NBC Sports To Partner With The NFBC

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:16 am

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance

Richie · Post by **Richie** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 8:43 am

More from Roto Nation:

I just spoke with Greg Ambrosius of F+W Publications and the founder National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) concerning the technology for the upcoming NBC Fantasy Football Challenge. He offered these thoughts regarding the new partnershiponship, and the technology:

“I am ecstatic to have NBC Sports/Rotoworld.com as our partner in the live drafts area of our business. This will enable us to grow our existing events, add a new live event in fantasy football and increase our online game offerings. The promotional reach that NBC Sports/Rotoworld.com can provide us will be good for us and good for the entire industry as we bring in new players who may never have known this area of the business existed.”

“As for our back-end support, STATS, Inc. has been our back-end partner since our inception in 2004 and nothing will change on that anytime soon. They are a perfect partner for that area of the business, and as we’ve more than quadrupled the number of leagues we run in each sport from 2004 to 2008, they have been able to continually improve the customer experience and handle the added leagues. We look forward to expanding our association with them as we look at the other sports, too.”

Plymouth · Post by **Plymouth** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:35 am

Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Agree with you 100% Lance, not having week-to-date on the live update page stinks!

poopy tooth · Post by **poopy tooth** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:29 am

Greg,

Congratulations on the partnership! This is huge! The additional advertising on rotoworld will be extremely beneficial.

I think this will allow the two sport's contest to grow tremendously.

Maybe in a few years, you guys could offer the first million dollar grand prize!

Ok, maybe half a million!

Anyway, this definitely opens a lot of doors for additional opportunity, which is ALWAYS a good thing! I am glad to hear the premier fantasy company in the industry will be expanding!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:49 am

Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for?

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:57 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]I never noticed that...that is kind of nice.

I actually was referencing when we used to see (under Live Scoring) the daily, weekly and yearly totals.

Seeing what we got during the current week is nice to see how far off of the targets you are.

I remember hearing the programming needed to change to offer live overall scoring, or something like that.

~Lance

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:05 am

Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]I never noticed that...that is kind of nice.

I actually was referencing when we used to see (under Live Scoring) the daily, weekly and yearly totals.

Seeing what we got during the current week is nice to see how far off of the targets you are.

I remember hearing the programming needed to change to offer live overall scoring, or something like that.

~Lance [/QUOTE]Okay, yes, I see what you're asking for now. STATS said the amount of space needed for the live standings made it impossible to keep the other features. Let's hope in time they can figure it out because they know how much you folks liked those other tools. Thanks man.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:37 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]I think he means on the live scoring tab.

So, I've been trying to catch up on this move by F+W and I have come up with a few questions and a couple of comments.

1) How come there still isn't a rule that stops owners from having stakes in multiple teams in the Main Event? I won't play football here until that rule is in place. Also, I may choose to avoid the Main Event in the NFBC next year because of this.

2) We receive free publications from F+W now, will we continue to receive those? Also, does this partnership give owners a free membership to Rotoworld, or do we have to pay to read Greg and Tom's articles?

3) If this partnership is meant to help capitalize on the popularity of the 12-team format, then why haven't we made a move yet to capitalize on the daily roster move format in baseball that makes Yahoo the leader in the fantasy sports industry? I am guessing that the partnership with NBC will probably lead to that though.

4) rucrew2 posed an interesting question that I don't believe got the proper response. He pointed out that most people join these events because they are looking for one place that offers a legitimate championship for players. By partnering with NBC/Rotoworld, isn't F+W moving away from that concept by diluting the championship offering with multiple championship offerings? It seems to me that rather than bringing the fantasy sports world together, this decision fragments it even worse. Now there will be two NFFC/NBC Main Event championships. As most folks already know, there can only be one king. Which one will it be for those of us who are die-hard players?

I'm just a little guy. I don't see how this decision was really good for me. More opportunities to play? There are already plenty out there in the fantasy world. Better promotion? We are already experiencing problems with dead-beat and non-skilled owners at 390 participants.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:23 am

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]I think he means on the live scoring tab.

