Senior marketing major Joey Mitchell's stocks have been unusually lucrative lately, increasing in value by more than 500 percent in the past month. Mitchell has professional athletes such as Carlos Zambrano, Carmelo Anthony and Evan Longoria to thank for his success.
OneSeason, launched Oct. 1, gives sports fans an online entertainment outlet to interact, compete and invest in athletes. Creator Mike Sroka said the idea for the Web site came from a high school ambition to mesh sports and stock trading. To do this, Sroka created a stock market system based on "synthetic ownership interests" (SOIs), which is comparable to a virtual trading card.
These trading cards, or SOIs, represent 40 athletes from football, basketball, baseball and hockey, but this number is growing because of "initial player offerings" (IPOs). IPOs are stocks released on athletes who are debuting in the virtual game. IPOs have a randomized amount of shares released and begin at five dollars a share. The athletes represented by IPOs are chosen based solely on user demand. Fans can log on to the site and submit requests for new athlete releases through an athlete's profile page.
Active and retired athletes are featured on the site. The success of each athlete's stocks depend on a combination of popularity and performance.
During his time on the Web site, Mitchell has submitted requests for Reggie Miller, Tiger Woods and Babe Ruth.
As shares are bought and traded, supply and demand increases or decreases the price of the shares, giving users control over the market.
When the market closes each day, the site splits all shares with a value more than $20 in half to level the demand and keep prices low.
OneSeason is in operation from 9 a.m. to midnight six days a week, closing only on Saturday.
To participate on the Web site, users must be at least 18 and reside in the U.S. While the site is in its early stages, Sroka said he hopes to expand the company globally. That entails featuring a wide range of sports and athletes.
Sroka said current online sports information sites are fragmented and encroach the user experience. His goal for the Web site is to create a more efficient way to distribute sports information.
"Our goal is to create a clean template," Sroka said. "I want to provide a future platform for online sports entertainment."
The monetary nature of the site required Sroka to hire a team of experts, who navigated gambling laws and set up fraud prevention. Once money is put into OneSeason, players have a minimum of 30 days before the money can be withdrawn or cashed out.
OneSeason is meant to be a source of entertainment rather than an investment, Sroka said. There is a $2,500 limit on the amount of money participants can spend annually.
Sroka's company has operated solely on viral success, instead of advertising.
Mitchell discovered the Web site while surfing online sports entertainment sites. He said he was skeptical of OneSeason's credibility, but was reassured when he saw the newly launched site was backed by The Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine.
He began investing in early October and owns at least one share of every athlete represented in the market.
Mitchell's largest holding is in Carmelo Anthony, a basketball player for the Denver Nuggets.
"There's a debate on who is the best investment," he said. "Some people think Michael Jordan is the most solid, long-term investment because of his name recognition. But he also has the most outstanding shares."
Mitchell said OneSeason's structure is still going through changes because of how young the market is.
"Player performance doesn't dictate the market much right now; it's more about recognition and popularity," Mitchell said. "At first, the market was way up, then it was way down. Now it has started to stabilize and is becoming a lot more realistic."
Mitchell is still within 30 days of investing, he said, but once the time is up, he plans on cashing out some of his earnings before Winter Break. But Mitchell said he is invested in OneSeason for the long haul.
"I believe in the idea of the site," Mitchell said. "The possibilities of the site are endless. Being a part of something that can change the sports entertainment industry is pretty cool."
At Ball State University, OneSeason traveled by word-of-mouth when Mitchell passed the word on to a fellow sports fan, sophomore mathematical science major Taylor Rosenbaum.
"OneSeason sparked an interest with me because of my interest in sports," Rosenbaum said.
Rosenbaum set a personal spending limit and invested in 25 athletes. He said after almost three weeks on the site, his investment is slightly above its starting value. He said he is optimistic about his potential earnings because of the continuing popularity of the Web site.
"The more people who get on the site, the more chance there is for revenue," Rosenbaum said.
He cautioned users to have a realistic perspective about the site.
"Don't expect to win quick - it's not the lottery," Rosenbaum said.
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