We’re Not the Broadcast. We’re the Fan Engine.

Betting and fantasy are the old playbook. The new playbook is streaks, rivalries, and legacy.

Craig Weissenfels

9/22/20253 min read

Sports fans stand at a crossroads. For decades, we’ve really only been offered two ways to “play” without stepping on the field. You bet. Or you draft.

Betting gives you odds and lines. Fantasy gives you rosters and spreadsheets. Both have their place, and both can be fun. And yet both still follow someone else’s rules. The house’s rules, the algorithm’s rules, the broadcaster’s script.

Fans are more than that. They are competitors. Rivals. Storytellers.

Every week in my men’s rec hockey league, it plays out the same way. When the final buzzer sounds, some guys immediately skate over to the ref to make sure the goal and assist numbers get written down correctly. If they scored, they want it marked. If they assisted, they want the credit. The rest of us laugh, especially when the “phantom goals” show up on the scoresheet the next day. That’s when the group chat lights up, chirping whoever got lucky, whoever got snubbed, whoever insists they were robbed of an assist.

Majority of the team skates for fun, for the camaraderie, for the persuasion of playing together, for the joy of winning as a team. The others make sure their streaks get counted. And together, it all matters.

That’s the lesson. Nobody in that locker room is managing fantasy rosters of our league. Nobody is betting the over/under on our Tuesday night game. Yet everybody cared, in their own way, about streaks, rivalries, and legacy. That shared energy is what drives sports. That’s the camaraderie.

The broadcast has its role, and it always will. It brings the highlights, the angles, the big calls. But it doesn’t reach the places where fans actually live the game. It doesn’t carry the laughter of a locker-room debate over who really had the assist. It doesn’t capture the sting of a rival team chirping after a loss, or the buzz of a group chat erupting over phantom goals. Those are the moments that fuel fandom. The moments fans create for themselves.

That’s why we don’t see ourselves as broadcasters. We’re not the broadcast. We’re the fan engine.

We fuel the energy fans already bring. We turn rivalries, streaks, and legacies into something that counts. For years, sports engagement has rested on two pillars: betting, where you play against the house, and fantasy, where you manage a roster. Both are powerful, and yet neither gives fans ownership. Neither builds legacy.

We believe it’s time for a third pillar. You bet. You draft. Now you streak.

This isn’t about taking away from betting or fantasy. It’s about adding something new. Something built for fans. Built on gameplay, on rivalries, on legacy. The third pillar transforms fandom into action. Safe. Social. Rewarding.

You can feel this everywhere if you look closely. In the way rivalries stretch long after the game ends. In the way bragging rights outlast the final score. In the way post-game radio shows, podcasts, and group chats carry more heat than the highlight reel. That is where fandom actually lives. In the continuation, in the aftershocks, in the stories that keep getting told.

And executives are starting to notice. Leagues, teams, and even brands know that fans don’t just want to watch, they want to play. They see the cultural shift happening, Gen Z and Alpha growing up in group chats, creating content, expecting to be part of the action. The old pillars aren’t enough to hold their attention. Engagement has to feel like ownership.

The economics back this up. Passive viewing creates impressions; active participation creates loyalty. When fans compete, track streaks, and build their own legacies, they stay longer, return more often, and bring their communities with them. A third pillar doesn’t just give fans more power, it gives leagues and brands more durable engagement. Time spent goes up. Churn goes down. Communities get stronger, not thinner.

That’s where the third pillar comes in. It gives fans more than a transaction or a spreadsheet. It gives them a scoreboard that belongs to them. A scoreboard that fuels rivalries, carries through communities, and builds legacy over time.

Sports will always have betting. Sports will always have fantasy. The broadcast will always have a stage. But fans deserve a pillar of their own, a way to play their way. A way to turn streaks into stories, rivalries into fuel, and moments into legacy.

We’re not the broadcast. We’re the fan engine.

You bet. You draft. Now you streak.

If you’re ready to be part of it, join us at streakers.ca

https://linktr.ee/streakersgaming