Fantasy sports have evolved from their humble roots as a Dungeons and Dragons-style niche at the intersection of sports fandom and statistics nerd. According to Fantasy Sports Trade Association market research conducted by Ipsos, more than 36.6 million people play fantasy sports in the United States and Canada and it is a rapidly growing industry that generates more than 'a billion dollars a year. This once-maligned cult pastime has become an undeniable sporting subculture, enjoying regular coverage from every major sports network, in addition to active online communities, podcasts and even paid services aimed at gamers fantasy sports. With the development of such a massive community-based fantasy sport, one might wonder if the “fantastic” aspect is not in contradiction with the sociology of traditional sport. Sports appreciation is a means of sociological connection in many ways. There is a ritual about watching sporting events – waking up each week, putting on the appropriate jerseys or attire, converging on the stadium and performing the cheers and gestures in unison with others – that develops an awareness or a collective effervescence, much of it in the same way that Durkheim observed with religion. Sports fandoms also create a sense of identity and belonging, as regional, socioeconomic, racial, generational, and many other identities can be expressed through team support. Traditional sport and sociology are deeply intertwined, and the collectively shared experiences that sport provides create connections with society. With this in mind, it's easy to assume that fantasy sports help counteract the socializing aspects of traditional sports. Fantasy sports games are not played in stadiums or televised events, they are contested online...... middle of paper ......r have broadened their appreciation of sports as a whole and furthermore gave them more communities to be a part of. What's interesting about the Western United States being more likely to prefer their fantasy team is that Los Angeles is one of the few metropolitan areas without an NFL franchise, and thus team loyalty for a significant part of the west would be lower than average. If the same study were to be conducted with different sports, different results might be observed for different domains. In the future, this study could be expanded to a larger sample to potentially see other covariates emerge such as NFL team success. Additionally, the sampling is biased by the communities from which they come. People active in such online communities are predisposed to become more involved in fantasy sports, thereby misrepresenting the population..