So, I've been trying to catch up on this move by F+W and I have come up with a few questions and a couple of comments.

1) How come there still isn't a rule that stops owners from having stakes in multiple teams in the Main Event? I won't play football here until that rule is in place. Also, I may choose to avoid the Main Event in the NFBC next year because of this.

2) We receive free publications from F+W now, will we continue to receive those? Also, does this partnership give owners a free membership to Rotoworld, or do we have to pay to read Greg and Tom's articles?

3) If this partnership is meant to help capitalize on the popularity of the 12-team format, then why haven't we made a move yet to capitalize on the daily roster move format in baseball that makes Yahoo the leader in the fantasy sports industry? I am guessing that the partnership with NBC will probably lead to that though.

4) rucrew2 posed an interesting question that I don't believe got the proper response. He pointed out that most people join these events because they are looking for one place that offers a legitimate championship for players. By partnering with NBC/Rotoworld, isn't F+W moving away from that concept by diluting the championship offering with multiple championship offerings? It seems to me that rather than bringing the fantasy sports world together, this decision fragments it even worse. Now there will be two NFFC/NBC Main Event championships. As most folks already know, there can only be one king. Which one will it be for those of us who are die-hard players?

I'm just a little guy. I don't see how this decision was really good for me. More opportunities to play? There are already plenty out there in the fantasy world. Better promotion? We are already experiencing problems with dead-beat and non-skilled owners at 390 participants. [/QUOTE]George, I consider you a very bright guy, but I'm not sure I follow your collusion threads lately. I've said this already, but I'll say it again, NOBODY has two main event league teams this year, but they certainly could. Shawn and Rick co-own a SUPER DRAFT LEAGUE team and are competing in the same main event league. The disput is over a player they discussed to pick up in the Super and then Rick talked about that player in the main event before Shawn got him. That's the dispute.

So let's just clarify that before I answer the rest. Nobody co-owns two main event league teams. Anywhere. In any city. Collusion is tough in our setup, but I see you are centered on that and I'll continue to watch for that in any moves, etc., but I've yet to see it.

As for deadbeat owners, there's nothing you can do about it. I don't care if we have just 30 teams or 3,000 teams, we're going to have at least one owner who gives up at some point in the season and you won't like it. It happens. I try not to give up on any of my teams, but I'll admit that when I have 8-9 there are times when I don't follow 1 or 2 as much as the others. I become a semi-deadbeat owner. It happens George. It happens. I'll answer the rest separately and individually so you can reply back more quickly.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:27 am

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]2) We receive free publications from F+W now, will we continue to receive those? Also, does this partnership give owners a free membership to Rotoworld, or do we have to pay to read Greg and Tom's articles?[/QUOTE]Okay, I'll tackle each one individually to make sure you fully get this partnership. Of course you'll still be able to get the free publications and I've already ordered extras for the NBC Sports participants for football. F+W Publications prints all of those with our custom publishing partners and we hope to add more. Why would that change because we've added NBC Sports as a partner?

I was in New York at NBC Sports on Friday for meetings and trust me they are as happy to be with F+W as we are to be with NBC Sports. This partnership is going to go beyond just fantasy sports as our two companies have offerings that mesh perfectly online. You'll see.

But one of our discussions was how to get our members more involved with Rotoworld.com. We're already talking about benefits we can give our members or offerings we can provide at discounted prices. We just started these conversations, but hang tight. Right now the content is free on Rotoworld.com, so go there and enjoy everything they offer. My column will be free, Tom's will be free, so enjoy!!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:37 am

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]3) If this partnership is meant to help capitalize on the popularity of the 12-team format, then why haven't we made a move yet to capitalize on the daily roster move format in baseball that makes Yahoo the leader in the fantasy sports industry? I am guessing that the partnership with NBC will probably lead to that though.[/QUOTE]This partnership wasn't done to capitalize on the 12-team format in football. It was done because both companies offer something that the other company doesn't and both can grow this area of the space much better together than separately. We are in this space to be a major player here and to provide consistent products for years and years and years to come. We're not looking to make this a great product and then flip it to someone else later for millions. We're here to stay and here to be the industry leader for ALL sports within time. I hope that's as clear as I can be.

