U.S. patent application number 11/840947 was filed with the patent office on 2009-02-19 for fantasy sports draft system and method.
Invention is credited to Donald Cornelio.
Application Number | 20090045581 11/840947 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40362350 |
Filed Date | 2009-02-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090045581 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Cornelio; Donald |
February 19, 2009 |
Fantasy Sports Draft System and Method
Abstract
A fantasy sports draft system for a fantasy league with
plurality of teams, the fantasy sports draft system comprising: a
plurality of bidding indicators; a nominator indicator; a large
roster form configured such that information contained on the large
roster form is legible from at least about five feet away; a bye
week form configured such that information contained on the bye
week form is legible from at least about five feet away; and a
regular roster form. A method of holding a fantasy sports draft
comprising: determining a nominating order of teams; displaying a
bye week form and a large roster form for all teams to view;
displaying a nominator indicator by the current nominator team;
nominating a player to auction by current nominator team;
displaying a bidding indicator by teams bidding on the player;
tipping the bidding indicator on its side by teams not bidding on
player; winning of auction of player by a team; filling in large
roster form row for auctioned player; determining whether the
auction is over; moving nominator indicator to next nominator team,
if auction is not over; filling in regular roster form with
information from large roster form, if auction is over; and copying
filled in regular roster form and distributing copies of the filled
in roster form to all teams.
Inventors: |
Cornelio; Donald; (Milford,
CT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL A. BLAKE, LLC
95 HIGH STREET, SUITE 5
MILFORD
CT
06460
US
|
Family ID: |
40362350 |
Appl. No.: |
11/840947 |
Filed: |
August 18, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
273/461 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F 2011/0067 20130101;
A63F 3/0615 20130101; A63F 3/08 20130101; A63F 11/0051
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
273/461 |
International
Class: |
A63F 3/08 20060101
A63F003/08 |
Claims
1. A fantasy sports draft system for a fantasy league with
plurality of teams, the fantasy sports draft system comprising: a
plurality of bidding indicators; a nominator indicator; a large
roster form configured such that information contained on the large
roster form is legible from at least about five feet away; a bye
week form configured such that information contained on the bye
week form is legible from at least about five feet away; and a
regular roster form.
2. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 1, wherein the large
roster form is configured such that information contained on the
large roster form is legible from at least about ten feet away and
wherein the bye week form is configured such that information
contained on the bye week form is legible from at least about ten
feet away.
3. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 1, wherein the large
roster form is configured such that information contained on the
large roster form is legible from at least about twenty feet away
and wherein the bye week form is configured such that information
contained on the bye week form is legible from at least about
twenty feet away.
4. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 1, wherein each of the
plurality of bidding indicators comprises: a base; a flag pole
member attached to the base; and a flag member attached to the flag
pole member.
5. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 4, wherein each of the
plurality of bidding indicators has a height of about 6 inches to
about 24 inches.
6. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 4, wherein each of the
plurality of bidding indicators has a height of about 12.5
inches.
7. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 4, wherein the flag
member of each bidding member has a logo displayed on the flag
member corresponding to each of the plurality of teams.
8. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 4, wherein the flag
member of each bidding member has a team name on the flag member
corresponding to each of the plurality of teams.
9. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 1, wherein the
nominator indicator comprises: a base; a flag pole member attached
to the base; and a flag member attached to the flag pole
member.
10. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 9, wherein the
nominator indicator has a height of about 6 inches to about 30
inches.
11. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 9, wherein the
nominator indicator has a height of about 15 inches.
12. The fantasy sports draft system of claim 9, wherein the flag
member is white.
13. A method of holding a fantasy sports draft comprising:
determining a nominating order of teams; displaying a bye week form
and a large roster form for all teams to view; displaying a
nominator indicator by the current nominator team; nominating a
player to auction by current nominator team; displaying a bidding
indicator by teams bidding on the player; tipping the bidding
indicator on its side by teams not bidding on player; winning of
auction of player by a team; filling in large roster form row for
auctioned player; determining whether the auction is over; moving
nominator indicator to next nominator team, if auction is not over;
filling in regular roster form with information from large roster
form, if auction is over; and copying filled in regular roster form
and distributing copies of the filled in roster form to all teams.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This invention relates generally to systems and methods for
conducting fantasy sports auctions and/or drafts and, more
particularly, to a system and method for conducting a fantasy
sports auction and/or draft in which participants are present in a
single location and team rosters generated as a result of the
auction and/or draft are visually displayed.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Fantasy sports leagues are known to fans of major sports
leagues such as the National Football League, National Basketball
Association, and the like. Typically, a league is created having a
plurality of participating teams. The participants (i.e., team
owners) gather before the start of the corresponding league season
to draft and/or auction players for their fantasy teams. Often,
such gatherings occur in a lounge or bar setting, where
participants can relax, drink, joke, and in general enjoy the draft
experience.
