|
|
Web Site Gives Fans a Say in Football Rankings (Associated Press)
"From the weekly media and coaches polls to the preseason rankings in a bevy
of magazines to the annual end-of-season debate about the Bowl Championship Series,
no sport is tied to polling as much as college football.
Now there's a Web site that is giving fans a chance to have their say in a virtual futures market for college football teams.
ProTrade.com recently added college football to its roster of sports this season, giving fans a
chance to predict how well teams will do this season."
Associated Press
September 7, 2007 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
The Fantasy Football Frenzy
"How big is this "sport"? So big that TV networks now cater football broadcasts specifically to those playing...
"We're amazed at how quickly fantasy football has evolved, from the niche it was in during the
early-1990s-to-2000 period to where it is now," says 18-year fantasy-football veteran Jeff Ma,
president and founder of Pro Trade, a San Francisco, California, company that lets fans trade on a sports
stock market on its website. "The clearest sign is how much major media outlets cover the fantasy side of the N.F.L." "
Portfolio.com
September 6, 2007 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The Jock Exchange
"Wall Street is about to launch a new way to trade professional athletes the way you trade stocks. A piece of Tiger, anyone?
When financial historians look back and ask why it took Wall Street so long to create the first public stock market that trades in professional athletes, they will see ours as
an age of creative ferment. They'll see a new, extremely well-financed company in Silicon Valley that, or the moment, sells itself as a fantasy sports site but aims to become,
as its co-founder Mike Kerns puts it, "the first real stock market in athletes." "
Conde Nast Porfolio
May 2007 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Pinpointing the Plays That Really Swing a Game
"Jeff Ma is best known as a card counter, a member of the rogue blackjack team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1990s that won millions of dollars.
Then its elaborate and reckless - if legal - schemes were discovered, and casinos barred Ma and his group from their tables....
One of the principles behind card counting - knowing what has happened can inform what will happen - underlies Ma's current endeavor: using a six-year database of one million plays to show,
on a real-time, play-by-play basis, the probability of one major league baseball team winning against another."
The New York Times
May 27, 2007 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Find your sleeper
"Mothers have been lobbying against groupthink for eons. Hence the rhetorical question about
whether you would jump in a lake if your friend Bobby did.
Turns out, though, that following the herd is a very efficient way of predicting future events, from
U.S. presidential elections to Oscar winners to really important stuff such as the NCAA Tournament.
So this is a good a time as any to mention the Web site ProTrade.com, which among other things offers an ever-changing
ranking of college basketball teams that is formulated not by experts but by convential wisdom."
Newsday.com
March 10, 2007 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
ProTrade market will become more lucrative
"ProTrade, which launched 18 months ago as a stock market-inspired fantasy gaming outfit, this week
is expected to begin a rewards system that seeks to lessen the seasonality common to the industry.
The new program was inspired by hotel and airline rewards programs as well as the online virtual world Second Life.
The system will let ProTrade users redeem totals from their virtual portfolios for real-world prizes, such as TV's, retailer gift cards,
autographed memorabilia and one-of-a-kind events, such as a round of golf with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger."
Sports Business Journal
March 5, 2007 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Picking Winners
"Two young stats-obsessed fans are out to change the way we experience professional sports.
Derek Jeter is having a great year. The New York Yankees' seven-time All-Star shortstop
is heading into the playoffs batting .339 with 110 runs scored and stands a good chance
of winning his first American League Most Valuable Player award. But on Protrade.com,
the year-old online stock market where thousands of traders set the price of athletes
like shares of Dell or General Electric, Jeter is rated a "sell."
According to the elaborate statistical formulas created by Protrade, Jeter's $79 share
price far exceeds his impressive offensive and defensive contributions. The numbers
say the 32-year-old Jeter doesn't get to as many ground balls as he used to and at
bat lacks the power of players who earn less money."
Forbes
October 16, 2006 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Baseball Confronts The Luck Factor
"Melky Cabrera, a highly touted 21-year-old outfielder for the New York Yankees,
started off the season well, batting over .300 through early June. Now he is in a slump, hitting .189 in
his last 10 games. For fans and the Yankees, the question is simple: How much of the rookie's impressive
start was dumb luck?
A lot of it, according to some baseball number-crunchers. Using new statistical methods, they calculated
that the equivalent of one in four of Mr. Cabrera's early-season hits resulted from chance, not skill.
Subtracting out good luck, his early season batting average should have been .231 -- nearly 80 points lower
than what showed up in the box scores."
The Wall Street Journal
June 24, 2006 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Internet game deals jocks like stocks
"No offense to the NBA's reigning Most Valuable Player, but Steve Nash is like a 50-year
Treasury bond in the mind of Troy Baker.
The 32-year-old used-car manager from Higley views Nash as an ultrasafe investment for
his portfolio in the upstart protrade.com, an online Wall Street-style game where sports
fans like Baker use fictional money to buy and sell players like commodities."
The Arizona Republic
May 4, 2006 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Bringing Moneyball to the NFL draft
"This weekend's biggest sporting event requires no physical exertion,
only mental activity. But are enough mental gymnastics being performed in preparation for
the National Football League draft?
As general managers and scouting staffs huddle up to try and find the best player, they'll
pore over players' 40-yard dash times and stats collected during college football games
against opponents who aren't of the caliber of even the weakest of the NFL teams."
CNN Money
Apr. 28, 2006 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
PROTRADE and Major League Baseball Advanced Media Announce Multi-Year Licensing Agreement (Press Release)
"Major League Baseball Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media
and Internet company of Major League Baseball, announced today that it has reached a
three-year licensing agreement with PROTRADE, a sports entertainment company committed to
reshaping the way people think about sports through its unique virtual sports stock market.
