Edge Up Sports Rethinks Data for Fantasy Football Fans

The typical fantasy football fan spends two to eight hours every week managing his or her roster. Edge Up Sports, a Kansas City-based startup, wants to help fans save time and “have fun, talk trash, be more competitive.”

CEO Ilya Tabakh talked about his company’s solution at this week’s edition of 1 Million Cups at the Kauffman Foundation. Edge Up Sports is building a software-as-a-service that will bring together fantasy football analysis and information in one place.

There’s a ton of information available online about professional football, but it’s scattered. Edge Up Sports will do the busy work of gathering that data, allowing users to serve as a “head coach,” Tabakh said.

The service will use Edge Up Sports’ own “behavioral radar” tool to monitor Twitter and other signals, as a way to gauge how a player might perform in an upcoming game. The startup plans to unveil another new tool that will analyze the general sentiment of sports analysts and media as it applies to each user’s roster.

This particular market presents a huge opportunity. Millions of Americans participate in fantasy leagues. On average, each spends more than $100 per season. And the audience is only growing.

“The fantasy football market is growing by more than $100 million per season,” Tabakh said.

Edge Up Sports asked for people who are interested in trying its service to sign up for its mailing list, via its website. The startup will be running some tests over the coming week.