In the words of Nic Sulsky, CEO of
InGamer Sports, his technology takes fantasy-league sports players from "being general managers to being head coaches." His innovative technology --
launched in partnership with The Hockey News and the NHLPA May 27 in time for game one of the Stanley Cup Finals -- does so by allowing gamers to interact with the games in real-time, while they are being played, using their computer or mobile device, and to interact with other gamers at the same time through social media apps. Will this do for fantasy league sports what
sabermetrics did for baseball? "We think so," Sulsky says.
Sulsky and his business partner Simon deBoer have been working on the InGamer concept for about 10 years, he says. "I've been obsessed with fantasy sports, and I wanted to know why I couldn't play live while watching a game." The pair realized there was a hole in the market, obsessive fans who laboured over fantasy-league teams day and night but were powerless to do anything while games were in action.
According to Sulsky, they began building their platform before the technology to support it existed. It's only in the past two years that real-time statistical information has begun to become available for major sports. But now that it is, it opens up a new level of fantasy sports. "This is not just goals and assists � our points system is about everything: passes, hits, saves, blocked shots. The average NHL game has six [goal] scoring plays, our system counts over 200 scoring plays per game."
For now, the startup based at
MaRS is still a two-person operation, but Sulsky anticipates hiring five or six new staff members by the fall.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Nic Sulsky, CEO, InGamer Sports
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