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Some of the best contests in the NFBC were suggestions that were made by our customers.

Chalk up one more to our customers: The NFBC Gladiator Leagues.

This new national championship debuted yesterday and quickly sold out. It's the simplest game we've ever offered, but it's so unique that I think it will become a HUGE hit.

Here's the concept to the NFBC Gladiator League:

* Cost of Entry: $50
* 15-Team Leagues
* 5 x 5 Roto Standings
* Pay Top 3 in each League, including $250 to 1st Place
* Pay Top 25 overall, including $7,500 to the overall champion
* 23 Man Rosters; everyone drafts a legal lineup
* No FAAB, No Set Lineup

That's it. Basically you are drafting your 23 starters and letting the season play out. You have no replacements and no work to do after Draft Day. It's a Gladiator league where the healthy survive. You could actually lose half your lineup or more during the season and still be in contention for league prizes because other teams will also have issues.

The cost is low, the drafting is fun and the maintenance in nothing. Just draft and be done, while trying to turn $50 into $7,500.

We'll have slow drafts and nightly drafts and both shouldn't take long to complete. 15 teams, 23 rounds with the top Gladiator winning!!

Enjoy everyone.

Are you not entertained?

These are going to make draft boards look insane. Keep in mind a 125 Minimum IP threshold allows crazy diversification with pitching. This was hatched on a Friday night zoom call I was invited to with a bunch of great NFBC customers.

I apologize in advance if I forget anyone that was in the room, but major props to John Fish, Zack Waxman, Anthony Gialde, Jason Duponte, Ryan Venancio, Rob DiPietro, et al that wouldn't let me leave that night without agreeing to something

Well done, gentlemen. We have a new monster in the NFBC catalog!

Sorry, all I can think of when I hear that a bunch of guys came up with this hanging out together is this:

You have to do some of these with us this winter!

Great concept!

As a long timer, love the concept. Not doing lineups is a big bonus. Appreciate it is a 15 team league. I was wondering if it will cut into the draft champions. Probably not. Also, I like doing leagues that prepare for the main event. Wish it were 30 rounds with all thirty in your lineup. Three catchers, three corners, three middle infielders, six outfielders, ten pitchers. Something like that. Just a thought. Kudos to those who came up with this.

lrr wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 18, 2022 10:37 am

As a long timer, love the concept. Not doing lineups is a big bonus. Appreciate it is a 15 team league. I was wondering if it will cut into the draft champions. Probably not. Also, I like doing leagues that prepare for the main event. Wish it were 30 rounds with all thirty in your lineup. Three catchers, three corners, three middle infielders, six outfielders, ten pitchers. Something like that. Just a thought. Kudos to those who came up with this.

Thanks for the feedback Leonard. Yeah, Gladiator Leagues are draft and be done. If we went 30 rounds and we started all 30 it would still be the same concept; when someone gets hurt they get a zero. In the current format, it's 23 Gladiators instead of 30 Gladiators who either survive or die on their own. That's the concept and honestly it's pretty damn cool.

This contest has the chance for nightly live drafts in November, December and January, something Draft Champions and even the Rotowire Online Championship leagues can't get done that early. Yes, we risk cutting into other contests like the Draft Champions National Championship, the $50 DCs and even the Best Ball contests, but you have to remain innovative to grow. Hopefully this brings in some new customers to the NFBC and/or gets some of our veterans drafting earlier than they had planned. Everyone loves to DRAFT, so this is a fun, easy concept to jump into.

Again, I like the idea of nightly drafts and some guys are even creating Zoom rooms to trash talk during these Gladiator drafts. LOVE IT. Enjoy the concept and at season's end we can discuss if any tweaks to the format are needed. But for now, may the best Gladiator win.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in the debut NFBC Gladiator National Championship. These leagues are filling faster than we ever imagined and in less than a month we are already over 30 percent full of our goal.

Just a heads up that we are expecting to fill 100 leagues and finish with 1,500 teams. We are not planning on going beyond that level and we do not plan on adding a second national contest. Once this contest reaches its goal, we will shut this format off and go forward with our other contests. It's very possible that this contest fills in January or before, so secure your teams when you can and be ready to draft.

This is a great early season drafting format, but we expect demand for the deeper leagues to pick up as we get closer to Opening Day. Enjoy the 23 rounds and then get ready for 30 round, 42 round, 46 round and 50 round NFBC drafts!! Thanks all and good luck.

Just a heads up that we will be topping 800 teams for this contest shortly and the goal is to limit this contest to around 100 leagues, or 1,500 teams. We already have 40+ leagues drafting and a lot of TBD entries, but we are NOT going to add a second Gladiator contest this season or extend much past 100 leagues.

This is an early season contest that will be limited this year and then we'll move on. We have record prizes for the Draft Champions National Championship and other contests, so once we are full with the Gladiator and other contests we will shut them down. Plan accordingly.

Thanks all and enjoy the early drafting season.

What a great way to spend the day. Playing the horses online and drafting 3 Gladiator teams at the same time.

Just a heads up that we went over 1,000 teams for the debut Gladiator Championship this weekend, meaning we have left than 500 guaranteed teams left. Our goal is to finish with around 1,500 teams and 100 leagues and we are NOT adding a second championship. Once these are done, we move on.

We have 57 leagues that drafted already, so if you have TBD entries keep an eye on those remaining leagues that might be close to filling. Thanks all and enjoy.

Greg,

Really appreciate how customer-friendly everyone at the NFBC is. You are the leader and I speak for a lot of people when I say THANK YOU for giving this new contest a try. We love doing the live drafts and talking baseball so early in draft season.

God bless and see you in March!

Anthony

We have less than 170 guaranteed spots left in the debut NFBC Gladiator Championship as we filled our 81st league last night. We are trying for only 100 leagues this year and will shut down the contest once we get all entries filled around that number. We may not fill it exactly at 100 leagues, but that's the goal and then we'll shut it down. We are not offering a second Gladiator Championship or going much past 100 leagues.

Thanks all for a successful debut season and let's close this out during the holidays. Enjoy.

We've sold out 96 Gladiator leagues which means we only have FOUR available leagues:

Dec. 27 10:30 pm ET - 4 spots left
Jan. 3 8:30 pm ET - 11 spots left
Jan 7 8:30 pm ET - 1 spot left
Jan 14 10:30 pm ET - 1 spot left

THAT'S IT. Once these leagues sell out they're coming off Registration. Use your TBDs if you have them. Don't wait any longer. Once we get to 100 leagues the Gladiator will be done. We're not going past 100. Thanks everyone for making this contest a HUGE hit in its debut

Ladies and gentlemen, the Gladiator Contest is now SOLD OUT. 100 leagues.

Thank you all for making this contest a HUGE hit in its debut season.