2009 NFFC Rules Changes

[Greg Ambrosius]

I just posted this on the NFFC boards, but here are our plans for the 2009 NFFC:



Okay, I am putting the official rules together for 2009 and should have all of the links live soon, hopefully today. The new NBC Sports NFFC background for the web site should also be live soon, hopefully today. It will provide a new look, but more importantly it will give Tom and I more flexibility to change text, update signup information including credit card changes, add leagues, add photos, and more. The new site has already saved us hours and hours of time on the baseball side and it will be very functional for us on the football side, too.



As everyone knows, last year we debuted the NFFC Doubleheader for the first time, including the 12-team format to our 14-team format. The idea was well accepted as 162 teams signed up for both main events and we had 11 owners reach the Championship Round in both events, thus qualifying for the $1 million bonus. But with the economy in such tough shape, we decided that offering two $1,300-entry fee leagues and guaranteeing two $100,000 challenges was just too much for our participants and for us as a game provider. It would be tough to sell out both events and we feel some changes needed to be made.



So we are making changes and here's how:



We are keeping the $100,000 guarantee for the NFFC Classic, but lowering the number of teams to 322 and raising the entry fee $100 per team. With fewer teams the odds of winning the $100K are better, but we had to raise the entry fee $100 to cover the difference. Last year the prize pool was based on 392 teams, even though we didn't reach that total.



In the NFFC Primetime, we've lowered the entry fee from $1,300 to $750 and guaranteeing the prize based on only 300 teams. Our goal is to create an affordable national contest that allows folks to still do the live draft for a worthy prize, while creating an affordable doubleheader that hopefully allows many of our die-hard NFFC veterans to draft twice on Saturday, Sept. 5th.



We can discuss all of this and more later, but here are the Rules Changes for 2009:



NFFC Classic



1. The third place finisher in each NFFC main event league will qualify for the Championship Round this year, along with the first and second place finishers. If we reach our goal of 23 leagues this year, 69 teams would compete for the $100,000 grand prize.



2. The entry fee for the NFFC main event will be $1,400 per team this year compared to $1,300 last year. We will shoot for 322 teams this year in the main event. The auction leagues and Draft Champions leagues will remain at $650 and $1300. The reason for the increase in the main event is to guarantee the $100,000 grand prize.



3. We will increase the roster spots to 19 this year in all NFFC Classic leagues: Main event, auction league and Ultimate Leagues. With 3RR, it makes sense to have the team that drafts first in Round 1 draft last overall. And the additional roster spot will give just a little more roster flexibility to owners during the season.



4. The top 15% overall will automatically get into the Championship Round now even if they finish outside the top 3 in their league, up from our 10% rule in 2008. If we sell out all 322 spots, that would mean the Top 48 teams in total points would automatically get into the Championship Round.



5. We'll move the break for the main event from Round 9 to Round 10 now that we have 19 rounds.



6. We will move up the starting time for the NFFC Primetime one hour in each city. So now the starting times will be 1 p.m. EST in NY and 6 EST for the Primetime. The NFFC Classic will still draft first with the Primetime second. We have held the Classic at the same time for the last five years and it just makes sense to keep it consistent even if the second draft is at a lower price point.



7. We will add a Super Draft League on Saturday night for anyone who wants to go crazy and do a tripleheader. We struggled to find a good spot for the Super League last year and we'll offer one on Saturday night and one on Sunday during the Ultimate League and see where the demand is. I like the Super League concept, but finding a good time slot has been tough. We'll also offer some Draft 'N Go Leagues in Las Vegas on Saturday night for anyone who would like to do a smaller entry-fee league and wants to do another live draft after the Primetime. Stay tuned for more details on that soon.



8. We will offer an early-bird special of $100 off to anyone who commits to both main events by July 1st. So it will be $2050 for both main events if you sign up by July 1st. We won't hit any credit cards until Aug. 1st so we're not asking for any money, but I'm hopeful that we can get a strong commitment early on to prove that this new model will succeed.



9. We will offer another bonus to anyone who can win both main events, but the insurance for $1 million is just too expensive to do a second year. In the NFBC, we are providing a new car to anyone who can win our main event and our Online Championship and we'll do the same thing for football. We are talking with a potential sponsor now and will have more details soon, but there will definitely be a bonus this year and of course free entries to the top point team in both main events through Week 16.



10. We will also be offering a Phone/Online option for both main events this year. We did this last year as well and it worked well in the NFFC Primetime. What we will do is allow participants who can't make the live event to still be eligible for the grand prizes through our phone/online leagues. Those participants will be in their own separate leagues and we'll host them using an 800-number teleconference line for everyone to call into. All members will announce each pick into the phone, while the league will be visible on MockDraftCentral.com for all to view. Having the league live on MDC.com will allow participants to see all of the picks, see all of the available free agents and view each team easily. The site will be disabled with only an MDC.com official making the selections, but at least all participants will be able to hear everyone and see the picks. This will be done for both the NFFC Classic and NFFC Primetime in 2009.



11. We will have three locations for the live events: Las Vegas, New York and Chicago.



12. We have not changed this rule yet, but I am leaning that way and would like some input. I am thinking about keeping the FAAB deadline every Friday night at 8 EST, even during the weeks that have early Thursday games. We've changed the deadlines to Wednesdays starting in Week 10 in the past and I wonder if we need to do that for just one game per week. Maybe we should just stay consistent for all 13 weeks and keep the FAAB deadline on Friday nights. Thoughts?



NFFC Primetime



1. The entry fee will move from $1,300 last year to $750 per team this year with a $50 co-manager fee. We will still offer $650 and $1300 NFFC Primetime Auction and Draft Champions Leagues.



2. The grand prize will be $40,000, based on 300 total teams. If we grow above 300 teams, 75% of all additional revenue will go towards the overall prize pool.



3. Top 2 teams in each league advance to the Championship Round, along with 10% of all top scoring teams. This is the same as last year.



4. 20 roster spots. No change there.



5. Starting times will be 6 p.m. EST in NY, 5 p.m. CST and 3 p.m. PST.



6. We will provide an online/phone option for the main event.



I think that does it. I'll update this thread if I think of anything else and feel free to post your comments or suggestions here. Thanks all and let's get 2009 started.

[KJ Duke]

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

12. We have not changed this rule yet, but I am leaning that way and would like some input. I am thinking about keeping the FAAB deadline every Friday night at 8 EST, even during the weeks that have early Thursday games. We've changed the deadlines to Wednesdays starting in Week 10 in the past and I wonder if we need to do that for just one game per week. Maybe we should just stay consistent for all 13 weeks and keep the FAAB deadline on Friday nights. Thoughts?

Looks pretty good on all fronts Greg. Knocking another $50 off the combined entry would probably be worthwhile.



As for FAAB, I think your proposal is the second best option and a definite improvement over last year. The best option would be to add a Wednesday FAAB exclusively for players that will be playing in Thursday's games. If this is too problematic for STATS to handle, I'd stick with what you proposed.