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First of all, EVERYONE in this industry should be saying thanks to Brian & Carol Mathews. Many of you don't even know who they are, but they are two of the biggest players during the industry's first three decades of existence. And they may have played one of the biggest roles in the future of the industry.



As someone else posted on the NFBC boards earlier today, there was a management changing of the guard at Fanball this week that involved Brian and Carol. Unfortunately, the reporting was very, very poor and left many people wondering what the hell is going on.



As some of you know, Brian & Carol were co-founders of CDM Fantasy Sports along with Charlie Wiegert and John Brison. The first game they produced was actually called Carol's Fantasy Baseball and the company was called CBC Distribution for Carol-Brian-Charlie. Their fantasy games division was called CDM Fantasy Sports and they were one of the first national games to partner with a major distribution partner when they created The Sporting News Fantasy Baseball game in the early 1990s. They later partnered to produce USA Today's games and other national contests. The four co-founders created the industry's first salary cap game, a concept that others quickly copied.



Brian, Carol, Charlie and John had many other investment ventures involving pro sports teams and other entities in the St. Louis area. They were among the first fantasy companies to get a licensing agreement with the MLB Players Association and then the NFLPA, but they made history in 2005 when MLB Advanced Media denied them a license for the 2005 season and they chose to fight the decision. They used their own money in a two-plus year legal battle with Major League Baseball and eventually all of the other pro sports leagues to prove that licensing wasn't needed for fantasy sports games. CDM vs. MLB Advanced Media became a historic case that was won by CDM and has changed the landscape of fantasy sports forever. And they helped with the decision to fight MLBAM.



After that decision, CDM was sold to Fanball, which was later part of a sale to Liberty Media.

As for the change this week, well, management changes happen when companies are acquired by other companies. Everyone understands that. What that ace reporter didn't state was that while some jobs were eliminated in St. Louis, other areas are expanding. The company will be hiring more programmers soon and of course Geoff Stein was recently hired to help us with our online products. You shift job responsibilities during changing times.



As for areas underperforming, obviously that ace reporter wasn't involved in any product meetings. Every Fanball baseball product has outperformed 2009 from Snap Draft to NFBC to Draft & Play. It's been a big baseball season for the company.



I should have asked for permission before posting this, but honestly I wanted folks to know how important Brian & Carol have been to the industry. They really devoted their lives to CDM Fantasy Sports, working seven days a week for 18 years. I've been in this industry 21 years and I know how important they have been to our industry's success. We all wish them best down the road. We owe them PLENTY for the road they helped to pave in the past, while allowing fantasy players to win more than $40 million in the last two decades in the games they helped to create.

It sounds like they did a lot for todays fantasy players. Best of luck to them!

Greg, you asked for the link on the other thread:



http://www.fantasysportsbusiness.com/wo ... t-fanball/

Very nice note Greg and many of the long-time CDM fans appreciate it.





-Craig Kielinski

Greg, only one word is needed for you being the one to start this tribute..."BRAVO!"

Here here! Very sad to see them go, and Tracy D as well. They will be very, very missed.... Thanks Greg, for posting that!

It sounds like all of us that enjoy this hobby so much owe them a debt of gratitude.

I wish them well and hope they realize how great an accomplishment they've achieved with what sounds like their life's work.



Thank you & all the best to both of them.



Glenn

Greg,



Thanks for the tribute to the true pioneers of the national fantasy contests. Without them we wouldn't be enjoying this great game we have now, and everyone should be aware of what they've done for our hobby. We all owe them a great deal of thanks. They grew their games to great levels, yet were able to keep that personal touch all along. Always accessible to answer questions, solve problems, and always listening to their customers' suggestions and complaints to help grow, and deliver a better product year after year.



As a long time CDM player, I'm very sorry to them go. I wish them all the best, and I hope their commitment to the games, and their dedication to outstanding customer service continue on with the new management team.

Awesome note Greg, really shows what a class act you are! As a long-time CDM player, Carol and Brian have given me a lot of fun with their great games.

