In a bit of corporate synergy that would make Bill Simmons happy, ESPN will be running a fantasy league for The Bachelor, an ABC reality show.
The fantasy game is located on ABC’s site, but is powered by ESPN and their fantasy app. Players can guess the top four participants and the eventual winner, along with guessing various events that happen in each episode to earn points, leading up to a grand prize of a trip for two to Los Angeles.
I’m shocked this took so long to put this together, because The Bachelor seems like the perfect type of show to run a fantasy game for. Unfortunately, this appears to be more of a prediction-based fantasy game instead of one where players gain points for actions by the show’s contestants, like in Grantland’s Reality TV Fantasy League.
Now that we’ve got The Bachelor as a fantasy game, I think the obvious next step is a SportsCenter fantasy game. Points for various catchphrases, highlights of obscure sports, analyst spots – the possibilities are endless.
Hopefully, Matthew Berry and Eric Karabell will focus all of their attention in January on helping people win their Bachelor fantasy leagues. If you’re gonna create the leagues, you might as well go all in and dedicate analysis to them.
