Welcome to Las Vegas Second Weekend At The Bellagio

[Greg Ambrosius]

We conclude our live drafts and auctions this weekend at the beautiful Bellagio in Las Vegas with a full slate over four days. I wish you all safe travels and I promise good weather for you this weekend!!

Okay, everything is full except for the Friday $350 and $750 Online Championship Plus Leagues. More on that later, but if you have any interest in adding a live 12-team draft on Friday contact me at [email protected]. We'd love to fill 10 am, 1 pm and 4 pm live drafts. Thanks.

All of our drafts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are in the DaVinci and Raphael ballrooms, which is an ideal setup. DaVinci 1, 2 and 3 will house everything on Thursday and Friday, while we'll have all of Saturday's Mains in DaVinci 1-4 and Raphael 2-3. The foyer is between the two rooms, which isn't as good as last year's one big ballroom, but it will be cozy and we'll bring everyone into the DaVinci's before the draft to honor Hall of Famer Dave Potts and 2016 champion Rob Silver. Should be nice.

If you are staying at the Bellagio, request the Spa Tower. The DaVinci ballrooms are right at the base of the elevators and you will save a lot of wear and tear on your legs. If you are in the other Guest rooms, you have a long walk each day to the ballrooms. And if you are taking the Tram to the Bellagio, the DaVinci ballrooms are right there as you come down the escalator. One more set of directions: If you do enter the Convention Center from the casino, walk all the way to the end of the Convention Center -- past the Business Center, past the Wedding Chapel, past the Bellagio and Grand Ballrooms -- until you see DaVinci 1-4. Enjoy.

If you get into Las Vegas early and want to meet some of your competitors, I will have a Welcoming Party on Thursday, March 30th starting at 4 pm ET. Many of you will be heading to the Main Event draft or Auction Championship at 5 and 6 pm PT, but come on up and have a drink before drafting. It will relax you!! Come to the base of the Spa Tower at 4 pm and I'll let folks up into the Executive Penthouse Suite. You can text me at 715-254-5553 if you come after that and someone will come and let you upstairs. We'll have some drinks and munchies, so eat before you come over, but it will be a good way to meet your peers/competitors. Sound good?

Just a reminder that all three of Sunday's events are at the Monte Carlo, in East Ballroom 6 and 7 on the second floor. Just head to the Registration desk at the Monte Carlo and you'll see a set of elevators (2). Take the elevator to the 2nd floor and look for East Ballroom 6 and 7. Tom, Mike and me will be stationed upstairs and downstairs to direct you to the right location. If you take the Tram from the Bellagio, the Monte Carlo is the second stop. Just get off there, go down the escalator, through the food court and you'll see the Registration area and the elevators. I'm sorry to move Sunday's events to the Monte Carlo, but a huge convention is moving in on Sunday and taking every single ballroom here. Sorry.

Okay, here is your Schedule of Events and the ballrooms for each live draft. Enjoy.

Thursday, March 30th
Bellagio Las Vegas
4 pm - Welcoming Party, Spa Tower
5 pm - Main Event, DaVinci 2
6 pm - Auction Championship, DaVinci 1
9:30 - Platinum Draft Spot Bidding, Spa Tower Suite

Friday, March 31st
Bellagio Las Vegas
10 am - Auction Championship, DaVinci 1
10 am - NL Auction, DaVinci 2
10 am - AL Auction, DaVinci 3
10 am - $350 Online Championship Plus, Spa Tower Suite
1 pm - $350 Online Championship Plus, Spa Tower Suite
4 pm - Auction Championship, DaVinci 1
4 pm - NL Auction, DaVinci 2
4 pm - $750 Online Championship Plus, DaVinci 3

Saturday, April 1st
Bellagio Las Vegas
10 am - Main Event, DaVinci 1, 2, 3, 4, Raphael 2, 3
4 pm - Super Online, Spa Tower Suite
5 pm - Ultimate Auction, DaVinci 2
6 pm - Platinum League, DaVinci 1

Sunday, April 2nd
MONTE CARLO LAS VEGAS
10 am - Diamond Draft, East Ballroom 6
10 am - Auction Championship, East Ballroom 7
4 pm - Diamond Auction, East Ballroom 6

Safe travels everyone and thanks. This is going to be a FANTASTIC time this weekend. Good luck to all and I'll welcome you all with open arms when you get here!! Thanks.

[Yah Mule]

They're forecasting winds of up to 37 MPH on Thursday. If you're wearing your lucky baseball cap to your draft, be aware you might wind up chasing it down the Strip.

[Philly High Hopes]

Is there any reason that Thursday travelers should be concerned? I'm leaving at 4:50 ET and arriving at 6:40 Vegas time.

I sure hope that high winds don't play havoc on flight schedules.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Is there any reason that Thursday travelers should be concerned? I'm leaving at 4:50 ET and arriving at 6:40 Vegas time.

