Let's Do A Q&A With Greg and Tom

[DOUGHBOYS]

Agreed Rob.
One thing that Otani has over Bethancourt is that, unlike Bethancourt he will have played both positions leading into his first MLB year.
He could be declared eligible as both pitcher/hitter from the get-go if Greg decides that is the right step to take.
It's a decision that will have to be made before the premature drafts. Otani should be taken very high next year.

[Yah Mule]

Agreed Rob.
One thing that Otani has over Bethancourt is that, unlike Bethancourt he will have played both positions leading into his first MLB year.
He could be declared eligible as both pitcher/hitter from the get-go if Greg decides that is the right step to take.
It's a decision that will have to be made before the premature drafts. Otani should be taken very high next year.

I hope he's as good as advertised. Haven't been these anxious to see a foreign player since Yu.

[Bronx Yankees]

It's an interesting question/dilemma. We don't get pitchers' hitting stats now, and on those rare occasions when a hitter pitches mop-up, we don't get his pitching stats. Thus, if Otani starts as a hitter, we should not get his pitching stats for the week, and if he starts as a hitter, we should not get his pitching stats for the week.

If we stick with this approach, it seems like there are two primary options:
1. we only get to start Otani as either a hitter or pitcher each week and only get the selected stats; or
2. We get the option to start Otani as both a hitter and a pitcher and get both hitting and pitching stats, but in this case he takes up two starting positions (it would not be fair, in my opinion, for someone to get stats from 15 hitters or 10 pitchers when everyone else is limited to 14 hitters and 9 pitchers).

While #1 probably is easier to program, #2 seems best, if feasible, because it would be closer to "real life."

(I suppose you also could divide Otani into two draftable players:(1) Otani the hitter; and (2) Otani the pitcher, but I don't care for this option as it is inconsistent with "real life" and would detract from his unique skill set.)

If folks see other viable options that I missed, please chime in.

Hope we see him in the majors next year. Would be fun.

Mike

[Bronx Yankees]

When SportsHub takes over the technology, will it be a complete overhaul?

Or will it be a finely (finally) tuning of current NFBC draft rooms and such?

It will be a complete overhaul. In fact, they are building this now. With the sale going through in November, there was no way for SportsHub to build our game that quickly along with a new draft room, so STATS agreed to run our games through 2017 as we build out our new site, draft software, Message Boards, and community of games.

I think 2018 NFBC will be our debut with everything, starting slow drafts shortly after the World Series. That's the target date we gave the group yesterday. It will be fully tested and ready to go. They have our "want list" for everything requested to date and I think all of it will be added. Our bosses drove to Iola yesterday for meetings and the support has been first rate. We're getting everything we need, including help from a third person (Darik Buchar). Darik is a former NFBC and NFFC player who will be in Las Vegas both weekends to help us live and online. He's a great addition to our team.

It's a shame that it's going to take a full year to get this all coded and ready for launch, but we all know that this is what we needed. With a full team of programmers working not only on our products but CDM as well, we should be quicker to add things and hands-on with everything we do. Any suggestions for improvements can be implemented quickly once we launch our own software.

Hope this helps. Until next year, STATS will continue to run the NFBC in-season games for us.

Awesome news. When the overhauled draft room is nearly complete, I can think of lots of guys who would happily volunteer as beta testers.

[Greg Ambrosius]

It's an interesting question/dilemma. We don't get pitchers' hitting stats now, and on those rare occasions when a hitter pitches mop-up, we don't get his pitching stats. Thus, if Otani starts as a hitter, we should not get his pitching stats for the week, and if he starts as a hitter, we should not get his pitching stats for the week.

If we stick with this approach, it seems like there are two primary options:
1. we only get to start Otani as either a hitter or pitcher each week and only get the selected stats; or
2. We get the option to start Otani as both a hitter and a pitcher and get both hitting and pitching stats, but in this case he takes up two starting positions (it would not be fair, in my opinion, for someone to get stats from 15 hitters or 10 pitchers when everyone else is limited to 14 hitters and 9 pitchers).

While #1 probably is easier to program, #2 seems best, if feasible, because it would be closer to "real life."

(I suppose you also could divide Otani into two draftable players:(1) Otani the hitter; and (2) Otani the pitcher, but I don't care for this option as it is inconsistent with "real life" and would detract from his unique skill set.)

If folks see other viable options that I missed, please chime in.

Hope we see him in the majors next year. Would be fun.

Mike

I'm sure it would be option 1.

[Yah Mule]

Any thoughts on Randy Levine going scorched earth against Dellin Betances following their arbitration hearing?

[SpinningSeams]

Greg and Tom,

Are you seeing an increase in new/first time players to the NFBC? Sure seems that way in the DCs. What about the other events?

Is there across the board growth in the season long formats? How much of the growth is attributed to DFS versus the general popularity of fantasy sports?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Any thoughts on Randy Levine going scorched earth against Dellin Betances following their arbitration hearing?

He was dancing all over Betances' body after winning in arbitration. I don't think his agent will forget this one, nor will Betances. Pretty stupid reaction, honestly.

[Bronx Yankees]

Any thoughts on Randy Levine going scorched earth against Dellin Betances following their arbitration hearing?

He was dancing all over Betances' body after winning in arbitration. I don't think his agent will forget this one, nor will Betances. Pretty stupid reaction, honestly.

Totally agree. One thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner. Betances has been a stud for the Yankees. They should be trying to lock him up long-term instead of pissing off him and his agent.

