Looking For Feedback On NFBC Auction Championship

[Greg Ambrosius]

As you may have noticed, we haven't rolled out the format just yet for the NFBC Auction Championship. We are close on this one, but I wanted to get some feedback from owners first before unveiling everything. We will continue to go forward with this mixed auction league format and a national prize, but help me out on a few points first.

This will be the 4th year that we've done the NFBC Auction Championship and I believe we have finished with 9 leagues and 135 teams each year. That's a great, great number and I hope we reach those levels again despite having Easter on what is normally our Second Weekend. The price point has been $850 per team and we've had a guaranteed $15,000 grand prize each year.

But this year I'm looking at a slightly different format, but I want your feedback first. I think we can move up the entry fee slightly with this contest to help provide bigger league prizes without killing this format overnight. Here are two scenarios I'm considering for the NFBC Auction Championship and I'd like your feedback:

Entry fee this year for the NFBC Auction Championship:
1. $900
2. $1,000

Adding $50 per team wouldn't be a big jump and would add only about $550 or so to the league prizes. But that would be a help. So that one doesn't seem too taxing.

Adding $150 per team, however, would be a step up in price and I understand that. But it also would add over $15,000 to the prize pool and allow us to do some creative things within the league prizes and overall prize pool. And I know we have a lot of dedicated auction players who love this format, so hopefully we won't lose many teams from this contest. If we raise the price, but lose a league or two, it's not a gain at all, so I don't want that. If $1,000 is too high for this format, then we'll take baby steps instead.

Last year, our prize pool was as follows:

Place Overall League
1st $15,000 $3,500
2nd $5,000 $1,800
3rd $3,000 $850
4th $2,000 --
5th $1,500 --
6th $1,250 --
7th $1,000 --
8th $900 --
9th $850 --

I feel like we're not giving enough back in league prizes. I realize we all love the overall prize pool and if you win your league you're likely winning some of the overall prize pool, but should we try to bolster the league prize to $5,000? Can we make it $5,000, $2,000, $1,000? Could we take a little from the overall prize pool to bolster the league prizes? I think we could at the right price point and with the right overall prize format.

Let me know what you think. We need to start with the entry fee first and then work from there. So please give me your feedback here or at [email protected] on the $900 or $1,000 entry fee and if you want to make suggestions on possibly taking the league prizes higher I'd be interested in that as well. Thanks all.

I'll finalize this format in the next week, but please give me your thoughts before then and we'll make this work for everyone. Thanks all.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here are the current rules before we do anything with the entry fee or prizes:

Official Rules and Regulations of the
National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) Auction Championship

1. Overview
The National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) Auction Championship will consist of 9 leagues, each comprised of 15 teams/managers. Each NFBC Auction Championship team will compile 23 players from both the NL and AL leagues using an imaginary $260 on Draft Day. Seven reserve picks will be acquired after the auction is complete using a serpentine draft order. The NFBC reserves the right to expand the number of NFBC Auction Championship leagues to 15 leagues if demand warrants it. The NFBC's regular season will extend from Opening Day of the MLB regular season through the final game of the regular season (including one or more season-ending MLB tie-breaker games if needed).
Teams will compete for accumulative stats in five offensive and five pitching categories, with each category weighted equally. Categories include:

For Hitters
• Batting Average
• Home Runs
• RBIs
• Stolen Bases
• Runs

For Pitchers
• Wins
• Saves
• Earned Run Average
• Strikeouts
• WHIP Ratio (Walks plus Hits divided by Innings Pitched)

The team at the end of the year with the most Rotisserie rank points based on cumulative statistics for the season in each league wins the league title. Teams also will have their cumulative stats positioned in an overall Rotisserie-style ranking (5x5 with each category weighted equally among all teams in the NFBC ) with the top finisher overall winning the grand prize.

2. Event Location and Fees
All NFBC Auction Championship leagues will hold their drafts in the various cities on the weekend of March 22-24 and March 29-30. The cost per entry is $850 per team. There is a $50 events fee to draft at all locations and a $50 co-manager fee at each location.

3. Prizes
Prizes are awarded for league and overall standings.
Overall Prizes
1. First Place = $15,000
2. Second Place = $5,000
3. Third Place = $3,000
4. Fourth Place = $2,000
5. fifth Place = $1,500
6. Sixth Place = $1,250
7. Seventh Place = $1,000
8. Eighth Place = $900
9. Ninth Place = $850
League Prizes
1. League Champion = $3,500
2. 2nd place finisher = $1,800
3. 3rd place finisher = $850
Cash prizes are awarded in U.S. dollars and are awarded to the principal owner of the team. Teams can split prizes among multiple owners by filling out the proper paperwork with STATS' accounting department before season's end. In the event of a tie, cash prizes are divided evenly among those who have tied.

