching its goals. They divide these roles into three categories: task-related, social, or dysfunctional. While not every fantasy league role matched, I was surprised at how many did fit the at least one role in the small group list.

     Here is a link to a more detailed description of each role. After becoming familiar with the communication roles watch the video and see how many of the small group roles are taking place in the fantasy league culture. I found as I looked at the list that many of the fantasy league behaviors correlated mostly to the dysfunctional group roles. For example, aggressor, blocker, and dominator.