John Hansen Fantasy Sports Pioneer

By Emil Kadlec
Emil Kadlec

FSWA Hall of Famer John Hansen has been an industry leader and pioneer since 1995, when he launched a snail mail newsletter that eventually became the Fantasy Guru Website. A former rock disc jockey, Hansen in 1994 began appearing on a sports cable TV show in New Jersey under the name “The Guru,” a nickname given to him by a leaguemate, and quickly gained a reputation for his predictions and evaluations. Hansen in 1996 was hired by ESPN.com, and he was the first individual to contribute to ESPN’s coverage of fantasy football online and on ESPN Radio and TV. After a 7-year stint at ESPN, Hansen in 2003 began working with Yahoo! Sports, where his work was found through 2015.

Hansen’s other media credits include a gig in 2003 on \“NFL Fantasy Live\” on NFL.com alongside former NFL Player Ron Jaworski and in 2004 on the NFL Network's \“Playbook\” show alongside former NFL Players Sterling Sharpe and Solomon Wilcots. Hansen was also featured on a strategy-based preseason DVD the NFL produced in 2003. From 2003-2009 he was the chief fantasy analyst on the “Fantasy Fix” show on Comcast Sportsnet. In 2004, Sirius NFL Radio was born, and Hansen was contracted to host the network’s weekly show “Sirius Fantasy Football.” In 2010, due to this show's great success on Sirius, SiriusXM launched an entire channel devoted to fantasy sports; Hansen now hosts "Fantasy Football Morning" M-F from 7-9 A.M. ET. Over the years, Hansen has also hosted season-long fantasy football radio shows with current/former NFL players LaDainian Tomlinson, Torry Holt, Roddy White, and Maurice Jones-Drew, as well as former coach Charlie Weiss. Hansen is currently in his 17th NFL season covering the NFL for fantasy on SiriusXM. In 2014, Hansen was hired to be the chief fantasy analyst for a ground-breaking new "Fantasy Zone" channel on DirectTV, wrapping up his sixth season on the channel in 2019.

Some of Hansen’s other noteworthy credits include being the publisher of the first fantasy magazine to feature a player interview (then reigning ROY Clinton Portis), having NFL legend John Madden voluntarily voice a promo for his radio show, being on the air for the first days of NFL Network, SXM NFL Radio, and DirecTV’s Fantasy Zone channel, and being written into the the hit comedy series "The League," in which Hansen and our very own Adam Caplan appeared in four scenes and played themselves hosting the SiriusXM Radio show (Season 2, episode 11).


Check out the entire Fantasy Sports Pioneer Interview Series.

 

4/28/2020