[0003] The rules can vary from fantasy league to fantasy league. In
general, each participating team is permitted to draft a certain
number of players, at certain positions, to create a roster. For
example, a typical fantasy football team might have two
quarterbacks, four running backs, six receivers, two kickers, and
two special teams.
[0004] With respect to the conduct of the draft, this can occur in
one of several ways. For example, there can be a "straight" draft,
in which player selection proceeds according to an established
order until each team's full roster is picked. An auction draft
proceeds differently. In an auction draft, teams are allowed to
spend a prescribed sum of money to assemble their team, which is
typically referred to as a salary cap. Players are then auctioned,
with participants purchasing desired players. Each player picked
and the amount bid for that player counts against the salary
cap.
[0005] With respect to a straight draft, one challenge is for
participants to keep track of players selected, so that time is not
wasted choosing a player who has already been drafted. With respect
to auction drafts, there is still a need to track players who have
been selected, and also to track the amount of money that
participants have spent and have left to spend. In the manner that
live drafts are commonly conducted, manually tracking such
information can be difficult.
[0006] Therefore a fantasy sports draft system and method that
overcomes the above described and other disadvantages is
needed.
SUMMARY
[0007] The disclosed invention relates to a fantasy sports draft
system for a fantasy league with plurality of teams, the fantasy
sports draft system comprising: a plurality of bidding indicators;
a nominator indicator; a large roster form configured such that
information contained on the large roster form is legible from at
least about five feet away; a bye week form configured such that
information contained on the bye week form is legible from at least
about five feet away; and a regular roster form.
[0008] The disclosed invention also relates to a method of holding
a fantasy sports draft comprising: determining a nominating order
of teams; displaying a bye week form and a large roster form for
all teams to view; displaying a nominator indicator by the current
nominator team; nominating a player to auction by current nominator
team; displaying a bidding indicator by teams bidding on the
player; tipping the bidding indicator on its side by teams not
bidding on player; winning of auction of player by a team; filling
in large roster form row for auctioned player; determining whether
the auction is over; moving nominator indicator to next nominator
team, if auction is not over; filling in regular roster form with
information from large roster form, if auction is over; and copying
filled in regular roster form and distributing copies of the filled
in roster form to all teams.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The present disclosure will be better understood by those
skilled in the pertinent art by referencing the accompanying
drawings, where like elements are numbered alike in the several
figures, in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bidding indicator;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a nominator indicator;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a front view of a large roster form configured for
fantasy football;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a front view of a large roster form configured for
fantasy baseball;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a front view of a regular roster form;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a front view of a bye week form; and
[0016] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of the
disclosed method.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] The disclosed fantasy sports draft system comprises several
parts. The first is a bidding indicator 10 for each team in the
fantasy league, as shown in FIG. 1. The bidding indicator 10
comprises a base 14, a flag member 18 and a flag pole member 22
attached to the base 14 and flag member 18. The bidding indicator
10 may have a height H.sub.flag of about 6 inches to about 24
inches. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize
that the bidding indicator 10 need not be limited to only the shape
of a small flag pole and base, but may include a variety of other
means that will allow a user to notify his fantasy sports league
that he intends to make a bid, such means include, but are not
limited to: a sign; an electronic display; a representation of a
team mascot. There will be one bidding indicator 10 for each team
in the league. The bidding indicator 10 may have a team name and/or
team logo 26 printed, written, or have a decal applied on the flag
member 18. The bidding indicator may be made out of any suitable
material, including but not limited to: plastic, molded plastic,
wood, fiberglass, metal, paper, and cardboard.
