DEARBORN, Sept. 10, 2007 -- Ford F-Series is marching downfield in the fastest-growing part of America's most popular sport -- fantasy football on the Web. Ford F-Series, the truck leader for the last 30 years is partnering with a leader in online fantasy gamming, FOXSports.com on MSN, to sponsor the site's free-to-play, redesigned fantasy football game at http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy.
"Ford trucks are fixtures on Sunday afternoons," says Todd Eckert, Ford Truck and SUV communications manager. "We now will reach millions of football fans every day on the internet as a presenting sponsor of FOXSports.com's fantasy football site."
Since the 1990s, fantasy sports have grown dramatically with approximately 18 million participants in 2006, 85 percent of which play fantasy football according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. These players also are highly devoted football fans as 47 percent attended a professional football game in 2006, versus 9 percent of the general football fan audience. Fantasy games also increase general fan interest in sports as 55 percent of players report watching more games after joining a fantasy league.
Football also attracts more truck buyers than other major sports -- 55 percent of F-Series owners follow professional football -- as the sport's grueling athletic demands have the same appeal as "Built Ford Tough" trucks. Roughly half of all Americans follow professional football, including huge audiences across all generations and major ethnic groups. These fans are mostly men (62 percent), college educated (61 percent) and have higher-than-average incomes according to Harris Interactive®.
"As fantasy football on FOXSports.com continues to grow, we're excited to work with leading brands such as Ford in an effort to help them reach their key target audiences online," said Gary Larkin, Vice President of Sales for FOXSports.com. "The Web's most passionate and most engaged sports fans are playing fantasy football this year, and we look forward to extending Ford's long-running relationship with FOX Sports television to reach these sports with a great new marketing presence on FOXSports.com."
Fox Sports is a leader in providing fantasy games and content for experts and novices alike. Fantasy players can join private leagues with their friends or public leagues with other online users from around the world. Each league kicks of the season with an in-person or online draft where players generally select offensive players -- quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and kickers -- from any of the professional football 32 teams, as well as full team defenses.
A 13- or 14-week schedule matches the league's fantasy teams against each other on a rotating basis with points scored according to the on-field performance of the players in each lineup. The top teams make fantasy playoffs that coincide with the end of the professional football regular season. Fox Sports provides a comprehensive draft guide and fantasy football overview at http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/resources/footballdraftguide.
Ford will further tap into football's season-opening by launching two new ads that illustrate the 2008 Ford F-150's continued leadership in strength and capability. Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's hit show, "Dirty Jobs," will headline the commercials, his third round of Ford F-150 ads since January 2007. Ford will air the ads, as well as 2008 F-Series Super Duty spots, during games on FOX -- as it has since the inception of FOX's professional football broadcasts in 1994 -- and other network football games.
Ford also is extending its exclusive automotive sponsorship of the NFL on FOX Sunday pre-game television show, the top-rated show of its kind and a four-time Emmy award winner, to a fifth straight season to promote the Ford F-150. Fox's broadcasting focus on National Football Conference (NFC) teams is especially appealing to Ford because it reaches large markets, specifically big truck markets such as Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago.
Ford also extended its sponsorship of "America's Team," the Dallas Cowboys, through 2018 and will have a major presence in their new stadium which opens in 2009. The new stadium will feature the most comprehensive sponsor integrations at any sports venue ever, including Ford brand signage, vehicle and interactive displays and end-zone celebrations that will live up to the "Built Ford Tough" promise. Ford and the Cowboys are also partnering this fall to recognize Texas high school scholar athletes with the Built Ford Tough Dallas Cowboy High School Football Player of the Week awards.
Ford also is the official car and truck of the Houston Texans and has naming rights to the Detroit Lions' Ford Field.
Fantasy football actually has been around for nearly 45 years but took off in the late 1990s with the proliferation of online, automated gaming. According to NFLPlayers.com, former Oakland Raiders co-owner Bill Winkenbach formed the first league, the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League, in 1963 with staffers and local journalists.
The game developed a cult following in the Bay Area by the 1970s before taking off nationally in the 1990s. Advancements in digital technology paved the way for huge growth in fantasy sports in the late 1990s, leading to an entire media and marketing support network. It's now common to see professional football broadcasters such as Fox Sports dedicate entire segments in sportscasts or pre-game shows to fantasy football strategies and issues.
Extreme fantasy sports participants are known to plan entire vacations or draft parties around the beginning of each season when teams are selected. Many players participate in "keeper leagues" where their previous year's team carries over to the new season, cultivating a franchise mindset and special bonds (or resentment) with players that continue with the team or are traded.
