The Jock Exchange

Michael Lewis on ProTrade

I wrote about ProTrade a couple of months ago, or you would probably better say that I linked to it. I was impressed by the software and the user experience, but to tell the truth I haven’t been back.

Michael Lewis’s story in the premiere issue of the new Conde Nast business magazine about ProTrade suffers from some boosterism, but you can also call that enthusiasm and conclude that he’s right. The future in sports projecting will be culling increasingly sophisticated information from the crowds. ProTrade didn’t invent this business, by a longshot, but they’re very nicely positioned to take advantage of it.

I haven’t been back to ProTrade after my initial foray. But Lewis’s description of all the funny money, the emotional backing, that a sports exchange will draw into its market,  is provocative.

The only problem is that a whole lot of die hard financial folks also happen to be sports fans, too. So what happens when Merril Lynch starts a Football Trading division?