Learning about the stock market can be easy

Fantasy sports ask participants to research players, compare statistics, assemble a roster, follow performance and explain why they were right—or admit when they were wrong.

That sounds a lot like investing.

Yet we often introduce the stock market to students through terminology, disclaimers and intimidating charts. We make markets feel like a subject reserved for finance majors or people with large portfolios, even though nearly every student already interacts with publicly traded companies every day.

I graduated from St. John’s in 1997 after serving as student body president and as a student member of the University Board of Regents. My career later took me into professional equity research, Goldman Sachs and the founding of a research company that was acquired by S&P Global.

The most valuable thing I learned was not how to predict every stock. Nobody can. It was how to ask better questions, organize information and develop a point of view that can be tested over time.

PHITBALL grew from the belief that those skills can be introduced through a language students already understand: sports. In PHITBALL, participants draft stocks into a starting lineup. Company size determines position, just as different athletes fill different roles on a team. A trillion-dollar company becomes the quarterback at the center of a nine-stock CUBai. Other companies occupy the corners and edges. Their market performance becomes the scoreboard.

No brokerage account or stock purchase is required. The first step is simply choosing a roster and following what happens.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, I am returning to campus for the CSB+SJU Founding Draft—the first planned stop of the PHITBALL College Tour. Students will help make a community draft, build their own starting nine and record 23-second takes explaining one of their picks. The program will lead into NBA opening night and the nationally televised Oklahoma City Thunder–San Antonio Spurs game.

We are calling CSB+SJU “Campus Zero” because this is meant to be more than one presentation. It is an opportunity for students interested in business, sports, media, technology and storytelling to help shape something that could travel to other campuses.

Markets are everywhere: in the products we buy, the places we work, our retirement plans and the companies changing our communities. Understanding them should not require surrendering the curiosity and competition that make learning enjoyable.

Fantasy sports did not become popular because people love spreadsheets. They became popular because the numbers became players, teams, stories and conversations.

Stocks deserve that opportunity too.

The CSB+SJU PHITBALL Founding Draft begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Attendance and play are free. Event details are available at csbsju.swe235.com.