Originally posted by Oaktown:

Awesome note Greg, really shows what a class act you are! As a long-time CDM player, Carol and Brian have given me a lot of fun with their great games. I knew that CDM veterans would understand this note more than anyone else as some of them have dealt personally with Carol for more than 15 years. She has been a personal contact, along with Tracy, for many of you owners. Remember, there was a time when you CALLED in your roster changes or faxed them in. They were your contacts during the season. The CDM games will continue to grow under Charlie's leadership and customer service is still fully staffed. And as I stated, we are adding on in other areas of the company.



Brian and Carol brought us -- and the industry -- this far. Now it's time to keep moving it forward.

Greg,



I appreciate your support, and Brian and Carol deserve your thanks. But I think it's wrong to say "customer service is still fully staffed." These were people who helped a lot of us out that were let go. And even if fanball replaces the quantity of customer service, which they may or may not do, they will not be able to replace the quality. This may be hard to understand to a lot of the people here, but through the CDM BBS we developed a very close community, and I personally made a lot of friends there. I'm obviously glad Charlie is still there- he's a very good guy and he's helped me on multiple occasions. But someone like Tracy was absolutely vital in making our community what it was, and she will not be so easily replaced. I obviously don't know the ins and outs of why things happened as they did, but as I see it, replacing her can not possibly have been right, and I really doubt it will just be business as usual, time to move on. So yes, thanks a lot for your special thanks, which I really appreciate. But I can't just say it's "time to move forward," when some of the people being left behind were suddenly fired from the exact company that they made what it is today...

Greg's post reminds me of the first FAAB Sunday deadline of the year, when Greg told everyone "Have a beer and relax." Yeah, most of the customer service department was fired this week but there shouldn't be any noticeable changes. You should have added that Ryan E. Houston is a gritty team player who doesn't care about style.

Carol, Brian, Tracy, and the others who were let go this week will be sorely missed. I've played their games for close to two decades and know I'm nowhere near alone in that statement. Their customer service was exceptional! Their pioneering of salary cap and fantasy games deserves many accolades from the countless fantasy players and current industry members. To say this group is anything less than terrific is doing them an injustice.



While I'm not sure we are owed a detailed explanation, I'd sure like one. Such a shame these unfortunate and untimely acts had to happen.



Again, many thanks to Carol, Brian, Tracy and the others who were behind the scenes for close to 20 years of a great hobby. I wish them all continued success in their new ventures.

Originally posted by Timcards:

Greg's post reminds me of the first FAAB Sunday deadline of the year, when Greg told everyone "Have a beer and relax." Yeah, most of the customer service department was fired this week but there shouldn't be any noticeable changes. You should have added that Ryan E. Houston is a gritty team player who doesn't care about style. I was wondering how long a post like this would be. Greg's post was about calling out 2 friends of his and getting recognition for them. Nothing more, nothing else. Classy move that he did not try to play politics on and either should we.

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

quote:Originally posted by Timcards:

Greg's post reminds me of the first FAAB Sunday deadline of the year, when Greg told everyone "Have a beer and relax." Yeah, most of the customer service department was fired this week but there shouldn't be any noticeable changes. You should have added that Ryan E. Houston is a gritty team player who doesn't care about style. I was wondering how long a post like this would be. Greg's post was about calling out 2 friends of his and getting recognition for them. Nothing more, nothing else. Classy move that he did not try to play politics on and either should we. [/QUOTE]Sorry, but when good people like Carol and Tracy are fired and people like Ryan are promoted, I have a hard time believing things are going to be okay and the company knows what it's doing.

Originally posted by Timcards:

quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

quote:Originally posted by Timcards:

Greg's post reminds me of the first FAAB Sunday deadline of the year, when Greg told everyone "Have a beer and relax." Yeah, most of the customer service department was fired this week but there shouldn't be any noticeable changes. You should have added that Ryan E. Houston is a gritty team player who doesn't care about style. I was wondering how long a post like this would be. Greg's post was about calling out 2 friends of his and getting recognition for them. Nothing more, nothing else. Classy move that he did not try to play politics on and either should we. [/QUOTE]Sorry, but when good people like Carol and Tracy are fired and people like Ryan are promoted, I have a hard time believing things are going to be okay and the company knows what it's doing. [/QUOTE]Not saying that is not the case. I was just saying it was a nice tribute to apparently some real good people and we should just leave it at that. The other debate is for another day at another time.

