Let's Talk About 2013 NFBC Live Drafts

[Greg Ambrosius]

I know it's way too early to start planning for the 2013 NFBC drafts, but since this will be our 10th season for the NFBC I want to plan ahead and make this right. And the schedule could be a bit of a problem -- or a blessing -- so I want to start the conversation early.

Okay, here's the details:

** We don't know when Major League Baseball is going to open its season this year, but since Easter is on Sunday, March 31st it's unlikely that they will open that weekend. This year they opened on a Wednesday, but added an extra playoff game. It's very likely that the first game of the season will be on Tuesday, April 2nd. It could be Monday or Wednesday, but I'd be surprised if it was the week before, but we'll see.

** If it does start after Easter, that provides a few problems for the NFBC. If we do stay with a two weekend format, we'd have the first live drafts in Las Vegas and New York on March 22-24. Interestingly, that's the first weekend of March Madness, which would put the NFBC back on that weekend like years past. Heck, maybe even New Jersey will have sports gambling by then and we'd consider a venue in that state!!

Anyway, that weekend is a given. Now for the tough question: Would that be the primary weekend for most of you, which means that we should plan on the Diamond League, Ultimate Auction, etc., on that weekend? Would we consider a second weekend BEFORE that or the weekend of March 29-31? Will people still attend Sweet Sixteen in Las Vegas during Easter weekend along with a final weekend of drafts? That's a tough one and one that I'd need feedback on. We've added two weekends of live drafts to be able to draft as close to Opening Day as possible, so March 29-31 makes sense, but it's also very, very tough in all locations to do it over a holiday weekend. But isn't March 15-17 too early?

Lots to think about before we start booking hotels for 2013, so give me a lot of feedback early so that I can plan accordingly. This is going to be our 10th season of live drafts and I think that the March 22-24 is going to be our big weekend everywhere, but we want to keep our options open for a second weekend to give owners options. Help us decide that one and we'll be ready to roll things out shortly after our 2012 season is complete. Thanks all.

[whipsaw]

Also remember that 2013 is a WBC year. Last time they held it in 2009, the season opened on Sunday, April 5. I could definitely see them pushing the opening day to the weekend after Easter.

[Joe Sambito]

Easter Weekend would not work for me Live. Actually Online that would also be very tricky and if that were the 2nd weekend, I 'd likely dial back to one main event team. Out of curiousity, does MLB make a decision prior to you needing to book hotels?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Easter Weekend would not work for me Live. Actually Online that would also be very tricky and if that were the 2nd weekend, I 'd likely dial back to one main event team. Out of curiousity, does MLB make a decision prior to you needing to book hotels?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that MLB will announce their 2013 schedule by October or early November. With the World Baseball Congress playing in March, I'm pretty sure they will have the starting date figured out by October. We will likely plan accordingly and finalize our plans with the hotels once we know when Opening Day is.

I hear what you're saying there and we'll figure out a better possible second draft date if that weekend doesn't work for some folks. I have a few ideas in mind, but will wait until we know the exact dates of the season. It's a tough call with Easter falling on that weekend, but maybe MLB is thinking the same thing. We'll see.

[Fourslot40]

Perhaps weekend two is the first week of march madness? ...Or instead of two weekends... consolidate two weeks of drafting between 3/21 - 3/30. People may have to use work vacation time to make it happen with this option, but there may be no other choice in order to get closer to the season without too many games underway.

[COZ]

I would assume MLB will open with a night game Wed., April 3 and Opening Day Thursday, April 4. Assuming that is the case, I would prefer drafting in Chicago the Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend. Not sure how others feel, but Easter is a Sunday, the Friday & Saturday before was never a huge deal in my family. Please do not schedule drafts (at least in Chicago) for Opening of NCAA tourney. I know I woud go online, not live, if drafts conflict with opening of NCAA tourney, a weekend I hold sacred, unlike Easter, being the heathen that I am.

I see no reason not to have drafts the Friday & Saturday of Easter weekend, maybe not Vegas, but other locations I feel it would be acceptable (then again I never have had to travel for Easter weekend.) Just my thoughts.

COZ

[BEF]

I don't see how you can hold drafts on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I'm not a Christian so take my opinion for what it's worth, but to me it seems very disrespectful. Would you hold a draft on Christmas Day?

