OFFICIAL NFBC STATEMENT ABOUT START OF SEASON

[Greg Ambrosius]

Everyone: It is impossible to move forward with any of the six live Auction Championship leagues scheduled for this weekend in New York and Chicago.

This weekend’s live auctions are officially cancelled.

Let us move all of these to TBD on your team pages and we will deal with refunds or move that money to other contests later. Please give us all a few days before we deal with that but refunds are guaranteed if you want it.

We need direction from MLB about a timeline, but it’s obvious there is no way to host live auctions. Tom and I will be in New York shortly and I will email everyone involved in those leagues then. If we have 15 owners in New York tomorrow who want to do something live (anything) we will be there to host.

The Chicago and New York drafts are still a go for now this weekend. Give me time to land in New York and see what that looks like before making a decision. But we had to act quickly and decisively on auctions now and we have.

Will we add online auctions later? Maybe. We need more info before finalizing all of that. Same with Las Vegas next weekend. Give us a little time.

I’m getting on my flight now. Sorry all but hopefully the season will go on and when it does we will be ready. Stay tuned and please be safe everyone.

Thanks for your patience and sorry it has come to this, but we all have to do what’s right. Stay well.

[Greg Ambrosius]

DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD!!!! NOBODY POST HERE!!!

This will be the thread for the official announcements about the NFBC and the start of the season. We will email out many of these announcements as well, but I will post them here first. PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD!!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, tonight's first NFBC Solo Shot Online league has been CANCELLED. All 15 owners have been notified. Sorry everyone.

We think it's inevitable that the MLB season will be postponed for a time and having one league draft weeks or even months before others in a national contest where no one else has drafted yet isn't fair to everyone. We will likely use this same logic with the Main Event too. Stay tuned for more details there. All sold out Solo Shot leagues for tonight will be changed to TBD and the same will likely be done for the New York Solo Shot, which is also scheduled for Saturday night.

I'll have more details shortly on that. Thanks.

[Greg Ambrosius]

We are officially CANCELLING ALL LIVE EVENTS for this weekend. All New York and Chicago Auction Championship leagues, Main Event Leagues, Solo Shot leagues and Ultimate Leagues are officially CANCELLED.

We just met with the Stewart Hotel officials in New York City and they don't even WANT anyone to come here. They don't believe it is safe, so this decision is an easy one. Please, don't come into Manhattan tomorrow even if you arrived in town because we are not hosting any live events. In fact, we will likely be checking out soon as well.

The Stewart Hotel totally understands our situation and is refunding us completely. If we were to reschedule live drafts or auctions here later on they would try to accommodate us, but I believe that MLB's timeline of a two-week delay is optimistic at best. It's very possible that everything for the NFBC going forward is held online and that's it, but we will see.

The Sheraton Northbrook in Chicago has agreed that it's not prudent to host any live events and has let us out of our contract there as well. Again, very, very professional of both organizations and they understand the severity of this situation. So everything in Chicago is cancelled as well.

All Main Event Online and Solo Shot Online leagues for the next week are also CANCELLED. If you join any Online Championship or Cutline Championship or Online Auction Championship contest going forward, those will run each night, but everyone has to realize that Opening Day is mid-April at the earliest. And I believe it will be later than that.

Everything will just be moved to TBD for now. We can talk about refunds, new draft dates, prize structures and the rest later. For now, CANCEL YOUR TRAVEL PLANS and let us get through this weekend before announcing anything else.

My goal is to cancel all Las Vegas events next. Let me just work through this weekend first and then we'll officially address Las Vegas next. But I think you all can see which direction we are headed. It's not safe and SAFETY is the most important thing right now. We can all draft winning fantasy baseball teams a month from now and still enjoy the season alive and well.

Thank you all for your patience. We tried to be as diligent and timely as possible. It's unbelievable how much this situation has changed in the last 18 hours and tomorrow it's likely that things will change again. But everyone in America understands the gravity of this situation and everyone HAS to contribute by staying at home and out of harm's way. Let's tackle this virus and kill it right now.

Stay well. We will have an NFBC season and I believe we will have a relatively full MLB season. But right now the unknown is too scary to deal with. Stay home and we'll fulfill these draft commitments later. Thanks all.

[Greg Ambrosius]

All Las Vegas live events for March 19-25 are officially CANCELLED.

Please cancel all travel plans to Las Vegas if you are traveling just for our events. Everything has been CANCELLED at Park MGM.

Also, the Auction Championship, Ultimate Auction and Diamond Auction have all been CANCELLED. There is no way we can host live auctions and we will start the process today of returning those funds to your player accounts. We may offer high-dollar online auction leagues later, but the sooner we put this money back on your player accounts the sooner you can request refunds or use that money for other contests. Please give us through today to delete those entries and put the money back onto your accounts.

