NEW: The Rotowire Fantasy Baseball Online Championship

[Greg Ambrosius]

We're proud today to announce a new partnership with one of the most respected content sites in the fantasy sports industry. Today STATS LLC and Rotowire.com have partnered together on our Online Championships for all three sports. In fact, this contest will now be named The Rotowire Fantasy Baseball Online Championship. The name change will also occur in football with The Rotowire Fantasy Football Online Championship and in basketball with The Rotowire Fantasy Basketball Online Championship.

We are EXTREMELY excited to be working with our friends at Rotowire.com. Tom and I have worked with Peter Schoenke, Jeff Erickson, Chris Liss and the entire gang there for 15+ years and we even published the early editions of the Rotowire Fantasy Baseball and Football magazines for years. We know they have one of the best dedicated fantasy audiences in the industry, and since it's a pay site, we know their customers aren't afraid to enter pay-to-play contests. We believe this partnership will lead to many new players in all three of our contests and bring even more awareness to the general public.

Rotowire.com will promote our contests in a number of ways. The promotions will begin immediately on the Rotowire.com site and through emails to their customers. We'll also create some leagues where folks can compete directly with their writers just like we did last year. These could be in the form of satellite leagues, but don't be surprised if we have an Online Championship league or two with one of these writers in them. This way you'll be able to compete against Jeff or Chris or Derek Van Riper head on. Everyone else in the contest will also be able to compete against them in the overall contest and compare their skills to them that way. We'll give you some chances to compete with them, so stay tuned about all of that.

Rotowire.com already has a 3-hour morning show on SiriusXM's Fantasy Channel and the NFBC will be a regular guest every Monday at noon ET. Jeff and Chris have already been talking about our ADPs and having me on as a guest for the last couple of weeks, but the rhetoric will step up going forward as we approach the drafting season for the Rotowire Fantasy Baseball Online Championship. This will be a great opportunity to talk directly to this dedicated, growing audience that SiriusXM has produced.

As for the Online Championship, nothing really changes there other than the chance for a much bigger grand prize. Last year we finished with 864 teams and a $60,000 grand prize. This year we increased the league prizes slightly and guaranteed a grand prize of $50,000 based on 780 teams because we weren't quite sure about the economy and the marketplace. But with Rotowire.com now on board, we believe we will top last year's totals and even top last year's grand prize amount. Let's top 1,000 total teams this year and push that grand prize past $60,000.

As you can tell this off-season, one of our primary goals is to get the word out about the NFBC more this year than ever before. Our 2-hour show now on SiriusXM was a big move from a promotional standpoint. Working with Rotowire.com and creating this contest around their brand name is another way to add new customers and grow our customer base. Our primary focus right now is GROWTH, GROWTH, GROWTH and creating the best possible pay-to-play model in the industry. You'll see their brand on our web site shortly once we update the Online Championship page and in turn you'll see the NFBC brand shortly on the Rotowire.com site.

This season marks the 5th anniversary of our Online Championship. It started in 2009 when we debuted with 600 teams. We grew to a high of 864 teams last year and the $60,000 grand prize. In the NFFC, we had 1,872 teams and a $100,000 grand prize. But we believe there is more demand at this $350 price point. We believe that there are A LOT of fantasy players who feel comfortable at the $350 price point and a shot at $50,000-$100,000 in grand prizes. So we're bringing in a partner and saying LET'S GROW IT TOGETHER!!

You're going to hear and see the NFBC mentioned A WHOLE LOT MORE in the coming months. Welcome aboard ROTOWIRE.COM and let's grow these Rotowire Online Championships to unprecedented heights together. Everyone here at STATS is looking forward to the seasons ahead. Now let's do it.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I like this quote for our upcoming press release from Peter Schoenke, founder of Rotowire.com:

"We're excited to be working closely with the top high stakes company in the industry for an event that is a perfect match for the RotoWire audience. This gives the RotoWire readers an event to compete directly with other RotoWire readers and against the top RotoWire writers and analysts. And since we've worked with both Stats, Inc. and the NFBC for many years, we know our customers playing the game will have a great experience with outstanding customer support."

[Sack]

My current Rotowire subscription is about to expire. I've been a customer for years, solid product that
has been part of my arsenal for the past nine seasons. Just did a quick check. Baseball subscriptions go
for about $40. Full season, so that Rotowire can be enjoyed during the NFFC season is about $80.

Now that they are a partner. Will there be any kind of discount for the NFBC/NFFC player? If so,when
will this be available. Thanks.

[Greg Ambrosius]

My current Rotowire subscription is about to expire. I've been a customer for years, solid product that
has been part of my arsenal for the past nine seasons. Just did a quick check. Baseball subscriptions go
for about $40. Full season, so that Rotowire can be enjoyed during the NFFC season is about $80.

Now that they are a partner. Will there be any kind of discount for the NFBC/NFFC player? If so,when
will this be available. Thanks.

Still working on all of that, but you are on the right path.