2018 NFBC Schedule Of Events Early Look
Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 3:57 pm
Major League Baseball officially announced its 2018 schedule on Tuesday, which means that plans for the 15th annual National Fantasy Baseball Championship are fully underway.
We had to wait for the official announcement by Major League Baseball before we could get going because we had heard that the season would start a week earlier. In fact, it now starts on Thursday, March 29th for all 30 MLB teams, the first time all teams are having Opening Day on the same day since 1968. The 1968 season began on Wednesday, April 10th with each of the 20 MLB teams in action. This is only the 12th time that the MLB season has started on a Thursday and the first since 2011.
This is good news for a couple of reasons. First of all, it allows us to hold drafts again before any games are played. The last couple of years we've hosted live events and Online drafts on the Sunday that the season started and everyone had "free looks" at that game or more recently those three games that played on Sunday.
Secondly, it returns the NFBC to live drafts on Opening Weekend of March Madness, which was the case for the first decade of our live events. We will now be hosting live NFBC drafts in Las Vegas on Opening Weekend of March Madness and on Sweet Sixteen Weekend. Additionally, St. Patrick's Day falls on Saturday, March 17th, making that First Weekend one of the greatest times in Las Vegas of the season.
So we will be in Las Vegas on First Weekend. We will be in New York City on First Weekend. And there is a chance that we will be in Chicago on First Weekend. We will finalize all of that shortly. Yes, these drafts are now 12 days before Opening Day rather than 8-9 days, but everyone will be drafting with the same information at each particular time within their leagues.
Let's look at that First Weekend Schedule:
Friday, March 16th:
NFBC Auctions in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago
Saturday, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day):
NFBC Main Events in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago
Supers
Sunday, March 18th:
NFBC Auctions in Las Vegas and New York
Main in New York City?
Thursday-Sunday, March 22-25
All Events, including Platinum, Diamond, Ultimate, Super, Main, Auctions in Las Vegas
Tuesday, March 27
Possible Main Event in Las Vegas
Thursday, March 29
MLB Season Begins
This is all tentative, but it makes sense to run out the schedule this way. We are still looking for space among all of the cities, but we had a great NFFC live event at Hotel Penn in New York City and will first look there. It was a great setup for football and we expect the same type of setup for baseball. We also had live coverage of our Super and Main Events from SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and the FNTSY Sports Network and hope to work with both media partners again in March from New York City.
Las Vegas is more up in the air. The Bellagio currently has three full facility conventions scheduled for March 13-27, making our return there tenuous right now. We will continue to work for space there as that is definitely my first choice. We've been there every year for each sport since 2010 and we want to return. But if space isn't available then we have other options. We held football drafts at The Aria last weekend and were pleasantly surprised by the setup and the amount of space at this newer hotel & casino. We are talking with them now.
We'll see about Chicago. We have not pursued space yet, but will start the process soon.
This looks like the schedule MLB will use going forward for the next several years, so let's get this right this year and build on it going forward. We have a lot of positive plans for baseball in 2018 starting with our new SportsHub Technologies software and web site, and continuing into the season. There is a lot of positive buzz going on around here, so be ready for the best season ever.
And as I said at the beginning, this is our 15th season in the NFBC. NFBC XV, if you will. It's an honor to have lasted this long and to be in the position that we are in. We can't wait to get the schedule finalized, the drafting season started and the competition underway. Who's Ready For Some Baseball?
Provide some feedback on the upcoming schedule and we'll tweak it going forward. Thanks all and see you in 2018.
We had to wait for the official announcement by Major League Baseball before we could get going because we had heard that the season would start a week earlier. In fact, it now starts on Thursday, March 29th for all 30 MLB teams, the first time all teams are having Opening Day on the same day since 1968. The 1968 season began on Wednesday, April 10th with each of the 20 MLB teams in action. This is only the 12th time that the MLB season has started on a Thursday and the first since 2011.
This is good news for a couple of reasons. First of all, it allows us to hold drafts again before any games are played. The last couple of years we've hosted live events and Online drafts on the Sunday that the season started and everyone had "free looks" at that game or more recently those three games that played on Sunday.
Secondly, it returns the NFBC to live drafts on Opening Weekend of March Madness, which was the case for the first decade of our live events. We will now be hosting live NFBC drafts in Las Vegas on Opening Weekend of March Madness and on Sweet Sixteen Weekend. Additionally, St. Patrick's Day falls on Saturday, March 17th, making that First Weekend one of the greatest times in Las Vegas of the season.
So we will be in Las Vegas on First Weekend. We will be in New York City on First Weekend. And there is a chance that we will be in Chicago on First Weekend. We will finalize all of that shortly. Yes, these drafts are now 12 days before Opening Day rather than 8-9 days, but everyone will be drafting with the same information at each particular time within their leagues.
Let's look at that First Weekend Schedule:
Friday, March 16th:
NFBC Auctions in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago
Saturday, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day):
NFBC Main Events in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago
Supers
Sunday, March 18th:
NFBC Auctions in Las Vegas and New York
Main in New York City?
Thursday-Sunday, March 22-25
All Events, including Platinum, Diamond, Ultimate, Super, Main, Auctions in Las Vegas
Tuesday, March 27
Possible Main Event in Las Vegas
Thursday, March 29
MLB Season Begins
This is all tentative, but it makes sense to run out the schedule this way. We are still looking for space among all of the cities, but we had a great NFFC live event at Hotel Penn in New York City and will first look there. It was a great setup for football and we expect the same type of setup for baseball. We also had live coverage of our Super and Main Events from SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and the FNTSY Sports Network and hope to work with both media partners again in March from New York City.
Las Vegas is more up in the air. The Bellagio currently has three full facility conventions scheduled for March 13-27, making our return there tenuous right now. We will continue to work for space there as that is definitely my first choice. We've been there every year for each sport since 2010 and we want to return. But if space isn't available then we have other options. We held football drafts at The Aria last weekend and were pleasantly surprised by the setup and the amount of space at this newer hotel & casino. We are talking with them now.
We'll see about Chicago. We have not pursued space yet, but will start the process soon.
This looks like the schedule MLB will use going forward for the next several years, so let's get this right this year and build on it going forward. We have a lot of positive plans for baseball in 2018 starting with our new SportsHub Technologies software and web site, and continuing into the season. There is a lot of positive buzz going on around here, so be ready for the best season ever.
And as I said at the beginning, this is our 15th season in the NFBC. NFBC XV, if you will. It's an honor to have lasted this long and to be in the position that we are in. We can't wait to get the schedule finalized, the drafting season started and the competition underway. Who's Ready For Some Baseball?
Provide some feedback on the upcoming schedule and we'll tweak it going forward. Thanks all and see you in 2018.
