Right now, the business is just on its first legs, and the insurance options are modest. They only offer insurance for football right now, and only on the top 50 players. Customers can choose from one of the three insurance plans: a player misses 10 of his team’s first 15 games, 8 of their first 12, or three players miss a combined 18 games of their team’s first 15. Essentially you pick your option, let’s say option 1 as an example, and then choose the player on your team, let’s say Adrian Peterson. You then type in your league fees, as well as any transaction fees, and voila, it churns out a number. Say your league a $50 buy-in, you could pay $7.73 to protect Peterson, and if he missed 10 of the Vikings first 15 games then FantasySportsInsurance.com will pay you $50. Simple as that.

I’m not saying there aren’t problems with the plan. For now, the options are limited both in the way you can insure and who you can insure. $50 is the minimum payout, and since I don’t have enough money to play in a league that costs that much, that can be a little annoying, but there’s no stopping me from still protecting my players. Furthermore, there isn’t a variation in costs between players. Clearly, Peyton Manning is less likely to get hurt than some other injury-prone guys, but he still costs the same. This is fine as long as you maximize your insurance for high-risk guys in high-risk positions. Their website could use a bit of work too.

But on the grand scheme of things, the whole concept is great. With a little publicity I can see fantasy gamers across the globe hopping up the opportunity to hedge their bets and protect themselves from season-ending injuries. Sure competitors may come along the road, but someone is going to be making a lot of money off sports injuries in the near future….