Although Andy Alberth now spends most of his time promoting the National Fantasy Football Convention, the former Las Vegan for several years earned a living as a professional poker player.
So he knows what a bad beat feels like.
He’s taken more than one bruising hit from the National Football League in recent years as he’s tried to create what’s been called the Comi-Con for fantasy football fanatics. Previous attempts to see his dream of combining the popular bro-culture pastime with the presence of celebrity athletes in a convention setting have been broken up by the league. Las Vegas was ruled out of bounds in 2016. A pass to Pasadena was intercepted, too.
But this week in Dallas, Alberth may finally have booked a winner. It’s not only a testament to his tenacity, but it also may be a sign that the NFL itself may be finally growing up.
His experience as a poker pro helped prepare him for a marathon head-to-head battle.
“It’s the same thing with poker,” Alberth says. “You can make the right move and be 90-10 (percentage favorite), and I think you still take the beat, and you learn from it. You learn not to make the same mistake. The road to this convention has definitely not been easy, but there’s definitely a lot of interest from the fans.”
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, opening the door to legalized single-game sports wagering nationwide, mixing even highly competitive fantasy football leagues with the NFL mother ship doesn’t seem like much of a threat to its brand or credibility. Alberth notes with a sense of optimism – and perhaps relief – that the league appears to be “a bit more accepting,” following the announced transfer of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas in time for the 2020 season.
With all that going on, a fantasy football convention can’t seem like much of a threat to the league.
Alberth is no bookmaker, but he understands that the future of daily fantasy sports and sports betting itself will exist in an era when a vast majority of players are comfortable with technology. The very definitions of game-playing and betting are changing with the times and tastes. The days of having one “commissioner” record the owner selections and transactions in a spiral notebook are over.
“I think it’s going to continue to grow because we live in such a digital age people are able to play it on their phone or a laptop,” he says.
As Alberth tells it, the concept for a convention started with help from friend Mark Holmes. A previous attempt to create a convention had fallen flat, and the two decided to try to assemble something new that would give a national crowd reasons to attend.
And let’s just say it doesn’t hurt an aspiring fantasy football convention mogul to have former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo as a cousin. Alberth clearly appreciates the power of sports celebrity, and he moved to Dallas nearly four years ago with a goal of making the convention work at a high level.
Alberth expects the convention will draw from 5,000 to 10,000 attendees with dozens of professional players on hand for autographs and to talk about the game they love. It sounds like heaven for a fantasy football fanatic.
Now that he’s on the verge of a score, what about a future convention in Las Vegas?
“I wouldn’t say no,” Alberth says, not exactly saying yes, either. “I could definitely see it happening one day, but I’m really focused right now on this year alone. We love it here in Dallas. We might branch out with smaller events, but we love having the big one here. It’s our home base, and there’s not a bigger football city in the world. The Cowboys are the most successful sports franchise in the world.”
Alberth says he’s averaging three interviews a day with plenty of social media traffic and a variety of advertising in from tweets to outdoor billboards in circulation. “The buzz is definitely around, which is exciting, but there’s a lot of work left to do,” he says.
With a little luck, Alberth’s bad beat is behind him.
Contact John L. Smith at jlnevadasmith@gmail.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.