4. Auction
Auction League will be held in the form of an open auction. Each team must acquire the requisite number of the starting 23 players at a total cost not to exceed $260, using only the league player pool. Teams will nominate players for bidding counter-clockwise from the auctioneer. The pool of players that may be bid upon includes members of every AL, NL or major league organization and in the minors. Unsigned free agents at the time of the draft also may be acquired via auction.

As for the live auction, an auctioneer will entertain bids from any team who has the dollars and roster space for that player. All decisions of the auctioneer as to the team last recognized as having made the high bid are final. The auctioneer will award the player to the owner that is the high bidder. The owner who acquires the player will have his/her budget reduced by the amount of the winning bid, accordingly. The owner also must announce the roster position that the player will fill. The process is repeated, with successive team owners introducing players to be bid on, until every roster is filled.

No team owner may make a bid for a player that it cannot afford. For example, a team with $3 left and two openings on its roster is limited to a maximum bid of $2 for any one player. An owner that bids over his/her limit will not be allowed to obtain that player and the auctioneer will determine whether to give that player to the next highest bidder or to put that player up for auction again (if the error was discovered too late).

No team owner may bid for a player who qualifies only at a position (or positions) that his/her team has already filled. For example, a team that has acquired 2 catchers and whose utility spot (or DH spot) is occupied may not enter the bidding for any player who qualifies ONLY at catcher. If the error is not discovered until after another player is nominated, the auctioneer will determine whether to enter that player back into the bidding.

Team owners must fill their 23 required starting positions through the auction. The serpentine draft for the reserve roster allows teams to acquire players at any position they want. This is a serpentine draft, where the order will go 1-15 in odd-numbered rounds and 15-1 in even-numbered rounds through 7 rounds.

5. Draft – Initial Acquisition of Reserves
Teams will have a seven-man reserve roster, which will be acquired after the auction through a regular draft process. The order of the reserve draft will be pre-determined before the auction and the draft will be held in a serpentine fashion, meaning 1 through 15 in odd-numbered rounds, 15 through 1 in even-numbered rounds. Each team will be allowed only seven reserve players and they can move them freely in and out of their starting lineup each week. At no time can a team have more than seven players on their reserve roster. Teams will be allowed to list their Nomination spot preference (KDS) on their team pages before Draft Day (just click on your team link and Edit Draft Preferences will be right there) and the NFBC will seed owners accordingly after randomly picking the nomination order for each league.

6. Additional Rules for Draft Day
Time Limit for Auction: There will be a 1-minute time limit for each owner to nominate a player in the auction portion of the draft and a 1-minute time limit for each owner to make his/her pick during each round of the reserve-roster draft. If a participant does not make a selection in the allotted time, he is passed over until the next participant makes a player selection. The passed-over participant follows after the next person's pick and again has one minute to make his/her pick. Picks are official once the league facilitator announces the selection and all decisions by the league facilitator are final. In the event that a participant selects a player who no longer is available, the participant will get an additional 15 seconds by the draft facilitator to select a new player. If the participant then again selects someone who is off the board, his/her turn will be skipped and the participant will be allotted a full minute to make another selection after the next team's selection has been made.

Commissioner Decisions: All decisions made by the NFBC commissioner are final. Tough decisions sometimes must be made about eligibility rules, lineups, etc., and NFBC participants must accept the unbiased ruling of the NFBC commissioner.
Seating: Every team will have two draft spots available at the table and each team will be seated in their draft order. If you do not have a co-manager, we will remove the second chair and you will have more room to spread out.
Electronic Equipment: Participants can use electronic equipment during the draft as long as it fits in the allotted draft spot at the table. There will be NO Internet connections or electrical outlets, so participants bringing laptops will have to supply their own power. Cell phones are allowed at the draft table, but we encourage participants to use them sparingly and not in a way that interrupts the draft process. We request that participants limit their usage to outgoing calls during the draft, not incoming calls, and anyone planning to remain on the phone for the entire draft needs to inform the NFBC about that ahead of time.

Smoking/Drinking: Smoking will not be allowed in the Draft Room. There will be a cash bar available in the Draft Room, but we ask that each participant drink responsibly.

Breaks: There will be a 15-minute break after several rounds of auctioning and another one about two-thirds of the way to the finish. The auctioneer in each city along with the participants will pick the appropriate break times. There will also be a short break after the auction and before the reserve round. In addition, NFBC Auction leagues will have money checks before each break.

Setting Kentucky Derby Style (KDS) Preferences: The NFBC will use Kentucky Derby Style (KDS) preferences for draft preferences in NFBC Auction leagues. The Draft Preferences are listed as soon as you click on your team link. There you will see a list of 1 through 15 in order and an "Edit Preferences" link under No. 15. Edit your list as often as you'd like and just save your preferences each time before the required deadline for this league.