Now, some folks feel this area of the market can only be so big and that's fine. But honestly, I think there are many, many die-hard fantasy players who never heard about this area of the market before and will be intrigued to see these online and live contests being presented here. They will be surprised to see that it's been offered by us for five years now and they'll be surprised and happy to see the NBC Sports Peacock on it. Listen, we have 390 players for baseball and it's hard to believe that someone out there in this great country there aren't 390 more die-hard baseball fans who may want to do this. We just need to reach those folks and F+W Publications wasn't doing it alone.

The first thing we are doing in this relationship is adding an NBC Sports branded 12-team football contest for many reasons. One, our football event (NFFC) is a unique 14-team format that has limitations on growth. I think the NFFC will continue to survive and grow because anyone who plays that format knows it's the toughest challenge in fantasy football. Kind of like comparing the NFBC to your local 12-team baseball league.

Secondly, I didn't want a competitor to come in on Labor Day weekend with a 12-team format and trump us. By offering two chances to win $100,000 in the same day for baseball, we are offering the ultimate weekend for an audience that is more than twice as big as baseball. Again, if we had 364 players last year for the NFFC, I found it hard to believe that we can't find 364 more players for the NBC Sports branded game this year. So the decision to start a second football event was easy for me.

We will not add a second live event for baseball because time doesn't allow it. But I will grow the baseball market with an NBC Sports-branded 12-team online championship next year at different price levels. I don't have the totals figured out yet, but I think I'll offer $150 entry levels with a $10,000 grand prize and league prizes, a $250 with a $20,000 grand prize and league prizes, and a $500 level possibly with a $20,000 grand prize and league prizes as well. The higher levels are still tough for me to get a grasp on, but I'll figure it out.

Will we offer daily leagues? Not in the overall prize structure. I think it's too niche for the audience I'm trying to reach. Maybe we'll offer a satellite league in that format first and see where it takes us. But that's not the angle I'm going and this partnership certainly had no inclination towards that format.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:45 am

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]4) rucrew2 posed an interesting question that I don't believe got the proper response. He pointed out that most people join these events because they are looking for one place that offers a legitimate championship for players. By partnering with NBC/Rotoworld, isn't F+W moving away from that concept by diluting the championship offering with multiple championship offerings? It seems to me that rather than bringing the fantasy sports world together, this decision fragments it even worse. Now there will be two NFFC/NBC Main Event championships. As most folks already know, there can only be one king. Which one will it be for those of us who are die-hard players?[/QUOTE]For football, there will always be several national championship contests available, whether we offer two of them or not. The WCOFF champion wins the most money, the NFFC champion wins $100K and is tops in the only 14-team league format, and each year there are more contests to compete with the WCOFF that eventually fold. Heck, there's a new football contest being offered by three of our NFFC customers this year.

Which one of our contests will be the true "national" champion, NBC Sports FFC or NFFC?? Both will be national champions, both will have one $100,000, and both will be winners in their respective formats. The WCOFF champion will also be a national champion. I'm sorry, this isn't the NFL where only one team can win. This is an open business where many champions are being crowned across the industry, all at different prize levels.

Again, we aren't offering two main events in baseball next year. Just one NFBC live event and one online championship at much smaller price levels and prize offerings. We believe the online business is wide open for us to enter and excel, and with our strong reputation for paying on time and running a good contest, along with NBC's online exposure through Rotoworld, we feel that we can expand in that area of the market. We couldn't do that before this partnership because we don't have a strong online presence. And honestly, our growth potential online in baseball is probably higher than it is for the live events.

Are we diluting the marketplace? Trust me, competitors are right now trying to compete with the NFFC and WCOFF as we have three different new companies who want to advertise in our first football magazine. If I don't step in someone else will. It's called capitalism and I think I can offer better brands than those folks.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:55 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

Of course you'll still be able to get the free publications and I've already ordered extras for the NBC Sports participants for football. F+W Publications prints all of those with our custom publishing partners and we hope to add more. Why would that change because we've added NBC Sports as a partner?