I sure hope that high winds don't play havoc on flight schedules.

It's going to be very windy here on Thursday. 35 mph winds with gusts up to 60 mph. But after that it's going to be very calm and sunny.

Here's the forecast:

Thursday, March 30th
Partly Cloudy/Wind
81°54° WSW 35 mph

Friday, March 31st
Partly Cloudy/Wind
72°56° NNW 26

Saturday, April 1st
Sunny 78°57°
N 16 mph

Sunday, April 2nd
Sunny
82°59° N 9 mph

Monday, April 3rd
Sunny
75°54 N 15 mph

We haven't had the best weather out here as it's been very windy and cloudy most days. It looks like the wind will continue most of this weekend. The week before they had record temperatures, so the natives here are liking this cloud cover. But Saturday, Sunday, Monday looks pretty sweet.

Safe travels all.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I also want to take the time to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our live events at the Bellagio on both weekends. The First Weekend was a smooth, easy ride with great owners for all of our live drafts and auctions, but the weather quickly turned on Monday and made travel very tough for our Second Weekend guests. Still, we pulled it off and had a GREAT second weekend of drafts and auctions.

Let me just say that the weather SUCKED in Las Vegas for most of the 12 days I was there. Some Las Vegas residents said they have never seen the wind so strong as it was on Thursday. Heck, the Bellagio had to close the swimming pool FOUR TIMES in a seven day period. Even on Monday when it was clear, blue skies and 73 degrees, a storm suddenly came out of nowhere with 40+ mph winds, driving rain, forcing the closure of the pool again. It was insane.

The worst weather occurred on Thursday, the day many of our participants were flying to Las Vegas. They had predicted 60 mph wind gusts that day, so I was worried about this for two days. But it was worse than predicted as wind gusts hit 82 mph and McCarren Airport was closed at 12:30 pm. I looked outside my window at that time and it was dead silence, other than the wind howling. Normally there are tourist helicopters going by every couple of minutes and you can see the flights taking off from the airport. But this time, NOTHING. It was scary.

I thought for sure we'd have to postpone or call off our Auction Championship League that night and our Main Event. But several owners came in the night before or were lucky enough to just get in that morning or early afternoon. I first heard from Dan Semsel, who said his flight got within 500 feet of landing before being diverted to Phoenix. They weren't going to get to Las Vegas in time, so Dan rented a car and drove as far as he could before pulling over and doing his Main Event on the phone with Shawn Childs sitting in his spot and relaying his picks. I think Dan pulled over at a Safeway or convenience store and spent 4 hours there making his picks on the phone while seeing the draft board.

Steven Spatz was coming in from San Diego and they also got within 500 feet of landing before being redirected back to San Diego. They told him they would try again later that afternoon, but he had a business meeting on Friday morning and couldn't take the chance. He jumped in his car and drove to Las Vegas. He was in the Auction Championship league that night, so I was on the phone with him for the first three hours and he got 9 players before walking into the Bellagio ballroom. We got the players he wanted and he was totally prepared and knew who he wanted and who he didn't want. I even saved him a few bucks with his picks!! Steven finished the auction and the reserve round and was very happy, but damn that was dedication there.

Mark Hatton of San Diego was on the same flight as Steven Spatz, but when they returned to San Diego he called me and said he was going to wait around for the return flight to Las Vegas. He stayed on the phone with our Darik Buchar and made every pick before finally getting to the Bellagio in the 29th round. He made his 30th round pick live to close out the draft. Mark and his partner were so excited to participate in the NFBC Main Event live for the first time and they did everything they could to get there, but they missed the live event experience. They drafted the team they wanted, but what a downer for them because of the weather. As Mark said, he woke up in San Diego that morning and didn't even check the forecast. He was just taking a short flight from sunny San Diego to an expected sunny Las Vegas and would have the time of his life. He had no idea there were high winds and a problem landing.

Most folks did get to the Bellagio by Thursday night and we didn't have any issues on Friday morning. One owner had mechanical problems with his plane and we did have to replace him in the morning Auction Championship, but after that everything was fine. Oh, and on Friday morning the Bellagio staff was fishing lawn chairs out of the pools. That wind was so intense that one fountain pool had 25 lawn chairs in it. Crazy, crazy weather.

Thanks all and best of luck this season. It was a great time in Las Vegas, but next year I think Mother Nature owes us one.

[Yah Mule]

I'm really tired of the wind. We have tickets to see Kershaw Vs Gray tomorrow night and they were forecasting 30 mph winds. Thankfully, they've cut that estimate in half the last time I checked.

[Edwards Kings]

http://www.fox25boston.com/news/fire-br ... /512476800

Did I leave a cigar burning on the balcony?

Geez....we thought the wind was bad...