These were easy calls to make after what has happened in our country over the last 24 hours. The NCAA tournament being cancelled, every conference tournament being cancelled, the NBA and NHL postponing their seasons, the XFL cancelling their season, and the list of cancellations goes on and on. My hometown boys' high school basketball team is one win away from the Wisconsin State Boys' Basketball Tournament after a win last night in an empty arena and now that tournament has been cancelled. This is our new normal folks and the NFBC is acting in a quick fashion to cancel these contests as well.

As far as all of the upcoming Main Event leagues, Solo Shot leagues, Super Leagues, Ultimate Leagues, the Diamond League and the Platinum League all of those entries will be moved to TBD soon. We can't host the March 17th Super or the March 22nd Super because we don't know when Major League Baseball is actually going to start and it makes no sense to have you folks drafting 4 to 6 to 8 weeks before Opening Day. We may not be able to get everyone back together online on the same date and time going forward, but I will be in constant contact with everyone once we have a firm timeline of Opening Day and we'll try to piece together a Schedule of Events that you all can see. If no dates work for you, we'll refund your entries and hope to find other owners who may want to join one of those leagues.

We are still working on the Main Event and Solo Shot leagues, but again my goal is to turn all of those entries now into TBD (To Be Determined) entries. Once we know the Opening Day timeline, we will set up multiple days and times of draft options and as people turn TBDs into say April 30th 8 pm ET entries the leagues will form. I need to know if they form as first 15 in or can we scramble all names into multiple leagues and the rest, so give me time to figure that out with IT. If all available draft dates and times don't fit your schedule, we will have to refund those entries, but hopefully we'll be able to fit everyone into new leagues.

This is uncharted territory for all of us. We have no realistic timeline from Major League Baseball, so we are at their mercy. All of our guaranteed prizes for national contests were based on what we expected for live events and we were on pace to sell out everything. Let's just keep working together and we'll keep you updated with every move. First thing we have to do is cancel the auctions and get that money back on your Player Accounts. I'll update again once we have done that.

Thanks all. Somehow Tom and I have to get home from New York, but until we can change our reservations we'll stay online and on top of any news we have for you. Thanks for your loyalty, your insatiable love of baseball and your dedication to winning at this fun hobby even with less than 162 games. Stay well and stay safe.

[Greg Ambrosius]

CANCELLED: The first scheduled FAAB period of Sunday, March 22nd is cancelled for all NFBC events.

This was set up for early drafters to get FAAB in the Sunday before Opening Day on Thursday, March 26th. We will have a FAAB period for those drafters before Opening Day, but we can't specify that actual date until we know when Opening Day is happening. Once we know that we will adjust and post the new first FAAB date.

We just don't want everyone to do FAAB every Sunday for weeks and weeks. That's just more work and not the intended use of this first FAAB period. So stay tuned and we'll post that new FAAB date when we can.

CANCELLED: The first scheduled FAAB period in the Best Ball Cutline Championship league of Tuesday, April 7th.

The first FAAB period in the NFBC Best Ball Cutline Championship is scheduled for the second Tuesday after Opening Day. That thought process is still the same, but we'll announce that date once we know when Opening Day is. Thanks all and stay tuned.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, we are putting Auction Championship funds back onto your Player Accounts now. Look for those $1400 deposits in the next couple of minutes. There are 180 teams being refunded now.

The following leagues have all been moved to TBD on your team pages:

Platinum
Diamond
Ultimates
Supers
Main Events
Solo Shots
$750 & $1500 Online Championship Leagues

Nobody is assigned to any certain leagues anymore for those contests. Once we know when Opening Day is we will create new Online Schedule of Events for each contest and hopefully there will be a range of options that fits your schedules. We will obviously load up the last two weeks before whatever Opening Day MLB sets and we hope everyone will still be able to move into one of those time slots.

You can all change TBDs on your own by going to My Teams.

Then click on the gear icon to the left of your team link. Pull down to any date and time you want and save the change. Right now there aren't any dates and times because we don't know when any of these will be scheduled, but we will work with everyone to put together a very flexible schedule over 12-14 days or more. Stay tuned.

And we won't automatically fill leagues on each day and time that people sign up for. These leagues won't be automatically created. In other words, let's say we have a Main Event on Wednesday in early May at 8 pm ET. If we get 60 entries at that time, we'll try to wait to announce any draft spots until we mix all 60 teams up and create four randomly selected leagues. These won't fill and close with each 15 team signup. Hope that makes sense.

Stay warmed up in the bullpen everyone. I think we'll be drafting all of these leagues once our country turns the corner on coronavirus and once there's a firm starting date for Opening Day. Stay tuned.