I was in New York at NBC Sports on Friday for meetings and trust me they are as happy to be with F+W as we are to be with NBC Sports. This partnership is going to go beyond just fantasy sports as our two companies have offerings that mesh perfectly online. You'll see.

But one of our discussions was how to get our members more involved with Rotoworld.com. We're already talking about benefits we can give our members or offerings we can provide at discounted prices. We just started these conversations, but hang tight. Right now the content is free on Rotoworld.com, so go there and enjoy everything they offer. My column will be free, Tom's will be free, so enjoy!!! Actually, I am hoping for a free membership to Rotoworld

I haven't really checked them out, but when I was researching the NBC Sports site I saw some of their ads. From the looks of it, they are using some really cool tools.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:02 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

We're not looking to make this a great product and then flip it to someone else later for millions. We're here to stay and here to be the industry leader for ALL sports within time.

I just wanted to hear you say that out loud, just in case I ever need to remind you

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:13 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by Jackstraw:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

I'd sooooooo love to see the weekly totals separate from the yearly.

~Lance Lance, each weekly total is available at the bottom of the Overall Standings page. Just click on Week 1, 2, etc. Is that what you're looking for? [/QUOTE]4) rucrew2 posed an interesting question that I don't believe got the proper response. He pointed out that most people join these events because they are looking for one place that offers a legitimate championship for players. By partnering with NBC/Rotoworld, isn't F+W moving away from that concept by diluting the championship offering with multiple championship offerings? It seems to me that rather than bringing the fantasy sports world together, this decision fragments it even worse. Now there will be two NFFC/NBC Main Event championships. As most folks already know, there can only be one king. Which one will it be for those of us who are die-hard players?[/QUOTE]For football, there will always be several national championship contests available, whether we offer two of them or not. The WCOFF champion wins the most money, the NFFC champion wins $100K and is tops in the only 14-team league format, and each year there are more contests to compete with the WCOFF that eventually fold. Heck, there's a new football contest being offered by three of our NFFC customers this year.

Which one of our contests will be the true "national" champion, NBC Sports FFC or NFFC?? Both will be national champions, both will have one $100,000, and both will be winners in their respective formats. The WCOFF champion will also be a national champion. I'm sorry, this isn't the NFL where only one team can win. This is an open business where many champions are being crowned across the industry, all at different prize levels.

Again, we aren't offering two main events in baseball next year. Just one NFBC live event and one online championship at much smaller price levels and prize offerings. We believe the online business is wide open for us to enter and excel, and with our strong reputation for paying on time and running a good contest, along with NBC's online exposure through Rotoworld, we feel that we can expand in that area of the market. We couldn't do that before this partnership because we don't have a strong online presence. And honestly, our growth potential online in baseball is probably higher than it is for the live events.

Are we diluting the marketplace? Trust me, competitors are right now trying to compete with the NFFC and WCOFF as we have three different new companies who want to advertise in our first football magazine. If I don't step in someone else will. It's called capitalism and I think I can offer better brands than those folks. [/QUOTE]I'm with you on this as well. It is part of the unnecessary evil of growing the business. As you grow other groups see it and want to capitalize.

I would rather have you guys stepping out there and taking over than some of the other's who may just be trying to make millions.

What is disappointing is that your evolution could result in the loss of what attracted a lot of us here in the first place? Greg, you guys at your level get Tout Wars and LABR to mark the tops of professional ranks. What do we, the little guys, have? For the past five years it has been the NFBC. Like I said in my other post, I realize that you guys have to make money but where do we go to find out who the best players in fantasy baseball are? Where we will go in two years? Will it still be here? And if it is, how do we make sure that those rankings are reputable?

Those are my real concerns. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to explain everything in depth. I understood a lot of what is going on already, but I need to understand a little better the why's. I was also a little miffed that some of us as veterans didn't get a chance to have our voices heard before something like this went down.

Thanks

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:16 am

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

We're not looking to make this a great product and then flip it to someone else later for millions. We're here to stay and here to be the industry leader for ALL sports within time.