[0018] FIG. 2 shows a nominator indicator 30. The nominator
indicator 30 comprises a base 34, a flag member 38 and a flag pole
member 42 attached to the base 34 and flag member 38. The nominator
indicator 30 may have a height H.sub.nom of about 6 inches to about
30 inches, and should be taller than the bidding indicator,
preferably, but not necessarily, taller by about 2 inches. However,
one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the nominator
indicator 30 need not be limited to only the shape of a small flag
pole and base, but may include a variety of other means that will
allow a user to notify his fantasy sports league that he intends to
make a nomination, such means include, but are not limited to: a
sign; an electronic display; a representation of a team mascot.
There will be one nominator indicator 30 used for the fantasy
sports draft system. The nominator indicator 30 may have a white
flag member 38 and/or the word "Nominator" or some variant thereof
printed, written, or have a decal applied on the flag member 38.
The nominator indicator 30 may be made out of any suitable
material, including but not limited to: plastic, molded plastic,
wood, fiberglass, metal, paper, and cardboard.
[0019] FIG. 3 shows a large roster form 46. The roster form
contains a space for a team name, and team number. There are a
plurality of columns and rows on the large roster form 46. In this
embodiment, the columns are labeled "Salary", "Position", "Player",
"Team", and "Salary Cap". Under the position column, each position
on a fantasy sports team may be listed. For example, for a fantasy
football team, the positions may include three (3) quarterbacks
("QB"), two (2) kickers ("K"), four (4) running backs ("RB"), five
(5) wide receivers ("WR"), two (2) defense/special teams ("D/ST"),
and one (1) yards at catch ("Y/C"). Of course, one of ordinary
skill in the art will recognize that the positions that make up a
roster for each team may be modified according to the rules of that
fantasy sports league. In addition, the columns may be configured
to contain other information to a fantasy league.
[0020] FIG. 4 shows a large roster form 48, wherein this roster
form is for use with a fantasy football league, whereas the roster
form 46 shown in FIG. 3 is for use with a fantasy football league.
The roster form contains a space for a team name, and team number.
There are a plurality of columns and rows on the large roster form
46. In this embodiment, the columns are labeled "Salary",
"Position", "Player", "Team", and "Salary Cap". Under the position
column, each position on a fantasy sports team may be listed. Thus,
since this roster form 48 is for use with baseball, the positions
may include one (1) first baseman ("1B"), one (1) second baseman
("2B"), one (1) third baseman ("3B"), one (1) shortstop ("SS"), one
(1) catcher ("C"), three (3) outfielders ("OF"), six (6) utility
players ("UT"), five (5) standing pitchers ("SP"), five (5) relief
pitchers ("RP"), and three (3) reserve positions.
[0021] The large roster form shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 should be large
enough so that the forms 46, 48 and the information on the forms
can be seen by various people in a single room. That is, a person
who is about 5 feet to 20 feet away would normally be able to read
most of the information on the large roster form. The large roster
forms 46, 48 may have a height "H" and a width "W". The height H
may be from about 15 inches to about 60 inches, and preferably
about 30 inches. The width W may be from about 10 inch to about 40
inches, and preferably about 20 inches. Of course, the roster form
may be modified so that it can read from even longer distances
away, such as about 40 feet, or 80 feet or more away.
[0022] FIG. 5 shows a regular roster form 50. This form is similar
to the large roster form 48 shown in FIG. 4, except that it is
smaller for the personal use of each team owner/captain/manager to
fill in and/or for the league commissioner to fill in at the end of
the auction/draft and distribute to the teams. The regular roster
forms 50 may have a height "H" and a width "W". The height H may be
from about 5.5 inches to about 22 inches, and preferably about 11
inches. The width W may be from about 4 inch to about 16 inches,
and preferably about 8 inches.
[0023] FIG. 6 shows a bye week form 52. This form comprises a
plurality of columns and rows. One column will list each
professional, college, or amateur team, and the remaining columns
will list which weeks are bye weeks for each team for the sport's
upcoming season. FIG. 6 shows a bye week form 52 for a football
fantasy league. Of course, the form 52 may be modified to be used
with a baseball fantasy league, or any other fantasy sports league.
