Feedback Wanted On NFBC Online Championship

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:50 am

We just finished our third year with the NFBC Online Championship and we are excited to finalize plans for our 2012 event. The NFBC Online Championship started in 2009 with 600 teams (50 leagues) and grew to 828 teams in 2010 when we added the Live Double Play. We finished with 780 teams last year among the Online and Live Double Plays and look forward to another BIG year in 2012.

We have looked at this format and we are ready to make a couple of changes. But before we do that, we want some feedback from you. Here we go:

1) We are going to do away with the Live Double Play portion of this event and concentrate on the Online Double Play. The overall prize pool will be based on the $350 Online Championship structure. We will base prizes on a sellout of around 576 teams. More to come on that, but look for the schedule of events soon with some drafts starting in early March.

2) We gave out a $50,000 grand prize in this year's Online Championship and had league prizes of $1,300 and $650. However, our NFFC Online Championship has league prizes of $1,400 and $700, which like most of our NFBC events is 4x entry fee and 2x entry fee. I am considering the idea of increasing league prizes by $150 per league, but that would reduce the overall prizes slightly. So the question I'm asking is:

a) Would you like league prizes of $1,300 and $650 with a $50,000 grand prize or

b) Would you like league prizes of $1,400 and $700 with slightly smaller overall prizes, possibly starting with a grand prize of around $40,000

The rest of the format remains the same. Online drafts from early March through April 4th, 12-team leagues, 30 rounds, FAAB, etc. No other contest tied into it, just the Online Championship. Sound good?

We are also updating our Registration page to give you a much clearer view of how many spots are available in each league on each date and time, keeping track of number of signups at each time, etc. It will be MUCH easier to track available leagues and to sign up at the last minute for some of these time slots. We are going to make this much easier for the players and grow this area of the market in a big way. We are looking at some ways to promote this contest specifically because we really believe this area of our games has the greatest potential for growth.

Please provide me with your feedback on the league prizes vs. the big carrot and we'll plan accordingly. Either way works, but let me know and we'll finalize this area of the contest soon. Thanks all.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:55 am

I should add that even though we are abandoning the Live Double Play, that doesn't mean that we are leaving the live events model for the 12-team contest. Stay tuned for more details there because we will have a new 12-team contest announced soon. I love the potential of that format, but tying it into our Online Championship was just too confusing and unnecessary. The Online Championship can grow and prosper on its own without the Live Double Play and I believe a 12-team live events format can grow and prosper on its own.

Look for more details soon on that plan. I just don't have everything finalized there yet, but I guess I can give a hint. The $500 model for a live event just doesn't work economically as the expenses quickly grow higher than any profit that can be there. So we likely will provide something higher priced than what the Live Double Play was and with better league prizes and overall prizes. Stay tuned, but rest assured we are not leaving the 12-team live events model. Thanks all.

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:01 am

if it were me I'd decrease the league prizes to $1000 and $500 and increase the O/A prizes. I think the draw here is the lightening in the bottle shot at 50k. Take down 3-4 teams and see what sticks. If by July nothing's doing then hunker down for the league $. $1k is still nice but if moving $550 per league to the OA juices the 50k and below than that's what will grow it.

There are stand alone satellites for those who want more league bang for their buck.

I really think you need to go for that earth moving grand prize Greg.

low talkers · Post by **low talkers** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:46 am

I come down on the side of increasing league prizes to $1400/$700. I can see the case for the bigger overall carrot, but I think the difference between 40k and 50k isn't going to stop anyone from playing, either one would be darn nice on a $350 investment. The think I like about $1400/$700, is 2nd place wins double your entry fee. I think simple match like that is a good draw.

Hells Satans · Post by **Hells Satans** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:37 am

I'm with Steve on this one.

Glenneration X · Post by **Glenneration X** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 12:20 pm

I agree with Steve and Bob. The allure of the $350 event is the low cost lottery ticket grand prize. Grow the grand prize, then the 2nd through 20th place overalls, then the league prizes.

I feel differently about the Main Event.

Regarding the Live DP, I'll miss it. I preferred that option over the standard $350. A live draft, larger league prizes, and shorter odds on the overall prizes. I only played the $500 option last year.

Schwks · Post by **Schwks** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 2:09 am

I think it is great that you are figuring out a way to expedite the league creation/signup process. Think about it: every time a player does a mock draft, if he could go to NFBC and see if a $125 league was drafting that night, he could conceivably just enter a real draft with money on the line(I think NFBCers know that a draft is no real gauge of reality unless there is cash on the line)

Think about how great it would be if people on the message boards could create there own draft for an hour or two in the future. If NFBC had accurate credit card info, and the proper software in place, it should be easily doable.

That way when people who have families have a free night or weekend afternoon, they could just jump in without planning a week or two in advance.

My guess is that the satellite leagues have lower profit margins, but if you were able to take out the manpower needed to create the draft, it would certainly turn NFBC into a powerhouse website, with higher ad revenue potential etc

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 2:50 am

That's exactly what we plan to do. We want to make both the NFBC and NFFC online games (Online Championship and Satellites) more of an "impulse buy." It's easier in football because the drafts are much shorter but the same idea can be applied to baseball as well. We need to do a better job of letting people know what leagues are open and how many spots are left instead of simply providing the information here on the boards. That's one of our top priorities for both the NFBC and NFFC going forward without a doubt.

Dub · Post by **Dub** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:12 am

to satisfy both- why not offer 12 team satellites?

If it has to be one- I am with low talker.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:27 am

Originally posted by Dub:

to satisfy both- why not offer 12 team satellites?

If it has to be one- I am with low talker. We will likely offer 12-team satellites this year along with our Live 12-team offering. More on all of that to come soon.

Zazie · Post by **Zazie** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 6:31 am

I would leave the league prizes alone and increase the overall prizes below the top position a bit, maybe paying off the top 15 with maybe the top 10 landing $1k or more. I think 40k is enough to attract the lottery players and you might draw more people who saw a nice payout for those who just missed qualifying for the bigger money.

southpaw23 · Post by **southpaw23** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:52 pm

Is the only slow draft option going to be for the draft champion/50 round/no faab or will it be an option for the online championship as well?

mattjb · Post by **mattjb** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 12:00 pm

bring it inline with the football.

you'll sell more teams and the overall prize will go over 40k anyway.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 2:40 pm

Originally posted by southpaw23:

Is the only slow draft option going to be for the draft champion/50 round/no faab or will it be an option for the online championship as well? Slow Drafts will not be part of the Online Championship; only the 50-round Draft Champions formats.

wahooblue · Post by **wahooblue** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:06 am

In a perfect world we could draft in Cooperstown, N.Y. at the Baseball Hall of Fame ! Ahhh!