Fantasy football (association)
Fantasy football (less commonly referred to as fantasy association football worldwide but known as fantasy soccer in the United States) is a game in which participants assemble an imaginary team of real life footballers and score points based on those players' actual statistical performance or their perceived contribution on the field of play. Usually players are selected from one specific division in a particular country, although there are many variations. The original game was created in England by Bernie Donnelly on Saturday 14 August 1971 and is still going strong 45 years later. Fantasy football has evolved in recent years from a simple recreational activity into a significant business due to exposure via the internet.
Fantasy sport
The first experts on record as having written fantasy baseball articles for USA Today were John Benson, Alex Patton, and Ron Shandler. Perhaps the most well-known fantasy baseball expert in the late 1980s and early 1990s was Benson, who published his first fantasy baseball book in 1989. Later that year Benson developed the first draft-simulation program, software that he still sells today.