It's hard to believe we have made it this far. I first announced the idea of the National Fantasy Baseball Championship at the Arizona Fall League Symposium in late October of 2003 and at that point I had no idea if this was a good idea or a disastrous one. After I announced this new contest, Gene McCaffery and John Menna came up to me and said "count us in for one team. Love the idea."
And with that, I thought we were off and running.
Little did I know that we'd finish with only 195 of 300 spots filled in Year 1 of the NFBC and my boss almost made the NFBC one-and-done. He gave me one more year to prove this concept was a good idea and after selling out the NFBC Main Event in 2005 we were allowed a little longer string. We sold it out again in 2006 and here we are in 2023, having sold out 18 straight Main Events. That has allowed us to grow the grand prize in the Main Event from $100,000 to this year's record $200,000.
That's right, the grand prize in the NFBC Main Event will be $200,000 for our 20th anniversary season. We finished with a record 705 teams last year even during a 99-day MLB lockout and the future looks bright for this contest. Bob Cramutola of College Grove, Tennessee won the Main Event title as he became our 18th different Main Event champion in 19 seasons. Only NFBC Hall of Famer Lindy Hinkelman has been able to win this contest twice.
We opened Registration on Monday for all of our contests, but our players have been drafting since shortly after the World Series. For the first time in NFBC history, we actually hosted drafts before the World Series was done and we already have over 20 Draft Champions leagues done over the last four weeks. That has allowed our great NFBC ADPs to be available to everyone since mid-October. The NFBC season is off and rolling and I'm confident this will be our biggest and best yet.
The 2023 web site officially went live on Nov. 7th and all of the Rules and Prize Grids are on the contest pages, so check them out here:
https://nfc.shgn.com/gamestyles/baseball
As you can see on that Overview page, we have no fewer than 10 national contests with guaranteed grand prizes. We have several private leagues where all of the prize money stays within the leagues, but we've expanded on the national contests this year with the debut of our new NFBC 12-Team Best Ball National Championship. It is the industry's first year-long best ball national championship; draft-and-be-done style with a guaranteed $10,000 grand prize. Enjoy.
The NFBC Main Event isn't the only contest with a bigger grand prize this year. The NFBC Draft Champions National Championship now has a $40,000 grand prize as we expect close to 5,000 teams this year in that contest. The NFBC Auction Championship goes back to $30,000 this year, while the NFBC Online Auction Championship now has a $10,000 grand prize. While it's not bigger this year, the Rotowire Online Championship again has a $150,000 grand prize, the second largest in the fantasy baseball industry.
We have a lot of Online contest options, but we are hopeful that more people will be able to join us at the live events this year now that there is no threat of an MLB lockout. That hurt participation at our live events last year, and combined with the pandemic, made it tough to host three separate live events. We will not be hosting in Chicago this year, but we will be back in New York City at Dave & Busters on 42nd Street March 17th through the 19th and we'll be in Las Vegas March 23rd through the 26th. With this being our 20th anniversary season, I'd be surprised if we don't sell out every event in New York City and I'm confident that Las Vegas will be our biggest live event in our history. Plan early and set your travel and hotel plans early because Las Vegas is going to be crazy that weekend.
Now let's get drafting. We've created our official Signup List of Live Events for 2023 right here and we will update it every day as new signups come in. We provide this as transparency for all of our events so that you can see where the demand lies and so that you know which sharks are swimming in each pool!!
No NFBC contest is going to be easy, but it's always nice to see who is teeing it up with you, right? There is also a real-time Contest Signups list that you can break down by individual contests here: https://nfc.shgn.com/contestsignups/baseball
So let's begin. Let's start, however, by congratulating last year's incredible champions in each of our national contests. I told you about Bob Cramutola, who won the $175,000 grand prize in the 2022 NFBC Main Event. Bob now joins our other past NFBC Main Event champions such as Artie Rastelli, Brian Oldenski, David DiDonato, Terry Haney, Bobby Jurney, Lindy Hinkelman (twice), Dave Potts, Steve Jupinka, Ken Norred/Dan Semsel, Greg & Dale Morgan, Glenn Schroter, Rob Silver, Chris Fessler, John Pausma, Abdul Madani, James Tomony and Philippe Dussault. That's an All-Star lineup of owners if I've ever seen one.
