Nonprofits to NFL: Stop pushing fantasy sports on kids

BOSTON (AP) — Nonprofit groups are calling on the National Football League to stop offering fantasy sports competitions to children because they're concerned the games could lead some young sports fans down the path of gambling addiction.

In letters being sent to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday, the National Council on Problem Gambling and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood complain the NFL "aggressively marketed" a fantasy sports game on "NFL Rush," its website and smartphone app for children, as well as on SIkids.com, Sports Illustrated's website for children, and through an elementary school curriculum based on the contest.

Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based group that opposes child-targeted marketing, called the league's education curriculum based around the fantasy sports contest "particularly egregious."

"NFL Rush Fantasy--Learn, Play, Score!" was a math and language arts curriculum that required students to sign up for the NFL's fantasy football game in order to access lesson materials and complete assignments.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood argued in its five-page letter to Goodell that the NFL's youth contest had many of the elements of a daily fantasy sports game, including lucrative prizes and frequent contests that required constant attention to team lineups.