David Sweet • E-mail

Anyone doubting fantasy football’s impact on the sports landscape needed only to leave the lawnmower in the garage during Labor Day and gaze at the home page of CBSSports.com.

Next to the CBS Sports banner at the top sat an in-house advertisement for fantasy football, blaring “Only 3 days until kickoff — get your team now!” Underneath, a massive red ad promoted the site’s fantasy football premium games. Those scrolling down further could find a section devoted to fantasy writers. Another, more subdued ad for fantasy football premium games was nearby. Closing in on the bottom of the home page, four links sponsored by the likes of T-Mobile and GMC promoted (you guessed it) fantasy football.

Is it any wonder the site — once known as CBS SportsLine.com — waited three years after CBS purchased it outright from SportsLine to switch its name to CBSSports.com, owing to fears, according to reports, of losing fantasy business since the SportsLine name was so attached to the genre?

Welcome to the ever-growing world of fantasy football. More than 19 million people play fantasy sports in U.S. and Canada, according to numbers released in August by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Football comprises the majority, around 14 million. Major Web sites, such as the aforementioned CBSSports.com and giant ESPN.com, cater to players by offering leagues and fantasy columnists, as do hundreds of lesser-known sites. And it’s not just for men. Women comprise about 15 percent of fantasy players.

On Sept. 8, about 1,200 teams in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Orlando participated in the draft for The World Championship of Fantasy Football, where more than $1 million will be handed out by season’s end.

A true “fantasy” sport Fantasy football relies on real players. A popular fantasy game in Europe goes the opposite route — and it’s not the “football” U.S. fans know. Hattrick.org, based out of Sweden, has users build their own soccer teams from scratch, then manage 20-to-30 players over a period of years. It requires a mix of game tactics, finance wizardry and above all else, patience. “One big motivator is that they are fans of real teams, like for example, Manchester United, but they say ‘I could do this much better,’” says Mattias Söderhielm, Vice president business development at Hattrick. “It’s a very slow game. People play it for many years. The average player plays Hattrick for three years.” In that regard, Hattrick is like fantasy baseball keeper leagues, where users manage draft incoming rookies and use the same players each season or make trades to improve their team. But Hattrick speeds up their season — because it’s not based on any professional league — and in the span of one season, a person will have gone through three years. The motivation? You rise from the bottom to the top league, which only has eight teams playing each other. And when you have nearly 1 million players, that’s an elite group. “To some extent, we want to be like the real world,” Söderhielm says. “In the real world as well you only have so many people in the top series” Launched in 1997, Hattrick’s current version hasn’t changed since 2001. About 70 percent of the users are soccer fans, though Söderhielm says some just like it for the strategy aspect. If they hope to appeal to U.S. fans — a notoriously soccer-hating base — that appeal would be needed for its new game, BuzzerBeater.org, a Hattrick for basketball. — Mike Miller, msnbc.com

All this passion for fantasy football has prompted some interesting moves. In Miami, as part of a massive renovation of Dolphin Stadium, the Sprint Fantasy Lounge will reside at the club level, where big-screen TVs and computers will engage fantasy fans. A handful of fantasy football films, including one called “10 Yards,” are being produced, though none have arrived in theatres yet.

The National Football League has jumped in as well. The league’s Web site, NFL.com, features fantasy leagues and writers and even puts out a fantasy preview magazine. Though it makes clear that none of its shows are solely for fantasy football players, NFL Network appeals to the group in a number of ways.

”We had 52 preseason games in 29 days, which is the ultimate fantasy scouting tool,” said Seth Palansky, spokesman for the NFL Network.

The network also airs “Red Zone” on NFL Sundays from 1-4 p.m. ET, which provides statistics on players’ fumbles recovered, tackles for loss and the like while Fox and CBS are covering games.

“We feel we’re providing a service to fantasy football fans,” Palansky said. “If I go to a kid’s birthday party and miss games, I want a quick sense of what’s going on. It has all the key stats for fantasy players.”