Winning the record $150,000 grand prize in the 2022 Rotowire Sprint Online Championship was Andrew Geller as he defeated a record field of 2,388 teams. Also, kudos to Joshua Dawalt for winning the $75,000 grand prize in the NFBC Cutline Championship; Steven Cozzolino for winning the $20,000 grand prize in the NFBC Auction Championship; Steve Maier for winning the $30,000 grand prize in the NFBC Draft Champions National Championship; and Gregg Martin for winning the $7,000 grand prize in the NFBC Online Auction Championship. There were many, many other great national champions, so check out the Message Boards for all of those writeups from those great seasons.
Now who is going to win the top prizes in 2023? Let's find out.
It's time to officially kick off our 2023 NFBC Season with this Signup List of Live Events and all High-Stakes events. We will update this list with every signup that comes in. Remember that we won't charge for any of these Live Events until Feb. 15th if you agree to pay by check or credit card and no down payment is needed. Just sign up now to secure your spot in any of these events and pay on Feb. 15th. Every signup after Feb. 15th will be charged as they come in. If you do sign up for events using Money on your Player Account, those will be deducted right away. We recommend that you use money from your Player Account to avoid the 2% credit card fees. Also, keep an eye on all events and SIGN UP NOW so that you're not left behind. There's too much prize money on the line to be left out. Thanks all.
Here's the list to date, which will be updated every time a new signup comes here. Thanks all and good luck:
2022 NATIONAL FANTASY BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
NFBC MAIN EVENT -- 15 TEAMS
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Thursday, March 23, 4 pm PT
1. Daniel DaSilva
2. Michael Mager
3. Christopher Cosley
4. Scott Waggener
5. Jason Anthony
6. Jody Ryan
7. Matthew Davis
8. Donald Warner
9. Steve Maier
10. Matthew Shepherd
11. John Pausma
12. Clark Olson
13. Shawn Childs
14. Robert DiPietro
15. Christopher Schinker
16. Bill Gaffney
17. Markus Sultan
18. Jeff Mitseff
19. Dustin Wagner
LAS VEGAS MAIN EVENT
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Saturday, March 25, 11 am PT
1. Daniel DaSilva
2. Scott Fleming
3. Mike Massotto
4. Anthony Gialde
5. chad fleming
6. Michael Mager
7. Eric Albright
8. Scott Waggener
9. Jon Stadtmueller
10. Todd Whitestone
11. Jason Anthony
12. Philippe Dussault
13. Joe Meyer
14. Jeffery Cox
15. Stephen Jupinka
16. Scott Zeidman
17. Ralph Ehrman
18. Russel Wyatt
19. Jeff Tudor
20. Matthew Davis
21. Donald Warner
22. Mark Srebro
23. Jeffrey Zimmerman
24. Wayne Edwards
25. Marc Winokur
26. John Pausma
27. David Bone
28. Dave Clum
29. Bill Macey
30. Toby Guevin
31. Mark Bendar
32. Scott Jenstad
33. Gregg Martin
34. Steve Maier
35. Matthew Shepherd
36. Daniel Semsel
37. Paul Sporer
38. rusty clark
39. Steven Metzler
40. Douglas Gruber
41. Bradley Beckman
42. Clark Olson
43. Michael O'Brien
44. robert cramutola
45. Tony Pignotti
46. Andrew Geller
47. Shawn Childs
48. Ken Magner
49. Jenny Butler
50. Timothy Pamperin
51. Robert DiPietro
52. Mark Northan
53. Don benson
54. Gene McCaffrey
55. Jacob Halusker
56. MICHAEL GOVIER
57. Josh Jantas
58. KJ Duke
59. Roger Garvin
60. Tony DiVincenzo
61. Griffin Benger
62. MATT STRICKLER
63. James Maples
64. David Potts
65. Philip Glukhovsky
66. Jeff Campbell
67. Christopher Schinker
68. Tim Lilly
69. Jeff Mitseff
70. Ryan Faye
71. Scott Ross
72. Bryan Fitzgerald
73. Les Travis
74. Vlad Sedler
75. John Roberts
76. Rob Silver
77. Ante Meich
78. Eddie Gillis
79. Jason Gill
80. James Tomony
81. Jeff Erickson
82. Mike Duggan
