2012 NFBC Draft Dates and Locations

User avatar
Greg Ambrosius
Posts: 41100
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:00 pm
Contact:

2012 NFBC Draft Dates and Locations

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:48 am

Originally posted by Baseball Furies:

quote:Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:

That place can't be any more out of the way then the Javitts Center was so I'll definitely check it out. Thanks for the heads up. Tom,

In all seriousness, contact me. I have connections with several hotel venues in NJ that can accommodate us a lot more reasonably than the AC casino hotels.
[/QUOTE]Sorry I'm late to the party here, but I took yesterday off to enjoy our Indian Summer weather. 80 degrees in Wisconsin in October is unheard of, so I had to take advantage of it!! :D



Here's the deal: We'd love to host live events the first weekend on the East Coast, but the cost of doing it again in Atlantic City with the prospect of only three leagues again is not appealing. I'd much rather do it at a Brooklyn hotel or a Staten Island hotel or somewhere in New Jersey if it makes sense. If you have contacts at hotels that can accommodate 1-2 Friday live drafts/auctions and 2-3 drafts on Saturday afternoon and evening, I'll take it from there and make this work. We want a nice venue, but the costs need to make sense. Or we need MORE LEAGUES!!! :D



Reach on out to me and Tom if you have suggestions and we'll get it done. We want to return to the East Coast that first weekend too, but only in a better situation.
Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius

User avatar
Greg Ambrosius
Posts: 41100
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 6:00 pm
Contact:

2012 NFBC Draft Dates and Locations

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Thu Oct 06, 2011 4:33 am

Originally posted by Likewhat17:

Maybe I'm wrong and in the small minority here, but do we really care where we draft? I know that with the buy-ins that we are playing, and the prestige of these events, that you want to have them at the best venues possible. But if the costs are so high, I don't see the benefit.



Personally, I would be just as happy drafting at some random hotel's conference room, at someone's house, a random hole in the wall bar, etc. The draft is the event, regardless of where its held.



I'm curious as to just what portion of our event fees go towards these grand venues, and if there is any way to downsize the locations and instead add more money to the league and overall prizes.



Again, I know that I'm in the minority and that most probably enjoy the best venues. It just doesn't do anything for me. I appreciate the comments, but I think people have to realize that hosting live drafts is not as simple as hosting them in a garage, buying 12-packs and taking the percentage of money left over and calling it a day. There is a LOT involved in making sure that everything runs smoothly, that each draft is run fairly and that everyone leaves feeling they are playing in a first class event.



In order to do that, you have to get good facilitators (that you pay for), you have to find locations that are easy for folks to fly and drive to, you have to have worthy venues (that charge you for using their facilities), you have to have draft boards so everyone can see the picks, and you have to have something there via food and drink. Baseball drafts are 4 1/2 hours long and providing nothing doesn't seem right.



That being said, for many years we were considered "cheap" because we didn't provide much food and only provided a couple of drinks. Other contests did more and we stepped up a few years ago. Remember, we didn't have Events Fees for many years when other contests did, but the costs continued to rise to the point where we couldn't take on every single live event cost anymore. We just couldn't do it. I will discuss the Events Fees for 2012 soon and explain our reasoning behind them.



Our live event costs for the NFBC exceed six figures. Events Fees cover a minority of our costs; and that's fine because we don't expect the Events Fees to cover everything. But we need help offsetting some of the costs and they do that. The cost per customer per venue (no matter what city) is $125+, plain and simple. And again, I'll discuss this in the Events Fees discussion later.



And whether we serve food or drinks or nothing is between us and the venues. You have to realize that for many years to reserve space you pay rent for that space. We've been able to work with our contacts now to exchange rental fees for food and beverage. So at least now we're getting something for that space. So while some folks think we're going overboard with some things at the live drafts, it's actually in return for other things we used to pay more for. The space is never free, no matter where you host an event...unless of course it's in someone's garage.



We are looking at ways to reduce our expenses and through 8+ years we've learned some tricks. But the bottom line is that none of this is easy and none of it is cheap. It costs money to travel to live events for you and to host live events for me. Still, the experience is FANTASTIC and worth it. And I like the formats we have now and we'll continue to make them first class because the whole experience needs to be that way.



Thanks for the feedback all.
Greg Ambrosius
Founder, National Fantasy Baseball Championship
General Manager, Consumer Fantasy Games at SportsHub Technologies
Twitter - @GregAmbrosius

User avatar
Glenneration X
Posts: 3730
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:00 pm
Location: Long Island, NY

2012 NFBC Draft Dates and Locations

Post by Glenneration X » Thu Oct 06, 2011 1:53 pm

Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:

quote:Originally posted by Baseball Furies:

Of course we could always go for our fallback option of Lowy's house! If Glenn doesn't charge us room rent we may go in that direction. :D [/QUOTE]Tom, Mike, the NFBC is always welcome at the Lowy household. :D The Main Events may be held a little too early in the spring to open up the pool, but you can be sure the grill will be fired up. :cool: ;)



As far as a 1st weekend east coast locale, the reason I liked AC is that it provided an opportunity to make a full weekend out of it for me. There I had a place where between drafts, I could play some cards, roll some dice, eat some good food, and enjoy the entire weekend. As much as I enjoy the drafts of the 2nd weekend in NYC, I always commuted from Long Island for them. So basically, that weekend provided a few hours at the drafts and then off to home I go.



I'm hopeful if a new spot is chosen for the 1st weekend, it provides the same opportunity to enjoy the location outside of the drafts that AC provided for me. I'm sorry Andy, Philly doesn't qualify. I mean, what's there to do there besides heckle Philly fans.



I'm actually surprised AC didn't attract a larger turnout.

Post Reply