Phone/Online Option For NFBC In 2009

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:43 am

With the economy being what it is this year, we realize that not everyone who wants to compete in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship in 2009 will be able to make it to one of our four venues. We began to understand this starting with our football event and took steps to address this factor there and this year we are going to step up to the plate to address this in baseball as well.

While our focus is still on the live events, in 2009 we are going to allow a phone/online option for the main event. Owners can sign up for this option on the Registration page as it's one of the options along with the four cities. You will be placed in a league of our choosing and obviously be eligible for the overall prize. Here's how this will work:

1. As in years past, we have sometimes needed some phone-ins to fill in leagues in one or more of the NFBC cities. It's possible that you will be patched into one of those leagues and would be on speaker phone for all to hear your picks and you'd obviously be able to clearly hear the picks from the live event. This is totally the phone option and we've done this for many past members who physically were unable to make the live events.

2. One other option is a full phone-in league that will be combined with MockDraftCentral.com. We did this with two leagues in football and it worked perfectly and provides the same randomness that we have in any other location. Once we have full leagues for this, we'll randomly pick the draft orders and announce the leagues. Each owner would then receive an 800-number to call into PLUS a URL on MockDraftCentral.com so that you can follow all of the picks online. A MockDraftCentral.com representative will be the facilitator for this draft and will be the only one to select the picks online. Each owner will announce his/her pick on the conference call and the MDC rep will then select that player. Everyone will be able to hear the picks clearly and watch the picks online, while seeing which players are still available. Each owner will have 60 seconds per pick, same as the live drafters.

I know we have several NFBC veterans who just physically can't make the live events anymore and this is a great addition to keep them involved. We certainly don't want to take anything away from the live events, but for past owners who may have scheduling conflicts this is also another way of keeping them in the mix. I have a feeling we'll have 2 and maybe 3 of these leagues and we'll probably cap this off at 3 leagues in order to do this right with one person assigned to each league. First-come, first-serve just like any other venue.

This should be good for everyone and allow the NFBC to reach its goal of 405 teams. Good luck all.

GOD Loves You · Post by **GOD Loves You** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:00 am

For those apprehensive about this; I participated in a NFFC league with half the participants via the phone. This draft was BEYOND smooth and we actually finished before the drafts being done in person.

I actually thought it would be a pain in the butt having so many people on the phone......it was one of the smoother drafts I have been involved in. Kudos to the NFFC and the facilitators for making it a breeze.

On the other hand, the auctions with phone participants, not as much fun.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:13 am

Originally posted by GOD Loves You:

On the other hand, the auctions with phone participants, not as much fun. Good points Patrick. There are NO phone options for NFBC auction leagues. I did not mention that, but I'm glad Patrick brought that up. This is only for the main event.

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:30 am

It's all about growing the event and this is a GREAT idea in doing so.