Internet professional sports

Abstract

A method providing an online virtual sport tournament system includes assigning virtual players to one skill level out of two or more skill levels based on the virtual player's performance in a qualifying event; obtaining confirmation that a virtual player is eligible to participate in the online virtual sport tournament system; hosting a plurality of online virtual sport tournaments, each associated with one of the two or more player skill levels; and awarding high stakes prizes to top performing players.

1 . A method for providing an online virtual sport tournament comprising the steps of: 
 assigning each of two or more players to one of a plurality of skill levels;    obtaining confirmation that each skill level-assigned player is eligible to participate in the online virtual sport tournament, wherein player eligibility is at least partially based on player payment of participation fees;    hosting a non-elimination online virtual sport tournament, wherein the tournament is associated with one of the plurality of skill levels, and wherein only players having an assigned skill level that is the same as the tournament skill level can participate in the tournament; and    awarding a prize to one or more players based on a comparison of scores for each of the participating players from the tournament, wherein at least a portion of the prize is paid from participation fees paid by the participating players.    
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein assigning comprises assigning based on a player's performance in a qualifying event, the qualifying event measuring the player's skill in an online virtual sport.  
   
   
       3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the player performance in the qualifying golfing event is indicative of the player's ability compared to other players.  
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the qualifying event comprises a virtual golf round and the non-elimination online virtual sport tournament comprises a non-elimination online golf tournament.  
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of skill levels are based on a degree of mastery of online golf in an online virtual golf tournament system.  
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein awarding prizes further comprises awarding high stakes prizes of $1000 or more to one or more top performers for each round played in the non-elimination online golf tournament.  
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the player performance used in assigning is indicative of a virtual golfer skill level compared to other virtual golfers.  
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the prizes further originates from one or more of sponsorships, endorsement fees, merchandising fees, merchandise sales, advertising revenues and marketing considerations.  
   
   
       9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein awarding prizes comprises awarding high stakes prizes having a value of $1000 or more.  
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein awarding prizes comprises awarding high stakes prizes of $1000 or more to top finishers of the one or more players.  
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein awarding prizes comprises awarding high stakes prizes from an award pool of $1000 or more.  
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising ranking the players based on the player scores for each tournament in which the player participates.  
   
   
       13 . The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising assigning a player skill level based on the player ranking and enabling one or more of the golfers to participate in tournaments corresponding to their assigned skill level resulting from the golfer ranking.  
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein two or more players comprises 2-1000 players.  
   
   
       15 . A system for implementing an Internet professional sports organization having multiple Internet sports leagues comprising: 
 a central organization server;    at least one Internet sports league server, the at least one sports league server maintaining some connection to the central organization server and hosting non-elimination Internet sports tournaments for a plurality of users; and    a plurality of input/output devices connected to the at least one Internet sports league server via a public network, the input/output devices enabling the plurality of users to participate in the hosted Internet sports tournaments;    wherein the central organization server: 
 receives data related to the performance of the plurality of users in the hosted Internet sports tournaments from the at least one Internet sports league server;  
 determines each user placement in each the Internet sports tournament; and  
 sends user placement and earnings data to a secure server for payment of earnings.  
   
   
   
       16 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein one of the at least one Internet sports league server is associated with an Internet golf league, the Internet golf league hosting high stakes Internet golf tournaments in which participants pay to participate, wherein the high stakes comprise awards of $1000 or more.  
   
   
       17 . An online virtual golf tournament system for online participation comprising: 
 means for assigning each of a plurality of golfers to a first or a second skill level, the assignment at based on: 
 means for evaluating a golfer score in a golf round that is uploaded to the online virtual golf tournament system, the golf round measuring golfer skill against other golfers for the online golf tournament system; and  
 means for ranking each of the golfers based on the golfer scores for each golf tournament the golfer participates in, the rank used to assign the golfer to the first or second skill level after each non-elimination online golf tournament the golfer participates in;  
   means for hosting a plurality of non-elimination online golf tournaments, wherein each of the tournaments host a plurality of players having one of the first or second skill level, the skill level-assigned golfers participating in golf tournaments having a corresponding skill level such that golfers having the same skill level are competitors in the online golf tournaments; and    means for awarding high stakes prizes to one or more golfers upon completion of each golf tournament based on a comparison of the golf tournament scores of each of the golfers and on which skill level of the first or second skill level is associated with the tournament, the high stakes prizes comprising monetary awards of $1000 or more.