SOLD OUT: 2021 NFBC Main Event

[Greg Ambrosius]

The NFBC Main Event is our signature event -- and the industry's premiere contest -- which has sold out each of the last 16 years. Even last year when we had to refund more than 470 Main Event entries and reconfigured the contest with a $100,000 grand prize for a 60-game Sprint Main Event, we sold out all 570 spots.

It's been an amazing run for this contest and we don't plan on breaking that streak this year!!

The 2021 NFBC Main Event has a guaranteed grand prize of $150,000 and is based on a record 600 teams. It takes a ton of skill to win a 15-team Main Event league title and even more skill and a little good fortune to beat the entire field and win the grand prize. We have had 16 different overall champions during our 17-year history, with only the great Lindy Hinkelman winning this contest twice. James Tomony of Madison, Wisconsin is the defending champion and he's eager to defend this title.

The good news is that Major League Baseball plans to play a full 162-game season this year despite Covid. Actually, the MLB Players Association forced them into that plan. The bad news is that a lot of baseball fans are waiting to see how spring training plays out before committing to the season ahead and we are feeling those effects as well.

In past years at this time, we'd be headed toward a sellout. In fact, last year we had less than 100 spots left in the Main Event at this time. Today we just topped 350 teams in our contest, meaning we still have just short of 250 teams left for a sellout. A 17th straight sellout, that is.

But we are confident that we'll get there, even if that means the final week will be wild as hell. We are going to get there.

Last year proved to all of us here how passionate our customers are about the Main Event and about keeping this signature event alive and prosperous. We sold those 570 spots in less than three weeks and crammed in 38 online drafts over a 10-day period. We won't have that many online Main Event drafts during the same period of time, but we do know that the March 29th-31st period will be busy, busy, busy. I can't say that we'll shut off Registration for any of those events even if we get 6 or 7 at a time because we are fully staffed to handle that load, but along with a full Rotowire Online Championship slate those days we may have to be careful. If you really want to draft on those three final dates, please sign up at a reasonable time or turn your TBD entries to one of those dates because at some point we will have to shut those down.

I've started this thread to let everyone know where we are with this great contest. At this point, being 58% full is as precarious as it was in 2004 when we finished with 195 teams and prizes based on 300 teams. We sold out all 300 teams the next year and have never fallen short of our goal since. I don't think our situation is as bad as it was in 2004 because I'm hopeful that people will start to grab some teams soon, even if they are only TBDs for now. If you can do that, it would be great. It would make all of us feel better about this contest and would secure your spot in the Main Event.

We'll update this thread all the way through a sellout. And I do believe we'll have a sellout. Thanks all and best of luck in the battle for the most coveted prize in the industry, which also pays $150,000 for winning it. Thanks for your support through the years and especially this year when the pandemic still makes the season a little difficult. Let's all work through it and enjoy a full, hopefully historic baseball season.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, nice push everyone. Almost 20 Main Event signups in the last 24 hours as we now have 230 guaranteed spots left in the 2021 NFBC Main Event. Let's keep this going. Thanks all.

[Greg Ambrosius]

One week from today we announce our first NFBC MAIN EVENT LEAGUES AND DRAFT SPOTS!!

That's right, the goal is to finalize Main Event leagues five days in advance of those draft dates and draft spots will be announced at exactly the start time of those drafts five days out. So the Saturday, March 20th, 2 pm ET Main Event Online leagues will see their draft spots on Monday at 2 pm ET.

Now all of our leagues may not fill exactly five days out and at that time we'll make the call to keep those dates and times open or shut down those leagues and ask owners to move into new leagues. I think we can give many of these a little extra time and love to fill them up. But once some of these early leagues hit 15 owners, we'll likely shut them off and move on because we have more and varied offerings this year than ever before. We know everyone's schedules are tough during this pandemic, so we wanted more offerings to make sure everyone had options.

We still have a lot of work to do for our first Main Event leagues on Saturday, March 20th. We are still trying to get enough owners live for one league in New York City that day and we're trying to get more than the 7 we have now in Chicago to at least do a live/online hookup. We already have 17 owners online and some have shown an interest in the city hookup if needed, so let's keep pushing for that date and find a way to get three full leagues.

The Sunday, March 21st offerings are at 2 pm ET and 8 pm ET. Once those fill, we will shut those down and move on. Again, I think we'll do this for most dates and then prepare for what should be a wild March 27th-31st schedule.

