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Lead Story

RapidDraft.com Greets NCAA Tourney Time with a New Dance

If you are even the most casual of sports fans, work in an office or live somewhere in the United States, you know what March means on the sporting calendar.

It’s “madness” time in college basketball, when brackets abound and pools are plentiful. Xerox Monday — after Selection Sunday — takes many of us to the copy machine so that we can take way too many cracks at building that impossible perfect bracket.

RapidDraft.com, however, wants you to consider a different way to pick your teams: via fantasy draft.

“Innovation…

Fantasy Sports Events

What: National Fantasy Baseball Championship live events
When & Where:
March 19-21, Las Vegas




What: Interactive Sports Conference
When: March 24-25
Where: Las Vegas
Details: ISC website
Sponsor:




What: World Championship of Fantasy Baseball
When: March 26-28
Where: Las Vegas
Details: WCOFB website





Business Profile

Company: FantasyTrophies.com
Launch date: launched in 1995 but became an LLC in 2008
No. of employees: We have 4 employees during the busy times of the year.

We’ve learned that the fantasy sports consumer can be an attractive target for marketers because “he” is devoted to the hobby and willing to spend money. Dave Mitri has been intimately familiar with those facts since launching FantasyTrophies.com about 15 years ago. He took some time out recently to tell FSB.com about building a business around handcrafting trophies for fantasy players … and divulge the identity of his “Armchair Quarterback” inspiration.

1. So, really, who buys…

Personal Profile

Name: John Diver (pronounced like “river”, not “diver”)
Nickname: “Div”
Job title: Director of Product Development, ESPN Fantasy Games
Full-time in fantasy: 15 years
Age: 40
Education: Washington ‘92 (English)
Family status: Married two kids (Ellie 6, Gavin 4)
Favorite fantasy sport to play: ESPN Fantasy Football
Favorite sport to watch: College Football
Favorite team (any sport): Washington Huskies
All-time favorite athlete: John McEnroe
Years playing fantasy: 20

I got my start in the fantasy industry when:

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