NFBC Message Boards

A little over 1/3 of the season is over. I’m in a total of eight leagues:

1 Main Event

1 Auction

1 Super

3 Online Championships

2 Draft Champions



My quick thoughts on the league formats:

Main Event – The Cadillac of all events! If you aren’t playing the Main, you are really missing out. Strong Buy!



Auction – Great format. Get whoever you want. No excuses. You want him, you get him. Strong Buy!



Super - Great format. Tougher competition. Your mistakes are intensified. Buy!



Online Championships – Basically Superpower team vs Superpower team. When Rich Harden, Juan Pierre, and John Danks are available in the free agent pool (like they were this week), I know these leagues are not for me. Way to easy for EVERY team to correct draft day mistakes or compensate for injuries. Guppies probably love these leagues. Hell, guppies would love 8 team leagues too! Maybe if rosters were expanded to 32-35 players instead of 30, it would fit me better. For now, Strong Sell!



Draft Champions – I got sucked into a couple Feb leagues just to get the competitive juices flowing. Good way to assist you in learning the minor league player pool. Also a good test run before you lay out the big coin for the “real” leagues. You need to put yourself in a position to make decisions while the clock is ticking down, otherwise you are liable to F-UP in later drafts when more of your capital is on the line. Buy!



Other opinions on league formats?

I think I know "why" the online championship have only 12-team leagues but I'm definitely in favor of 15 team leagues for the online championships.



Greg, do you think you woud've gotten 600 teams to sign up for the online championship had the leagues been 15 teams? Was NBC/Rotoworld wanting the 12-team format or was this more a decision on your end?

Originally posted by rkulaski:

I think I know "why" the online championship have only 12-team leagues but I'm definitely in favor of 15 team leagues for the online championships.



Greg, do you think you woud've gotten 600 teams to sign up for the online championship had the leagues been 15 teams? Was NBC/Rotoworld wanting the 12-team format or was this more a decision on your end? GG is selling in a strong market with the Online Championship and he's doing so with two teams knocking on the door for the $40,000 grand prize. I'd say the 12-team format was the correct decision on my part. No, this wasn't NBC asking for it. It was our decision – mine and Tom's – to offer a different format from our 15-team NFBC live events and satellite leagues that we felt would appeal to the majority of fantasy players out there. The 12-team format is more common than the 15-team format and as you can see with 600 teams it was well accepted.



Take a look at the Online Championship league races and you'll see a lot of close races and the same type of FAAB decisions that the NFBC main event has. Yes, the player pool has better options, but that just makes managing your FAAB a different beast. It's still the same game, just different options. Contrary to GG's sell recommendation, I have a feeling that we'll top this year's success next year and that folks who are battling for the Combined Standings prizes and the increased Online Championship prizes are more than happy with their participation in this event.



And no, I don't think we would have gotten 600 teams – including 200+ new owners – to a 15-team Online Championship format.

The “Sell” recommendation was for me personally. If you were able to get 200 new and individual owners, kudos to you. That is a job well done in this economy. If owners want to play in a 12 team format, I have no doubts that the NFBC is the best place to play.



Again, for me personally, the FAAB decisions in the 12 team leagues are very different than the 15 team leagues. Many more players available, means more time to scout them. At some point, everyone has their breaking point. Even though I am currently experiencing some success in the 12 team formats, mixing 12 and 15 team formats aren’t in the playbook for me next year. Seeing teams pick up Pierre (a 3rd round pick in my book while ManRam is out) and Harden (an elite pitcher when he is healthy) is frustrating, and it really is Superpower team vs Superpower team. A lot tougher to differentiate yourself. Such is life with a 12 team league I guess. Of course if you get the “combined” prize large enough (20K+), I’d consider playing.



With that said, if your 12 team online championship leagues were 15 team online championship leagues, I’d sign up for a 3 pack and possibly a 6 pack next year.



I’m curious how other NFBC vets feel about the 12 team leagues. Am I off my rocker?

Gekk -



You're not off your rocker(at least not in this regard ) . You have a personal preference - you prefer the 15 teamer. Nothing wrong with that.



The 12 Team Online Champ is great for the NFBC. It's a super contest slanted towards a deeper pool of players which quite a few people seem to prefer.



I personally prefer the 15 team leagues over the 12 team 7 days a week and sometimes Friday. Perceptively there's more of a sense of reward after a good night or a good week in the 15 tm over the 12 tm. That impact pickup means more and carries more weight.



I have 1 12 team and it's doing well but I spend more time on the 15 team boards -even the ones sucking wind.

Originally posted by Quahogs:

Gekk -



That impact pickup means more and carries more weight.



Two of the bigger ones this year are Zobrist and Branyon.

Thanks for your reply, Greg.



Just for the record, while I prefer the 15-team leagues, I think it's great you and Tom offered the online championships this year. I love it that there's now 2 tournaments with grand prizes to win and it's great because those that can't make it to one of the 4 cities for the main can still go online and draft a team for a chance to win big money. NFFC - I won't be able to make the main event (again) this year because my wife is due with baby#1 on August 27th... but with the NFFC offering the online championships again, I'm thrilled (even if it is only 12-team league!).



Greg, one other question... Any thoughts to next year lowering the grand prize for the online championships and increasing winnings for league champions?? OR decreasing 1st place overall winnings leaving a little more for the top 25 or so overall teams??



Rich