Why not just have one huge Super Draft Weekend on March 22-24? In fact, why not start on Thursday March 21, which is opening day for March Madness, for four solid days of live drafts? And for those that can't make it then you'll just see that money (most, but not all of course) head toward the online and Slow Draft leagues instead. Yes, I know, it's not the same experience, but something has to give under these circumstances. Might it hurt attendance if there's only one Live weekend? Absolutely, but on the other hand that's an entire weekend of expenses that you won't have, and some of that savings could be put toward increased prizes.

[Outlaw]

Lots of speculation opening day will be April 5th, Friday. I would definatley be interested in drafting any day of that week, starting Monday through Friday, especially if in Vegas. As with this year, that could be the second live draft in Vegas with the first occuring the weekend before Easter. Also one would think that weekday hotel rates, venue costs and airfare would be somewhat cheaper, especially in Vegas. I know this would require some people taking off from work. Without considerign weeday live drafts, it is possible some live drafts will be held almost 2 weeks before openign day. I will for sure be attending a live event, whether its weekdays or weekends.

[Walla Walla]

Mercy! Having one super weekend? Could that actually work???

[bjoak]

I would like to draft as close to the season as possible and Easter weekend works very well for me.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I would like to draft as close to the season as possible and Easter weekend works very well for me.

We have many different opinions, which I expected. Keep 'em coming because this is exactly why I put this out there now. I didn't want this to sneak up on us and even though we don't know when the MLB season is going to start, we sure know when Easter is this year. We need to plan accordingly and be ready with a plan when the 2013 MLB season is announced.

As for actually hosting an event on Easter weekend, sure, it's possible. The NCAA isn't bypassing that weekend because it's a holiday, nor is MLB nor any other league. However, I do agree that it's possible that March 22-24 could be the one big weekend of drafts, but we won't know until we hear from more folks. That's what this thread is for, to hear all of your opinions and then move accordingly. As you can see already, no two people have the same opinion on this and some may not agree with the opinions of others.

[Glenneration X]

As someone who can't afford a divorce, alimony, and/or child support, being away in Vegas (or even Mahwah) during Easter weekend would likely be extremely problematic. Still, it would be nice to be able to draft the weekend just prior to the start of the baseball season.

My suggestion would be just to reverse the order of the NFBC weekends and have the first weekend be the primary weekend in lieu of the second. Let's face it, the first weekend has always been the weak sister of the NFBC live contests since the two weekend format was put into place so there's always been one weekend more populated than the other. For this one year, have the first weekend take center stage with the main ancillary drafts (the Diamond, Ultimate Auction, AL & NL Auctions, etc) as well as the major commitments with your cities and hotels, and just plan and gear up that weekend for having the largest turnout. Make the second weekend a more minor commitment with scheduled drafts, cities, hotels, etc., and offer more online options as you've done previously with your first weekend. There's no doubt that you need to plan on a smaller live turnout for the second weekend as Friday will be heavily reduced, Sunday will be a complete washout, and those willing and or able to attend live drafts that require an overnight stay will be heavily limited. Still if planned with the first weekend taking on the former heavy lifting role of the second, I'd bet the overall numbers between the two weekends when compared to this year end up pretty close.

[Edwards Kings]

As someone who can't afford a divorce, alimony, and/or child support, being away in Vegas (or even Mahwah) during Easter weekend would likely be extremely problematic. Still, it would be nice to be able to draft the weekend just prior to the start of the baseball season.

My suggestion would be just to reverse the order of the NFBC weekends and have the first weekend be the primary weekend in lieu of the second. Let's face it, the first weekend has always been the weak sister of the NFBC live contests since the two weekend format was put into place so there's always been one weekend more populated than the other. For this one year, have the first weekend take center stage with the main ancillary drafts (the Diamond, Ultimate Auction, AL & NL Auctions, etc) as well as the major commitments with your cities and hotels, and just plan and gear up that weekend for having the largest turnout. Make the second weekend a more minor commitment with scheduled drafts, cities, hotels, etc., and offer more online options as you've done previously with your first weekend. There's no doubt that you need to plan on a smaller live turnout for the second weekend as Friday will be heavily reduced, Sunday will be a complete washout, and those willing and or able to attend live drafts that require an overnight stay will be heavily limited. Still if planned with the first weekend taking on the former heavy lifting role of the second, I'd bet the overall numbers between the two weekends when compared to this year end up pretty close.

I agree wholly with Glenn.