The bye week form 52 should be large enough so that the form 52 and
the information on the form can be seen by various people in a
single room. That is, a person who is about 5 feet to 20 feet away
would normally be able to read most of the information on the bye
week form. The bye week form 52 may have a height "H" and a width
"W". The height H may be from about 15 inches to about 60 inches,
and preferably about 30 inches. The width W may be from about 10
inch to about 40 inches, and preferably about 20 inches. Of course,
the bye week form may be modified so that it can read from even
longer distances away, such as about 40 feet, or 80 feet or more
away.
[0024] The disclosed fantasy sports draft system and method maybe
used for fantasy or rotisserie leagues such as fantasy football,
fantasy baseball, fantasy cricket, fantasy soccer, fantasy
basketball, fantasy golf, fantasy hockey, fantasy auto racing,
fantasy sports stock simulations, fantasy professional wrestling,
fantasy e-sports, and fantasy congress. The disclosed fantasy
sports draft system comprises: a plurality bidding indicators 10,
one for each owner of a fantasy team; one nominator indicator 30;
one large roster form 46; a plurality of regular roster forms 50,
one for each owner of a fantasy team; and one large bye week form
52. The disclosed fantasy sports draft system and method may be
used as follows: each team owner is a given a bidding indicator 10,
which the team owners will use to represent whether or nor they are
still in the bidding for a particular player. If they are in the
bidding, the bidding indicator 10 will be standing or held up by
the team representative, if out of the bidding the bidding
indicator 10 may be tipped on its side or withdrawn from view. Each
team owner uses a nominator indicator 30 when it is their turn to
nominate a new player to bid on. The nominator indicator 30 may be
simply stood on its base in front of the team representative, or
held up by the team representative. Once they have nominated a
player, they will pass the nominator indicator 30 to the next team
in order to nominate a new player to bid on. The large roster form
46 is large enough for everyone in the auction room to be able to
see, and thus allow all teams to see what players are taken, what
salary cap is left for each team to use for their bidding. The
large roster form 46 will be filled in as players are auctioned to
the various teams in the league. The regular roster form 50 will be
given to each team owner after the auction, and will have the same
information that is finally shown on the large roster form (after
the teams have filled in their roster of players). The bye week
form 52 is a large form that is visible to all the teams in the
auction room, and will show the team owners in the auction room
what players and/or teams have which bye weeks.
[0025] FIG. 7 shows a flowchart describing a method of using the
disclosed fantasy sports draft system. At act 100, the nominating
order of league teams is determined by any of a variety of means,
such as but not limited to: drawing straws, drawing cards,
determined from previous season's standings, etc. At act 104, the
bye week form and large roster form are both displayed so that all
team representatives can view the two forms. At act 108, the
current nominator (as determined by the nominating order) displays
the nominator indicator. At act 112 the current nominator nominates
a player to be auctioned. At act 116, bidding teams display their
bidding indicator. At act 120, teams not bidding and teams no
longer bidding on the auctioned player turn their bidding
indicators on its side or withdraw their bidding indicators from
sight. At act 124, a team wins the auction of the player. At act
132, a row in the large roster form is filled in showing the
auctioning information (such as the name of the player that was
auctioned, the team that won the auction, the position of player,
the winning bid {salary} amount for the player, and the amount left
in the salary cap {if any} for the winning team). At query 136 it
is determined whether the auction is over (e.g. all of the teams
have filled in their roster of players) or if the auction is still
going on. If the auction is not over, then at act 140, the
nominator indicator is moved to the next nominator team. If the
auction is over, then at act 144, the regular roster form is filled
in with the information filled in on the large roster form. At act
148 copies of the filled in roster form are made, and distributed
to each team.
[0026] The advantages of the disclosed fantasy sports draft system
is that it allows for easy determination of whose turn it is to
nominate a player and easy determination of which team is currently
bidding for a player. Another advantage is that allows
representatives of each team see important information, such as the
bye weeks, and how much salary cap is left for each team.
[0027] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", and
"third", and the like may be used herein to modify elements
performing similar and/or analogous functions. These modifiers do
not imply a spatial, sequential, or hierarchical order to the
modified elements unless specifically stated.
[0028] While the disclosure has been described with reference to
several embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the
art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be
substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope
of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to
adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the
disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof.
Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the
particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for
carrying out this disclosure, but that the disclosure will include
all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended
claims.
* * * * *