Online gaming conversion solutions provider SharpLink Gaming announced Tuesday that its LeagueSafe fantasy sports league management platform has collected more than $31.5 million in total entry fees from over 56,000 private fantasy football leagues for the 2023/2024 NFL season, up 22% from last year. Moreover, the total number of individual payments processed on the platform was 574,043, up 29% year-over-year.
Rob Phythian, SharpLink’s Chief Executive Officer, stated: “2023 is proving to be a banner year for LeagueSafe, expanding its dominance as the premier private fantasy league commissioner assistance service in the industry and providing SharpLink with the means to significantly increase the income earned through higher interest yields on the tens of millions in cash currently be managed by the platform.”
“Based on our internal discounted cash flow analysis, LeagueSafe is currently valued on a standalone basis at over $18 million without considering the other five properties that came with the SportsHub merger,” he added.
Some additional data points shared by LeagueSafe related to the 2023/2024 NFL season, based on entry fees collected for 2023 fantasy football leagues through both the online and mobile LeagueSafe channels, include the following:
- The average league entry fee is $55 per user and the average amount collected per league is $565.
- LeagueSafe supports leagues on all major fantasy football league management platforms. The average entry fee on the major platforms varies widely, including the following data:
- CBS Sports – $122.39
- MyFantasyLeague – $93.50
- Yahoo! – $91.18
- ESPN – $70.38
- Sleeper – $45.10
- The most common league entry fee is $50 (34% of leagues), while 25% pay $25 and 20% pay $100. 66.5% of all users play in a league costing at least $25, while just 0.4% had a league entry fee of $500 or more.
- The five U.S. states in which users paid the highest average league entry fees are:
- Vermont – $183.21
- New Jersey – $168.46
- Hawaii – $162.22
- New York – $161.85
- Nevada – $154.15
- The five U.S. states in which users paid the lowest entry fee per user are:
- West Virginia – $84.12
- Oregon – $91.25
- Iowa – $99.37
- Oklahoma – $100.97
- Idaho – $101.14
- One individual LeagueSafe user is competing in 818 leagues, while a different user has paid more than $30,000 in entry fees to participate in 62 leagues with an average entry fee of $504.
Rob Phythian, SharpLink's CEO
“According to a 2023 survey conducted by the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, there were 62.5 million people playing fantasy sports in the U.S. and Canada in 2022, up from 59.3 million in 2021,” Phythian added.
“While LeagueSafe’s market share currently stands at a fraction of the total addressable market, this suggests that LeagueSafe’s long-term upside growth potential is enormous – particularly as we move forward with our planned national brand and business-building initiatives in the coming year. We are very proud of the success that LeagueSafe continues to achieve and the important role it is playing in the growth of SharpLink.”
SharpLink acquired LeagueSafe as part of the merger with SportsHub Games Network in December 2022. LeagueSafe supports players in all fantasy sports, including fantasy football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, with fantasy football comprising the largest audience of users.
Using LeagueSafe, league commissioners can collect and protect league entry fees, store league funds throughout the season, send automated payment reminders to unpaid owners, disburse end-of-season prize winnings, and fill empty spots in their leagues all in one place.
