2018 NFBC Schedule Of Events Early Look

[Greg Ambrosius]

Major League Baseball officially announced its 2018 schedule on Tuesday, which means that plans for the 15th annual National Fantasy Baseball Championship are fully underway.

We had to wait for the official announcement by Major League Baseball before we could get going because we had heard that the season would start a week earlier. In fact, it now starts on Thursday, March 29th for all 30 MLB teams, the first time all teams are having Opening Day on the same day since 1968. The 1968 season began on Wednesday, April 10th with each of the 20 MLB teams in action. This is only the 12th time that the MLB season has started on a Thursday and the first since 2011.

This is good news for a couple of reasons. First of all, it allows us to hold drafts again before any games are played. The last couple of years we've hosted live events and Online drafts on the Sunday that the season started and everyone had "free looks" at that game or more recently those three games that played on Sunday.

Secondly, it returns the NFBC to live drafts on Opening Weekend of March Madness, which was the case for the first decade of our live events. We will now be hosting live NFBC drafts in Las Vegas on Opening Weekend of March Madness and on Sweet Sixteen Weekend. Additionally, St. Patrick's Day falls on Saturday, March 17th, making that First Weekend one of the greatest times in Las Vegas of the season.

So we will be in Las Vegas on First Weekend. We will be in New York City on First Weekend. And there is a chance that we will be in Chicago on First Weekend. We will finalize all of that shortly. Yes, these drafts are now 12 days before Opening Day rather than 8-9 days, but everyone will be drafting with the same information at each particular time within their leagues.

Let's look at that First Weekend Schedule:

Friday, March 16th:
NFBC Auctions in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago

Saturday, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day):
NFBC Main Events in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago
Supers

Sunday, March 18th:
NFBC Auctions in Las Vegas and New York
Main in New York City?

Thursday-Sunday, March 22-25
All Events, including Platinum, Diamond, Ultimate, Super, Main, Auctions in Las Vegas

Tuesday, March 27
Possible Main Event in Las Vegas

Thursday, March 29
MLB Season Begins

This is all tentative, but it makes sense to run out the schedule this way. We are still looking for space among all of the cities, but we had a great NFFC live event at Hotel Penn in New York City and will first look there. It was a great setup for football and we expect the same type of setup for baseball. We also had live coverage of our Super and Main Events from SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and the FNTSY Sports Network and hope to work with both media partners again in March from New York City.

Las Vegas is more up in the air. The Bellagio currently has three full facility conventions scheduled for March 13-27, making our return there tenuous right now. We will continue to work for space there as that is definitely my first choice. We've been there every year for each sport since 2010 and we want to return. But if space isn't available then we have other options. We held football drafts at The Aria last weekend and were pleasantly surprised by the setup and the amount of space at this newer hotel & casino. We are talking with them now.

We'll see about Chicago. We have not pursued space yet, but will start the process soon.

This looks like the schedule MLB will use going forward for the next several years, so let's get this right this year and build on it going forward. We have a lot of positive plans for baseball in 2018 starting with our new SportsHub Technologies software and web site, and continuing into the season. There is a lot of positive buzz going on around here, so be ready for the best season ever.

And as I said at the beginning, this is our 15th season in the NFBC. NFBC XV, if you will. It's an honor to have lasted this long and to be in the position that we are in. We can't wait to get the schedule finalized, the drafting season started and the competition underway. Who's Ready For Some Baseball?

Provide some feedback on the upcoming schedule and we'll tweak it going forward. Thanks all and see you in 2018.

[Wolfpac]

This sounds great Greg, I look forward to signing up, but business first and i got 17 days left to hold off Jon Stadtmueller, for not only my first main cash, but a first main event win. He's tough and he won't go away. This is fun looking at the standing in each category so closely and seeing which directions to go in.

[Bronx Yankees]

Provide some feedback on the upcoming schedule and we'll tweak it going forward. Thanks all and see you in 2018.

Sounds great to me. Already looking forward to drafting in NYC and Vegas again. Best two weekends of the year for addicts like myself.

Mike

[Edwards Kings]

I did a key word search, and noticed a few things missing like...

"strippers"

"access to bail money"

"MtM Dunk Tank"

"How far will Semsel run this weekend pool"

but other than those, looks FUN!

[mdecav]

Greg... what is the rationale for the 3/27 Main Event in Vegas, and is it possible to move to 3/28?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg... what is the rationale for the 3/27 Main Event in Vegas, and is it possible to move to 3/28?

My thought is that if people are staying through Sunday for live drafts it's not a stretch to stay for two more days to make a long weekend. Staying three extra days for one more live draft seems like a stretch.

It's all up for discussion, but that's the thought process.

[mdecav]

Thanks for the info, Greg. I figured if you were to do it after the weekend then you'd have it on 3/26 instead of 3/27. I will likely be flying in to Vegas on 3/27 for a private league.

[the icon]

it's official The Icon will return for baseball. will be in Vegas 21st till the 27th. event we shall see.