PROTRADE joins MLBAM's line-up of online partners licensed to deliver exciting fantasy sports
offerings for 2006. MLBAM recently announced similar agreements with ESPN, CBS SportsLine
and Yahoo! Sports for the online operation, distribution, marketing and promotion of
PC-based Internet fantasy baseball games."
Yahoo! Finance
Apr. 4, 2006 |
| |
|
|
|
|
Trading baseball players like stocks
"Who's the best player in baseball — Texas Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira, or Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee?
There's no need to start a bar fight over it. According to a statistical analysis, it's Lee
with a "net expected run value" of $61.64 trumping Texieria's "NERV" of $58.05. Those figures
come from ProTrade, a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup which is making a market out of sports
performance statistics. The company, co-founded by former sports agent Mike Kerns and
blackjack whiz Jeff Ma, analyzes a player's moves to come up with a stock price-like
valuation, which ProTrade users can then buy or sell using a virtual currency."
CNN Money
Apr. 1, 2006 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Football Gets Arbitraged
"ProTrade.com takes fantasy leagues to another level by
introducing Wall Street-like trading and adding nuance with esoteric statistics.
To make the fantasy work, they decided to get real.
Mike Kerns and Jeff Ma wanted to create a fantasy sports game that reflected the
nuances of team competition, rather than simple individual statistics such as points
scored and yards gained.
The result was the upstart ProTrade.com, a Wall Street-style online trading network
in which athletes are 'bought' and 'sold' like stocks."
Los Angeles Times
Jan. 1, 2006 |
| |
|
|
|
|
Heroes and Goats, Redefined
"In the second quarter of a relatively meaningless game against
Dallas in September, Tim Rattay of the San Francisco 49ers lofted an 89-yard touchdown
pass to Brandon Lloyd.
While it wasn't considered a candidate for the pantheon of classic football moments
(the 49ers eventually lost), this forgotten pass has an interesting back story. According
to a well-funded team of statisticians in California, it was the biggest play of the season.
This unorthodox conclusion is based on a concept called "expected scoring," which was developed
by the staff of ProTrade, a new $12 million Web site based in San Mateo. The site's bread and
butter is a fantasy-football game that's modeled after the stock market. Unlike traditional
fantasy leagues, where people draft "teams" of players and count things like how many
touchdowns they score, ProTrade treats players like individual stocks and challenges its
contestants to assemble the best "portfolio.""
The Wall Street Journal
Dec. 9, 2005 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
PROTRADE Secures $10 Million in Funding
(Press Release)
"PROTRADE, an innovative new athlete stock market entertainment
company, announced today it has secured more than $10 million in financing from a
top-notch group of investors. Leading the round are Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers partners Kevin Compton and Doug Mackenzie through Radar Ventures. Additional
investors in the round include fellow Kleiner Perkins partner Will Hearst as well
as major sports figures, including former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and three-time
Super Bowl champ Troy Aikman; Arizona Diamondbacks General Partner Jeff Moorad;
legendary NFL Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh; and Northgate Capital Venture founder
Brent Jones, the former all-pro San Francisco 49ers tight end."
Yahoo! Finance
Nov. 10, 2005 |
| |
|
|
|
|
PROTRADE Unveils Innovative Athlete Stock Market Where Sports Fans
Compete for Cash and Prizes (Press Release)
"PROTRADE, a sports entertainment company committed to reshaping the way people think about sports, today unveiled its innovative athlete stock market. Under extensive development for more than two years by a "dream team" of MIT statisticians, leading sports figures, and economists, PROTRADE has created a predictive market for athletes where sports fans can buy and sell shares in players around the clock, competing for cash and prizes."
Yahoo! Finance
Sept. 19, 2005 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Online Sports Market Turns Athletes Into Stocks (Associated Press)
"Sports fans already invest considerable emotion and angst in professional
athletes. Now they can take that obsession a step further, trading on the pros' performance in an
online electronic market.
If the new Internet venture succeeds, it'll be a whole new ballgame for the gambling-driven
pastime of fantasy sports, which already has up to 20 million players.
Launching Monday, ProTrade will treat professional athletes like stocks to be bought and sold,
initially in a theoretical currency. Cash prizes will be awarded to the most successful investors."
USA Today, ABC News, Forbes, Sports Illustrated.com
Sept. 19, 2005 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
A Fantasy Sports Stock Market
"Protrade, a San Mateo startup, offers sports fans a new way to follow their favorite players with a stock market approach. Chronicle technology reporter Benny Evangelista interviews co-founders Mike Kerns and Jeff Ma. And Evangelista also talks to Protrade investor Brent Jones, the former San Francisco 49ers tight end and current CBS football analyst, about why he thinks Protrade is part of the next wave of interactive TV. "
The San Francisco Chronicle
Sept. 19, 2005 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
NFL Notebook
"A new Internet venture known as ProTrade, which launches today, will treat professional athletes like stocks to be bought and sold, initially in a theoretical currency. Cash prizes will be awarded to the most successful investors. Teams are known as investment portfolios, and the real-life athletes get their own ticker symbols."
The Seattle Times
Sept. 19, 2005 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
In the market for a QB?
"Stock prices? For football player? They're on a new electronic market – Protrade – that goes live today and which allows you to buy and sell "shares'' in professional athletes based on how well you think they're going to do on the field."
The Boston Herald
Sept. 19, 2005 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Online Athletes Stock Market
"It'll literally be a whole new ball-game for sports fanatics if a plan by a new company takes off."
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 19, 2005 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
Fan Box
"Awesome site for sports fans."
- PROTRADE Fan
|
