How Can We Make Your Sundays & FAAB Easier For You?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Let me just weigh in here while the thread is taking off with my own views:

1. It's great that this die-hard group of fantasy players love the tough 15-team Main Event format. I'm happy with that. But before I wrote those rules after an Arizona Fall League game in 2002, the industry didn't have any 15-team mixed leagues. We came up with the format at a time when most people were playing 10 and 12 team leagues. I'm glad it's well received, but to say that 12-team leagues are outdated and "niche" seems odd. The 15-team format is the niche format, even though now industry leagues seem to be all 15-teamers. But I would safely say that less than 1 percent of the public plays 15-team leagues.

If we now just sit on the 15-team format, we could be looking at the same path as our NFFC Classic. That 14-team format was equally loved by many in this same group, but after years of maybe not profiting there, we've seen many veterans leave that format for the 12-team format. Now in football, the bigger format is nearing the end while our 12-team format is booming. There it has nothing to do with price; it has to do with managing your roster during the season (football owners WANT more free agents) and being able to cash more frequently.

Had we not entered the 12-team market in baseball a competitor surely would have and maybe done it better than we have. We have the players in both markets; now we need to find the right combination of games. I still think we have it, but maybe a few tweaks to the Primetime can make it a better combination.

2. As much as we say we have a great 15-team format, the truth of the matter is that through 11 years several owners have been worn out by that format similar to what we've seen with the NFFC Classic in football. The Primetime was an alternative for those owners to fall back onto and it definitely happened in the early years. The Main Event will have 420 teams this year, but we all know we've lost 100+ good customers who used to be with us for many years. Some fell back to the Primetime because the 12-team format was easier to manage, but if they didn't cash right away then they left us altogether and moved to the Online Championship.

3. Some of the same people saying that FAAB is too time consuming for the Primetime have multiple Online Championship teams in the same format with the same free agent pool. Again, there's no doubt that the free agent pool takes longer to manage during the season than the 15-team format and if needed we can talk about that. But that was the original purpose of the two Main Events: Two totally different contests and let's see who can master either one. Some owners do it better than others; some like one over the other. To bash one over the other makes no sense. They are both good, depending on how much time you have for either format.

4. Price Point: We tried the Double Play at $500 that tied it into the Online Championship when we were at Fanball. I never was in favor of that format and it didn't work. Going to $1,000 and a $50,000 grand prize didn't work and I don't think it works in the future. People said they'd rather take 3 teams at $1,000 than one with a grand prize that is smaller than the Online Championship's grand prize. $50,000 doesn't move the needle at $1,000 and a $4,000 league prize. I'm not saying $1500 is the right price, but we need a reasonable grand prize for this at $1,000 or above or we need to move off this format completely.

5. During the first six years, we had the Main Event on Saturday and that was it. We added a Super on Saturday nights, but really that was it. Draft once and go home. I thought two Main Events on a Saturday would work, plus the Friday Primetimes were quick and easy. You can say that we should just add more auctions, but auctions aren't for everyone. And we have the space paid for in each city, so we need to find a second draft that makes financial sense for us and for you, while creating a splash in the industry. There's enough people who want to compete in another format outside of the Main Event and I think we have to figure it out. We need something that attracts new customers to the NFBC.

6. Here's one admission about the Primetime: I thought we'd bring in several new members to the live drafts and the NFBC with a 12-team Main Event that had a $100,000 grand prize. It hasn't blossomed that way. Without you die-hards taking Primetimes, this contest isn't going to grow or even meet our plans. We obviously are going forward with this year's plans and anyone in this year's Primetime will have a great shot at winning $80,000. It's been a great year for us and if we take our lumps here we take our lumps. This format hasn't succeeded in past years as last year's prizes were based on 300+ teams and we finished with 240 teams. We've stayed committed to it even though ROI in this format has always been the best of any contest we offer. Heck, it might be 100 percent or greater this year, but shit happens.