[Rog]

As a person who wants to come back and do this again next year ,there is no way I could even get up the courage or the strength to ask my wife about Easter weekend.I am hoping everything falls in line with the first weekend.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I think what Glenn Lowy has proposed is exactly the way we are thinking right now. It would be a fantastic weekend to have the whole gang together on that first weekend and Las Vegas could be wild again. I think New York and Chicago would also have to be considered for that first weekend because of the holiday on the following weekend. Anything we do after that depends on who can make it to Las Vegas on the second weekend or if we decide to move things up to Thursday-Friday-Saturday that next weekend or just keep everything online after the first weekend. We'll figure that out later after getting more feedback from all of you folks. But a full slate of our second weekend events in the first weekend this year likely makes the most sense with Easter falling on March 31st.

[Outlaw]

A Second Draft in Vegas as close to the MLB season opener I believe would still be well attended. If you you only hold live drafts the weekend of March 22, it could be an almost 2 full weeks before opening day. Throw in the WBC and there is a good chance injuries happen and Teams have to make roster adjustments with some pretty significant players during those 2 weeks. I'm all in for a 2nd draft in Vegas, no matter when it is, but would prefer nothing on Easter Sunday. If there is no second week/draft, I would most likely just do online drafts as close to openign day as possible. As most have said, its all speculation until the schedule and WBC dates are released. I did some more checking around and it does seem April 5th is being considered for opening day. If that was the case, I see no reason live Drafts couldnt be held the 4,5,6th.

[76erfan]

I think what Glenn Lowy has proposed is exactly the way we are thinking right now. It would be a fantastic weekend to have the whole gang together on that first weekend and Las Vegas could be wild again. I think New York and Chicago would also have to be considered for that first weekend because of the holiday on the following weekend. Anything we do after that depends on who can make it to Las Vegas on the second weekend or if we decide to move things up to Thursday-Friday-Saturday that next weekend or just keep everything online after the first weekend. We'll figure that out later after getting more feedback from all of you folks. But a full slate of our second weekend events in the first weekend this year likely makes the most sense with Easter falling on March 31st.

I think a weekend 2 going thurs-Sat or just Fri-Sat would be fine. No reason to draft on Easter.

[low talkers]

I agree with all that the March 22-24 weekend should be the big weekend. Maybe try and strecth that one out, have drafts Thursday-Monday. It seems more likely that people can make a 5-day trip there, than miss Easter weekend. As someone who loves the 2 weekends in Vegas, I would certainly draft as much as possible that 1st weekend, and if you did Thurs-Fri-Sat drafts on Easter weekend, I would probably hang around and draft Friday, but would need to try and get home Saturday before Easter. I would personally rather there be early live drafts the week before, Mar 15-17, and then make Easter weekend all online events, I bet you could fill a ton of online leagues Friday-Saturday if there were no live events then.

[KJ Duke]

I'd agree with Dave above - make it a 5-day weekend in Vegas from Mar 21-25, with the Diamond/ULT on Monday.
Then offer additional online-only main event options on the Fri-Sat before Easter.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'd agree with Dave above - make it a 5-day weekend in Vegas from Mar 21-25, with the Diamond/ULT on Monday.
Then offer additional online-only main event options on the Fri-Sat before Easter.

Yeah, with Thursday March 21st being the first day of March Madness it makes sense for us to maybe expand that first weekend in Las Vegas so that everyone can come for bets, drafts, bets and more drafts!! Wow, March Madness and all of these drafts will be an incredible time in Sin City. I could definitely see a loaded schedule on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday and Monday featuring the Diamond League, Ultimate Auction League and Supers. We could easily stay in Las Vegas for the Sweet Sixteen beginning as Dave said and maybe go Thursday-Saturday or just offer online drafts then. We'll see, but the idea of expanding the first weekend sure makes sense. Depending what we do after that likely depends on MLB's Opening Day, but we'll find a way to make this happen for everyone. Thanks all.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Too early. Too much can happen too by that time and opening day to want to put down big money. Combined with the dance starting, I would not make the trip. No way I want to be drafting during the dance opening weekend. Especially that Thursday and Friday with all the incredible hoops action. Sounds like that is the preferred option for most. Got to do what is best for your business, and if that means most want to draft that soon, then I will just find out what online offerings there may be that following week that is not so far away from opening day and does not require me to draft during epic first weekend of college hoops. Probably sprinkle in an online main event that first weekend or something. Tough to please everyone in this circumstance.