83. Dustin Wagner
84. stephen fiore
85. David Duncan
LAS VEGAS MAIN EVENT
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Sunday, March 26, 10 am PT
1. Scott Waggener
2. robert cramutola
3. Tony Pignotti
4. Michelle Smith
5. KJ Duke
6. Gregory Glukhovsky
7. Don benson
LAS VEGAS MAIN EVENT
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Sunday, March 26, 4 pm PT
1. Scott Waggener
2. Todd Whitestone
3. Rick Davis
4. Scott Fleming
5. Michael O'Brien
6. Philip Glukhovsky
7. Jeff Mitseff
8. Mike Duggan
9. Anthony Mezzatesta
10. Markus Sultan
11. Dustin Wagner
NEW YORK MAIN EVENT
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Saturday, March 18, 10 am ET
1. Mike Massotto
2. Michael Mager
3. Anthony Palavis
4. Steven Weimer
5. Brian Edwards
6. Bob Casale
7. Eric Gailing
8. robert cramutola
9. Richard Talley
10. Patrick F. Cooney III
11. Nelson Sousa
12. Michael DeCavalcante
NFBC MAIN EVENT
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Saturday, March 18, 2 pm ET
1. Mike Massotto
2. Stephen Jupinka
3. Mark Bendar
4. Daniel Semsel
5. Chris Garcia
6. Michael Amarante
NFBC MAIN EVENT
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Sunday, March 19, 10 am ET
1. Steven Cozzolino
2. Joe Anthony
3. Michael DeCavalcante
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Saturday, March 18, 2 pm ET
1. Ryan Beck
2. Kyle Pantalone (10 am)
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Saturday, March 18, 8 pm ET
1. Jason Shook
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Sunday, March 19, 8 pm ET
1. David Einhorn
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Monday, March 20, 8 pm ET
1. Paul Jager
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Thursday, March 23, 7 pm ET
1. Matthew Davis
2. Ken O'Brien
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Friday, March 24, 4 pm ET
1. RICHARD DIMONDO
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Friday, March 24, 8 pm ET
1. Mark Dillon
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Saturday, March 25, 2 pm ET
1. Tony Saccucci
2. JOHN LEARY
3. Thomas Warner
4. Kyle Pantalone
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Saturday, March 25, 4 pm ET
1. RICHARD DIMONDO
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Saturday, March 25, 8 pm ET
1. Benjamin Graff
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Sunday, March 26, 1 pm ET
1. Tony Saccucci
2. RICHARD DIMONDO
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Sunday, March 26, 7 pm ET
1. RICHARD DIMONDO
2. Scott Masel
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Sunday, March 26, 8 pm ET
1. Steven Heffernan
2. Mark Dillon
3. Raymond Ventura
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Sunday, March 26, 10 pm ET
1. RICHARD DIMONDO
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Monday, March 27, 7 pm ET
1. rusty clark
2. Scott Feschuk
3. Lawrence Schechter
4. Marc Fleisher
5. Ken O'Brien
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Monday, March 27, 8 pm ET
1. Mike Ballschmiede
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Tuesday, March 28, 7 pm ET
1. RICHARD DIMONDO
2. Lawrence Schechter
3. Marc Fleisher
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Tuesday, March 28, 8 pm ET
1. Jody Ryan
2. Scott Cohan
3. Mark Dillon
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Tuesday, March 28, 7 pm ET
1. Bob Casale
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Tuesday, March 28, 10 pm ET
1. Scott Waggener
2. RICHARD DIMONDO
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Wednesday, March 29, 7 pm ET
1. Eric David
2. Lawrence Schechter
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Wednesday, March 29, 8 pm ET
1. Eric Albright
