The $1250.00

Troy · Post by **Troy** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:01 pm

Greg If I wait till Draft day March the 20th to pay the 1250.00 bucks,will there even be a chance to get in a league? And is 100% of all fees distributed out? does NFBC have a rake? who keeps the intrest,if the moneys kept in an intrest bearing account? .Thanx Greg

Jon_Ashton · Post by **Jon_Ashton** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:54 pm

Troy, just an answer from another participant before you hear from Greg, but I can say --

you'll have no chance to wait until March 20 to pay the $1,250. Signups will be cutoff sometime on or before March 15, Greg has said here, and all leagues and draft orders will be assigned no later than March 15.

Also, of course, the NFBC hopes not to pay out 100% of all entry fees in prizes. It costs a bundle to run and promote an event/contest such as this. I, for one, hope Krause Publications can make a reasonable profit, so that they'll be able to continue running events like this. It's not an entirely risk-free entrepreneurial endeavor on their part, obviously, and they should be rewarded with profit. (But, as with most business ventures, profit will be hard to come by in the first year for the NFBC, I'd guess.)

I signed up a couple weeks back, but Greg has gentlemanly agreed not to charge my credit card until March 2. If you want to hold on to your cash as long as possible, but also make sure signups aren't cutoff before you join, you may want to sign up as I did.

Looks like this'll be a great contest/event...

Jon

SoonerC · Post by **SoonerC** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:01 pm

Why in the world would anyone go through all the work that is required to run a first class operation like this and not at least hope to make a profit? I hope they can make enough money to keep this going for many years.

Nevadaman · Post by **Nevadaman** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 5:41 pm

You can figure out the return by adding up the prize money and dividing by the entry fees. It comes to 75.33%, NOT COUNTING all the extra freebies we have already received and those that will be in the goodie bag come draft day. That probably takes it to around 80%. The payout percentage is more than reasonable, all things considered. A lot of work is going into this and we should all hope they make a profit so this becomes viable for many years to come. You are getting 6 months worth of entertainment, a first class live draft with the best players in the country, a chance at $100,000 and league prizes, for your $1250. 20 years from now are you going to wish you had joined up or bought a new refrigerator? :rolleyes:

Legend7 · Post by **Legend7** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:49 pm

Hey Guys,

Got to weigh in on this profit issue, think of the publicity, Krause Publications is receiving just for handling this event. It is sure to make major network coverage, if you don't think this is true, why has major sponsors (such as Topps) are already jumping on board. I'm sure Greg is quite busy taking other sponsors calls as we speak. This is going to be a first class elite event that may even have TV coverage of the drafts someday. I guarantee you if it was on TV I would watch it just so I could say...man I wouldn't chose that guy there...major league baseball will embrace it because it generates more interest to their game. Before long this could get as popular as the game itself and who will be bringing it Krause Publications, don't worry Greg will do just find for years to come and this event is only going to get bigger, hope they keep the entries near this level. And you watch the prize money will actually increase, sponsors plopping down more money to get the purse even higher generating even more interest. Guys we are on the ground floor of the big time honestly, go with the flow and just be thankful your in....Way I see it everyone is a winner here...

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 1:40 am

Troy, here's the lowdown and I apologize for the delay but I was in Chicago yesterday:

The absolute deadline for signing up is March 14 as we need to fill all 15-team leagues fully in each city, we need to process everyone's credit cards to make sure they clear, and we need to announce the leagues and each teams' draft positions a few days in advance of the draft. We will NOT take any last minute signups, even though we'd love to have the money. The leagues must be picked randomly and they must be full with 15 teams and once we have that we will stop taking teams as near to the deadline as possible. If you want to sign up and secure a spot and have me hold off processing your credit card until after March 1, I can do that.

By doing the math, you can see that we are paying out 75% of total fees at 300 teams. Listen, that's the highest in the industry and we're foolish for doing it because we only make money once we get near that 300 team total. I don't need to list all of the other expenses in doing live drafts in three separate cities without making you pay for all the costs involved, but think about licensing, rental space at three high profile sites, staffing, web design, web management, customer service, $40,000 in advertising and personnel and you'll see that the added revenue goes out somewhere other than KP's bottom line. Don't feel sorry for us, though, because this is the revenue model we have chosen to create the best high stakes event in the industry and to do this in multiple sports.

Why? Because we feel there are other revenue opportunities with this. I believe strongly that national companies will see this and want to promote to the most desired group of fantasy players in the country. I also think mass media will see this as a unique event someday. And I think other industry partners will see this as an opportunity to work with KP.

Do we have a rake? I sure hope so. I don't know of any company that does this just for fun. Does CDM do this for fun? Does ESPN.com and Sportsline do it for fun? Our goal is to create the best event, have some of you guys make money, create national interest in fantasy baseball and in the end have KP make money. We'll find a way to make that happen. KP is the ideal company to put this event on as we have a big show division, big sports division, connections with big companies in the sports collectibles field, a deal with a national ad agency and good relations with most of the top companies in the fantasy sports industry. We're doing this because it makes sense, it's the right thing to do and it's the right time to do it. We're the world's largest hobby publisher and fantasy sports is just one of the "hobbies" KP caters to with magazines, shows, video and more. What I'm doing here is nothing that hasn't been done in sports collectibles, coins, antique cars, crafts or anything else here.

Yeah, all of our prize money is secured with Wells Fargo and I hope we have it in a six-month CD and make thousands of dollars in interest on it. Why do I say that? Because you can feel secure that every single penny that has been paid to us for the NFBC has been put in that account and the day after the major-league season has ended we will pull that money out and pay every single winner in the NFBC. None of that money is being used for expenses or anything else as KP is taking care of that. So we're happy to report that we have over $160,000 drawing interest right now with more to come!!!

Call me at 715-445-4612, ext. 284 or e-mail me at [email protected] and we'll find a way to get you in the NFBC, have your credit card billed at the latest possible date and still get you in a full league. As you can tell, we are very hands on here and we aim to please. But honestly we're here to make this work and if that means we make some money in the end, well, I guess that's what capitalism is all about.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:29 am

Frankly, I hope Krause and I make a small fortune off of this thing! If we both make money then we will both be back next year for another round of fantasy league baseball. One of the reasons why I decided to go ahead with playing in the NFBC was the large pay-outs with respect to the initial cost for me. I have been looking for the past couple of years for a league that would pay a large dividend for the winners. Most leagues are only paying back a little over double for a league winner, and then they try to jack you up for even more during the season by paying for free agent pick-ups. Hats off to you Greg for understanding the profit potential for a league like this and not trying to get all of that profit from the participants!

BONGIZMO · Post by **BONGIZMO** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:39 am

Hey Greg you ought to be in Sales...