Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Purple Helmets
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Purple Helmets » Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:09 pm

Well hotel rates in Vegas thru at least April are now about what they were in year one for the NFBC, if not lower. The hotel industry is getting crushed. Here in San Diego hotel occupancies that were usually 70% or higher are hovering around 20% at best. And nowhere are hotels being impacted more than in LV. Greg they'll be welcoming you and the NFBC back with open arms in April or May and likely for the foreseeable future beyond those months.

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KJ Duke
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by KJ Duke » Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:45 pm

Purple Helmets wrote:
Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:09 pm
Well hotel rates in Vegas thru at least April are now about what they were in year one for the NFBC, if not lower. The hotel industry is getting crushed. Here in San Diego hotel occupancies that were usually 70% or higher are hovering around 20% at best. And nowhere are hotels being impacted more than in LV. Greg they'll be welcoming you and the NFBC back with open arms in April or May and likely for the foreseeable future beyond those months.
I'll think about it as soon as they get rid of resort fees. Here's their opportunity to stop being d*@4heads to customers. :) Honest pricing.
Last edited by KJ Duke on Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Greg Ambrosius
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:52 pm

Roy's Outlaws wrote:
Thu Mar 12, 2020 5:53 pm
Gekko wrote:
Thu Mar 12, 2020 5:28 pm
Greg Ambrosius wrote:
Thu Mar 12, 2020 5:15 pm
Now if you don’t mind I would like to continue drinking in an abandoned Manhattan bar!!! Thank you.
A core group of us NFBC fanatics were suppose to be there with you right now. I wish we were there.

Thank you very much for everything you, Tom and Darik pulled off in the last 24 hours. Can’t even imagine the stress all of this created on you guys. Even though we occasionally have our differences, you guys have always been first class.
I wish we where all there drinking and getting ready to DRAFT. And everything was back to normal ,drunk and late night in the city. Hopefully next year we will make up for this nightmare.
Roy, we were just together two weeks ago in Tampa and today feels like a lifetime ago. It's hard to believe how much things have changed in 14 short days. Let's hope the next two months change in the other direction and we are back to "normal". See you next year at First Pitch Florida.
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Tom Kessenich
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Tom Kessenich » Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:56 pm

I may have had a drink too many tonight to ease the pain.

NY was set up to be a monster weekend.
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Roy's Outlaws
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Roy's Outlaws » Thu Mar 12, 2020 7:34 pm

KJ Duke wrote:
Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:45 pm
Purple Helmets wrote:
Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:09 pm
Well hotel rates in Vegas thru at least April are now about what they were in year one for the NFBC, if not lower. The hotel industry is getting crushed. Here in San Diego hotel occupancies that were usually 70% or higher are hovering around 20% at best. And nowhere are hotels being impacted more than in LV. Greg they'll be welcoming you and the NFBC back with open arms in April or May and likely for the foreseeable future beyond those months.
I'll think about it as soon as they get rid of resort fees. Here's their opportunity to stop being d*@4heads to customers. :) Honest pricing.
I AGREED resorts fee are a joke ! $14 per day of resorts fee is to pay for Raiders new stadium. Vegas love to whack the tourist in fee to pay for all the new toys they want. Sucks ,they are ruining Vegas IMO. Paid $50 for breakfast in a casino superbowl weekend. I rememeber $1.99 steak and eggs breakfast everywhere

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Greg Ambrosius
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Fri Mar 13, 2020 6:38 am

Okay, in the official statement thread I have posted that we have cancelled all Las Vegas live events.

We've also cancelled the live Auction Championship, the Ultimate Auction League and the Diamond Auction League.

We will change all Main Event and Solo Shot and Super, Ultimate, Diamond and Platinum draft leagues to TBDs later today. We may not fill all of those going forward and will determine that once everyone knows what the new draft dates and times are, so hang tight with us. This is uncharted waters for all of us.

What we really need is a realistic timeline and plan from MLB to the start of the season. Once we have that we can create two weeks of draft dates and times and let you guys tell us what you can and can't do. If we have to refund entries we will, but give us time to get to that point.

Today's mission is to cancel all live auction entries and return that money onto your Player Accounts. Give us space to do that today and then to switch those entries above to TBDs and we'll get onto the next step of business. Thanks all and stay well/healthy.
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:13 am

The Masters just postponed its tournament.

If The Masters cancels in mid-April, how does Major League Baseball expect to be playing fully and have Opening Day on April 12th?? I wish MLB would step up and quickly push the start date back to a realistic date. Maybe they will prove me wrong, but they are the only league in this country still acting like all will be fine in two weeks. I wish they'd get aggressive and move this start date back to a more reasonable date.
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Gekko
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Gekko » Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:27 am

I don’t think anyone has any idea when this will be over. Unless this virus is totally eliminated, I mean 100%, isn’t there a strong likelihood it stays around for a while?

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Greg Ambrosius
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:54 am

Jeff Passan says MLB officials are saying that realistic start date is we won't see baseball until May. That's the word from everyone he is talking with inside baseball management. That makes more sense and gives us time to plan accordingly.