[Darik B]

Signups for the following "Live" Auction signups have all been deleted and the refunds placed directly into Player Account Balance:

Diamond Auction
Ultimate Auction

You can use this balance for future signups or withdraw by choosing "Request a Payout"


Also, all 180 signups for the Live Auction Championship ($1,400 & $2,500) have also been deleted and refunds are processed....BUT

1) Depending on when you signed up and/or how you paid, the refund could be in straight in Balance (like above)...OR

2) It could be sitting as a Credit (next to Balance, when you look at Account Icon)...all of the "Credit" potion is set to be moved to Balance by Monday at the latest. Three separate people are involved here. Please give us some a little more time. In the interim, you can use either to pay for signups over the weekend, and it will pull from "Credits" first.

Any questions, just email me: [email protected]

[Greg Ambrosius]

LAS VEGAS ALERT: So I heard second-hand this morning that Park MGM cancelled everyone's rooms who had booked through the NFBC room block. I did not ask them do to that and they did not email me or any of the people who had booked rooms through our room block that they were doing that, but apparently that is what happened.

Now, on the one hand that is a good thing. I spent 30 minutes yesterday afternoon on hold before getting a live reservation host and when I asked her to cancel my rooms she said that was already done. I then asked her to cancel Mike Ambrosius's room and it was already done. Then I asked her to cancel Brady Tinker's room and it was already done. I should have put 2 and 2 together then, but I didn't and the host didn't know who had cancelled those three reservations.

I then got an email from an NFBC customer last night and he said he had spent 2+ hours on the phone with Park MGM and once he got through to an operator and asked to cancel his reservation it had already been cancelled. He wondered if I had done that or if I had known that, which of course I said no. He did not get an email about this cancellation from Park MGM and obviously he didn't get one from me, so he just spent 2+ hours of his time for nothing.

I can't guarantee that your hotel reservation was cancelled in the same way, but my contact said late last night that she did this after I cancelled the live events. She never told me she was going to do that and I have no idea if all 315 room nights she cancelled includes yours. The communication about this has been half ass at best and that's giving half more credit than it deserves.

I won't even tell you where we are at for the negotiations of the guaranteed rooms, and food & beverage in my contract. Let's just say politely that Park MGM is NOT doing what the Stewart Hotel or Northbrook Sheraton did for us. They are holding strong with the terms of the contract, which is just bullshit. So I have my work cut out for me here, so please bare with me. My blood pressure over how Park MGM is handling this is higher than ever before. You may have gotten out of your room reservation -- as did I and our staff -- but I'm not getting out of the guarantee I promised for all of you. Hopefully, common sense prevails in Las Vegas, but so far it hasn't.

The only reason I'm posting this is to let you know that if you booked under our room block at Park MGM, I'm 99% sure your reservation has been cancelled. If you booked outside of our room block it likely still needs to be cancelled by you. Park MGM still wants me to reschedule for baseball and even come there for football, but it's obvious the person I am dealing with has no comprehension of the stakes we're all facing not only today but going forward. I hate to say a commission is involved here and I won't say that, but if I ever do return here this situation is going to have to be resolved beyond where we are today. Stay tuned and sorry that you weren't notified of your room cancellations at Park MGM. That was not on me.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Everyone,

FIRST AND FOREMOST: Be safe and do all you can to keep your family healthy. Our world has changed since I last updated things a few days ago and we are all in lockdown mode right now. Baseball is secondary. Your family's health is first and foremost, so do all you can to stay safe and to stay healthy.

That being said, we want to be as communicative and transparent as we can be with our NFBC participants. The latest from here is that we have done everything possible to cancel leagues that have no chance of resuming and to put that money back on your player accounts. We cancelled and deleted all live NFBC Auction Championship leagues, the AL & NL Auction leagues, the Diamond Auction and the Ultimate Auction. All of those contests were deleted on Friday and money was put back on your accounts then. If they were put on your accounts as a credit, they are being transferred by us to money on your accounts right now. That should be done by the end of today.

To get refunds from your player account, just click the icon in the upper right where the money is showing and pull down to Request Payment. There you can get a check payment or money back on your credit card.

Today we also deleted the only full Cutline Championship league on March 26th and moved all of those entries to TBD. We also deleted 11 full Rotowire Online Championship leagues from March 21-26 where KDS had not yet run and moved all of those entries to TBD. We realize that everyone that signed up for those dates likely wanted to draft as close to Opening Day as possible and therefore it made sense to move those entries back to TBD.