7. I like the idea of a Thursday FAAB and an expanded bench. I think those are two ideas thinking outside of the box. Bi-weekly FAAB is a worthy consideration as well. It could be a Main Event with fewer moves and more emphasis on setting weekly lineups, which I think we all could enjoy. The drafts would go a little longer, but that's an easy consolation to give up. But I like those ideas.

That's it for now. The 2015 NFBC Primetime still moves forward and thanks to all of you who provided suggestions to improve the contest rather than just personal likes or dislikes. There's room for a 12-team live event here; we just have to keep getting your feedback to make it better. Thanks and good luck to all who are in this year's Primetime: You will be duly rewarded in a smaller field!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

We are learning quickly that FAAB on Sundays is getting to be a pain for many of our own NFBC owners and our No. 1 goal here is to make Sundays easier for you. No matter what we do technologically, you will still have to spend the time during the week to find free agents, put them aside and set a bid for them. And if you are doing multiple teams, it gets to be a piece of work for hours on Sundays. We've heard this from many of you who do multiple leagues and we are trying to reduce the time needed for this on Sundays.

So what can we do to help you with FAAB every week? Here's a start:

We are committing a Search button within any one of your Free Agent lists that will allow you to look for a player and see if he is available in every one of your NFBC leagues. This is a quick fix that we believe will be done by Week 1 FAAB. At the very least, it will save you time because if you have 10 NFBC leagues and you want to search for Jon Gray, for instance, you need to do this:

Click on Main Event Team Ambrosius
Click on Free Agents
Wait for Free Agents To Load
Search for Player

Now do this again for my next team, and my next team, and on and on. You can see how long it takes.

We will provide this:
Click on Main Event Team Ambrosius
Click on Free Agents
Wait for Free Agents To Load
Search for Player and Search for him in all of my leagues. I'm done. Let's do this now for another guy. I'm done. And you can keep doing this throughout the week and quickly know if he's available in all of your leagues.

We are promising to have this done. Now obviously the next step is being able to bid for that player in any league once you've found him. That's a piece of programming that will take a little more time to do and may not be ready right away. But we understand how valuable that next step will be. That is in the plans, but we can't guarantee when that will be done. Again that would save you even more time. With the quick fix, you will be able to bid for the player of the league you are logged into; but hopefully we can solve the bidding step soon.

I hate to dig up this thread again because it veered in a different direction than intended, but I'm happy to report that our Quick Fix for FAAB will be done and ready to go by Week 1. The Search part will be done by Week 1; bidding from each listing will still need more programming, but at least the Search part will be simpler. We have this completed now and are just doing final testing of this. I'm hopeful that by having a pulldown for all of your 2015 NFBC teams within Free Agents that this will save you plenty of time each week as you search for available free agents and will make Sundays somewhat easier. And in the future if that leads to more teams for each of you, we won't mind that as well. Thanks to the IT department on this one and let's keep working together to make FAAB easier in the NFBC.

[rkulaski]

Great news to hear this, Greg. I think this is a great start to making faab much easier.
Please keep us posted as to when to second part of this will be done.

[GetALife]

If it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'd say move the deadline time back even later. Like 11:59 p.m. Sunday is a busy day for some of us and being able to sit down during the Sunday night game and do the bids would be much better. This will also help with players that get hurt in the Sunday night game. I think last year I had 2 players get hurt in that game. If the deadline was pushed back I could have added someone still.

[rkulaski]

I'm sure 11:59 too late for some no matter what time zone you are in.

[GetALife]

I'm sure 11:59 too late for some no matter what time zone you are in.

They don't have to stay on their computer until 11:59. They can end their bidding whenever they like. It would just give much more time to those on different schedules. Sometimes I work Sunday's (afternoons). I would have to have my bids done in the morning before I leave and miss all injury related information that could occur on Sunday. Sure, I could try to check my phone but with work I really wouldn't have enough time to change my bids.

[TParsons]

I'm sure 11:59 too late for some no matter what time zone you are in.

