2005 Dates and Locations

Leaderboard Sports · Post by **Leaderboard Sports** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:08 pm

Any decisions on when and where next years NFBC event will be held? I know you're super busy with the NFFC but there are some decent airfares right now and if things are set in stone it would be nice to be able to make some plans. Orlando in or out?

[ July 03, 2004, 05:16 PM: Message edited by: Leaderboard Sports ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 4:09 am

No problem as we have plans in place for 2005. The NFBC draft is set for Saturday, March 20th, with the Auction Leagues being held on Friday, March 19th. We are returning to the Rio Hotel & Casino for baseball and have a room block taken care of, but again, the Rio is expensive (I think it's $229 on weekends). We will not require a hotel stay or an Events Fee again in 2005, but there are rooms set aside at the Rio if you want them.

We are negotiating with the New York Hilton for baseball as we feel that is a better fit for us than the Javits Center. There's no final contract there yet, but it will be at one of those two locations. The Rosemont Convention Center is filled on March 20, so it looks like we may return to the Chicago Oakbrook Marriott, where the NFFC is being held.

Orlando is not an option for 2005, unfortunately. We have looked into Tampa as the Yankees train there and the hotel situation is a little more reasonable. We don't have anything set there yet and it's possible we may not expand until 2006. But we are looking at Tampa as a possible fourth city.

We will plan for 300 teams for the NFBC in 2005 and offer a $100,000 grand prize and a similar prize structure. We certainly feel confident that after the Sports Illustrated article and after a successful 2004 season that we will reach 300 teams and even sell out well before our March deadline. Would we expand beyond 300 teams? Possibly as we have established ourselves as the premiere high stakes baseball game in the industry and our football event will draw even more people into our family of high stakes contests. So the future looks positive.

We'll have more details soon, but the dates are finalized if you want to plan ahead. Any thoughts on our plans -- good or bad -- are welcome. Thanks guys and we'll keep you up to date on all of this as we move forward.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 4:31 am

Oh, and if you were wondering, yes that is the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Should be fun in Las Vegas again!!!

Leaderboard Sports · Post by **Leaderboard Sports** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:30 pm

Sounds great Greg. Definitely going to do both events again next year. I really enjoyed the auction draft and I think you will have several more people doing auctions next year as well.

bowlingfool · Post by **bowlingfool** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:35 am

Greg, just for clarification, March 20, 2005 is a Sunday. Are you still planning for a Fri/Sat schedule, which would be March 18th & 19th? Just wanted to make sure.

And thanks again for putting all of this together!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:48 pm

Oops, my bad. I was looking at 2004 when I said that. Yes, it's March 18-19, 2005, the Friday-Saturday again. Thanks for catching that as I barely know what day today is, let alone what day in 2005 I'll be doing anything!!!

Don't thank me for putting this on. This has been a blast this year and I'm looking forward to the pennant stretch. That should be where it gets interesting as there's no doubt every league is going down to the wire. Thanks guys for a great first half of the season and let's keep the competition riding all year long.

Oh, and then plan on 2005!!! You guys get first dibs on the open spots!

Brian Walton · Post by **Brian Walton** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:18 am

Greg, I like the idea of a Florida locale. Gives me an excuse to catch Spring Training games as a part of the trip.

I imagine you can look at the home addresses of your current players to help decide whether that might be a viable location or not. Maybe even survey this year's players?

Anyway, good luck with your 2005 planning!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 4:39 pm

Brian, one thing we've learned from the NFBC and our football counterpart (NFFC) is people like a draft destination that takes them away. Vegas has done that so far, but adding a spring training site in the future makes sense. I think we here at Krause Publications believe that we need to crawl before we run and next year I'm pushing for three sites again and a goal of 300 teams. I feel very confident after Tom and I called many NFBC owners this week that a large majority of this year's owners will return in 2005 and we all feel strongly here that we'll reach 300 teams next year and maybe even put in a cushion for a few additional leagues.

That being said, I think Florida makes more sense for us in 2006 and we'll look strongly into Tampa (Yankees train there) and Orlando (obvious family destination). The key is working with the right hotel because March is busy and meeting room space isn't always as large down there as it is in a place like Las Vegas. We are talking with a hotel chain that possibly can help us going forward in all of the cities, which might be our best move. So we'll see.

But I feel very confident in saying that right now we are planning for Las Vegas, New York and Chicago in 2005 and prove we can fill up our event first while keeping the $1,250 entry fee intact (no events fees or hotel requirements) and the $100,000 grand prize. And with any luck, KP might even make a dime next year and come out of the red ink of 2003. But in the long run, this will be the best red ink the company ever had to post.