There are four full future $50 private DC leagues and Satellite leagues and we've left those intact because there are no national prizes involved. Those are planned to go as scheduled. There are two full Online Auction Championship leagues still intact as well, but if you want to leave one of those contact us personally and we'll decide to find a replacement or move all of those entries to TBDs.

As for drafts going forward, we have left Registration open because people have continued to draft for what I believe are therapeutic reasons. I don't know how to explain it, but I really think people still want to be engaged and still want to stay in contact with others. We will keep the current offerings as is and we'll monitor any and all drafts/auctions that fill. We all are unsure of the future of baseball, but for now I think people see the draft/auction rooms as a comfort zone and a place for entertainment or a challenge or whatever. We will remain open for business and monitor any that take place. We haven't discussed what we offer after March 26th, but hope to have more direction in the coming days from our government, from baseball, from anyone.

As for the national contests, we know everyone has questions on how we will handle those and the guaranteed prizes. Obviously, it's impossible to get specific, but at this point it's business as usual for the NFBC Main Event, the Rotowire Online Championship, the NFBC Cutline Championship, the NFBC Solo Shot and the NFBC Draft Champions National Championship. We are not adjusting the prizes and we are hoping that one day there will be a start to the season. We have not held any drafts for the Main Event or the Solo Shot yet, but we are hopeful that demand will meet our expectations if there is a representative season in 2020.

If that happens, we will load up the last two weeks before Opening Day with Online Main Events, Solo Shots and times for the other national contests. I have no idea if we could slip in live events in one or more cities, so let's all hold off on that until we get closer to baseball resuming. I know there will be requests for that, but we have no idea about safety for everyone, hotel availability, travel availability, etc. So let's hold off on those discussions for now, but once we have a plan in place, we can move all TBDs to desired dates, times, locations.

Everything else is dependent on the future of Major League Baseball. We can't discuss the fairness of early drafts vs. later drafts until we know what "later" means. We can't guarantee there will be a "representative" season until we know what Major League Baseball plans to do. If they start in June or July, will they push the season well into November and December and host games at warm weather neutral sites? Will they start earlier than we think now and play in stadiums without fans? Will they really hold a half season or a season of 100 or less games? Will it get so bad with the coronavirus that the entire season is cancelled?

I can't answer any of those questions any better than you can, so let me stay on top of this the best I can, communicate what we are doing and then move forward after more facts are known. We are doing all we can to communicate our plans to you and we are refunding any contest that has no chance of happening. Hopefully we will get through this and get back to work, keep our families safe and eventually enjoy a baseball season.

But until then, work with us to stay on top of the situation and be flexible with your plans. If we do that and if Major League Baseball resumes, we'll be on the same page for the next steps. That's the best we can do with everything unknown today. Thanks all and stay safe.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Everyone, the integrity of ALL NFBC NATIONAL CONTESTS will be retained and you'll see our plan within the next day or two. We have a good grasp on what needs to be done and we will make the official announcement once we have run all of the numbers. Please give us a little more time to develop this plan, but it will be fair for everyone involved in these contests.

We have no plans to reduce our guaranteed prize structures in any of the national contests that have already held drafts. And we have no plans of making those national contests unfair as they were originally set up. You will see why very shortly.

We will unveil that plan and set a deadline for when drafts in those contests will end. We NEVER said we would continue hosting drafts up until the new Opening Day involving those national contests, so let us set that deadline for when those drafts will end so that we can retain the level playing field that you all signed up for earlier.

Then, of course, we'll need a baseball season. Until we know the start time or the length of the season, other decisions can't be made. We will make quick, decisive decisions once we know all of that, but right now we as a country just have to hunker down, stop the spread of this virus and hopefully one day contain/eliminate it.

We hope to have all details of this plan approved and thoroughly vetted by tomorrow. Please give us that time and then look for the plan for:

Rotowire Online Championship
NFBC Best Ball Cutline Championship
NFBC Draft Champions National Championship
NFBC Online Auction Championship

All guaranteed prizes stay the same. New draft deadlines are coming that are fair. ROI could be better for all players. Integrity of the contests remains. Look for details tomorrow. Thanks all and stay safe & stay healthy.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Today the NFBC is making firm Draft Day deadlines to protect the integrity of our four national online championships. Those contests have held drafts since early November and now it's time to make sure the playing field is level for everyone competing for those overall and league prizes.

Drafts were set up for those national championships from November until Opening Day, and we already had full NFBC Cutline Championship and Rotowire Online Championship leagues scheduled for Opening Day on Thursday morning, March 26th. Now Opening Day is out on the horizon and nobody can accurately predict whether it will be May 15th, June 1st, July 1st or later. Even the prospect of no baseball looms before us today.

