Football is big business. Both the NFL and NCAA football generate huge dollars for their teams, players, the leagues and for many other industries. According to CNN last November, NCAA sports teams generated 4.2 billion from its fans and partners. Almost all of that revenue comes from football and basketball with the lion's share being the football market. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what football does to our national economy.

Secondary sources of income from NCAA football and the NFL are two many to be named. These include TV networks, beer and food companies, cities and states for taxes, vegas casinos, off shore sportsbooks, etcetera, etcetera, and etcetera. Most people are well aware of these major industry players that benefit from the country's love of our true pastime, American football. Even more interesting is two cottage industries that have grown up to capitalize on the passion that is football season in the US.

The most main-stream of these industries is fantasy football. A search on google for fantasy football brings up 3,120,000 results that serve this market. This includes businesses that sell information to support to fantasy football owners plus sites that allow people to run their own league. Some sites such as the American Fantasy Football league, run high stakes leagues for the savvy fantasy football player. According to BusinessWeek, this "cottage industry" generates between 1-2 billion dollars per year.

The second industry that benefits from our love of NCAA football and the NFL is handicappers. This industry isn't quite as large as the fantasy football space, but still has plenty of web activity going on. A Google search for "handicapping" nets 2.7 million results. These sites are not bookies or online gambling sites; rather they sell their "expertise" about who will win the game against the spread. An example of a football handicapping site is TodaysPicks.net These sites all offer games from baseball, basketball, and other sports, but clearly NFL and NCAA football are the bread and butter. One look at the text of TodaysPicks shows that football is what matters to this entrepreneur.

So when you sit down on the couch this weekend to enjoy some football, take pride in what you are doing for the economy. You are supporting businesses big and small, so ask your wife to leave you alone while you join millions who support the Football industry. (...unless your wife watches football with you...like mine)