2. Jody Ryan
3. Michael Mager
4. Scott Feschuk
5. Mike Ballschmiede
6. ASHLEY AINSWORTH
7. SCOTT RAHALEY
8. stephen fiore
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Wednesday, March 29, 9 pm ET
1. Shawn Childs
2. Raymond Ventura
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Wednesday, March 29, 10 pm ET
1. Scott Waggener
2. Matt Hurley
3. MICHAEL RICHARDS
4. Robbie Brown
5. Les Travis
6. Mark Steahly
NFBC MAIN EVENT
ONLINE
Thursday, March 30, 9 am PT
1. Alan Gellin
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Thursday, March 23, 4 pm PT
1. Errol Thompson
2. Alan Holmes
3. Lindy Hinkelman
4. Ronald Vackar
5. Douglas Gruber
6. Greg Lathrop
7. Patrick Longood
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Friday, March 24, 10 am PT
1. Scott Waggener
2. Richard Gordon
3. Donald Warner
4. Wayne Edwards
5. Marc Winokur
6. Robert Giese
7. Ante Meich
8. Douglas Gruber
9. Dale Donmoyer
10. Ken Magner
11. Jenny Butler
12. Daniel Semsel
13. chad fleming
14. Jacob Halusker
15. Ryan Searight
16. Ross Berg
17. Jason Gill
NFBC $2,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Friday, March 24, 10 am PT
1. Jon Stadtmueller
2. Anthony Mezzatesta
3. Jody Ryan
4. Alan Holmes
5. brody john
6. Matthew Shepherd
7. John Pausma
8. Les Travis
9. Vlad Sedler
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Friday, March 24, 4 pm PT
1. Eric Albright
2. chad fleming
3. Christopher Cosley
4. Scott Waggener
5. Ralph Ehrman
6. Russel Wyatt
7. Alan Holmes
8. John Pausma
9. Dave Clum
10. Robert Giese
11. John Lyons
12. Marc Winokur
13. Anthony Mezzatesta
14. Rick Davis
15. Steve Maier
16. Mark Northan
17. Don benson
18. KJ Duke
19. Gregory Glukhovsky
20. Zach Bettencourt
21. MATT STRICKLER
22. Douglas Gruber
23. Jason Wanic
24. Michael O'Brien
NFBC $2,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Saturday, March 25, 4 pm PT
1. Jason Anthony
2. Jody Ryan
3. Toby Guevin
4. Mark Srebro
5. Christopher Cosley
6. brody john
7. Robert Giese
8. Matthew Shepherd
9. Anthony Mezzatesta
10. Ante Meich
11. Stephen Jupinka
12. Scott keikoan
13. Zach Bettencourt
14. Patrick Longood
15. Les Travis
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Saturday, March 25, 4 pm PT
1. Eric Albright
2. Christopher Cosley
3. Scott Waggener
4. Errol Thompson
5. Jeffrey Zimmerman
6. Michael Mager
7. Eliot Stevenson
8. Michael O'Brien
9. Joseph Reagor
10. Philip Glukhovsky
11. James Maples
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Sunday, March 26, 10 am PT
1. Donald Warner
2. Lindy Hinkelman
3. John Pausma
4. Kelly Uganski
5. Ken Magner
6. Robert DiPietro
7. Jenny Butler
8. Jody Ryan
9. Timothy Pamperin
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Monday, March 27, 10 am PT
1. Jon Stadtmueller
2. Jenny Butler
3. Matthew Shepherd
4. Daniel Semsel
5. Jason Duponte
6. David Potts
7. Jeff Campbell
8. Errol Thompson
9. Steve Fiore
10. Scott Keikoan
11. Donald Warner (tentative)
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Friday, March 17, 9 am ET
1. Richard Talley
2. Anthony Palavis
3. Steven Weimer
4. Michael Mager
5. Steven Cozzolino
6. Bob Casale
7. matt bruinix
8. Ben Zamfino
9. Ariel Cohen
10. Roy Davis
11. Andy Saxton
12. Brian Zirlin
13. Zack Greenburg
NFBC $2,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Friday, March 17, 2:30 pm ET
Jason Duponte
2. Richard Talley
3. Anthony Mezzatesta
4. Michael Wallis
5. matt bruinix
6. Ben Zamfino
7. Dan Satinoff
8. brody john
9. Roy Davis
10. Michael DeCavalcante
11. Ken Magner
12. Robert DiPietro
13. Glenn Schroter
14. Roy Ericson III
15. Andy Saxton
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Saturday, March 18, 2:30 pm ET
1. David Einhorn
