Fantasy sports has evolved from its humble roots as a niche Dungeons & Dragons-style intersection of sports fandom and statistics nerdism. According to Fantasy Sports Trade Association market research conducted by Ipsos, there are over 36.6 million people playing fantasy sports in the United States and Canada and it is a rapidly growing industry generating over a billion dollars annually . The once-maligned cult hobby has grown into an undeniable sports subculture, garnering regular coverage from every major sports network, as well as active online communities, podcasts, and even paid services aimed at fantasy sports players . With the development of such a massive fantasy sports community, one has to wonder whether the “fantasy” aspect is at odds with the sociology of traditional sports. Sports appreciation is in many ways a means of sociological bonding. There is a ritual in watching sporting events - waking up each week, donning appropriate shirts or clothes, converging on the stadium and enacting cheers and gestures in unison with others - that develops a collective consciousness or effervescence, much at the same time . 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 sports and sociology are deeply intertwined, and the collectively shared experiences that sports provide bind society. With this in mind, it's easy to assume that fantasy sports work to counteract the socializing aspects of traditional sport. Fantasy sports games aren't played in stadiums or attended viewing events, they're only contested... middle of paper... have broadened their appreciation for the sport as a whole, and also given them more communities to enjoy be part. The interesting part about the Western US 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 portion of the West would be weaker of the average. If the same study were to be conducted with different sports, different results might be observed for different areas. 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 they come from. Those who are active in online communities like these are predisposed to be more involved in fantasy sports, thus misrepresenting the population.