Here's what KDS does: The KDS process allows owners to rank their order of preference for Draft Day, ranking their preferences 1 through 15 BEFORE the leagues are randomly selected. Some owners would rather be in the middle for the auction and the serpentine reserve draft, if they are selected early in their league; others like to stay near the top and others like to move down to the lower end. KDS allows that if you are fortunate enough. A sample KDS from an owner could look like this: 3, 2, 1, 7, 6, 8, 12, 11, 4, 5, 9, 10. If an owner wants the third pick in the reserve round and he is selected No. 1 overall in his league, he would choose 3 as his top option and he would then be moved to third in that league on Draft Day if he were picked first out of the hat. NFBC officials will look at every owner's Draft Preferences after the leagues and orders are randomly selected and then announce the draft orders for each league.

If an Auction League does not fill exactly with the full amount of teams, the NFBC reserves the right to cancel that league completely. Teleconference auctions will not be used if at all possible.

7. Roster Requirements
Maximum of 30 players at all times

8. Starting Lineup Requirements
Starting lineups will consist of:
1. 2 Catchers
2. 1 First Baseman
3. 1 Second Baseman
4. 1 Shortstop
5. 1 Third Baseman
6. 1 Middle Infielder (2B/SS)
7. 1 Corner Infielder (1B/3B)
8. 1 Utility Player (any offensive position)
9. 5 Outfielders
10. 9 Pitchers

There is a 1,000 innings pitched minimum requirement for all NFBC leagues, but no minimum requirement for the number of starting pitchers or relief pitchers on each roster. Should any team not reach the required limit of 1,000 innings pitched by the end of the season, the rankings will be altered to show that team getting 1 point in both ERA and WHIP. No other teams will switch positions in the standings, but the team that didn't reach the minimum IP will automatically earn 1 point in ERA and WHIP. All players must have played 20 games in 2012 or 10 games during the 2013 season to qualify at a certain position. Minor-leaguers who did not play 20 games at any position in 2012 but who still played at least one game in the majors last year, will qualify at the position they played the most at in the majors in 2012. Additional eligibility guidelines can be found in Section 9. If a player returns from retirement or rehab after missing the previous year, his position eligibility will be based on his previous year's eligibility. If no Week One lineup is submitted, the NFBC will determine your starting lineup. After Week One, if no starting lineup is submitted, your starting lineup will be that of the previous week.

9. Position Eligibility
The NFBC will use the following position eligibility rules in 2013:
a) Players who played at least 20 games at any position in 2012 will qualify at that position for the entire 2013 NFBC season. Players who play 10 games at a new position in 2013 will be eligible at that position after they have played there for the 10th time during the 2013 MLB regular season.
b) If a player did not appear in 20 games at any position, he qualifies at the one position he played most frequently the prior season in the majors. Designated Hitter is considered a position for these purposes (pinch-hitting is not). A player who only qualifies as a DH may only be assigned to the UT position. If a player's most games played at a position is less than 20 and tied among more than one position, the NFBC commissioner will assign eligibility at one position only.
c) Those players who only pinch-hit in the majors in 2012 will be position eligible according to their minor-league games played status in 2012. They would qualify at the position they played the most games in the minors.
d) Players who played all of 2012 in the minor leagues will be awarded position eligibility for the 2013 NFBC season based on the most games played at all levels in the minors. STATS will determine that one eligible position before Draft Day and that will determine that player's status for 2013 once he is called up to the majors. Those players who only pinch-hit or DH in the minors will only be UT-eligible.
e) The NFBC commissioner will rule on player eligibility prior to the draft as he deems necessary. Those eligibility lists are final and will be available to all owners prior to Draft Day.

10. League Management Web Address
You can access your team and league via the Internet by going to nfbc.stats.com. You will need a username and a password to access the game site. Contact [email protected] if you are signed up for the contest and do not have a username and password.

11. Lineup submission
The weekly deadline for setting your NFBC starting lineup is on Mondays. Once again this year, the NFBC will allow a flexible starting lineup deadline each Monday. You now are allowed to lock in your starters on Monday 5 minutes before their scheduled games that day. So if you have East Coast teams starting at 7 pm ET, you have to lock them into your starting lineup by 6:55 pm ET. If you also have West Coast players who don't play until 10 pm ET, you then have until 9:55 pm ET to lock those starters in. If your players don't have a game on Monday, you have until 11:30 pm ET to lock them in for the week. On Fridays, the same flexible Set Lineup procedure is in place where you can lock in your starters 5 minutes before their scheduled starting time for that day.

NFBC team owners are also allowed to switch out any hitter (or hitters) from their starting lineup and replace him with a hitter from their reserve roster on Fridays. The deadline for doing that is 5 minutes before the start of that player's game on Friday. Pitchers will not be allowed to be moved out of your starting lineup at any time during the season; what is set on Monday remains for the remainder of the week for all pitchers.