But even with that grim thought, we have to plan as if the world will tackle this beast and life will resume. And we have to plan as if Major League Baseball has a chance to resume in 2020, so this plan covers that. But rest assured, these plans are being made contingent on MLB resuming the season. If there is no MLB season in 2020, all games will be cancelled and ALL ENTRY FEES WILL BE REFUNDED to your Player Accounts by SportsHub Games Network. That's our guarantee and it's an easy guarantee to make.

So here's what we're doing: We are setting firm, concrete final draft dates for the Rotowire Online Championship, the NFBC Cutline Championship, the NFBC Draft Champions National Championship and the NFBC Online Auction Championship. No new leagues will be formed after these set draft dates and the contests will go forward with those teams even if we finish below our projections. This is not about getting the last dime through Registration, it's about making sure all teams are on the same playing field and have fair shots at the overall titles and the prize money that goes with them.

ALL PRIZE MONEY IS GUARANTEED AND HAS NOT BEEN CHANGED for those four national championships as long as MLB starts this season, no matter how far short we finish from our projections. Two of those contests are not near our goals at this point, but that's fine. We must ensure a level playing field for everyone who drafted early, who drafted later and who will be drafting next. That is PRIORITY 1.

So here's the current update on each of our national online championships and the new draft deadlines:

NFBC Draft Champions National Championship: This contest has already exceeded expectations and we will end the "slow drafts" (4-hour, 2-hour, 1-hour, 30-minute) as soon as we can combine everyone into one time frame. We will offer nightly Draft Champion Express leagues through Sunday, April 5th and then end all drafts. All "slow" drafts must conclude by then too so that it's a level playing field for everyone. Again, all prizes are not only guaranteed but we will be expanding overall prizes from 2nd place down.

NFBC Online Auction Championship: This contest has also exceeded expectations and we will end the $150 offerings with Thursday's final $150 Online Auction Championship. There is a $500 Online Auction Championship League set for Monday, March 23rd that is partially full and we will officially end this contest with that league. Anything we offer after March 20th will be private online auction leagues with nice league prizes (Pay Top 3). Again, all prizes are not only guaranteed for this national contest but we will be expanding overall prizes from 2nd place down.

NFBC Cutline Championship: The Draft Day deadline for the Cutline is Sunday, April 12th. We will stop offering "slow" Cutlines on Sunday, March 29th and we will offer nightly Cutlines through Sunday, April 12th. This national contest is not near our guaranteed goals at this point and over 20% of signups in the past would come during the two weeks before Opening Day. We have now lost that timeline due to coronavirus. But we are still guaranteeing the overall prize pool that everyone signed up for and we think there will be interest in this Best Ball Championship with a known deadline a few weeks away.

Rotowire Online Championship: This Draft Day deadline is set for Wednesday, April 15th just to spit in the teeth of Tax Day. The hell with government wanting our tax money and wasting it. We're celebrating with one final Draft Day that will still be at least 1 month or more before Opening Day. Plan accordingly as we will add more draft dates between March 26th and April 15th. This contest is far away from our goals because over 35% of all revenue for this contest in the past came in during the final two weeks of drafts before Opening Day. We have lost that time frame, so we will allow a few more draft dates for this contest and then shut it off after April 15th no matter how far short we are of our goals. All overall prize money is guaranteed no matter what the final number of teams is in this contest.

That's the plan moving forward to ensure the integrity of these four national contests. Now for undrafted national contests:

Main Event: The plan for the Main Event is to move forward with scheduled Online drafts the 14 days before whatever the new scheduled Opening Day is and to hopefully get all the TBD teams/owners into times and dates that fit their upcoming schedules. Over 96% of Main Event owners have left their teams as TBDs and several of the other 3.3% of owners say they will likely sign back up once a definitive plan is in place. I'm not even going to get into hypotheticals of what happens if MLB returns with less than a full 162-game season because we'll deal with that when/and if that happens. We also aren't getting into hypotheticals of what happens if it's a 120-game season or 100 games or less. All of that is hypothetical at this point. Again, all overall prize money is guaranteed for the NFBC Main Event and the overall prize structure will stay the same even though we currently are not at plan with the forecasted numbers.

Solo Shot: The plan is the same as above with the Main Event, but nothing is set in stone here. We will evaluate the Solo Shot as we know more about Opening Day because this contest was still more than 20% below plan before folks began asking for money back. I still want to run the industry's first single-entry national fantasy baseball championship, but let's see what happens next before finalizing this contest.

As for the private high-dollar leagues -- the NFBC Platinum, Diamond, Ultimate and Super Draft Leagues -- everyone's entries have been changed to TBDs and we'll await the exact date of Opening Day before rescheduling those. Once we know what Opening Day is, we'll work our way backwards with similar timelines and announce those draft dates. Owners with TBDs obviously have first dibs on those entries, but we may have openings in leagues that were once full. We'll fill as many of these high-dollar leagues as possible and we'll cancel any that don't fill. That's all we can do.