I just wanted to hear you say that out loud, just in case I ever need to remind you

[/QUOTE]George, I can say that easily. Tom and I are EMPLOYEES of a company that owns the NFBC. We're not building the NFBC so that someone can flip it later for millions. We are building this so that we have important jobs for the rest of our careers, so that we make more money everytime the NFBC makes more money for the company. We're proud of what we've accomplished for F+W Publications. We're damn good employees!!!

F+W and NBC have an agreement in place that makes us partners for as long as we both want to be. Both have the same incentive in mind, to grow this area of the market together. Neither wants to flip for a quick profit. So I have no problem with the statement above and you should feel more secure playing with a game operator who is in it for the long run like we are.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:23 am

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

[QUOTE]What is disappointing is that your evolution could result in the loss of what attracted a lot of us here in the first place? Greg, you guys at your level get Tout Wars and LABR to mark the tops of professional ranks. What do we, the little guys, have? For the past five years it has been the NFBC. Like I said in my other post, I realize that you guys have to make money but where do we go to find out who the best players in fantasy baseball are? Where we will go in two years? Will it still be here? And if it is, how do we make sure that those rankings are reputable?

Those are my real concerns. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to explain everything in depth. I understood a lot of what is going on already, but I need to understand a little better the why's. I was also a little miffed that some of us as veterans didn't get a chance to have our voices heard before something like this went down.

Thanks I'm going to be honest with you, I don't understand this one. Where will you go two years from now to find the best fantasy baseball players??? George, the NFBC is the only game in town right now and we added NBC Sports to help us grow. Two years from now the NFBC will be bigger and stronger. You will be on the Lifetime Standings with SEVEN years of results. The answer is simple: You'll go to the NFBC to find results of the best players in the industry!!! Nothing is changing here, no second main event is being offered in baseball!!!!!

As for not asking for your input on the partnership beforehand, well, I think I can make the tough business decisions without that kind of feedback. I mean, for years I've been saying that to get to the next level we need a promotional online push and a title sponsor. Guess what? We may have both soon. You folks have NO IDEA how powerful having NBC Sports on our logo is already. We've had calls from three major companies looking to work with us since this announcement and one wants to be a title sponsor. This hasn't happened in FIVE YEARS!!!!

We're going to grow because of this, the event is going to be better, more online options are going to be offered, new folks are going to be joining soon and prize pool is going to increase. I've met with NBC Sports already. THEY ARE PUMPED about working with us. It's all good, George, it really is.

JohnZ · Post by **JohnZ** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:43 am

Greg,

You touched on it briefly, but can you expound on what NBC is going to get from F&W in this deal outside of the new games? I found it intriguing.

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:31 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

You folks have NO IDEA how powerful having NBC Sports on our logo is already. We've had calls from three major companies looking to work with us since this announcement and one wants to be a title sponsor. Great bit of news there Greg!

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:33 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

Right now the content is free on Rotoworld.com Uh oh.

It's the "right now" part that stands out.

~Lance

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:38 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by Jackstraw:

[QUOTE]What is disappointing is that your evolution could result in the loss of what attracted a lot of us here in the first place? Greg, you guys at your level get Tout Wars and LABR to mark the tops of professional ranks. What do we, the little guys, have? For the past five years it has been the NFBC. Like I said in my other post, I realize that you guys have to make money but where do we go to find out who the best players in fantasy baseball are? Where we will go in two years? Will it still be here? And if it is, how do we make sure that those rankings are reputable?

Those are my real concerns. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to explain everything in depth. I understood a lot of what is going on already, but I need to understand a little better the why's. I was also a little miffed that some of us as veterans didn't get a chance to have our voices heard before something like this went down.

Thanks I'm going to be honest with you, I don't understand this one. Where will you go two years from now to find the best fantasy baseball players??? George, the NFBC is the only game in town right now and we added NBC Sports to help us grow. Two years from now the NFBC will be bigger and stronger. You will be on the Lifetime Standings with SEVEN years of results. The answer is simple: You'll go to the NFBC to find results of the best players in the industry!!! Nothing is changing here, no second main event is being offered in baseball!!!!!

