IU business grads establish fantasy sports for celebrities

IU graduate Lisa Conmy found she was spending as much time tracking celebrities as her husband was tracking his fantasy sports teams and decided to do something about it.\nShe got fellow Kelley School of Business graduate Trina Henney on board and created a Web site for a celebrity fantasy league in which fantasy owners pick celebrities and compete in a league of their own. The site, girlsintheknowinc.com launched Sept. 1 and has already been successful, garnering 1,000 members.\nEach team owner becomes a talent agent with an 18-person agency comprised of three male and female movie stars, TV stars and singers. An entry fee of $20 gets players a 10-week session in a private agency with friends or a public one with randomly assigned groups. In the agency, players compete to put together a stable of the hottest celebrities to earn more points than all members of the network. Teams with the most points across the site are awarded "Top Divas" and will have the chance to win prizes like an iPod. \nCEO Conmy and CFO Henney both graduated from the business school just a year apart, but they didn't meet until an alumni event in San Francisco. They are lawyers, but they use the business skills they acquired at IU to run the site in their spare time. \n"I think we both work together because the business school taught us how to work together and solve problems," Conmy said. \nWhile football stars get points for touchdowns and yards, celebrities are graded on more than 40 categories and are given points based on celebrities' real-life sales, reviews and public appearances. Hosting an award show brings a celebrity 25 points, appearing on "Oprah" nets 20 and having a top song or album can earn a celebrity up to 10 points.\nJustin Timberlake and Beyonce are the Peyton Manning and LaDainian Tomlinson of girlsintheknowinc.com. They are reliable point-earners that often grace magazine covers, appear on talk shows and consistently produce hit songs. \nCelebrities lose 20 points for a divorce, 15 for going into rehab or getting arrested and two for being on US Weekly's "When Bad Clothes Happen to Good People." \nBoth Henney and Conmy agreed that while Kevin Federline is one of the worst people to have on a roster, someone who gets no press will get no points. K-Fed will still earn some points for being on the cover of magazines before his 15 minutes of fame run out.\nWhile the game is called "Girls in the Know," Conmy said she was surprised to find that 15 percent of users are men. Senior Cory Szybala was pretty interested in the idea.\n"You could watch E! instead of ESPN," he said. "I would do it. I think it would be pretty fun." \nJunior Bianca Tirado was excited when she heard about the Web site and was already thinking of who she would want on her team. She said she would probably add Usher, and the premise would be a good fit for her since she already follows celebrity gossip.\n"I would be interested in doing it because I love entertainment and music," Tirado said. "It's something we do on a regular basis anyway. It's cool that they made a Web site like that."\nWhen freshman Katherine Akey heard about the site, she had an opposite reaction. \n"That's really stupid," she said. "It's hero idolizing, downgrading society another step and adding to people just sitting around instead of doing something real with their lives."\nIt's not for everyone, but most students could think of friends who would be interested in playing.\n"There's definitely a market for it," senior Erika Rosenberg said. "I know girls that would love it. One of my friends buys six gossip magazines a week. People take that stuff so seriously."\nConmy and Henney said they expect the number of participants to increase as award season nears. Both said they constantly get e-mail from players who love the site and have award show parties and drafts for new players.\n"I think it's a fabulous idea, and I'm shocked how some people are going crazy over it," Henney said.