The NFBC Auction Championship has already been cancelled as have the Diamond Auction and Ultimate Auction. If somehow we were able to host live events again, we could host private auctions, but the overall auction championship will not return in 2020. There is no plan for live events at this point, but a guy can dream, can't he?!! (humor is needed these days)

After these deadlines, we will have drafts available online until Opening Day, but the plan is to offer only private 12-team and 15-team leagues with solid league prizes (Pay Top 3). Offering a second wave of national contests would be tough with Opening Day still an unknown and no idea of how many entries to base overall prizes on. But we'll worry about all of that later. For now, let's get on with this first phase and conclude our four national online championships.

Thanks for your patience all. In these tough times, it's great to have a strong community of great people. We have that here in the NFBC. You can feel that, even just Online. Nobody is panicking and for the most part this community is staying optimistic and hoping for a resumption of the MLB season. We are at the mercy of this coronavirus beast and at the mercy of MLB's decisions for the season, but we will be ready when life resumes. We have to be.

Thanks all and keep yourselves and your families safe and healthy. God Bless.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I haven't posted on this thread in almost 3 months and during that time we haven't moved any closer to MLB resuming play than we were on Friday the 13th of March. Unfortunately, the reason we aren't any closer to playing today is because of a financial disagreement between the owners and players, not entirely because of the coronavirus.

I'm frustrated. You're frustrated. And all baseball fans are frustrated.

Yet, MLB owners and players continue to negotiate at a snail's pace. They act like every day lost isn't a big deal. BUT IT IS!!

After the owners' latest proposal on Monday it appears more and more likely that the owners are going to dictate a 50-game season with expanded playoffs even though the players say the risk isn't worth the reward. The players proposed a 114-game regular season with expanded playoffs, but time is running out on anything more than 80-90 games. Tomorrow we'll get a counter offer from the players and we'll see if somehow, someway, they can reach an agreement in the next 7-10 days and start Spring Training 2.0.

In the meantime, we are all left holding hope, and only hope. All of you have teams that you drafted months ago -- and a lot of money invested in those teams -- waiting to be played in a meaningful season. We are left answering questions daily about how many games would constitute a real NFBC season and explaining why we are at the mercy of MLB to give us a meaningful season. We are all left waiting for a final answer to see if we will be able to enjoy a hobby we really love.

I've tried my best not to speculate on what the future holds, not saying it would take 140 games or 120 games or 100 games or less. The numbers change all the time because MLB is still at this labor impasse. What we did early on was we closed off all of our national online contests to keep the playing field as level as possible for those contests, even though one of them didn't sell out. And we didn't run any Main Event, Solo Shot or high-stakes private league drafts. I know that nobody signed up for an 80 or 90 game NFBC season in the earlier national contests, but all we can do is mirror the MLB regular season and pay out accordingly as long as it's fair. WE ALL WANT more games, but the coronavirus prevented a full season and now this labor dispute is preventing even a season of 75-80% of total games.

So we are left with whatever MLB gives us. Or are we?

Again, I haven't speculated on the number of games we need to complete an NFBC season, but if we get 80 or more regular season games we will still go forward with all of these previously drafted leagues/contests. It's not ideal, but this is a crazy season. Should MLB settle on a lower number than that then we'll discuss internally and make a decision. But a season of 50 or fewer games just doesn't feel like a full baseball contest to us for a number of reasons. It becomes too much of a sprint and we think that if MLB forces that scenario then several players will resist returning. That isn't good for the game.

For now, let's give this labor impasse another week to see what the final decision is before making this decision together. We know it's a shorter season. We know it's not ideal. We know some people want everything redrafted. But hopefully we get a deal that involves 80 or more games and we can still move forward and crown so many great champions from an NFBC sprint rather than the normal NFBC marathon.

And we'll see about live events in New York and Las Vegas. We have no idea what the MLB start date is yet, so we don't know if there is space available for us to rent at our normal host hotels. And we don't know how many people can be in the same room at one time in those rooms for each city. But if everything would work out, we'd consider some possible live events in those two cities if demand was there.

We're just putting all of this out there now and hoping for some good news tomorrow. Thanks for your patience everyone and let's hope -- please fulfill our HOPE -- that good news is coming soon. Stay safe and stay healthy everyone, and maybe we'll find a way to complete this season. Thanks.

[DOUGHBOYS]

"But a season of 50 or fewer games just doesn't feel like a full baseball contest to us for a number of reasons. It becomes too much of a sprint and we think that if MLB forces that scenario then several players will resist returning. That isn't good for the game."

