Evaluation of fantasy players

Abstract

The evaluation of players in the context of a fantasy sports league is disclosed. In order to evaluate whether a fantasy team owner should add one player to the starting lineup of the team and drop another, player stat predictions are first used to predict end-of-season stats for the current starting lineup of a team. Historical and current league stat/point functions may then be used to determine how many points the team is expected to earn during the course of a full season based on the predicted end-of-season stats. This same methodology is then applied to a proposed revised lineup to determine how many points the revised team is expected to earn during the course of a full season. The difference between the projected point totals for the current team and the revised team are an indication of the value of this specific transaction to this specific team.

1 . An apparatus for determining a value of proposed changes to a starting lineup of a current fantasy team in a fantasy sports league, comprising:
 transaction evaluation logic operable for
 receiving current fantasy team data and a proposed starting lineup change, 
 computing predicted team end-of-season stats for both the current fantasy team and a proposed changed team based upon the proposed starting lineup change using player stat predictions, 
 computing predicted end-of-season point totals for both the current fantasy team and the proposed changed team using stats-to-points conversion data, and 
 computing a difference between the predicted end-of-season point totals for both the current fantasy team and the proposed changed team, the difference representing the value of the proposed starting lineup change. 
   
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the stats-to-points conversion data comprising historical fantasy league stats and points data providing a conversion from stats to points based on data from previous fantasy leagues. 
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , the stats-to-points conversion data comprising extrapolated current fantasy league stats and points data providing a conversion from stats to points based on data from the current fantasy league, and wherein the computing of the predicted end-of-season point totals for both the current team and the proposed changed team is performed using a blending function that utilizes a weighting of the historical fantasy league stats and points data and the extrapolated current fantasy league stats and points data. 
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , the blending function comprising linearly weighting the historical fantasy league stats and points data from 100% to 0% and linearly weighting the extrapolated current fantasy league stats and points data from 0% to 100% as a season progresses from start to finish. 
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , the historical fantasy league stats and points data comprising stats and points for teams in the same league during one or more previous seasons. 
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , the historical fantasy league stats and points data comprising stats and points for teams in different leagues operated by the same fantasy league management provider during one or more previous seasons. 
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , the historical fantasy league stats and points data comprising stats and points for teams in other leagues operated by different fantasy league management providers during one or more previous seasons. 
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the proposed changes to the starting lineup of the current fantasy team comprising a proposed drafting of a player prior to a start of a season, the starting lineup initially including a team of fictitious players having stats representing average stats for all players available to be drafted. 
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the stats-to-points conversion data including current fantasy league stats and points data, the apparatus comprising a current fantasy league database communicatively couplable to the transaction evaluation logic and operable for providing current fantasy team data including current team rosters and the current fantasy league stats and points data for all teams in the league. 
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the stats-to-points conversion data including historical fantasy league stats and points data, the apparatus comprising a historical fantasy league database communicatively couplable to the transaction evaluation logic and operable for providing the historical fantasy team stats and points data. 
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , comprising a player stat predictions database communicatively couplable to the transaction evaluation logic and operable for providing the player stat predictions for a remainder of a current season. 
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , comprising a web server communicatively couplable to the transaction evaluation logic and operable for receiving proposed current lineup changes from a fantasy team owner and sending transaction values back to the fantasy team owner as computed by the transaction evaluation logic. 
   
   
       13 . A server system comprising the apparatus and web server of  claim 12 , the server system coupled to a storage area network. 
   
   
       14 . A method for determining a value of proposed changes to a starting lineup of a current fantasy team in a fantasy sports league, comprising:
 using player stat predictions to determine total stats expected to be compiled at an end of a season for the starting lineup, and using stats-to-points conversion data to compute expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the starting lineup based on the total stats expected to be compiled;   using player stat predictions to determine first total stats compiled at the end of the season for a first player being considered for addition to the current starting lineup;   using player stat predictions to determine second total stats compiled at an end of a season for a second player being considered for removal from the current starting lineup;   using the stats-to-points conversion data to compute the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the proposed changed lineup based on the total stats expected to be compiled plus the first total stats and less the second total stats; and   computing a difference between the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the proposed changed lineup and the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the starting lineup, the difference representing the value of the proposed changes.   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , the stats-to-points conversion data comprising historical fantasy league stats and points data providing a conversion from stats to points based on data from previous fantasy leagues. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , the stats-to-points conversion data comprising current fantasy league stats and points data providing a conversion from stats to points based on data from the current fantasy league, and wherein the computing of the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for both the starting lineup and the proposed changed lineup is performed using a blending function that utilizes a weighting of the historical fantasy league stats and points data and the current fantasy league stats and points data. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , the blending function comprising linearly weighting the historical fantasy league stats and points data from 100% to 0% and linearly weighting the current fantasy league stats and points data from 0% to 100% as a season progresses from start to finish. 
   
   
       18 - 20 . (canceled) 
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 14 , the proposed changes to the starting lineup of the current fantasy team comprising a proposed drafting of a player prior to a start of a season, the starting lineup initially including a team of fictitious players having stats representing average stats for all players available to be drafted. 
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 14 , the stats-to-points conversion data including current fantasy league stats and points data, the method comprising accessing a current fantasy league database to obtain current fantasy team data including current team rosters and the current fantasy league stats and points data for all teams in the league. 
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 14 , the stats-to-points conversion data including historical fantasy league stats and points data, the method comprising accessing a historical fantasy league database to obtain the historical fantasy team stats and points data. 
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 14 , comprising accessing a player stat predictions database to obtain the player stat predictions for a remainder of a current season. 
   
   
       25 . A computer-readable medium comprising program code for determining a value of proposed changes to a starting lineup of a current fantasy team in a fantasy sports league, the program code for causing performance of a method comprising:
 using player stat predictions to determine total stats expected to be compiled at an end of a season for the starting lineup, and using stats-to-points conversion data to compute expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the starting lineup based on the total stats expected to be compiled;   using player stat predictions to determine first total stats compiled at the end of the season for a first player being considered for addition to the current starting lineup;   using player stat predictions to determine second total stats compiled at an end of a season for a second player being considered for removal from the current starting lineup;   using the stats-to-points conversion data to compute the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the proposed changed lineup based on the total stats expected to be compiled plus the first total stats and less the second total stats; and   computing a difference between the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the proposed changed lineup and the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for the starting lineup, the difference representing the value of the proposed changes.   
   
   
       26 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 25 , the stats-to-points conversion data comprising historical fantasy league stats and points data providing a conversion from stats to points based on data from previous fantasy leagues. 
   
   
       27 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 26 , the stats-to-points conversion data comprising current fantasy league stats and points data providing a conversion from stats to points based on data from the current fantasy league, and wherein the computing of the expected points to be accrued at the end of the season for both the starting lineup and the proposed changed lineup is performed using a blending function that utilizes a weighting of the historical fantasy league stats and points data and the current fantasy league stats and points data. 
   
   
       28 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 27 , the blending function comprising linearly weighting the historical fantasy league stats and points data from 100% to 0% and linearly weighting the current fantasy league stats and points data from 0% to 100% as a season progresses from start to finish. 
   
   
       29 - 35 . (canceled)