RealTime Fantasy Sports

What RealTime Fantasy Sports does

RealTime Fantasy Sports, Inc. (operating as RTFS, RTSports, and RealTime Fantasy Sports) is a privately held US fantasy sports platform founded in 1995 and headquartered at 8651 Old Highway N, Suite 155, Lake Saint Louis, Missouri. The company operates rtsports.com and native iOS and Android applications to serve individual fantasy sports players across NFL, MLB, and NBA. Its platform spans 17+ named products covering season-long money leagues (e.g., RealTime Fantasy Football Championship, All-American, High Stakes), Best Ball formats (Best Ball Championship, Draft Masters), Dynasty keeper leagues, daily fantasy sports (DFS Leagues and DFS PickEm with up to 100x multipliers), specialized formats (Home Run Showdown, Postseason Shootout, Just TDs, Eliminator/Guillotine, College Basketball Bracket Mayhem), and a customizable Commissioner Service with 100+ settings.

The underlying technology is a real-time scoring engine that updates fantasy scores immediately as real-world sporting events occur, supported by data partnerships with SportsDataIO (NFL projections, ADP/AAV) and SportRadar (MLB statistics). The platform supports live, slow, and auction drafts; automated notifications via email, SMS, and app; custom scoring rules; built-in league treasurers for fee collection and payout; and a Free Draft Guide at freedraftguide.com. No proprietary AI/ML capabilities, patents, or published research are disclosed; differentiation rests on product breadth, customization depth, and 31 years of brand trust rather than machine intelligence.

The business model is transaction-based: users pay entry fees (ranging from $10 in casual contests to $2,000+ in high-stakes football and baseball competitions) to enter leagues, with RTFS retaining a take rate from the entry fee pool after distributing prizes to winners. Free ancillary services (mock drafting, ADP/AAV data, cheat sheets, video help, March Madness bracket pools) drive top-of-funnel acquisition. The company is reachable in 14 countries but excludes users in CT, DE, IN, IA, LA, MT, VT, WA (paid contests) and NV/Ontario (DFS only). In June 2025, RTFS filed with the National Futures Association to become a futures commission merchant, signaling an intent to expand into CFTC-regulated prediction market contracts. The firm is privately held with no disclosed institutional investors, parent company, or funding rounds.

Name

RealTime Fantasy Sports

Legal name

RealTime Fantasy Sports, Inc.

Website

https://rtsports.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

RealTime Fantasy Sports is a privately held US fantasy sports platform founded in 1995 that operates season-long money leagues, DFS contests, and commissioner tools across NFL, MLB, and NBA for individual consumer players, monetizing via entry-fee take rates.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fantasy Sports Gaming

NAICS

Gambling Industries (7132)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Season-Long Fantasy Platforms & Commissioners (MPAEAHAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) Operators (MPAEAHAA), Fantasy Contests, Leagues & Tournament Organizers (MPAEAHAF), Fantasy Sports Monetization & Commerce (Subscriptions, Premium Tools, Marketplaces) (MPAEAHAI)

Keywords

• Fantasy sports platform
• Daily fantasy sports
• Season-long leagues
• Commissioner services
• Dynasty fantasy leagues

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Contest Entry Fees: Users pay entry fees to participate in fantasy sports contests. Entry fees vary by contest format and stakes level, ranging from $10 casual leagues to $2000+ high-stakes competitions. RTFS collects entry fees and distributes prize pools to winners.
2. League Commissioner Services: Custom league creation with paid entry fees for season-long fantasy leagues across football, baseball, and basketball.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

RealTime Fantasy Sports operates an online fantasy sports gaming platform where individual users pay entry fees to compete in season-long and daily contests across football, baseball, and basketball. The platform supports a wide range of formats including best ball, dynasty, draft masters, head-to-head, and DFS PickEm, with real-time scoring, live and slow drafts, customizable commissioner tools, and a built-in league treasurer for fee collection and payouts. Free tools such as mock drafts, draft guides, and bracket pools complement the paid contests.