First Lineup Deadlines for Week 1: The MLB season starts on Sunday, March 31 this year. Owners can set their starting lineups for that game only and then switch starting lineups on Monday, April 1st for all of the Week 1 games. Lineups for Week 1 will lock as described above.

All lineups must be submitted on the league website.

12. Free Agents
Any player who is not on a team roster within your league and is on a major league roster or once was on an NFBC team in your league is considered a free agent for that league. Even players on the MLB disabled list are eligible to be picked up during the FAAB bidding process. The player pool is deemed closed of new free agents each Sunday at 7 AM ET before the FAAB bidding deadline and a player must have played at least 1 MLB game to be added to the pool at that time. Participants should note that MLB unsigned veteran free agents at the time of Draft Day are eligible to be picked up or bid on in all NFBC leagues.

Free Agent Bidding Process: The free agent system will be a "blind bidding" process for each individual league. Each team will start with 1,000 free agent "dollars" for the season, and will be permitted to bid for free agents on a weekly basis with a minimum bid of $1 per player. Teams will not be able to see other teams' free agent bids. The team with the highest bid on any given player will be awarded that player. The amount of the winning bid will be deducted from the winning team's free agent dollars. For each winning bid, the winning team must drop a player to make roster room for the free agent acquisition. If a team's free agent dollars go to zero, that team will no longer be allowed to bid for the rest of the season. No bid will be accepted that is larger than a team's available free agent dollars. All bids must be in increments of dollars (no cents). Only winning bids and the runner-up bids on each player will be shown after the FAAB bidding period for each NFBC league.

Bidding Time Frame: The NFBC bidding process will start the week before Opening Day and run for the first time on Sunday, April 1st. FAAB will run every week from Week 1 through Week 26 (there is no new FAAB period if there are one or more regular-season MLB tie-breaker games). Bids will be accepted on the league website from Monday at 3 PM ET until Sunday at 8 PM ET in each of these weeks. Rosters will be updated shortly after 8 PM ET on Sunday with the results of all successful bids. Starting lineups for the upcoming week must be submitted by 6:55 PM ET on Monday. Players who are on teams participating in games with a scheduled start time prior to the Monday deadline at 6:55 PM ET, will be locked 5 minutes before the scheduled start time for their game.

First and Last Free Agent Bidding Deadlines: The first free agent bidding deadline is Sunday, April 1, at 8 PM ET. The last free agent bidding deadline is Sunday, September 22, at 8 PM ET.

Conditional Bids: Conditional bids can also be offered. In the event you may lose out on a player, you can place conditional bid(s) for other players during the bidding time frame. Subsequent conditional bids will become relevant only if the previous conditional bid fails. Bids do not require conditional bids. Bids may have several sequential conditional bids. Participants should note that the computer takes the HIGHEST BIDS and processes each bid in that order if you have multiple FAAB acquisition bids. ALL BIDS WILL BE PROCESSED IN THE ORDER OF DOLLAR VALUE ASSIGNED TO THOSE FREE AGENTS, highest to lowest.

Example:
1. Acquire Jason Hammel, $19, cut Phil Hughes
2. Acquire Jon Garland, $16, cut Phil Hughes
3. Acquire Jeremy Guthrie, $2, cut Phil Hughes
Number of Bids Limit: There is no limit to the number of bids that may be submitted each week in which bids are permitted.
Tied Bids: If there is a tie bid during the season, the team that receives the player will be determined in order by:
1. Worst league standing at the time FAAB was run (Sunday night using Saturday's standings).
2. Lowest standing the previous week.
3. Lowest draft position from Draft Day.

Any tied bids during the first FAAB period will be given to the team with the lowest draft order from Draft Day, whether there were a few games played before then or not.

Commissioner Review of Player Drops: All player drops for free agents are subject to review by the NFBC commissioner and can be revoked if the dropped player is deemed too valuable to be offered to that league's free agent pool, thus damaging the credibility of the overall contest. In the case of a "star" player being dropped in a league for a valid reason, the NFBC commissioner reserves the right to allow the cut but keep the player out of that league's free agent pool for any length of time, possibly the entire season. All decisions by the NFBC commissioner will be final.

13. Trades Between Managers
To minimize the possibility of collusion, there will be no trading allowed.

14. Scoring
All NFBC leagues will use a 5x5 Rotisserie scoring system. Cumulative totals will be used for the following categories:
1. Batting Average
2. Home Runs
3. RBIs
4. Stolen Bases
5. Runs
6. Wins
7. Saves
8. Earned Run Average
9. Strikeouts
10. WHIP Ratio (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched)

Teams are ranked by comparing their team totals to the other teams in their league. The team with the best total in each category receives 15 points and the team with the worst total receives 1 point. Overall points are calculated by ranking your team's statistics totals versus all other teams in the NFBC contest.

