NFBC Message Boards

Our plans for hosting in the Midwest this year is to just do one location on one weekend due to the Easter weekend. Over the last three years, we have had one full league in St. Louis on the First Weekend and then multiple leagues in Chicago on the Second Weekend. Our goal this year is to have multiple Main Event and NFBC XII leagues on the weekend of March 29-30 and at least one full Auction Championship League.

However, I forced the action on the weekend in the NFFC this year and was proven wrong, so I want even more feedback this year for baseball before finalizing anything. Chicago is still tentative right now, but I'd be disappointed if we couldn't have one good Midwest location for our 10th anniversary season. Let's get folks in the Midwest together as well and celebrate the season ahead and the 9 seasons from the past.

Let's see some feedback from our Midwest owners. What weekend can we fill up the most leagues in the Midwest? Can we make March 29-30 work and allow others to draft in Las Vegas on the First Weekend? Should we consider St. Louis for the First Weekend or just plan around Chicago? Would March 22-23 be better in the Windy City or just split up our NFBC owners?

I'm willing to listen to the feedback and make a call in the next month. Let's hear from the participants and make the right call.

Greg,

I would be looking for either St Louis or Chicago for the weekend of March 23rd. I would think that due to Easter the following weekend that there will enough demand to warrant at least one Midwest location for the 23rd.

Thanks,

Eric

I would also prefer the first weekend, whether that be in Chicago or St. Louis.

Greg, though I did NYC last year, I'll be returning to the Midwest this year. I'm going where the auction is. I can do either place either weekend. I'm such a whore. That being said, with Easter weekend and StL's proximity, my preference would be StL the first weekend. You have never had an auction in StL. I do believe Easter weekend could influence your out-of-town participation for the Saturday events wherever you have them. There's probably more northern Illinisians that won't travel south Easter weekend, than there are southern Illinisians that won't travel north Easter weekend. I stand to be corrected, but your best bet to maximize participation may be the first weekend in Chicago.

But either way, I plan on participating.

1st weekend in the Windy City would be my preference

bump

So am I correct to see, that despite the majority of responders on this thread displaying interest in the first weekend as opposed to the second, the decision has been made, and the only option on the signup page is that second Saturday? If so, that's very disappointing.

Likewhat17 wrote:So am I correct to see, that despite the majority of responders on this thread displaying interest in the first weekend as opposed to the second, the decision has been made, and the only option on the signup page is that second Saturday? If so, that's very disappointing.

There were three respondents on here who said they'd prefer the First Weekend in Chicago and I didn't receive a single email or call pushing for that date. Signups for the Second Weekend in Chicago and New York are already coming in at a good pace. Yes, Chicago and New York are both now scheduled only for the Second Weekend and Las Vegas is both weekends. Online will be available both weekends.

And honestly, if we want to keep Chicago as a host venue in future years we need to grow this location this year. It's easy to do the math with last year's numbers and realize this is a break-even venue at best if we don't grow it. We are the only contest to do regional drafts, but it's getting tougher and tougher to do that if most folks just draft online. So hopefully our past Midwest participants will consider Chicago this year and help us build on something we started there in 2004. If not, even one weekend in Chicago will be a tough sell going forward.