How Much Does It Cost to Build a Fantasy Sports App?

You should learn about the real-life sports industry before delving deep into the virtual one. Different sports have leagues associated with them, whether it is football, golf, basketball, or cricket. The fantasy sports industry works the same way where users can buy players to create a team based on their performance in the real-life sports league.

Users get points in their account based on the player’s performance. All this is done through a mobile app, and these games operate on predictions. The best way to perform well in fantasy sports app games is by critically following the real-life game to make better decisions in the app.

Types of Fantasy Sports Apps

Apart from the several sports that we see in the real world, fantasy sports apps can be of distinct types. As a business owner, you should decide which of the various app categories perfectly suits your revenue model.

• Daily Fantasy Sports: Also known as DFS, these apps offer a faster-paced alternative, where users build new lineups for each game day or event. Players have a fixed budget to draft a team of athletes, whose real-world performance generates points. These apps are made for users who wish to experience thrills and adventures based on everyday sports industry changes. 

• Season Long Leagues: These apps simulate the experience of managing a sports team over an entire season. Participants draft players, set lineups, make trades, and compete against others in a cumulative points-based system. Fantasy football, basketball, baseball, and hockey leagues fall under this category. They require strategic thinking and commitment over an extended period.

• Player Pop Prediction: These apps focus on predicting specific player performances, such as how many points a basketball player will score or how many yards a football quarterback will throw for. It is a niche but engaging way to interact with sports action.

• Pick’em Contests: In this format, users predict the outcomes of individual games rather than managing teams. This offers a more casual experience and is often popular during major sporting events.

Key Features of A Fantasy Sports App

Fantasy sports app development is on the rise because of heavy demand. The market is blooming, and you should find suitable features so your app performs well against the competitors. Below is a list of the widely used and most unique features you can add to your application.

• Profile Section: This is one of the basic and most notable features that should necessarily be added to the fantasy sports app. It helps users gather all the required information. Their game progress, account details, player, and game history, etc. can be accessed through this section.

• Live Scoring: Live scoring features enhance engagement by showing users how their team is faring during ongoing games. This real-time feedback fuels the excitement of competition and strategy adjustments.

• Social Media Handles: Users should be able to seamlessly link their social media handles to their fantasy sports app accounts. This helps them engage more with friends, allowing multiplayer game modes. Users can also challenge their friends into games, leading to a sense of healthy competition.

• In-app Insights: Offering expert analysis, player projections, and trend predictions allows users to make informed decisions. This feature can help users refine their strategies and gain a deeper understanding of the sport.

• Game Rewards: We all love prizes and games. In fact, people prefer playing games offering incentives. Introducing rewards like virtual trophies, badges, or even tangible prizes for league winners incentivizes active participation and heightened competition.

Detailed Breakdown of Costs of the US market:

• Development Costs

Many factors can greatly influence the fantasy app development costs. A simple app development cost can range from USD 30,000 to USD 60,000, for a complex app. Creating a hybrid app can cost around USD 90,000 to USD 600,000, considering factors like app security UI/UX design, maintenance, functionalities, etc. A professional mobile app development company in Texas may charge you around USD 200,000+. 

• Design Costs:

The first impression matters the most and the same goes for the fantasy sports apps. Besides, no one will prefer to use an app with a complex navigation process. So, it is important to create an app design that can win the users' hearts. Don’t be stingy when it comes to investing in app design as it can break or make the app. It may take around 10 to 15 percent of the total mobile app development cost. Keep an eye on visual complexity and custom components as these factors influence the overall design costs. 

• Technical Infrastructure: 

It is impossible to ignore servers and cloud services while developing an app. With the integration of the best servers, it will be easier to keep the users satisfied. Well, hosting an app on reputed servers, can cost around USD 100 to USD 600+ per month, based on the app’s traffic and size. 

• Licensing and Legal Fees: 

To create a fantasy sports app, developers need to utilize technology from other companies. For that, they should get a valid license and permission. Besides, they may ask to pay royalties. Furthermore, the development process also includes legal fees for copyrights, trademarks, patents, and contracts. So, while calculating the cost, consider these additional expenses. 

• Marketing and Promotion

While determining the app marketing and promotion costs, you need to consider various components like app advertising, app store optimization, user onboarding, influencer marketing, user retention strategies, and more. In general, this can go up to USD 30,000+, based on the promotion methods you choose. 