Now let's hear an official word from Rob Manfred, so everyone can plan accordingly.
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Gekko
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Gekko » Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:29 am

I will tell you...if you have live events this year in Vegas and/or nyc, I will be there

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Greg Ambrosius
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:36 am

Gekko wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:29 am
I will tell you...if you have live events this year in Vegas and/or nyc, I will be there
I believe Jeff Passan and I believe intellectual baseball folks will do the right thing and pick a date in early May to have Opening Day. And we'll have to see if they stick with a Thursday Opening Day or do it on the weekend. But if the country did have a hold on the coronavirus and we weren't playing games in front of no fans or we weren't still all quarantined, we'd consider live events the weekend before the Thursday openers in both cities.

Now I'm just spit balling here, but you never know.

My main goal is for Major League Baseball to set a true starting date and then we'll ramp up Mains, Solo Shots, Supers, Ultimates, Diamonds and more online with actual draft dates and let everyone check their schedules. That last week would be so busy online it would make our heads swim, but we'd ramp up with personnel to watch all the online drafts and get it done. And if we did have interest in live, well, you know I'd take Las Vegas and Tom would take New York!!! But no idea if any of that is even possible right now as far as hotel space, costs, etc. But a man can dream, can't he? :lol:

Let's all keep our eyes on the news and HOPE that our government can tackle this beast and kill it. Good luck to everyone involved and hopefully we can still have a meaningful season and maybe (I said maybe) some live events. But a full and robust Online schedule for sure. Thanks all.
Greg Ambrosius
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Gekko
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Gekko » Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:46 am

Sounds very good, Greg! What city for Darik?

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Wolfpac
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Wolfpac » Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:05 am

Gekko wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:46 am
Sounds very good, Greg! What city for Darik?
Mobile or Peoria

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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by fwicker » Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:44 am

Not to be a downer but I believe that a range of plans is in order, including no MLB 2020 season. If you look at the disease inflection curves for the U.S. they resemble Italy and France, not China and South Korea.
"You can observe a lot by watching" - Yogi Berra

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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Yah Mule » Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:14 am

Greg Ambrosius wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:36 am
Gekko wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 9:29 am
I will tell you...if you have live events this year in Vegas and/or nyc, I will be there
I believe Jeff Passan and I believe intellectual baseball folks will do the right thing and pick a date in early May to have Opening Day. And we'll have to see if they stick with a Thursday Opening Day or do it on the weekend. But if the country did have a hold on the coronavirus and we weren't playing games in front of no fans or we weren't still all quarantined, we'd consider live events the weekend before the Thursday openers in both cities.

Now I'm just spit balling here, but you never know.

My main goal is for Major League Baseball to set a true starting date and then we'll ramp up Mains, Solo Shots, Supers, Ultimates, Diamonds and more online with actual draft dates and let everyone check their schedules. That last week would be so busy online it would make our heads swim, but we'd ramp up with personnel to watch all the online drafts and get it done. And if we did have interest in live, well, you know I'd take Las Vegas and Tom would take New York!!! But no idea if any of that is even possible right now as far as hotel space, costs, etc. But a man can dream, can't he? :lol:

Let's all keep our eyes on the news and HOPE that our government can tackle this beast and kill it. Good luck to everyone involved and hopefully we can still have a meaningful season and maybe (I said maybe) some live events. But a full and robust Online schedule for sure. Thanks all.
What would be the minimum number of Main Event leagues and Auction Championship leagues necessary to fund overall prizes and consolations?

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Greg Ambrosius
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:25 am

fwicker wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:44 am
Not to be a downer but I believe that a range of plans is in order, including no MLB 2020 season. If you look at the disease inflection curves for the U.S. they resemble Italy and France, not China and South Korea.
I hate to be a downer too, but of course there are a range of plans in place. And they include everything from starting April 7th to cancelling the season. That's not news; it's the reality. NOBODY knows what is going to happen next, so I'm not sure how this helps.

Let's hope our leaders do all they can to get this under control and life resumes in weeks. If not, then you win for telling us how this was going to play out.
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:28 am

Jim, there will be no Auction Championship overall prizes no matter what happens next. If we were lucky enough to host a live event in the future, all auctions would be private leagues with bigger league prizes. No overall prize structure at all.

We are not adjusting the Main Event at this point, even though we don't know how many people will stay in it or how many people will add to them. I think we have 535 entries now and so our hope is that there's still time to make this work. Nobody knows what is going to happen next, but at this point we are committed to that prize pool. Hopefully you all still will support us if MLB starts in May and has a rather full season. Thanks.
Greg Ambrosius
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fwicker
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by fwicker » Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:38 am

"Let's hope our leaders do all they can to get this under control and life resumes in weeks. If not, then you win for telling us how this was going to play out.

