Ford Tackles Fantasy Football As Sport Grows Online

Ford Tackles Fantasy Football As Sport Grows Online

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 nine 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.”

Read the complete Press Release