• Maintenance and Updates

Once the app is developed; it is vital to remember that work doesn’t stop there. Regular updates and maintenance are important to keep the app functioning properly. It is common to face some ongoing expenses such as the addition of new features, bug fixes, and more. So, the cost of a fantasy sports app maintained can range between 15 to 25 percent of the total cost of development per year. 

Interactive Cost Calculator

You can also take a rough estimate of creating a Fantasy Sports App with an Interactive Cost Calculator. This calculator is quite simple to use. All you need to do is enter the app’s details like features, functions, target platform, etc. and the calculator will show an estimated development cost instantly. The calculator has some advanced tools that assist you in determining the cost of the app.

Some of the primary benefits of using the app development cost calculator are: 

app development cost calculator
• Effective development cost planning
• Time-saving
• A clear breakdown of pricing
• Comparative analysis

Use the calculator now and find out how much money you need to invest to transform your dream into a high-quality application. 

What to Consider in the Cost to Develop a Fantasy Sports Mobile App?

Fantasy Sports App development can be expensive when you do not take certain significant factors into consideration. You should conduct a thorough market analysis before getting a mobile app developed for your fantasy sport. Here is a list of the aspects affecting the development cost of a fantasy sports mobile app. 

• Cross-device / platform Compatibility: You should decide the suitable platform to launch your app. You can choose from Android, iOS, or both. The cost depends on your requirements and varies accordingly. When you opt for cross-platform compatibility, the overall development cost increases. 
• Required Features: The complexity and range of features you want to incorporate into your app will significantly impact costs. Advanced features like live updates, real-time scoring, player statistics, trading systems, and social interaction require more development effort.
• User-friendly Interface: The interface of your app should completely resonate with your audience. Investing in a user-friendly and visually appealing interface enhances user engagement, leading to more revenue. Experienced UI/UX designers will ensure a smooth and intuitive app flow, which may come with additional costs.
• Customization: A mobile app development company will add extra cost to the development charges if you require customization. The added cost is because the company’s development team will have to put extra efforts, so the app has customizable features as per your business objectives. 
• Third-party Integrations: If you need external services like payment gateways, real-time data feeds, or analytics tools, there may be licensing fees or costs associated with integrating these services. So, make sure you clear this up with the app development company before finalizing them.

Budget-Friendly Tips for Fantasy Sports App Development Costs

• Prioritize Features: Identify the core features essential for launch and user engagement. The best method here is to start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and gradually add advanced features based on user feedback and demand.
• Off-the-Shelf Solutions: Instead of building everything from scratch, consider using third-party APIs and libraries for non-core functionalities like payment processing, analytics, and push notifications.
• Agile Project Management: Adopt Agile methodologies to ensure efficient project management, frequent iterations, and early identification of issues, reducing the chances of costly late-stage changes.
• App Design: While a visually appealing UI/UX is important, opt for a simple and efficient design that does not require excessive development effort.

Market Size of Fantasy Sports Apps

Sports enthusiasts are always looking for means to connect to their passion, and fantasy sports apps offer them just that. It is expected that the fantasy sports market size will reach $ 49.53 billion by 2028. The market is already huge, and it is expanding at a faster pace. With more sports leagues entering the industry, sports fans are finding multiple mediums to follow their favorite athletes and games. 

Apart from the options available for sports followers, the fantasy sports app industry is also creating opportunities for highly skilled mobile app developers, engineers, data scientists, analysts, and other experts working in this field. Fantasy sports apps have also led to a rise in online betting, as seen in many gaming apps. 

Future Trends & Innovations of Fantasy Sports Application

Undoubtedly, fantasy sports apps have become a highly competitive market with multiple players offering engaging features and integrating the latest technologies. If you are planning to create a fantasy sports app, then it is crucial to understand fantasy sports mobile app development trends. This will offer you the desired edge. Some latest trends in this market are:

• Use of AI For Personalized Recommendations

AI has successfully captured a massive market, helping app users in choosing effective players and creating winning teams. By integrating AI into a fantasy sports app, it will be much easier to offer personalized recommendations. This, in turn, can boost users' engagement rate. However, adding this technology into the app can increase the overall cost as creating an AI power app costs around USD 50,000 to USD 200,000. 