They don't have to stay on their computer until 11:59. They can end their bidding whenever they like. It would just give much more time to those on different schedules. Sometimes I work Sunday's (afternoons). I would have to have my bids done in the morning before I leave and miss all injury related information that could occur on Sunday. Sure, I could try to check my phone but with work I really wouldn't have enough time to change my bids.

I would cut back considerably if FAAB processing were pushed back any further. I was one of the first to vote for pushing it back last year, but now I hate it. For those with early mornings, meetings, travel, etc the following day, there just wouldn't be enough time to manage lineups after processing is complete if you own a larger volume of teams. I struggle to keep up as is.

[Roy's Outlaws]

I'm sure 11:59 too late for some no matter what time zone you are in.

They don't have to stay on their computer until 11:59. They can end their bidding whenever they like. It would just give much more time to those on different schedules. Sometimes I work Sunday's (afternoons). I would have to have my bids done in the morning before I leave and miss all injury related information that could occur on Sunday. Sure, I could try to check my phone but with work I really wouldn't have enough time to change my bids.

I work every Sunday and am lucky if I am home by 9:30-9:45 , So I do all my Fabb on Sat. night , print it out and have it with me on sunday so If I hear of an injury or other important move I can adjust off my phone or wait till I get home and hope to have enough time to make a change. !0:00 pm for fabb run is a good compromise from the 8:00 pm old run time.But IT has to give guys on the east coast time to set line-ups , as some have to get up and head to work at 6 or 7 am Monday morning and not worry about their line-ups or checking Fabb results in the morning. They would end up playing less league. Just have to find a way to set up your Fabb that work for your own schedule.

[Hells Satans]

We are committing a Search button within any one of your Free Agent lists that will allow you to look for a player and see if he is available in every one of your NFBC leagues. This is a quick fix that we believe will be done by Week 1 FAAB.

Thanks Greg, that will help some.

This is a FANTASTIC addition. The kind of thing that gets me to spend more money.

Any update on this happening?

[Greg Ambrosius]

We are committing a Search button within any one of your Free Agent lists that will allow you to look for a player and see if he is available in every one of your NFBC leagues. This is a quick fix that we believe will be done by Week 1 FAAB.

Thanks Greg, that will help some.

This is a FANTASTIC addition. The kind of thing that gets me to spend more money. [/quote]

Any update on this happening?[/quote]

I wanted to double check on this before posting today because I was told it was ready for Week 1. It's not on your FAAB page yet, but the goal was to get that added today after final testing. If not tonight yet, then tomorrow for sure. Hope that helps and let us know what you think of the feature when you use it. Let's hope it saves you time and we can add more features from there to save you time....and give you a reason to buy more teams!!! Thanks all.

[Hells Satans]

Thanks. Would also be great if the FAAB page had an export function that allowed me to download it into an excel spreadsheet.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Thanks. Would also be great if the FAAB page had an export function that allowed me to download it into an excel spreadsheet.

I can always ask.

[Tom Kessenich]

We are learning quickly that FAAB on Sundays is getting to be a pain for many of our own NFBC owners and our No. 1 goal here is to make Sundays easier for you. No matter what we do technologically, you will still have to spend the time during the week to find free agents, put them aside and set a bid for them. And if you are doing multiple teams, it gets to be a piece of work for hours on Sundays. We've heard this from many of you who do multiple leagues and we are trying to reduce the time needed for this on Sundays.

So what can we do to help you with FAAB every week? Here's a start:

We are committing a Search button within any one of your Free Agent lists that will allow you to look for a player and see if he is available in every one of your NFBC leagues. This is a quick fix that we believe will be done by Week 1 FAAB. At the very least, it will save you time because if you have 10 NFBC leagues and you want to search for Jon Gray, for instance, you need to do this:

Click on Main Event Team Ambrosius
Click on Free Agents
Wait for Free Agents To Load
Search for Player

Now do this again for my next team, and my next team, and on and on. You can see how long it takes.