I don't think I'd win anything Greg. I'll stop posting.
"You can observe a lot by watching" - Yogi Berra

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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by TheSeige » Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:46 am

Where are we at right now with midnight madness, assume that’s cancelled for good? If so when can we be looking for those refunds to be processed (thinking about torturing myself in that $750 auction)

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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Fri Mar 13, 2020 12:29 pm

TheSeige wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:46 am
Where are we at right now with midnight madness, assume that’s cancelled for good? If so when can we be looking for those refunds to be processed (thinking about torturing myself in that $750 auction)
That will be moved to TBD. Contact Darik to switch that entry to any online auction entry.
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Yah Mule
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Yah Mule » Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:00 pm

Greg Ambrosius wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:28 am
Jim, there will be no Auction Championship overall prizes no matter what happens next. If we were lucky enough to host a live event in the future, all auctions would be private leagues with bigger league prizes. No overall prize structure at all.

We are not adjusting the Main Event at this point, even though we don't know how many people will stay in it or how many people will add to them. I think we have 535 entries now and so our hope is that there's still time to make this work. Nobody knows what is going to happen next, but at this point we are committed to that prize pool. Hopefully you all still will support us if MLB starts in May and has a rather full season. Thanks.
I expected that would be the decision and support it fully.

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KJ Duke
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by KJ Duke » Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:13 pm

Gekko wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:27 am
I don’t think anyone has any idea when this will be over. Unless this virus is totally eliminated, I mean 100%, isn’t there a strong likelihood it stays around for a while?
The virus isn't going away, it is part of the world now just like other flu viruses. If the country waits until it is 100% eradicated we will all be dead from starvation.

Likewise, if the economy shuts down until there is a vaccine - maybe next flu season - more people could die from the economic fallout than the virus. The worst in terms of transmission risk is likely to be over the next month or so - at which point my working assumption is that daily activity begins to normalize. There is a clear cost/benefit curve to shutting down the economy vs infection fallout (this is nowhere near the SARS/Ebola level of medical threat), and that will begin to shift quickly as we get thru flu season.

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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Philippe27 » Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:55 pm

KJ Duke wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:13 pm
Gekko wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:27 am
I don’t think anyone has any idea when this will be over. Unless this virus is totally eliminated, I mean 100%, isn’t there a strong likelihood it stays around for a while?
The virus isn't going away, it is part of the world now just like other flu viruses. If the country waits until it is 100% eradicated we will all be dead from starvation.

Likewise, if the economy shuts down until there is a vaccine - maybe next flu season - more people could die from the economic fallout than the virus. The worst in terms of transmission risk is likely to be over the next month or so - at which point my working assumption is that daily activity begins to normalize. There is a clear cost/benefit curve to shutting down the economy vs infection fallout (this is nowhere near the SARS/Ebola level of medical threat), and that will begin to shift quickly as we get thru flu season.
Maybe I'm crazy but I think in reality there's tens of millions of people that have this around the World and the death rate is in reality like 0.1%. Once they realize that they'll just decide to reopen everything and live with it like the flu.

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Gekko
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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Gekko » Fri Mar 13, 2020 3:02 pm

Philippe27 wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:55 pm
KJ Duke wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:13 pm
Gekko wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:27 am
I don’t think anyone has any idea when this will be over. Unless this virus is totally eliminated, I mean 100%, isn’t there a strong likelihood it stays around for a while?
The virus isn't going away, it is part of the world now just like other flu viruses. If the country waits until it is 100% eradicated we will all be dead from starvation.

Likewise, if the economy shuts down until there is a vaccine - maybe next flu season - more people could die from the economic fallout than the virus. The worst in terms of transmission risk is likely to be over the next month or so - at which point my working assumption is that daily activity begins to normalize. There is a clear cost/benefit curve to shutting down the economy vs infection fallout (this is nowhere near the SARS/Ebola level of medical threat), and that will begin to shift quickly as we get thru flu season.
Maybe I'm crazy but I think in reality there's tens of millions of people that have this around the World and the death rate is in reality like 0.1%. Once they realize that they'll just decide to reopen everything and live with it like the flu.
The folks that were in that Washington nursing home may disagree with you on that one

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Re: Open Chat With Greg, Tom & Darik

Post by Philippe27 » Fri Mar 13, 2020 3:17 pm

Gekko wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 3:02 pm
Philippe27 wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 2:55 pm
KJ Duke wrote:
Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:13 pm


The virus isn't going away, it is part of the world now just like other flu viruses. If the country waits until it is 100% eradicated we will all be dead from starvation.

Likewise, if the economy shuts down until there is a vaccine - maybe next flu season - more people could die from the economic fallout than the virus. The worst in terms of transmission risk is likely to be over the next month or so - at which point my working assumption is that daily activity begins to normalize. There is a clear cost/benefit curve to shutting down the economy vs infection fallout (this is nowhere near the SARS/Ebola level of medical threat), and that will begin to shift quickly as we get thru flu season.
Maybe I'm crazy but I think in reality there's tens of millions of people that have this around the World and the death rate is in reality like 0.1%. Once they realize that they'll just decide to reopen everything and live with it like the flu.
The folks that were in that Washington nursing home may disagree with you on that one
We'll see, truth is we know nothing about this. Either it doesn't spread nearly as quickly as they say it does or everyone has it without knowing it and it's already out of control. What they're saying doesn't add up though.

I just find it odd that Trudeau's wife here in Canada comes back from London and she's the only one with the virus (because she had a slight fever and got tested) when thousands of people have been coming back from London and other places in Europe for the past week.

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