In the on going battle of game hosters for fantasy owner's allegiance and wallet, CBS Sports is launching a new, for cash fantasy football game the runs in 4 week blocks.
If you are looking for some thing longer than the weekly fantasy challenges and if you are looking for something shorter than the full season, then this game may be right for you.
MY TAKE: CBS Sports is chasing industry leader Yahoo! and ESPN in fantasy sports. CBS Sports still needs a way to differentiate itself with the top two. Yahoo can leverage it assets in internet technologies like Yahoo email and Yahoo finance to merge users over to its fantasy sports games. ESPN can leverage it leadership in sports as a nice segue way to fantasy sports. CBS differentiates itself by taking the prize route. CBS promotes their prize leagues on their main fantasy sports page, while Yahoo! and ESPN do not.
It would seem to me with CBS already airing NFL games on Sunday, that they would have an advantage to attract more mainstream fantasy football owners instead of only targeting the prize league fantasy owners. For example, I am already in several leagues. This game would not appeal to me because their is a barrier to entry in an entry fee to even try out the game.
It's a nice hedge to launch a new type of fantasy game however, now they are competing more against the weekly-prize games instead of their real competition: Yahoo! and ESPN.
Related: Forbes article by Marc Edelman