We will provide this:
Click on Main Event Team Ambrosius
Click on Free Agents
Wait for Free Agents To Load
Search for Player and Search for him in all of my leagues. I'm done. Let's do this now for another guy. I'm done. And you can keep doing this throughout the week and quickly know if he's available in all of your leagues.

We are promising to have this done. Now obviously the next step is being able to bid for that player in any league once you've found him. That's a piece of programming that will take a little more time to do and may not be ready right away. But we understand how valuable that next step will be. That is in the plans, but we can't guarantee when that will be done. Again that would save you even more time. With the quick fix, you will be able to bid for the player of the league you are logged into; but hopefully we can solve the bidding step soon.

I hate to dig up this thread again because it veered in a different direction than intended, but I'm happy to report that our Quick Fix for FAAB will be done and ready to go by Week 1. The Search part will be done by Week 1; bidding from each listing will still need more programming, but at least the Search part will be simpler. We have this completed now and are just doing final testing of this. I'm hopeful that by having a pulldown for all of your 2015 NFBC teams within Free Agents that this will save you plenty of time each week as you search for available free agents and will make Sundays somewhat easier. And in the future if that leads to more teams for each of you, we won't mind that as well. Thanks to the IT department on this one and let's keep working together to make FAAB easier in the NFBC.

This is available now. It was added as an icon between the make bid and track player icons. A legend was also added for everyone.

[Red Sox Nation-]

We are learning quickly that FAAB on Sundays is getting to be a pain for many of our own NFBC owners and our No. 1 goal here is to make Sundays easier for you. No matter what we do technologically, you will still have to spend the time during the week to find free agents, put them aside and set a bid for them. And if you are doing multiple teams, it gets to be a piece of work for hours on Sundays. We've heard this from many of you who do multiple leagues and we are trying to reduce the time needed for this on Sundays.

So what can we do to help you with FAAB every week? Here's a start:

We are committing a Search button within any one of your Free Agent lists that will allow you to look for a player and see if he is available in every one of your NFBC leagues. This is a quick fix that we believe will be done by Week 1 FAAB. At the very least, it will save you time because if you have 10 NFBC leagues and you want to search for Jon Gray, for instance, you need to do this:

Click on Main Event Team Ambrosius
Click on Free Agents
Wait for Free Agents To Load
Search for Player

Now do this again for my next team, and my next team, and on and on. You can see how long it takes.

We will provide this:
Click on Main Event Team Ambrosius
Click on Free Agents
Wait for Free Agents To Load
Search for Player and Search for him in all of my leagues. I'm done. Let's do this now for another guy. I'm done. And you can keep doing this throughout the week and quickly know if he's available in all of your leagues.

We are promising to have this done. Now obviously the next step is being able to bid for that player in any league once you've found him. That's a piece of programming that will take a little more time to do and may not be ready right away. But we understand how valuable that next step will be. That is in the plans, but we can't guarantee when that will be done. Again that would save you even more time. With the quick fix, you will be able to bid for the player of the league you are logged into; but hopefully we can solve the bidding step soon.

I hate to dig up this thread again because it veered in a different direction than intended, but I'm happy to report that our Quick Fix for FAAB will be done and ready to go by Week 1. The Search part will be done by Week 1; bidding from each listing will still need more programming, but at least the Search part will be simpler. We have this completed now and are just doing final testing of this. I'm hopeful that by having a pulldown for all of your 2015 NFBC teams within Free Agents that this will save you plenty of time each week as you search for available free agents and will make Sundays somewhat easier. And in the future if that leads to more teams for each of you, we won't mind that as well. Thanks to the IT department on this one and let's keep working together to make FAAB easier in the NFBC.

This is available now. It was added as an icon between the make bid and track player icons. A legend was also added for everyone.

Thanks for the update. This is a terrific enhancement. Next step will be getting IT to program it to be able to bid from the screen that shows all of the teams where the player is available. It's a nice first step though....

Jason