Mike

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg and Tom,

Are you seeing an increase in new/first time players to the NFBC? Sure seems that way in the DCs. What about the other events?

Is there across the board growth in the season long formats? How much of the growth is attributed to DFS versus the general popularity of fantasy sports?

There's no doubt that we are attracting a lot of new players to our Draft Champions format. There are some full leagues where I hardly recognize any of the names in them. It's great to see so many people in our DCs.

Now the key is to get them to try other contests as well and to retain our current players. Everything looks good so far and the closer we get to actual baseball the more leagues we'll fill.

I don't think DFS is helping us. Some of our top players have left to just play DFS, so it's definitely taken from us. Hopefully in time the folks who first came into the industry just playing daily will find season-long, but so far I'm not so sure that is the case.

[sandckaye]

A interesting thing happen today...My son wanted to enter a $25 lg just for the fun of draftin but found when he tried to signup in Fantrax and CBS he got a message that they cant sign up in this state...Texas..NFBC has no problem with signups here...Is there a reason for that?

Stan

[Greg Ambrosius]

A interesting thing happen today...My son wanted to enter a $25 lg just for the fun of draftin but found when he tried to signup in Fantrax and CBS he got a message that they cant sign up in this state...Texas..NFBC has no problem with signups here...Is there a reason for that?

Stan

CBS and other sites very well could be exempting other states that we don't. In Texas there is an AG opinion on DFS, no law yet. We look forward to more clarification with an actual law.

[Wolfpac]

Hey Gentleman,

Hows the main event looking this year? Is it on pace to sell out again(450 is sellout?) I remember seeing more posts about it with team counts, is it too early for those since we are still in February? Just curious.

Wolfpac

[Greg Ambrosius]

Hey Gentleman,

Hows the main event looking this year? Is it on pace to sell out again(450 is sellout?) I remember seeing more posts about it with team counts, is it too early for those since we are still in February? Just curious.

Wolfpac

It's great to see so many of our private high-dollar leagues and auction leagues selling out so early. This is the earliest we have sold out many of these leagues. We still have some work to do on the auctions in Las Vegas, but kudos to the New York folks for filling five auction leagues.

We still have 200+ spots left in the Main Event, but it's been a good week for signups for sure. More and more owners are starting to add their Mains after securing spots in the other leagues. We expect another sellout, but yes we still have some recruiting to do. This is how it always works every March as we try to get every league to fill at 15 teams. Hopefully we can do it again.

There's a lot of drafting left over the next 5+ weeks. Should be fun.

[Greg Ambrosius]

We thought that Chicago had the chance to top last year's numbers after filling the Chicago Auction League faster than ever before. I was very encouraged with Chicago. But once we hit that first full Main it seemed like nobody knew if we could fill a second Main or not, so everyone has stayed away.

We do have space for a 2nd Main and would love to keep Chicago going, but I don't know if we have enough interest in another full league or not. I did get some questions via email and Twitter, this week so maybe there is some interest and this league just needs a jumpstart. Are some of our veterans waiting to jump in or are we staying at one league? I'd love to fill these leagues up on their own as the only other city drafting that day is Las Vegas and we'd rather not do any hookups if possible. The goal is to finish with a 5th and 6th Main Event league in Las Vegas and two in Chicago.

So if anyone is still interested in a Chicago Main feel free to email me at [email protected] and we'll see how many we can get. I know there are several veterans who haven't returned yet, so who knows? Maybe we can still do it.

The space is there. Dean's crew is ready. So let me know how close we can come to a second full league. This is like a home league for some owners and they wouldn't miss this weekend for anything. Let's bring everyone together and make it happen. Thanks all.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Why have the hometowns of drafters signing up for drafts been eliminated this year?

Last year, those City, States were instrumental in stopping some underhandedness by scheming drafters.

[DOUGHBOYS]

And....
Is there a chance that DC Drafts start in October next year with SportsHub?

[Greg Ambrosius]

And....
Is there a chance that DC Drafts start in October next year with SportsHub?

No, our goal is to start after the World Series, which would be earlier than before. There is still a lot of work that any company has to do to launch a new season, including position eligibility for every player and more. An early November launch would be good.

[Deadheadz]

.

Have you determined what the start date of the last 8 hour Draft Champions league will be?
We know from previous years that you can't start them too late in March without being forced sometime to reduce the pick times to fit all 750 picks in before the season starts.
.

[JohnP]

.

Have you determined what the start date of the last 8 hour Draft Champions league will be?
We know from previous years that you can't start them too late in March without being forced sometime to reduce the pick times to fit all 750 picks in before the season starts.
.

Near the bottom of page 1 there is a thread that reads: "Last 8-Hour Draft Champions Start: Thursday, March 9th". It is a rare thread that doesn't end with one of your posts. Still time though.

[Yah Mule]

Who gets the first pick in the seven round reserve draft in the Auction Championship?

The team who nominated first or the team who nominated 15th?

[76erfan]

team 1

[Greg Ambrosius]

Who gets the first pick in the seven round reserve draft in the Auction Championship?

The team who nominated first or the team who nominated 15th?

Like Andy said, it's Team 1. 1-15 15-1, 1-15, 15-1, 1-15, 15-1, 1-15.

[Yah Mule]

Thanks. I can't seem to keep that straight.

[76erfan]

we do it right for faab auctions....but dc auctions its backwards because we start slow in round 24 so round 24 starts with pick 15 in a normal 50 round draft