NFBC Becomes Fourth Licensee Of MLBAM

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:10 am

The following press release was announced across the country today by Major League Baseball:

MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) announced today that it has reached a multi-year licensing agreement with F+W Publications, owners of the National Fantasy Baseball

Championship (NFBC). The agreement allows F+W Publications to host live high-stakes drafts across the country, continuing a relationship it has had with the Major League Baseball Players Association and MLBAM over the last two years.

“We are pleased to work with F+W to expand on this high-stakes concept, offering fantasy players additional options,” said Gregg Klayman, Director of Fantasy and Interactive games for MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM).

The National Fantasy Baseball Championship will host live drafts on Saturday, March 18th in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Tampa, with 330 teams participating and then managing their leagues and rosters online throughout the Major League Baseball season.

“The NFBC has quickly established itself as the premiere live event in the fantasy baseball industry and this partnership with MLBAM will allow us to take this event to a higher level,” said Greg Ambrosius, director of the NFBC. “There's no question that working in conjunction with MLB.com will quicken the growth of our event and help us bring national recognition to this unique contest. We have assembled the best fantasy baseball players in the country and the time is right to give them greater exposure.”

In addition to the variety of fantasy baseball games available on MLB.com, MLBAM has now reached multi-year online fantasy baseball license agreements with CBS Sportsline.com, ESPN.com, Yahoo! Sports and F+W Publications. The NFBC had 195 teams in 2004, before selling out all 300 spots in 2005.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:28 am

I apologize for the delay in making a major announcement, but sometimes these things take time. Some people may not think that the announcement above is "major" but I certainly do. Here's a few reasons why, aside from the official press release:

1) If anybody thought that there were concerns about gambling or high-stakes fantasy play, this should erase those. MLB sees this area of live drafts as an important area of the market and they were very willing to work with us to be part of this for the future. We have a multi-year contract and there is no concern of the NFBC not being around in 2006 or 2007 or 2008.

2) MLB has added a link to its MLB.com fantasy site today and we should get additional promotion from that traffic and a story that they are running. Here is the URL where the NFBC logo is located on MLB.com.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/fantasy/index.jsp

And the story link:

http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/arti ... 60221_id=1 317661&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb">http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/arti ... p&c_id=mlb

3) Potential additional prizes. It's possible that we will have some additional prizes to give away besides our cash prizes in the future. We're talking about that with them already.

4) Potential sponsors. With MLB's contacts, there is certainly hope on my part that we will reach out to the mainstream advertising community and get a title sponsor someday. We have an ideal demographic and I think we'll find a good match soon.

5) Increased participation in future years is definitely the goal of both parties and I think it will happen. We'll push for 330 this year, but I think the goal will be much higher in 2007.

Nobody understands the dilemma facing the industry more than I do, but this is a good deal for both parties and I look forward to working with MLBAM on our event. We join ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline.com and Yahoo! Sports as licensees for 2006, which is pretty good company. MLBAM stated last year that it was willing to work with companies that had unique games and my conversations with them over the last 12 months have always been positive about wanting to work with F+W Publications and the NFBC.

I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have, but I'm excited to make this announcement today and hopefully we'll have a strong push of signups over these last 17 days. Don't delay if you want to get into our event in 2006!

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:33 am

Fantastic news Greg! Can only imagine what this will do for the event next year. Especially with the way you and Tom run things with your events. I know many who are "lifers" due to you two. Keep up the good work.

Patrick

RedRyder · Post by **RedRyder** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:49 am

Outstanding! That really is huge! Congrats!

Are you working on NFL.com?????? I wish they were as receptive as MLB seems to be...oh, well.

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:50 am

Congratulations Greg. Smart move on their part, they couldn't have chosen a better partner.

I'll look forward to those MLB incentives in the future, too.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:58 am

Originally posted by RedRyder:

Outstanding! That really is huge! Congrats!

Are you working on NFL.com?????? I wish they were as receptive as MLB seems to be...oh, well.

Captain Hook · Post by **Captain Hook** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:05 am

Congrats to Krause and thank you Greg for all your hard work on this.

2006 - 330 sold out soon

2007 - 500 (increased prizes and $$)

2008 - ???

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:09 am

Greg, this is a major accomplishment for you and your entire organization. Congratulations! Many of us remember the uncertain times in February 2004 when the event itself was in doubt. Really, looking back on the status of the NFBC from just two years ago, it's amazing how far you've come. This news promises to transform an already fantastic event into an even better one.

As for me, I'm just happy to have been a part of this from the beginning. I look forward to being an active participant for years to come and seeing you grow this thing into a monster.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:14 am

well done greg! let's get to a 500K first place prize.

make sure you tell the KP folks that as the event grows, so must the resources. hire a hot chick to be the MB admin/hottie. lots of possibilities with that.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:18 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko:

well done greg! let's get to a 500K first place prize.

make sure you tell the KP folks that as the event grows, so must the resources. hire a hot chick to be the MB admin/hottie. lots of possibilities with that. Some people have told me that Tom Kessenich is the NFBC's official eye candy. Isn't that enough?!!!

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:23 pm

nice going Greg! further validation that I knew exactly what rabbit hole to throw my $ down

Potter · Post by **Potter** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:16 pm

If Tom is the official eye candy, shouldn't you give him that ball back?

JerseyPaul · Post by **JerseyPaul** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:23 pm

Hangtown · Post by **Hangtown** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:37 pm

Kudos, it appears the best is yet to come...