Product overview

RealTime Fantasy Sports operates a multi-product fantasy sports platform offering season-long money leagues across Football, Baseball, and Basketball, daily fantasy sports (DFS) PickEm and Leagues, and customizable Commissioner Services. The core products include various league formats such as Dynasty (multi-year keeper), Best Ball (no weekly management), Draft Masters (draft-only outcomes), and specialized contests like Home Run Showdown and Postseason Shootout. Additional offerings include a free Draft Guide tool, Rewards program, and Mobile Apps for on-the-go access. The platform features real-time scoring, live draft support, and hundreds of public leagues ranging from casual ($10) to high-stakes ($2,000+) buy-ins.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Season-Long Money Leagues Full-season fantasy sports leagues for football, baseball, and basketball where individual users draft teams and compete weekly for cash prizes based on real-world athlete performance.
• DFS PickEm Daily fantasy sports PickEm game where individual users select 'more' or 'less' on player stat projections across multiple sports and categories, with potential payouts up to 100x entry fee.
• DFS Leagues Daily fantasy sports contests including Head-to-Head, 50/50s, and Guaranteed Prize Pool (GPP) contests in both salary cap and draft-style formats, with new contests starting daily for individual users.
• Commissioner Service Customizable league management tool for individual users to create and run their own leagues, offering 100+ settings, custom scoring, logo customization, real-time web scoring, and a built-in league treasurer for fee collection and payouts.
• Dynasty Leagues Multi-year keeper leagues for football, baseball, and basketball where users trade players and draft picks and maintain expanded offseason rosters with annual rookie and free agent drafts.
• Best Ball Championship Best ball format championship contests in football and baseball where the system automatically sets each user's optimal lineup each week with no weekly management required.
• Draft Masters Best ball draft-only contest format for football where draft skill determines outcomes entirely; system automatically sets the best lineup each week with no weekly management required.
• College Basketball Bracket Mayhem Free March Madness NCAA basketball bracket pool service with customizable scoring options, built-in treasurer, printable brackets, and pool message boards for individual users.
• RealTime Fantasy Sports Mobile App Free mobile applications for iOS and Android that allow individual users to access DFS contests, the Draft Guide, and on-the-go team management.
• Free Draft Guide Free draft preparation website offering cheat sheets, mock drafts, ADP/AAV data, and player rankings for fantasy football, baseball, and basketball drafts.
• Rewards Program Loyalty rewards program that awards points and perks to individual active players on the RealTime Fantasy Sports platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• Prize payouts distributed within 48 hours of final results confirmation
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• SportsDataIOcoreTechnology or IntegrationSportsDataIO provides official NFL football projections and statistics to RTFS. This data powers the platform's player rankings, ADP (Average Draft Position), AAV (Average Auction Value), and statistical tracking across fantasy football contests.
• Major League Baseball (via SportRadar)coreTechnology or IntegrationRTFS uses SportRadar as a statistics provider for MLB data, including player statistics, game results, and scoring calculations for fantasy baseball contests. RealTime Fantasy Sports is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by MLB or the MLB Players Association.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Sleeper: Sleeper is a mobile-first fantasy sports and DFS platform emphasizing dynasty leagues, pick'em, and a strong social/community product. It is an emerging competitor that has gained meaningful traction with younger fantasy players overlapping RTFS's audience.
• PrizePicks: PrizePicks is a leading daily player props (pick'em) fantasy operator with major league partnerships. It overlaps with RTFS's DFS PickEm offering as an emerging pure-play in the higher-frequency fantasy contest category.
• Underdog Fantasy: Underdog Fantasy is a fast-growing pick'em and DFS platform that has gained significant share with younger players via best ball drafts and pick'em contests. It is an emerging competitor whose product formats (best ball, pick'em) directly overlap with RTFS.

Broad incumbents

• FanDuel: FanDuel is the second-largest US DFS operator and major online sportsbook, offering paid contests across major US sports. It is a broad incumbent whose scale, marketing, and multi-product ecosystem pressure niche operators like RTFS.
• ESPN Fantasy Sports: ESPN Fantasy is among the largest free season-long fantasy football, baseball, and basketball platforms, monetized primarily through advertising rather than entry fees. It is a broad incumbent that defines the consumer-facing fantasy experience RTFS competes against.
• Yahoo Fantasy Sports: Yahoo Fantasy operates one of the most widely used free season-long fantasy sports platforms across football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. It represents the broad incumbent free-league alternative to RTFS's paid contest model.
• DraftKings: DraftKings is the largest US DFS operator and integrated online sportsbook, offering paid contests across NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and more. It is the dominant broad incumbent in paid fantasy/DFS, against which RTFS's contest model directly competes.
• CBS Sports Fantasy: CBS Sports operates one of the largest free season-long fantasy football, baseball, basketball, and hockey platforms tightly integrated with the CBS Sports media brand. It is a broad incumbent offering season-long leagues that overlap with RTFS's core product.

Direct peers

• Fantrax: Fantrax is a season-long and DFS fantasy sports platform supporting football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer with highly customizable commissioner tools. It competes most directly with RTFS in the customizable league and multi-sport fantasy space.
• MyFantasyLeague: MFL is a long-running private season-long fantasy football commissioner platform offering customizable leagues, live scoring, and dynasty formats. It is among the most directly comparable independent alternatives to RTFS in the season-long fantasy segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rtfsnews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC4k5LCyYoIm3bD9uVv-z8JQ/playlists?view_as=subscriber
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/RealTime-Fantasy-Sports/197903596891479
• Instagraminstagram.com/realtimefantasysports
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/realtime-fantasy-sports-inc-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about RealTime Fantasy Sports