Success of the NFBC in 2010

rkulaski · Post by **rkulaski** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 5:02 am

I'll have to admit that I was reluctant to some changes this year with the NFBC but I'm now fully on board.

The online championship, the expanded cities, the two weekends for the main instead of one... I like the changes now.

I fully expect video coverage of the 2 weekends of live events to pick up in the next couple of years. Wouldn't be shocked if ESPN televised some of it.

Of the course the main thing from keeping the NFBC a complete success in 2010 were the technical issues. While I still prefer STATS' interfaces for live scoring, free agency, etc, I have grown used to fanball's interfaces and have learned to compensate. Like many have posted, there's no excuse for FAAB mistakes near the deadline, scoring issues, etc etc. It's been frustrating for everyone but I'll definitely be giving it another shot in 2011.

I'd still love to see the main event prizes not be so top heavy and distribute more money to the individual leagues. I'd also like to see more money for the top overall finishers outside the top 5 but stil in the top 20 or so overall. Yes, that would mean taking money away from 1st-5th. Minor gripes of mine but still worthy of comment.

Overall I've had a great time this year and there's still nearly 2 months to go. Maybe I'm happy because some of my teams have a chance to win their leagues so I'm bias. But then I look at my horrible showing in the main and that balances things out. Overall, I think I'm happy with the expansion of the NFBC and the fanball merger. There's still plenty of room for improvement and I know with Greg still at the forefront, we'll see that improvement in 2011.

Thanks Greg and Tom for your hard work this past year and all your responses and actions taken toward positive and negative feedback this season. See you again in 2011.

Finally, good luck to fellow nfbc'ers on a strong finish in their leagues (unless you're in my league) and good luck getting geared up for some football.

[ August 07, 2010, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: rkulaski ]

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 7:36 am

I don't want this to seem like I'm taking this as an opportunity to complain. I think they've done a good job fixing the issues and making the faab system work. On the other hand, now that the bigger issues are fixed, they need to go through and fix some of the kinks that add time to free agent navigation each week.

* Why does it start me off with catchers? Pick utility or pitchers and start me there.

* If I want to look at pitchers for the last 7 days, I click on pitchers, then I click on 'last 7 days,' but the system takes me back to catchers for the last 7 days and I have to click pitchers again.

This should be a one-step process, not a four step process.

* The last point wouldn't be so bad if it didn't all happen verrrrry slowly.

* The confusing save bid/edit bid/conditional bid system.

* When I type in a player's name, I want to see him. I don't care if he's on a team or not in the majors or anything else. The way the system won't even let me search for a guy who's not a free agent is downright rude.

Again, these aren't complaints so much as a way to catalog current issues. I'm not sure if there is a thread of them somewhere else. Nice job on fixing the big issues and although these are not urgent matters, they need to be addressed at some point to make the system as good as it can be.

[ August 07, 2010, 01:38 PM: Message edited by: bjoak ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:14 am

Thanks Richard and I have a feeling this thread will go in many directions over the next few months!!

I hear ya on league prizes and growing the prize structure beyond the big $100,000 grand prize. The way to do that is to continually grow the main event and like this year we'll expand the league prizes and 2nd place overall and down. That's the goal for 2011 and beyond, not taking away from the $100,000 and redistributing.

As for Brian's points, yes, all of those are changes that can be rectified this off-season. We're close on a lot of things, but we also have things that still shouldn't be appearing. I was thinking this morning even before seeing this of creating a post for a list of things you guys feel we need to do to the game management software to take this to a higher level. If I can compress that list and really have it in prioritized order for the IT department there's no reason that we can't get the back-end exactly right and the way most people want it. I mean, we're close, we really are.

I know what has to be done that I'm seeing now, but you folks are deeper into the software than I am. Think about it and we'll get a constructive list together this off-season and really nail this. In some ways it does feel like Year 1 in the NFBC, but our software should take a big leap next year if we iron things out from here. Thanks all.

And for those who want us to implode the software and start over, it's not happening. I've been involved in enough start-overs when it comes to software and it's NEVER easy. Every company in the industry knows that. The commissioner software has so many tentacles that it looks easy to the consumer, but it's a BEAST to those programming every little nuance.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:27 am

no problem on this. i shoot some ideas as well.

however a HUGE issue for next year is the FAAB player pool. if you are sticking with manually removing non-eligible players, sooner or later, someone will be missed (just like the numerous misses this season).

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:43 am

Originally posted by Gekko:

no problem on this. i shoot some ideas as well.

however a HUGE issue for next year is the FAAB player pool. if you are sticking with manually removing non-eligible players, sooner or later, someone will be missed (just like the numerous misses this season). I have been told that this is now solved. I have been told this won't happen again this year because of one adjustment we made yesterday. Again, the proof is in the pudding, but that's what I heard yesterday and this programmer has been very good for us.

We definitely need to tighten up the player pool overall with eligibility and the Sunday 7 am deadline, but these are things we can do. Bring on all the points and we'll prioritize this list together.

rkulaski · Post by **rkulaski** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:17 am

Greg,

I realize that this thread could take off in a number of ways: good AND bad... but my intention was only to summarize one customer's "big picture" from participating in the NFBC this last year. And the big picture was largely positive.

I 100% believe you guys are close on the technical issues and have no doubt next year will be much improved.

mallorys killers · Post by **mallorys killers** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 12:09 pm

I've been asking all year about what was stated above. Obviously someone at fanball doesn't care.How many times do I have to ask, I have given up.

As mentioned above why cant we get info on the player search for what fantasy team the player is on or if they are a free agent.I don't care either what MLB team they r on. The control f search option is ridiculous. GREG !!!!!!!!! you said numerous times you would do something about this. Maybe after the season is over you will. Its too late then.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 12:47 pm

Thanks Richard. Nice to hear some positive thoughts.

We all know how things started and no one is more disappointed with the beginning of our NFBC season this year than Greg and myself. But I think we have recovered strongly since then and have pushed things forward in a much more effective fashion. In my opinion the NFBC site is strong and has many features we never had before with STATS. We all want perfection and we will continue to working to achieve as much as we can to enhance the user experience.

As I've said many times here, we can't change what has happened. All we can do is work harder to ensure such mistakes don't happen again and enable all of you to enjoy the events/leagues that we offer. Hopefully when the season is over the prevailing sentiment was that the 2010 NFBC experience was a good one despite a rocky beginning.

Thanks again for the kind words, Rich. Greg and I appreciate them.

mallorys killers · Post by **mallorys killers** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 4:28 pm

Tom why can't the player search be fixed?????????? I an tired of searching the roster grid. I do not care what MLB team a player is on! I care what team a player is on in a fantasy team. Also last year and the previous years we were able to look at the team lineups and look at other teams upcoming lineups. Can you get this right before August is over? I really asked about the player search about 5 times. I am not the only team complaining of this/ GET IT RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!