Greg, I realize the position you are in. You are being pulled this way and that in "How many games is enough".
The baseball chat has a guy on the streets wanting his previous drafts money back so that he can maintain his life with the essentials like food and shelter. Others want their money back because "this isn't what they signed up for".
There are also those that want to play whether it's 50 or 150 games.
Leaving you and your group to decide what is best for the game and it's players. A tough position.

It seems like every day, you offer child-like hope that THIS will be the day that the dispute is settled.
Although I admire the sheer hope, I do not share in the optimism.
I'm more practical and believe that everything the owners are doing is programmed to get their way. Which is the shorter schedule of 48-52 games.
In a way, it's a declaration of war on our game and leaves most, especially you, twisting in the wind.

They say that war makes strange bedfellows. You will probably laugh that this proposal is coming from me.
A fella that can't stand the thought of 'Game 163'.
But, these are different times. And surely, this is a different year to say the least.
In your comment above, you're suggesting that 50 some-odd games is not enough.
I purely understand that and understand all those that agree with that.
It's a third of a season and not much time at all.

But what about if we're pragmatic and take what the owners give us?
Every day with no baseball is a day towards the owners agenda.
What they want is expanded playoffs. More games during the post-season.
What if we included these games on top of the 50 games of our fantasy season?
It sounds a little crazy, especially from somebody who detests 'Game 163, but these are crazy times.
It would expand our season and make for fantasy decisions that have never been on our table before.

We are all gamblers in one way or another. I'm betting this would stir the blood of most players.
And for new drafts, it'll move certain players up and down drafts instead of the same ol before the virus.
A lot of drafters like their teams and don't want to see them go to waste. This is a way of saving all those previous drafts and leagues.
The playoffs would enhance the number of games and enhance the ingenuity needed to guide our teams.

A 'Playoff contest' could still be run and will likely be popular for those not faring too well in the regular 50 game season portion of the schedule.
I believe that contest will be as strong as ever.

If the owners give us a 50-some odd game schedule, we have the option of playing or not playing.
Including the playoff season, a more enhanced playoff season, this makes for an 'option three'.
A way to play a lot more than 50-some odd games and a way to put a twist in our game that we've never had before.
I don't know if it is feasible due to rules in place or not.
As said, this year is different from every other NFBC year. That's for sure!
Anyway, something else to ponder.

Thanks for the listen.

EDIT- I just re-read the thread and you asked for no responses. Hopefully, that sense of urgency has passed.
If not, apologies.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Dan, it's fine to post here. I think our official statements are just about done, anyway. And I don't disagree with any of your comments, but let me add mine here.

Personally, I've had it with the owners. This is no longer about coronavirus or the good of the game or the good of the country. This is Union Busting 101. The latest proposal from the players was more than fair and would get the season rolling a month from now. But the owners are insistent on a 50-game season and expanded playoffs because they might actually lose $10 million per team this year. That's a drop in the bucket compared to earnings over the last 10+ years and the rise of franchise values.

Plus, they just sold a large portion of MLB Advanced Media to Disney for $1 billion (more than $30 million per team) of which the players get NOTHING for that. Major League Baseball is nothing without the players and yet the owners are holding this season hostage so that they can bust the union after 2021. Unreal.

As someone who has made his living in baseball for 31+ years -- including the strike year of 1994 which ran into the start of 1995 (two issues of Fantasy Baseball Magazine cancelled as we waited day-by-day for some resolution) -- it's frustrating to see the stewards of the game care so little for the game. This is an economic toy for these owners. For baseball fans, this is sooooooo much more than that.

I do believe Manfred will force a 50-game season on the players and many players will choose not to play. Our concern is that if so many top stars opt out of this season it would be unfair to everyone to still run these leagues. Not only because of the length of the season, but because too many players weren't playing at all because of a labor impasse. If the game returns as we all hope with a half season, all or most of the players will return this season, giving everyone a fair shot at prizes and titles.

And since these already drafted contests are almost all national contests, we can't have some leagues with unattended teams while other leagues have attentive owners. We can't have someone win a national title only because he was able to get every free agent he wanted because some owners in that league got out. Even in Draft Champions leagues where there are no free agent pickups, we need everyone to set their starting lineups and pay attention to their teams.

This sucks for everyone. Baseball already had its problems before self inflicting the sport with this greed during a pandemic. But the sport was still primed for a great year and the NFBC was already on its way to a record year with over 14,000 paid teams in through March 12th. How could the sport kill itself over some lost revenue for the owners in one season? It's mind-boggling.

