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The Reuters global sports blog
from Shop Talk:
World Cup is no March Madness in sapping productivity
It may be the World Cup, but when it comes to sapping productivity in the United States the global soccer tournament still has a thing or two to learn from March Madness and the National Football League.
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which often measures lost workplace productivity, said many U.S. fans will tune in for the quadrennial soccer tournament, which kicks off Friday in South Africa, but the event still trails the NCAA men's basketball tournament, dubbed March Madness, and other events.
"Soccer simply has not caught on with the majority of American sports fans, Challenger CEO John Challenger said in a statement.
"However, the World Cup is a unique event and could attract a lot of viewers who might not typically go out of the way to watch a match," he added. "Even as the sport grows in popularity, though, it will have far less of an impact on workplace productivity than the March Madness basketball tournament, for example."
In Challenger's nonscientific, nonbinding ranking of sporting events with the most potential to affect workplace productivity, the World Cup ranked No. 4:
No. 1 -- NCAA men's basketball tournament (aka March Madness): Widespread office tournament pools and the fact that about half of the first 32 games are played during working hours makes this "the granddaddy of productivity sappers," the Challenger firm said. Proof of that was the use of the "Boss Button," which instantly hides the webcast behind a fake spreadsheet, 3.3 million times this year.
No. 2 -- NFL fantasy football: Millions of fantasy football participants manage their teams from their office. Talk about drafts and trades adds up over the 17-week season, the firms said.
Yahoo launches mayoral trash talk in fantasy football league
Get ready for the smack talk as Yahoo is launching a fantasy football competition among 11 U.S. mayors.
Former NBA star Kevin Johnson, who is now mayor of Sacramento, is among the competitors in the head-to-head league. The mayors will compete weekly based on the statistics of National Football League players they draft. Other mayors involved are from Buffalo, New York; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Oakland and San Francisco, California; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Tampa, Florida.
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, a lifetime Green Bay Packers fan, is already putting on his game face: “Winning is the only thing.”
In fantasy sports, fans, including the mayors, select real athletes for make-believe teams and compete based on statistics compiled in the real games. Fantasy sports of all kinds are played by millions of Americans, generating about $1 billion in annual revenue.
Cornett said he will be very involved with his team, but has tapped his 30-year-old son to act as his team’s general manager. His only rule? No Minnesota Vikings.
The Yahoo fantasy football season kicks off Sept. 10, but no date has been set yet for the mayors’ live draft.
The winner of the mayoral league will earn $15,000 for the local nonprofit sports program of his or her choice, while fans, starting Aug. 13, can earn their city another $15,000 donation by voting for their city. The mayoral league can be followed online.