• Real-Time Updates of Information with Machine Learning

To create effective strategies and increase winning chances, players need the latest information, for example, real-time player statistics and scores. This is where Machine Learning technology comes into play. Most fantasy sports apps now come integrated with ML to offer live scores, player statistics, scorecards, etc., based on information collected from live events. 

• Blockchain For Better Security and Transparency

This technology has greatly revolutionized the industry by offering better security, transparency, and creating a trust factor in decentralized networks. This technology helps apps ensure all the monetary transactions and player selections are transparent and tamper-proof. Besides, by enabling cross-border transactions, it increases global participation. Creating a blockchain-powered fantasy sports app may cost around USD 70,000 to USD 400,000.

• Gamification

Gamification has become a crucial tool for enhancing user engagement across various platforms. The use of different gamification elements like badges, leaderboards, rewards, and more can attract more users to engage with the app. It is a popular trend for sports apps in 2024. 

• Social Integration

Having a social integration feature in a fantasy sports app is important as it can help players remain connected with other players or friends while sharing information. By integrating social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook, you can allow users to instantly share their gaming experience. 

Embracing new tech trends is crucial for the constant growth of the fantasy sports app and to enhance user experience and engagement. While this can unlock the doors to acquire more users, it can also increase the app development cost. Some costs that you need to consider here are infrastructure cost, support cost, increase in development time, increased costs of maintenance, and more. So, consult with a professional app developer and come up with an informed decision regarding this.

Maneksoft as your Fantasy Sports App Development Partner

If you are all set to take your unique fantasy sports app idea to a whole new level, the team at ManekSoft is here to make it possible. With 13+ years of extensive experience in this field, we understand the current market demand and create fantasy sports apps that can easily stand out and capture the hearts of sports enthusiasts. 

Our team of expert analysts, developers, designers, and engineers is equipped with expert tools and techniques to deliver excellence that defines your business. We have designed and developed $23MM in solutions and even possess 85,000+ wireframes to back this claim.

We at Maneksoft follow a strict customer-centric policy where our focus is on delivering excellence in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Book a call with our team now and get a seamless fantasy sports app developed for your business.

Conclusion

We hope this detailed guide about the development cost of a fantasy sports mobile app has given you a clear idea of what to consider while making your app development budget. Remember that developing a fantasy sports app will vary in cost based on different factors like complexity, app design, features you wish to add, and more. To develop a basic app, you may need to spend around USD 50,000 to USD 150,000.

In the case of advanced apps, the cost can go beyond USD 200,000. Just create a budget for every development stage carefully and prefer to work with a reliable and experienced fantasy app development company like Maneksoft.

Usual Questions Asked About Fantasy Sports Application

1. How to Get Started with a Fantasy Sports App?

Getting started with this is a strategic process and it generally begins with detailed market research and analyzing your target audience as well as competitors. However, it is also crucial to partner with a trusted and top-rated app development firm to enjoy the best results.

2. Is Fantasy Sports App a Profitable Idea?

Yes, this can be a profitable option. However, one needs to carefully choose the subscription types, content, features, and advertising revenue for the app. Success depends on offering a better gaming experience, and value to users. 

3. How Long Does It Take to Create a Quality Fantasy Sports App?

The development duration for a fantasy sports app can take weeks to months. It greatly depends on features and complexity. The development timeline can also vary depending on the app’s functionality. 

4. Which Frameworks Are Popular Among Fantasy App Developers?

While there are many frameworks that a developer can use for such apps, some of the most popular options are PhoneGap, Native, Titanium, Angular JS, and jQuery.

5. What essential features can you add to my fantasy sports app?

Our trained experts add features of your choice. They are well-equipped with all the required technologies, tools, and expertise that help in delivering a desirable app. We can add unique features like Rookie challenges, H2H challenges, in-all insights, and more. Connect with us now to know more about our impressive features. 

6. What technologies do you use in fantasy sports app development?

Our Fantasy sports app development services involve using technologies such as programming languages like Java, Swift, Kotlin, frameworks, databases like SQL, NoSQL, real-time data integration APIs, cloud services (AWS, Google Cloud), and third-party services for payments, analytics, and notifications.