Anyway, plan accordingly. The signups are starting to trickle in and we now have more than 405 Main Event teams with 24 days to go. Here's the first weekend offerings that we hope to mingle into three leagues on Saturday and fill both leagues on Sunday:

2021 NFBC Main Event
NEW YORK
New York - Stewart Hotel
Saturday, March 20, Noon ET
1. Michael Mager
2. Mike Massotto
3. Michael Edelman
4. thomas eshenfelder
5. Chris Santos
6. Mark Srebro
7. Robert DiPietro
8. Todd Whitestone
9. Mark Bendar

CHICAGO
Chicago Northbrook Marriott
Saturday, March 20, Noon CT
1. Brent Grooms
2. VINCE CLEMENTE
3. Christopher Cosley
4. Jeffrey Bryl
5. Douglas Roth
6. John Pausma
7. Jason Gill

ONLINE
Saturday, March 20, Noon ET
1. Daniel DaSilva
2. Toby Guevin
3. Abdul Madani
4. Scott Waggener
5. Daniel Bronski
6. Jeff Campbell
7. Alan Mitchell
8. matthew jacobson
9. Scott Sakiyama
10. Patrick Gallagher
11. Gregg Martin
12. Eric Heberlig
13. Andre Bourcier
14. Glenn Giro
15. Michael Baum
16. Joe Gelsomino
17. Brian Slack

ONLINE
Sunday, March 21, 2 pm ET
1. STEVEN HEFFERNAN
2. Abdul Madani
3. Shawn Childs
4. Doug Cassidy
5. Todd Hoppe
6. Steve Gregovich
7. Ariel Reid
8. Greg Lathrop
9. Eric Heberlig
10. Chris Liss
11. Steven Weimer
12. robert cramutola

ONLINE
Sunday, March 21, 8 pm ET
1. Ross Berg
2. Matthew Davis
3. Philippe Dussault
4. James Maples
5. John Bosch
6. Samuel Horton

[Greg Ambrosius]

We have over 430 Main Event teams signed up and ready to go right now, but we still have a ways to go to our goal of 600 Main Event teams. Still, I remain optimistic as more and more people are drafting on the site now and soon that lure of $150,000 is going to be too great to resist!!

Come join us in the 18th annual NFBC Main Event, the industry's most prestigious contest!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

We've topped 481 NFBC Main Event teams today. We are projecting a record 600 teams for a 17th straight sellout. Can we do it?

[Greg Ambrosius]

We had 20 Main Event signups yesterday to bring us closer to the 500 teams mark. If we come close to that number each day over the next week or so we will sell out the Main Event for a 17th straight season. I like that!!!

I know a lot of veterans are waiting to secure their teams because I've talked to many of you. All I can say is get in while you can because once leagues are full, we are going to shut them off and move onto the next day. Next available Main Event Online leagues are Tuesday, March 23rd and Wednesday, March 24th and then we have 1 Spot Left in the Thursday, March 25th Las Vegas Main Event and 5 Spots Left in the Thursday, March 25th Main Online.

Thanks all for the support during this pandemic and I think 2021 is going to be another successful campaign. We still have a lot of work to do in multiple national contests, but the trending line is pointing in the right direction. Thanks for all your help this year and good luck in all your leagues.

[Greg Ambrosius]

NOW AT 550 TEAMS FOR THE 2021 NFBC MAIN EVENT!!!!

Jump in soon or be left out this year with $150,000 on the line. Good luck all.

[Greg Ambrosius]

So I'm ecstatic to report today that we currently have more than 600 teams registered for the 2021 NFBC Main Event. That's an awesome number with a week of drafts still to go. And I'll admit, it's surprising that we've reached that figure so quickly.

That being said, we still have only 38 full leagues so far and the goal is for 40 full leagues. We have five potential draft dates and times that could fill, but we still need to fill two of those leagues to reach our goal. We'll keep all five dates and times open to see if we can still fill this out.

I think there's a good chance that we get to 40 full leagues and if we go above that we'll add to the overall prize pool starting with second place overall on down. Thanks to everyone for all of the great support during this pandemic and I can't wait to get this season started. This is as much fun as it gets when you're ready to host live events in Las Vegas and you know that all of the contests are selling out thanks to great demand online. Much appreciated all.

But our work isn't done. Let's keep it rolling and set a new standard for the NFBC Main Event.