15. Taxes
If the principal team owner's prize winnings are $600.00 or greater (or any other threshold subsequently established by the IRS), the National Fantasy Baseball Championship (“NFBC”) must file a Form 1099 with the IRS at the end of this calendar year. We will request your social security number and signature on this form. The form contains the amount paid to you and you will receive a copy of the form for tax purposes. STATS pays the principal team owner of each NFBC team that was submitted on the entry form and you are responsible for paying any taxes that result from your cash prize; please consult your income tax advisor for filing advice. In the event that the awarding of any prizes to winners of the Contest is challenged by any legal authority, STATS reserves the right in its sole discretion to determine whether or not to award such prizes. After 12 months, any unclaimed prize will be forfeited.

16. Eligibility; Registration
The National Fantasy Baseball Championship is open to individuals who are at least 18 years of age (or the age of majority in your state of residence) and are a resident of the United States of America or Canada. Notwithstanding the foregoing, residents of Washington State, Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Iowa, and Vermont are not eligible to register or play in the NFBC. All registrations must be in the full legal name of the primary team owner, though owners will have the option to add a co-manager(s).

17. Official Rules
Registration for, and continued participation in, the National Fantasy Baseball Championship constitutes your full and unconditional agreement to these official rules (“Official Rules”) and to STATS’ decisions relating thereto. STATS’ decisions in regards to these Official Rules and all matters pertaining to the National Fantasy Baseball Championship are final and binding.

18. Refunds
Once a participant submits valid payment, no money will be refunded unless the NFBC event for which such participant has registered has been canceled. A team spot is considered filled when the entire entry fee is paid. STATS reserves the right to cancel any entries which are not part of a full league. In addition, STATS retains the right to deny, at its sole discretion, eligibility of any individual to register for any NFBC game or event and/or participate in any NFBC game or event, even after the registration fee has been paid, but in such case, the entry fee will be refunded. Under no condition shall STATS be held responsible for any loss or liability related to any expenses incurred by a denied entrant or any person affiliated with that denied entrant. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, in the event that any participant or co-manager is banned from the NFBC as the result of any violation of the Official Rules, then no refund will be given.

19. Cancellation
At its sole discretion, STATS reserves the right to terminate any NFBC game, event or league at any time prior to the completion of the season due to any acts of God, natural disasters, terrorism, change in applicable law, interruption of the season (including strikes, lockouts and/or use of replacement players), or any other situation beyond the control of STATS. In the event of any such termination by STATS, all entry fees will be refunded, with the exception of any live event fees (if such live event has already occurred).

At its sole discretion, STATS reserves the right to terminate any NFBC game, event or league (including the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Main Event) if there are an insufficient number of teams prior to the scheduled start of the league. In this unlikely event, STATS will refund all entry fees within 48 hours of cancellation notice and/or provide a new application form with the newly stated prize figures. In this situation, all pre-registered applicants have the right to a full refund or to agree to play for the newly announced prize structure. STATS is not responsible for any loss or liability incurred by any participant or co-managers due to cancellation of any NFBC game, event or league, including but not limited to travel or hotel expenses, time taken off from employment, etc.

20. Code of Conduct
All participants and co-managers are expected to behave in lawful, respectful and sportsman-like fashion at all live draft events, throughout the NFBC season, and during use of any NFBC website, including, but not limited to comments posted on any NFBC message board. Additionally the NFBC events, games and/or leagues may not be used for any form of gambling. Any conduct or message board post by a participant, co-manager or other person which is deemed by STATS, in its sole discretion, to be unlawful, or to have the effect of intimidating, harassing, offending or otherwise harming any other participant, co-manager, guest, or NFBC/STATS representative, is strictly prohibited. STATS reserves the right, in its sole discretion to ban any person from current and/or future participation in the NFBC and/or from use of the message boards if such person engages in any such prohibited conduct or is otherwise in violation of any of these Rules. In addition, any person engaging in such conduct forfeits any rights to a refund, as well as any potential rights to a prize award. STATS shall not be responsible or held liable to any person for damage to property or personal injury or death arising from the acts or omissions of any third parties. Any participants or co-managers who collude, or attempt to collude, or who attempts to blackmail, bribe or otherwise influence any representative of STATS/NFBC, or who otherwise attempts to sabotage the league, in an effort to alter the results or outcome of any NFBC game will be disqualified and will be prohibited from winning any prize award. If a participant is banned from participation in a current NFBC game, then STATS reserves the right, to take those actions which it sees fit, in its sole discretion with respect to such banned participant’s team. Any criminal behavior may be referred to the appropriate authorities.

21. Errors
The deadline for submitting any dispute or claim regarding the operation of any league draft is one hour after the conclusion of the draft itself; further, leaving any live draft event without submitting any dispute or claim regarding the draft constitutes your waiver of any right to challenge any aspect of the draft. You are strongly urged to double-check your lineups, trades, and free agent moves throughout the season, as STATS/NFBC will not be held liable for any errors in entering lineups, trades or free agent moves, and STATS/NFBC will not intervene or alter a transaction after lineups, trades or free agent moves are due.