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:04 pm

To Greg, Tom and and the rest. Nice job!

I remember the first year when you guys took a loss to get this show on the road. But you stuck with it and now this is THE DRAFT. In the Navy they call the first crew of a ship the plank owners. I think the the first 195 players were plank owners of the NFBC.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:11 pm

Originally posted by Walla Walla:

To Greg, Tom and and the rest. Nice job!

I remember the first year when you guys took a loss to get this show on the road. But you stuck with it and now this is THE DRAFT. In the Navy they call the first crew of a ship the plank owners. I think the the first 195 players were plank owners of the NFBC. Thanks John. I hope all 195 owners know they have a special place in my heart because without all 195 (well, at least the first 165) there wouldn't be an NFBC today. When we hit 155 and did the math for how much money we'd lose if we got to 165 we decided to bite the bullet and guarantee the prize money. It was a tough decision, but we knew long-term it would pay off. Then sure enough we added 45 teams over the last seven days and the loss was lessened a bit. In the end it has worked out well for everyone.

That was a grueling and tough time. I get chills just thinking about it. Now we're feeling good, but we know for sure that the best is yet to come.

Stick around shipmates because we're going to party like it's 1999 soon!

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:41 pm

Originally posted by JerseyPaul:

I guess some people don't find this news to be very exciting (the emoticon is yawning, for those that can't tell). Greg predicted this in his initial post, so I guess it's no surprise...

Rey · Post by **Rey** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:08 pm

Wow! This is spectacular. Many congrats to Greg, Tom and the rest of the crew.

Now that we're all reminiscing, who remembers Greg pimping out those Pete Rose balls? I half imagined him walking the streets of Wisconsin wearing an NFBC shirt and tossing Pete Rose balls to every individual within his target demographic. Good times indeed

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:19 pm

Originally posted by Rey:

Now that we're all reminiscing, who remembers Greg pimping out those Pete Rose balls? I half imagined him walking the streets of Wisconsin wearing an NFBC shirt and tossing Pete Rose balls to every individual within his target demographic. Good times indeed I got a Pete Rose autographed picture for joining the main event, and a Pete Rose baseball for joining the Friday night AL auction. These items may not have a lot of monetary value, but I will hang onto them as a fun reminder of the first season.

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:23 pm

Congrats to Greg and Tom.

I still have my Pete Rose auto'd ball and my Andrew Jones homer ball!

Since its inception this has been the best game in the country!

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:02 pm

Originally posted by King of Queens:

quote:Originally posted by Rey:

Now that we're all reminiscing, who remembers Greg pimping out those Pete Rose balls? I half imagined him walking the streets of Wisconsin wearing an NFBC shirt and tossing Pete Rose balls to every individual within his target demographic. Good times indeed I got a Pete Rose autographed picture for joining the main event, and a Pete Rose baseball for joining the Friday night AL auction. These items may not have a lot of monetary value, but I will hang onto them as a fun reminder of the first season. [/QUOTE]You ever try to get Rose to sign when he is not getting paid to do it not the nicest man. I have also never seen anyone sign at a show as quickly as that guy can. I am sure the 8 letter name helps but he is a machine.

JohnZ · Post by **JohnZ** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:13 pm

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

quote:Originally posted by King of Queens:

quote:Originally posted by Rey:

Now that we're all reminiscing, who remembers Greg pimping out those Pete Rose balls? I half imagined him walking the streets of Wisconsin wearing an NFBC shirt and tossing Pete Rose balls to every individual within his target demographic. Good times indeed I got a Pete Rose autographed picture for joining the main event, and a Pete Rose baseball for joining the Friday night AL auction. These items may not have a lot of monetary value, but I will hang onto them as a fun reminder of the first season. [/QUOTE]You ever try to get Rose to sign when he is not getting paid to do it not the nicest man. I have also never seen anyone sign at a show as quickly as that guy can. I am sure the 8 letter name helps but he is a machine. [/QUOTE]Yes, I had a convention at his restaurant in Boca in early '90's. He would not sign a thing unless you bought the item from the gift shop there.

Despite that, I will say one of my Top 5 moments of all time in the industry was around round 7 of Pete's draft, when he looked up at me and smiled, as the whole fantasy thing finally made sense to him.

GoldenEagle · Post by **GoldenEagle** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:35 pm

To Greg, Tom, and everyone at F+W: Congratulations!

A very solid business move. Both offense and defense with this one. Add the endorsement and partnership strength with MLBAM. Protect against getting on the "wrong side" of things (if you know what I mean). It could not have been easy to negotiate the terms and conditions and then endure the endless lawyer meetings. Bet you're glad it's over and can get back to baseball!

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 12:26 am

I can only add my own congratulations to Greg, Tom, and all the other great folks that stuck with this. Certainly kudos are due and earned. It is always a great feeling to have a goal and to say "We did it and the best is yet to come!"

I am glad I was fortunate enough to be there as one of the 195 at the humble first main event...getting a little misty here!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:33 am

Originally posted by Rey:

Wow! This is spectacular. Many congrats to Greg, Tom and the rest of the crew.

Now that we're all reminiscing, who remembers Greg pimping out those Pete Rose balls? I half imagined him walking the streets of Wisconsin wearing an NFBC shirt and tossing Pete Rose balls to every individual within his target demographic. Good times indeed I have six more Pete Rose autographed baseballs on my desk, just in case we stop at 324 teams this year for the main event!!!