Carol and Tracy were incredible to work with over the years. I wish them well if they are indeed on the way out.

Originally posted by Timcards:

Greg's post reminds me of the first FAAB Sunday deadline of the year, when Greg told everyone "Have a beer and relax." Yeah, most of the customer service department was fired this week but there shouldn't be any noticeable changes. You should have added that Ryan E. Houston is a gritty team player who doesn't care about style. I don't think you understood my post. I'm not in management at Fanball, I'm just another employee. My note had nothing to do with how CDM's games will be handled in the future because I'm not involved there. I'm not saying that your favorite games will be any better with Carol, Brian and Tracy no longer involved.



My point was that we all owe a debt of gratitude to Brian and Carol for their vision, their toughness during critical times and their ability to grow this space through the years with media partners. I do think some decisions are being made to hopefully alleviate as many customer service reps as they had on staff at CDM since all games have changed from phone calls and faxes to more automated moves. But again, my initial post was not to soothe you in this transition; it was plainly to give honor to two people I've always respected in the industry and who I admired long before I ended up working on the same staff with them. That was all.

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by Oaktown:

Awesome note Greg, really shows what a class act you are! As a long-time CDM player, Carol and Brian have given me a lot of fun with their great games. I knew that CDM veterans would understand this note more than anyone else as some of them have dealt personally with Carol for more than 15 years. She has been a personal contact, along with Tracy, for many of you owners. Remember, there was a time when you CALLED in your roster changes or faxed them in. They were your contacts during the season. The CDM games will continue to grow under Charlie's leadership and customer service is still fully staffed. And as I stated, we are adding on in other areas of the company.



Brian and Carol brought us -- and the industry -- this far. Now it's time to keep moving it forward. [/QUOTE]I remember the days of calling in transactions on Sundays. Player names didn't matter, but player ID # was king. Thursday mail delivery was like Christmas each week as you got the paper stats through the previous Sunday.



What differentiated CDM from the crowd and allowed them to build a loyal customer base was their obsession with customer service. If you had an issue, a quick phone call had it resolved immediately.



CDM also listened to their customers. Invited them to annual events. Many of the industry changing improvements were a result of customer feedback and ideas. Like any business, it's tough to prosper without loyal customers and above and beyond everything, CDM understood that perfectly.



Many long-time CDM'ers are now trying out the NFBC game to complement their DC teams. I'd suggest a quick analysis of the growth in NFBC over the past 2 years would show a higher % of new players coming from the CDM customer base than any other segment. The games are different, but I'd also suggest the quality of play from top managers in each game is comparable and this is a great recipe for bringing the game forward as Greg suggests.



I see the passion in Greg, Tom and the long-time NFBC'ers. It's not different than the passion Brian, Carol, Tracy and the CDM crew displayed on a daily basis. But there's an elephant in the room. For the sake of progress, I hope FanBall realizes and recognizes that developing both the CDM and NFBC loyal customer bases (who are now clearly converging) didn't happen overnight or by accident.



Thank you Brian and Carol for having the vision to create, and the patience to cultivate, a game that has become a passionate lifelong hobby for many. Be proud of your accomplishment!

Thanks Greg for your comments, and I agree and echo everything he said. As many customers have posted on the bbs and here, the fantasy sports community does owe a debt of gratitude to Brain, Carol and the great cmd staff for their many years of dedication. I truly believe if we did not fight and win the lawsuit with mlbam and mlbpa, we would not be posting here and our games, with many others, would not exist.

I too would not like to get into the politics of all of this, but feel it is more than appropriate for the many of you that have been fortunate enough to have had an experience with these people to post something about them. It is good for them to see their life's work has meant something to the many people they have touched, and that you appreciated and respected them. Thanks to all of you for being compassionate, I'm sure it really means a lot to all.