As for not asking for your input on the partnership beforehand, well, I think I can make the tough business decisions without that kind of feedback. I mean, for years I've been saying that to get to the next level we need a promotional online push and a title sponsor. Guess what? We may have both soon. You folks have NO IDEA how powerful having NBC Sports on our logo is already. We've had calls from three major companies looking to work with us since this announcement and one wants to be a title sponsor. This hasn't happened in FIVE YEARS!!!!

We're going to grow because of this, the event is going to be better, more online options are going to be offered, new folks are going to be joining soon and prize pool is going to increase. I've met with NBC Sports already. THEY ARE PUMPED about working with us. It's all good, George, it really is. [/QUOTE]Honestly, I like the idea of you growing the customer base and getting more people in here. It means or will mean more money for a lot of us. And it helps to make fantasy sports more legitimate.

Just don't forget why it all came together...

There were a lot of small guys out there who took the game as seriously as the pros. We were shoved back in places where when you won the only people who usually knew about it were you and the three other owners that hadn't given up by mid-season. We realized what having a huge customer base did to us. It just made us smaller. And then it made us come to you, because you helped us stand out. I don't believe that any of us little guys want that to happen again.

You coming up with this idea was a huge stroke of luck for a lot of us. If that idea evolves into what we had to begin with (i.e. Yahoo and ESPN), where we will go next?

I realize that this is all good and it really is for the better of the sport (or the game for those that don't take it that seriously).

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:50 am

I believe there is an untapped market of fantasy players willing to throw down NO MORE THAN $250 for a team.

Is there a way you can legally write the prize winnings to include airfare and hotel reservations and an entry into the NFBC main event...rather than just $$$ that can often not be reinvested?

I think that would help grow the Main the fastest.

Make it fairly difficult to take the money and run, rather than the trip package and main event entry.

~Lance

JohnZ · Post by **JohnZ** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:54 am

Originally posted by Jackstraw:

Just don't forget why it all came together... I've known Greg for 20 years. Holy Crap!

Trust me when I say this is the last thing he will ever forget and one of the main reasons why this has been a huge success.

In most things with enduring success, the money follows the passion of taking care of the customer.

[ April 28, 2008, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: UFS ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:56 am

Originally posted by sportsbettingman:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

Right now the content is free on Rotoworld.com Uh oh.

It's the "right now" part that stands out.

~Lance [/QUOTE]Man, this is becoming a paranoid thread.

Rotoworld.com has excelled because of the free model. Trust me, NBC Sports knows how to monetize the eyeballs and traffic is up two-fold since they bought Rotoworld.com 18 months ago, so they will continue to be free. Think about that. NBC Sports bought Rotoworld less than two years ago and their unique users have more than doubled to over 1.5 million uniques per month. I think the exposure we'll get on there along with NBC Sports.com and MSNBC.com and direct e-mails to their hundreds of thousands of fantasy players will be good for us, too.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:25 am

Originally posted by UFS:

quote:Originally posted by Jackstraw:

Just don't forget why it all came together... I've known Greg for 20 years. Holy Crap!

Trust me when I say this is the last thing he will ever forget and one of the main reasons why this has been a huge success.

In most things with enduring success, the money follows the passion of taking care of the customer. [/QUOTE]I've only known him for 5, so I'll take your word for it. Even if you only have two stars

Dude, your last sentence was the bomb. Over the past seven years I have came across two people that have had a big influence on the way I do business with people now. The first was a guy named Ricky Parris who was my plant manager at my last job. Being an engineer, I've never worried as much about the customer as I have the product. That is not what they taught me in school. Ricky emphasized day-in and day-out that the customer was king. After a couple of years it finally sunk in with me. Mainly, I needed proof...

Greg has been my second example. He was the proof that if you really focus on giving the customer what they want rather than what you think they should have then the end result was success, even if it wasn't always the most profitable.

[ April 29, 2008, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: Jackstraw ]