22. Prize Splitting
Prize splitting amongst the principal registrant and co-managers is available, provided that the principal registrant has authorized payment to his co-managers in writing and in advance of the completion of the season. In order to authorize prize-splitting, the principal registrant must completely fill out and sign the authorization form designated by STATS (including the name and address of the co-manager(s) and the applicable prize percentage to be paid to each co-manager(s)). Both the principal registrant and each co-manager designated on a prize-splitting form will be required to fill out a W-9. No prize money will be distributed until all necessary forms have been received by STATS. Both the principal registrant and the co-manager(s) will receive IRS Form 1099 reflecting the prize money paid to each. If STATS deems, in its sole discretion, that the appropriate documentation and/or authorization has not been received, or has not been received in a timely fashion, then STATS will pay prize payments only to the principal registrant.

23. Communication and Access
All NFBC team owners must have internet access and a valid e-mail address for communication. STATS is not responsible for any issues which impede or interfere with the transmission or receipt of any transaction, including but not limited to, draft selections, trades, free agent moves and lineups. STATS is also not responsible for the failure of any telephone networks/lines, internet connections, software/hardware, or internet congestion/transmission rates.

24. Hold Harmless
Each participant and co-owner hereby releases and holds harmless STATS and its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents and representatives from and against any and all liability for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind to person (including death) and property, arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly from participation in any NFBC event, game or league, as well as acceptance or use of any prize award.

25. Disputes; Limitation of Liability; Disclaimer
Each participant and co-owner agrees that (i) all issues and questions regarding the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or your rights and obligations in connection with the NFBC shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the state of Illinois, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules; and (ii) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with the NFBC or any prize awarded will be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, or the appropriate state court located in Cook County, Illinois; and (iii) in no event shall STATS liability to you for any and all damages, losses or causes of action exceed $250; and (iv) in no event shall STATS, its parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents and representatives, be liable for any punitive, incidental and consequential damages. If your jurisdiction does not allow limitations or exclusions of liability for incidental or consequential damages, the above may not apply to you. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EACH NFBC GAME, EVENT, LEAGUE,WEBSITE, AND BULLETIN BOARD/FORUM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. IF YOUR JURISDICTION DOES NOT ALLOW FOR THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, THE ABOVE MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

26. STATS PASS
In the event that you have purchased a STATSPASS® subscription, then the following additional Terms and Conditions shall apply throughout your subscription period:
1. Your username/password are personal to you, and shall not be shared with, or used by, any third party.
2. During your subscription period, STATS hereby grants to you a non-exclusive license to utilize STATSPASS® and the data contained therein, solely for your personal use. This grant of license is expressly limited to the use described herein, and no additional rights or licenses are included. Any other use, including any commercial or non-personal use of STATSPASS® or use by any person other than you, is strictly prohibited, and shall be considered an Unauthorized Use.
3. In the event of any Unauthorized Use, in addition to any other remedies to which STATS shall be entitled, STATS shall have the right to immediately terminate your STATSPASS® subscription, without notice.
4. Subscription fees are non-refundable.
5. STATSPASS® IS LICENSED TO YOU "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL STATS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LEGAL PENALTIES, OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE STATSPASS® AND/OR THE DATA ACCESSED THROUGH STATSPASS®. STATS’ LIABILITY HEREUNDER SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE SUMS RECEIVED BY STATS IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR STATSPASS® SUBSCRIPTION.
6. You shall not copy, database, archive, save, or otherwise store any data accessed through STATSPASS®.

[duesman24]

Greg
I have a question on the nominating a player during draft. If a team does not nominate a player when its his time to do so will that team be allowed to bid on players drafted till they nominate a player?

This will happen mostly at the end of drafts for many reasons not looking to discuss here on thread at this time.
Thanks for any info

[76erfan]

I believe that nothing at all from last year should change, especially the overall champ!

In all seriousness.....3500 seems low for league prize in a 15 team league.........

I would think moving that to a 4500-5000 range makes sense.

What about a 950 entry fee? what does that do to the numbers?

Afraid you may scare away a league or two especially with easter weekend being a pain by increasing league fees 15% or more. I know NY over two weekends is usually a 4 auction site.......you will be lucky to get 3 in this year..and its most likely 2 that will occur there.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg
I have a question on the nominating a player during draft. If a team does not nominate a player when its his time to do so will that team be allowed to bid on players drafted till they nominate a player?

This will happen mostly at the end of drafts for many reasons not looking to discuss here on thread at this time.
Thanks for any info

You MUST nominate a player when it's your turn. Just nominate a star you don't want or can't afford at $1 and you'll be good to go.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I believe that nothing at all from last year should change, especially the overall champ!