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Sunday, March 19, 2 pm ET
1. Steven Weimer
2. Emilio Cutaneo
NFBC $1,500 AUCTION CHAMPIONSHIP
ONLINE
Sunday, March 26, 6 pm ET
1. Mike Rothe
NFBC $1,000 DRAFT CHAMPIONS LIVE
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Saturday, March 18, 2 pm ET
1. Michael Mager
NFBC $1,000 DRAFT CHAMPIONS LIVE
LAS VEGAS, Mirage
Friday, March 24, 4 pm PT
1. Michelle Smith
NFBC $1,000 DRAFT CHAMPIONS LIVE
LAS VEGAS, Mirage
Saturday, March 25, 4 pm PT
1. Bobby Long
ROTOWIRE ONLINE CHAMPIONSHIP LIVE
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Friday, March 24, 10 am PT
1. Jeffrey Zimmerman
2. Dave Clum
3. Michael O'Brien
4. Bill Gaffney
5. Robert DiPietro
6. Kyle Borth
7. Christopher Schinker (prefers 1 pm)
8. James Tomony
9. robert cramutola
10. Lindy Hinkelman
11. Steve Saunders
12. Chad Fleming
NFBC SUPER LEAGUE
ONLINE
Tuesday, March 21, 8 pm ET
1. matt modica
2. Kyle Brinkmann
3. Anthony Botzo
NFBC SUPER LEAGUE
LAS VEGAS/ONLINE
Thursday, March 23, 5 pm PT/8 pm ET
1. Kyle Brinkmann
2. Russell Weyland
NFBC SUPER LEAGUE
LAS VEGAS/ONLINE
Saturday, March 25, 4 pm PT/7 pm PT
1. matt modica
2. Kyle Brinkmann (O)
3. Anthony Botzo
4. Ken O'Brien (O)
NFBC SUPER LEAGUE
LAS VEGAS/ONLINE
Sunday, March 26, 4 pm PT/7 pm ET
1. Toby Guevin
2. Anthony Gialde
3. Mark Northan
4. Greg Lathrop
5. Steve Fiore
NFBC 12-TEAM SUPER LEAGUE
ONLINE
Tuesday, March 28, 8 pm ET
1. Jeff Zimmerman
2. Shawn Johnson
3. Michael Miranda
4. John Pausma
5. Kyle Brinkmann
NFBC 15-TEAM SUPER LEAGUE
ONLINE
Wednesday, March 29, 8 pm ET
1. matt modica
2. Kyle Brinkmann
3. John Fish
4. Marc Fleisher
5. Russell Weyland
NFBC MTM INVITATIONAL NEW YORK ULTIMATE LEAGUE
NEW YORK - Dave & Busters
Friday, March 17, 8 pm ET
1. Jason Duponte
2. robert cramutola
3. Mike Massotto
4. Michael Mager
5. Anthony Palavis
6. Leonard Ringle
7. Daniel Semsel
8. Simon Hanft
9. Scott Fleming
10. Stephen Jupinka
11. Marc Perlmutter
12. Shawn Johnson
13. Eric Albright
14. Steven Weimer
15. David Einhorn
NFBC ULTIMATE LEAGUE
ONLINE
Wednesday, March 22, 8 pm ET
1. Kyle Brinkmann
2. matt modica
NFBC ULTIMATE AUCTION LEAGUE
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Friday, March 24, 4 pm ET
1. Jason Duponte
2. Philippe Dussault
3. Matthew Shepherd
4. Jon Stadtmueller
5. Jason Anthony
6. Scott keikoan
7. Scott Fleming
8. Kelly Uganski
9. brody john
10. Andy Robinson
11. Errol Thompson
12. James Maples
13. Lindy Hinkelman
14. Patrick Longood
15. Greg Lathrop
NFBC ULTIMATE LEAGUE
ONLINE
Monday, March 27, 8 pm ET
1. Kyle Brinkmann
2. matt modica
NFBC ULTIMATE LEAGUE
ONLINE
Tuesday, March 28, 8 pm ET
1. Philippe Dussault
2. Stephen Jupinka
NFBC DIAMOND AUCTION LEAGUE
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Sunday, March 26, 10 am PT
1. Jason Duponte
2. Matthew Shepherd
3. Patrick Longood
4. Toby Guevin
5. Rob Silver
6. Christopher Cosley
7. Jon Stadtmueller
8. Scott Keikoan
9. Nic Cassavetes
10. Greg Lathrop
11. Scott Fleming
12. Shawn Johnson
13. Alan Mitchell
14. Andy Robinson
15. Errol Thompson
NFBC DIAMOND LEAGUE
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Sunday, March 26, 4 pm PT
1. Philippe Dussault
2. Larry Schechter
3. Matthew Shepherd
4. Leonard Ringle
5. Jon Stadtmueller
6. Ken O'Brien
7. Doug Gruber
8. Shawn Johnson
9. Steve Jupinka
10. Matt Modica
11. Doug Moe
12. Anthony Botzo
13. Glenn Schroter
14. robert cramutola
15. Jim Ferrari
NFBC PLATINUM LEAGUE
LAS VEGAS - Mirage
Saturday, March 25, 4 pm PT
1. Jason Duponte
2. Larry Schechter
3. robert cramutola
4. Paul Jager
5. Rob Silver
6. Jon Stadtmueller
7. Jim Ferrari
8. Alan Mitchell
9. Andy Robinson
10. Joe Martens
11. Doug Gruber
12. Doug Moe
13. Glenn Schroter
14. steve veneziano
15. Greg Lathrop
