THANKS To All Las Vegas 1st Weekend Drafters
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:33 am
Here's a special THANKS to all of the First Weekend drafters in Las Vegas. Wow, what a great group of folks we had here to kick off our 11th season and what a great weekend of college basketball games to bet on. March Madness was definitely in full swing out here this weekend. Damn, there's just nothing like March Madness First Weekend in Las Vegas.
But our NFBC owners stole the show out here for me. Everyone here this weekend was early for the events and ready to go. We had everyone sitting for the Main Event 10 minutes before the start time and even my speech couldn't take us to 10 am as we started a few minutes early for the first time. Everyone was so ready for every pick that two of our Main Events were done in less than 3 hours and 30 minutes with the new electronic draft boards. The teleconference between Las Vegas and Online also went smoothly and was done in just over 4 hours. A BIG THANKS to the owners on the phone as they were all into the conference call early, everyone Muted their phones when they weren't up and everyone was ready with their picks. The girls did a great job with that league and it was fun with the guys in Las Vegas having some good camaraderie as well. I couldn't have been prouder of the Main Event that night and it was cool to see multiple screens having the big draft stickers up on the boards at the same time.
The auctions were a BLAST as well with Brady Tinker doing both of them. We had several new guys this year and all of them said they were definitely coming back for that event each year going forward. It was great to see so many new guys diving in with the top bids against our veterans and enjoying the setup. Those auctions also moved along well and were done in under 5 hours. We still have the cardboard and stickers for the auctions this year, but next year we'll definitely have these electronically as well with the bids being calculated by the computer.
And I ran the 12-team Primetime on Saturday night and had fun with an animated James Roday Rodriguez and that crew!!
That was a fun, quick wrapup to Saturday night. Less than 3 hours for sure and just a solid group of guys who were ready with every pick. I really like our new draft board for the 12-teamers as the names pop out better.
We thank everyone for their patience as we make the transition from stickers to electronic draft boards. Having all of the picks entered in real-time was a big step for us two years ago and now this is the next, natural evolution. The big sticker that pops up after every pick is a really nice touch and done well. We certainly know that we have to work on some position colors and we need a few tweaks to the fonts on the draft board (and eventually high definition projectors). But this process certainly keeps things moving along for the drafters and with some design changes we'll be there. In the future the draft board you see here will replace the one in online drafts.
We still have plenty of work to do over the next 7 days as far as getting out draft picks, filling leagues and getting the Online Championship completed, but with two games already in the books it feels like the MLB season is upon us. Good luck the rest of the way and safe travels to everyone coming out here for the Second Weekend. I'll provide more updates on the Thursday party, the Friday draft locations and more, but I wanted to say THANKS to everyone for the great start. You made my job so easy this weekend by being prompt, courteous and prepared. Thanks all.
But our NFBC owners stole the show out here for me. Everyone here this weekend was early for the events and ready to go. We had everyone sitting for the Main Event 10 minutes before the start time and even my speech couldn't take us to 10 am as we started a few minutes early for the first time. Everyone was so ready for every pick that two of our Main Events were done in less than 3 hours and 30 minutes with the new electronic draft boards. The teleconference between Las Vegas and Online also went smoothly and was done in just over 4 hours. A BIG THANKS to the owners on the phone as they were all into the conference call early, everyone Muted their phones when they weren't up and everyone was ready with their picks. The girls did a great job with that league and it was fun with the guys in Las Vegas having some good camaraderie as well. I couldn't have been prouder of the Main Event that night and it was cool to see multiple screens having the big draft stickers up on the boards at the same time.
The auctions were a BLAST as well with Brady Tinker doing both of them. We had several new guys this year and all of them said they were definitely coming back for that event each year going forward. It was great to see so many new guys diving in with the top bids against our veterans and enjoying the setup. Those auctions also moved along well and were done in under 5 hours. We still have the cardboard and stickers for the auctions this year, but next year we'll definitely have these electronically as well with the bids being calculated by the computer.
And I ran the 12-team Primetime on Saturday night and had fun with an animated James Roday Rodriguez and that crew!!
That was a fun, quick wrapup to Saturday night. Less than 3 hours for sure and just a solid group of guys who were ready with every pick. I really like our new draft board for the 12-teamers as the names pop out better.We thank everyone for their patience as we make the transition from stickers to electronic draft boards. Having all of the picks entered in real-time was a big step for us two years ago and now this is the next, natural evolution. The big sticker that pops up after every pick is a really nice touch and done well. We certainly know that we have to work on some position colors and we need a few tweaks to the fonts on the draft board (and eventually high definition projectors). But this process certainly keeps things moving along for the drafters and with some design changes we'll be there. In the future the draft board you see here will replace the one in online drafts.
We still have plenty of work to do over the next 7 days as far as getting out draft picks, filling leagues and getting the Online Championship completed, but with two games already in the books it feels like the MLB season is upon us. Good luck the rest of the way and safe travels to everyone coming out here for the Second Weekend. I'll provide more updates on the Thursday party, the Friday draft locations and more, but I wanted to say THANKS to everyone for the great start. You made my job so easy this weekend by being prompt, courteous and prepared. Thanks all.