In all seriousness.....3500 seems low for league prize in a 15 team league.........

I would think moving that to a 4500-5000 range makes sense.

What about a 950 entry fee? what does that do to the numbers?

Afraid you may scare away a league or two especially with easter weekend being a pain by increasing league fees 15% or more. I know NY over two weekends is usually a 4 auction site.......you will be lucky to get 3 in this year..and its most likely 2 that will occur there.

If you go to $950 you are adding just over $10,000 in prizes. So maybe another $1,000 or so to the league prizes without adjusting the overall prizes. You could move first place to $4,500, but it would be tough to adjust the other prizes then. But I would consider lowering the overall prizes to make the league prizes stronger, something we've done before.

Don't sell New York short just yet. I will create another thread to solve New York. If folks have suggestions to make New York as strong as possible, we're all ears. Maybe just the Second Weekend isn't the best and only solution. Let's discuss.

[Edwards Kings]

On the choice between raising the fee $50 or $150, raising only 50 bucks just does not seem to be worth the trouble. If you are going to raise it, raise it enough to have an real impact on the prizes. I cannot speak for others, but $150 would not keep me from signing up, so it is not price-point poison for me.

As far as the league price pool, your suggestion ($5,000, $2,000, $1,000) relatively pulls 5% more into the individual leagues, which is ok with me. If you froze the overall pool as is (maybe drop 9th place and up 8th place to $1,000), you would maintain your current margins for this event pretty well.

If on further reflection you think it might sacrifice too much from the overall pool (if you maintain your current margins on the event), maybe this is an option. Closer to the past ratios in the event, would $4,200, $2,100, and $1,000 in league prizes be better? Third place still gets their money back and second place is half of first. In addition, raising the fee from $850 to $1,000 is 17.6%. Raising the league first price from $3,500 to $4,200 is a 20% increase, so you are giving a little more sugar to the league winners.

For 135 teams, I would drop 9th place in the overall prize structure (no matter what choice you decide). Overall pool structure could look like in this second scenario:

1st 17,500
2nd 5,750
3rd 3,500
4th 2,250
5th 1,750
6th 1,750
7th 1,500
8th 1,000

Just crunching numbers.

[BK METS]

I would rather have larger league prizes and smaller overall prizes, maybe $10,000 for the overall winner and down from there. I would like it to stay at $850. I have been in every auction in New York every year since I started with the NFBC. I love the auction format. My biggest issue would be the league prizes. We don't have an auction championship in football this year and I am not sure why that happened... maybe due to not enough teams.

So my vote would be, keep the entry fee the way it is, lower the overall winner, and raise the league prizes, if this is possible.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here's feedback via email from one of our prominent owners:

My thoughts on the Auction Championship...keeping in mind that I really love auctions and may be a bit biased towards them.

I only played 1 auction champ league each of the past 2 years because those league prizes were just not very good.
If you upped the league prizes to $5000/$2000/$1000, I would definitely go out of my way to try and add a 2nd auction champ team, I’d even do 3 if it were possible in my schedule.

I also think with so few teams compared to the other overall contests, you should consider not paying as many spots overall. Maybe just pay top 5 or 7 and make those payouts more. I can’t imagine anyone being excited about the possibility of winning $800 for 8th place overall.If you add the extra $1750-$4000 onto the top 5 places, that really looks like a more exciting payout. I would think with that and increased league prizes, there no reason the entry fee can’t match the XII at $1,000. $850 kind of almost feels like $1000.

My 2 cents, I’ll play no matter what you decide, but higher league prizes would definitely make me try and do an extra auction league.

[ALL-IN JD]

Absolutely agree with your last post Greg. I say bump to 1K and pay less places. I personally wouldn't mind seeing first place overall to $20,000 if possible. I am surely playing to win my league but I covet winning the overall in any of your contests. Just my two cents.

[Donnie Baseball]

I would agree that raising entry fee to $1000 would be good while dropping 9th overall place and raising league prizes. I hope more find it in their schedules to play the auction format--the best of all. See you in Vegas.

[Edwards Kings]

Geez! Why don't you two get a room?



Quit hijacking the thread and work this out via email in private.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I don't mean to be the Message Board police, but the hijacking of this thread wasn't needed. We are trying to have a meaningful discussion about the entry point and prize structure of the NFBC Auction Championship and two people arguing about an individual situation isn't needed here. I've deleted those posts.

Now, back to the entry point and the prize structure. I know that we need to make the league prize structure stronger and that's the way I'm leaning. That means a slightly higher entry fee and a slight change to the overall prize structure. Let's get some more feedback this weekend and then I'll post a couple of ideas early next week. Thanks for the solid feedback so far everyone and keep it coming.

[ALL-IN JD]

Sorry Greg, and I do agree (again) with bumping up the entry fee, paying higher league prizes and paying out a few less slots in the overall.

