It’s a big month for OPENSports. The online fantasy sports startup, backed by Mike Levy, who founded CBS SportsLine, just raised $4 million from angel investors and signed a deal with FoxSports.com, giving Fox Sports a minority stake in the property.
About “$3.4 million came from existing investors and $600,000 came from new investors,” Levy told me. Levy stayed mum the stake Fox Sports is receiving, only to say it’s “significant.” (I’m guessing well north of25%)
Back in February of this year, Levy told me that he would focus on working with traditional networks in need of fresh fantasy sports games. If you know Levy’s history, this wouldn’t come as a surprise. Levy started SportsLine back in the Internet heyday and sold a portion of it to CBS, giving SportsLine the much-needed branding to gain traction.
In the same way, Fox Sports should provide some traffic infusion. Fox Sports on MSN gets 14 million unique monthly visitors, said Levy. Additionally, all Fox Sports Fantasy members (about half million today) will become part of the OPENSports network. “We expect to have 1 million Fantasy Football players by the fall,” said Levy.
As part of the deal, OPENSports will power the “fantasy” section for Fox Sports. OPENSports will have linkbacks on each of the fantasy pages. Fox Sports will sell the advertising on the pages and share the revenue with OPENSports about 50/50.
The new $4 million raised will go mainly toward helping OPENSports build out its product for Fox Sports.
So, how will OPENSports make money?
Levy says fantasy sports is a significant market. He estimates that CBS Sports fantasy football revenue will bring CBS $40 million this year. Of that, he estimates $24 million will come from advertising and $16 million from subscription fees (people paying to play games). Levy founded CBS SportsLine, the foundation of what is now CBS Sports, so he should have a good sense of the numbers there.
Levy is building a big fantasy business. After raising $14 million, he expects to be out in the market raising funds again. But if you’re a venture capitalist seeking to get 25% of this company by making a bet, I wouldn’t count on it. Levy has surpassed the VC route twice already. And, he’s a happier man for it, he says.
