SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONDUCTING FANTASY SPORTS TOURNAMENTS

摘要

Systems and methods for conducting fantasy sports tournaments are disclosed. A particular embodiment includes at least four key features that should be in the same tournament structure to produce an effective tournament. These features include the following: 1) entry fees must be a nominal (e.g., low cost, low risk for the consumer) cost to the consumer so the masses can afford to play; 2) the grand prize must be a multi-million dollar offering so the masses will enthusiastically desire to play; 3) participants must not be subjected to playing the entire field at the same time to discourage the masses (i.e., the tournament must be skill based); and 4) there must be a re-entry component that allows fantasy players an option to continue getting back into the tournament for as long as possible.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
prompting, by execution of a data processor, a large number of users at a corresponding large number of user platforms to each submit a nominal buy-in for entry into a fantasy sports tournament, the users submitting the nominal buy-in becoming fantasy players of the fantasy sports tournament; partitioning, by execution of the data processor, the fantasy players of the fantasy sports tournament into player groups denoted rings, wherein players compete to advance through a pre-determined number of rounds to a main tournament, at least one player ring having at least three fantasy players as ring members, the fantasy players in each player ring only playing against other members of the same player ring during a given round; receiving from each member of each player ring a selection of athletes corresponding to each member and scoring each member of each player ring based on the performance of selected athletes, members of each player ring who do not score within a predetermined number of advancing players for their given ring relative to the other members of the same player ring are disqualified from the fantasy sports tournament; enabling a disqualified fantasy player to re-enter the fantasy sports tournament after submittal of an additional fee by either: a) paying the same fee again which requires playing one or more additional rounds to catch up to the number of rounds other players have played, or b) paying an additional fee to bypass rounds that have already been played; enabling an advancing player to move on to the next round of the tournament, without having to pay an additional charge, as the advancing player is placed in a new ring of players who also have successfully advanced to the same stage of the tournament; and configuring the fantasy sports tournament to include rings.