[uky]

my $.02

Raise the auction entry fee to $950, which will make it an even $1K with the event fee. Pay as much as you can to the leagues, maybe only a couple places to the overall. A tough well balanced league deters your chances of winning the overall, I like more going to the leagues.

[Greg Ambrosius]

my $.02

Raise the auction entry fee to $950, which will make it an even $1K with the event fee. Pay as much as you can to the leagues, maybe only a couple places to the overall. A tough well balanced league deters your chances of winning the overall, I like more going to the leagues.

Thanks for the feedback on the entry point and prize payouts for the Auction Championship everyone. I'm going to work the numbers now and post some options soon. Look for that soon and provide more feedback if you can.

I'll likely adjust the overall prize structure, but first I want to explain why we did pay out through 9 spots. The contest was set up for 9 leagues and we felt that if you won your league title the chances were good that you would win additional prize money. But I think it's best to just put that in the league prizes now and bump those up where we can. Look for new numbers soon and thanks.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, let's post all of the options and discuss this through. I think we can pick a winner here:

The current NFBC Auction Championship has an $850 entry point and the following prizes:

Place Overall League
1st $15,000 $3,500
2nd $5,000 $1,800
3rd $3,000 $850
4th $2,000 --
5th $1,500 --
6th $1,250 --
7th $1,000 --
8th $900 --
9th $850 --

That's Option 1.

Option 2 could be an $850 price point and this prize structure:
Place Overall League
1st $15,000 $3,800
2nd $5,000 $1,950
3rd $3,000 $850
4th $2,000 --
5th $1,500 --

Option 3 could be a $900 entry fee and this prize structure:
Place Overall League
1st $15,000 $4,200
2nd $5,000 $2,100
3rd $3,000 $900
4th $2,000 --
5th $1,500 --

Option 4 could be a $950 entry fee and this prize structure:
Place Overall League
1st $15,000 $4,500
2nd $5,000 $2,250
3rd $3,000 $950
4th $2,000 --
5th $1,500 --

Option 5 could be a $950 entry fee and this prize structure:
Place Overall League
1st $12,000 $5,000
2nd $4,000 $2,250
3rd $2,500 $950
4th $2,000 --
5th $1,500 --

Option 6 could be a $1,000 entry fee and this prize structure:
Place Overall League
1st $15,000 $5,000
2nd $5,000 $2,250
3rd $3,000 $1,000
4th $2,000 --
5th $1,500 --
6th $500

These are all tentative numbers, but we're in the ballpark of where we need to be for live event auctions. Let's start the discussion and see where it takes us. There are some interesting options here.

[Asumijet]

Option 5 or 6

[Gekko]

Option 5 or 6

agree

[Greg Ambrosius]

Option 5 or 6

I have two more email votes for 6. Just trying to keep it all here.

[ALL-IN JD]

Six

[anpyanks]

six

[Edwards Kings]

6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5 are my order of preferences.

On #6, if you are going to have a sixth place, it should be at least $1,000, even if you have to bring second place in the leagues down to $2,200.

We haven't talked about this much, but just as an option, rather than have a sixth place, how about the $500 going for something other than league/overall finish like:

$250 to the team with the highest overall batting points and $250 to the team with the highest overall pitching points
$250 to the team with the most overall HR and $250 to the team with the most overall strikeouts
$250 to the team with the most overall AB and $250 to the team with the most overall IP
$500 to the team with the highest overall points in one week

I know the idea is kind of like getting a case of Pepto for coming in second in a pie eating contest, but it might be a fun twist to get a cash prize for doing something other than finish in the money in your league or in the overall.

[Greg Ambrosius]

6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5 are my order of preferences.

On #6, if you are going to have a sixth place, it should be at least $1,000, even if you have to bring second place in the leagues down to $2,200.

We haven't talked about this much, but just as an option, rather than have a sixth place, how about the $500 going for something other than league/overall finish like:

$250 to the team with the highest overall batting points and $250 to the team with the highest overall pitching points
$250 to the team with the most overall HR and $250 to the team with the most overall strikeouts
$250 to the team with the most overall AB and $250 to the team with the most overall IP
$500 to the team with the highest overall points in one week

I know the idea is kind of like getting a case of Pepto for coming in second in a pie eating contest, but it might be a fun twist to get a cash prize for doing something other than finish in the money in your league or in the overall.

Again, the prizes are just tentative. I was figuring these out on the fly with a calculator in my hand and had $500 left over. I could have added it to any of the overall prizes, but didn't want to lose sight of the extra $. We'll figure that part out.

It's interesting that the early votes are for a higher prize, but I think the allure is the more meaningful league prize and an extra $150 won't hurt the contest; in fact, it might add more value to it. Keep the thoughts coming and we'll figure this out very shortly. Registration and the new site should be live soon enough.

[76erfan]

good with 6