[COZ]

Too early. Too much can happen too by that time and opening day to want to put down big money. Combined with the dance starting, I would not make the trip. No way I want to be drafting during the dance opening weekend. Especially that Thursday and Friday with all the incredible hoops action. Sounds like that is the preferred option for most. Got to do what is best for your business, and if that means most want to draft that soon, then I will just find out what online offerings there may be that following week that is not so far away from opening day and does not require me to draft during epic first weekend of college hoops. Probably sprinkle in an online main event that first weekend or something. Tough to please everyone in this circumstance.

Agree. My sentiments exactly.

COZ

[Greg Ambrosius]

There is no perfect solution here for EVERYONE and that's because a holiday falls between our drafts and Opening Day. We're doing our best to work around it and opening all of this for discussion months before we find out when MLB's Opening Day is. If it's April 2nd or 3rd it's slightly different than if it's April 5th. But we'll discuss further once we know that.

During the first six years of the NFBC, we always drafted 15 days before Opening Day. That was early, but it worked. Then we added two weekends because we agreed that moving it closer to Opening Day was better for the competition. Then MLB changed their Opening Day to mid-week and last year we drafted as close to Opening Day (11 and 4 days) as we had ever done before. In fact, someone is even leading the overall competition in the Main Event drafting on the first weekend of the competition.

We will figure it out and I'll gladly email all of the Diamond and Ultimate Auction League participants beforehand to see which date works best for most of them before scheduling those events. Hopefully we can come to an agreement, but you know, it's unlikely that everyone will agree and that happens with Easter in the middle. We'll do our best to make this work for everyone and it's possible that online will rule the live drafts next year. But it's also possible that many people will enjoy the first weekend of March Madness and live NFBC drafts again. It could result in a fun gathering again in many cities.

[Sack]

I also like the suggestions proposed by Glenn. I like the idea of getting back to the kickoff to March Madness
For the main gathering weekend. However, the Super Leagues and above, from my standpoint would not be something I would be willing to invest in unless it was as close to the season as possible. So, I think this will be your toughest call.

The Easter date wouldn't prevent me from making the trip to Vegas. People will have to weigh personal options/choices, but I would be surprised if the big money players would allow the holiday to interupt high stake ventures. Make your Main Events the primary focus and run them with start of the NCAA. Trim down the offerings beyond that to one location, Vegas, and have your big money games run at that time and have a smaller expectation in filling out a few final Main Events for the diehards.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

That is my thought as well Sack exactly. I don't mind doing a main event the first weekend. And due to the fact many high dollar leagues have always been the 2nd weekend, I didn't even mind doing an ultimate and a super the first weekend since I had much more high dollar stuff the 2nd weekend. Good learning experience for the 2nd weekend if nothing else. I hate the idea of all the big money leagues being that early. Just far too many things can happen. Granted everyone is in the same boat, but the bigger the money, the more I want it to be as close to the season as possible. And I especially think as many of those should be held after all of the main events as possible. That information learned with the incredible players in the diamond and ultimate auction is very valuable in my opinion. Too many people would see that information before all of the main events the next week, let alone all of the other online offerings. There is something very special about those being the last of the big time events offered in my view. Granted there were online 12 and online offerings available as well as a super league. I feel that as few offerings come after the diamond and ultimate auction the better. And I say that because I know first hand how valuable those drafts are information wise. Truly an incredible field in the diamond. You know how guys are supposed to come off the board after that. It is no coincidence that my only good super team and 12 team were drafted after that. And that is despite Nelson convincing me Hosmer was a necessary item on each. Yeah some people will say I am leading the main event drafted the first weekend. It is totally fluky and the team sucks. It won't win, so save it.

I am suggesting that the first weekend is a big weekend of main events, 12's, auction championships etc. Let people get their fill of those and watch as much hoops around it as they choose based on how many drafts they want to do versus games they want to watch. Then perhaps a super or two after the main event, with online connections available also. 2nd weekend maybe some 12's and auctions as able to fill on Friday. Main events Saturday for those less bothered by Easter surrounded by possibly a super and or 12's after. Easter Sunday those that want to attend a service together figure out where to go and do it , and then watch hoops. Then Monday start up the big money events with more supers, ultimates, ultimate auctions, and diamonds. Probably the last two on Tuesday(schedule permitting). I am thinking that those that want to play in those could get the necessary time off work if planned in advance. And the leagues aside from the auction could be drafted with online connections for those that are not able to make the during the week thing work.