Let's see what happens over the next 7 days. Maybe both sides will surprise us all and still give us 78-82 games and expanded playoffs. We'll go forward then and do our best with Main Event drafts and high-stakes private leagues. And yes, a post-season contest. But if Manfred forces this shortened season on us, then yes we have to make that tough call that will piss off people on both sides.

Trust me, we are getting the heat for going forward or not refunding everything on a daily basis. It's as if WE are to blame for what baseball is doing to everyone. I get it because there's a lot of money involved and people's lives have changed during the last 12 weeks. But we are caught in the middle of this bullshit just like all of you and it could affect us irrepairably. Let's hope that the right decision happens in the next week so that we can all live to see a meaningful baseball season again. And then in 2022, oh boy, watch for a labor war that will make 1994 look like a kid's game.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful response, Greg.
Grim times indeed.
This is the most dividing year of my lifetime in America.
Social strife, health issues, political mumbo jumbo.
No matter how bad a year was before, there was always baseball.
Now, the owners have decided to become part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
They had a chance to be a beacon of what is right with our Country.
Instead, they join the cess pool of what is wrong with our Country.
It stinks. It just stinks.

[Dat Bum]

We're all fans of the game and obsessed with data here. It's the stuff that bonds us all through the NFBC. I don't voice my opinion often through these threads, but today I will.

I am with you, Greg. The owners' greed disgusts me. They're sitting on years and years of positive revenue in the sport and franchises that have sky-rocketed in value. As a California guy, I am keenly aware that Arte Moreno bought the Angels for 184 million dollars in 2003. Fast forward just 17 years and his franchise is now worth an estimated 1.9 billion. The poor fella! A potential gain of over 1.7 billion dollars that doesn't even include his year over year profits and yet he was the last person to commit to paying minor league players a measly $400 a week through the end of June. Furthermore, he's laid off or furloughed the good people who work hard to keep his franchise's value propped up and crapped on the scouting department right before/around the time of the MLB draft, taking advantage of their info/hard work and pissing on them at the same time. Moves like this will bury his franchise for years to come and I'm sure he will sell his team, pad his wealthy status and move on, leaving a piece of the game in shambles without a care in the world. He and so many owners disregard the human aspect to all of this. I guess that's the cut-throat mentality you must have in order to be among the wealthy. This is happening all over the league on different levels.

Meanwhile, hard working people like yourself, who basically promote the game of baseball at little to no expense to the owners are left to deal with the fallout of the greed. I feel for you. I feel for my father in-law who works as an usher. I feel for my cousin in-law who is just getting his start as a broadcaster for a minor league team, I feel for the little guy. Hell, I feel for the players. Most of them have a very small window of time to make good on all of their hard work to get to the top.

I am pro-player all the way. Owners assumed all the risk and generally reap the massive rewards. That's the billionaire game they're fortunate enough to be a part of and none of them are missing a 5-course meal from their personal chefs during this trying time. Yet, owners are going to haggle over 10's of millions of dollars while potentially depreciating the value of their franchises as they push fans away and ruin the game for a period of time. After 1994, the owners were lucky MLB turned a blind eye to steroids and allowed massive homerun numbers from the likes of Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds to bring the game back. How long will it take before the game gets back on track this time?

As for what you guys decide to do with already drafted leagues, I think you deserve our courtesy, trusting that you'll run the first-rate business you always have and that you'll make the most logical decision for the better of the whole. We owe you and Tom that courtesy for the professionalism you've always shown us.

[DOUGHBOYS]

"USA Today's Bob Nightengale writes that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred "may have no choice but to implement" a regular-season schedule of around 50 games."

Are writers like Nightengale really buying into this bullshit?
There have been choices right down the line. Leading from March to June. There have always been choices. Still are.
Instead, narrow mindedness and greed prevails.
The owners have already peed on our leg.
Using writers to say they had no choice but to pee on our legs only insults us and makes the feelings more bitter.
Somehow, Manfred has forgotten his job description.
He is supposed to be the Commissioner of baseball. ALL of baseball. All that's good for baseball.
Nothing about this is good for baseball.
Instead of being that voice for baseball, he is now a well-paid errand boy and press secretary for leg pee'ers.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Dan, I TOTALLY agree with you. I think too many national writers are framing this too much in favor of the owners. Let's tell it like it is: The MLBPA agreed to play 114 games and take all of the health risks. The owners have no health risk, but have financial risk and aren't willing to take it. That's the two sides of this debate and if Manfred forces a 50-game season that nobody wants the sport is in trouble.

Sorry for the rant, but it was tough to watch MLB have an amateur draft last night like all is good in the baseball world when it's really not.

Today I did call the Bellagio to secure space for football and they have plenty of convention space, as you can expect. They are currently only going to allow 50% room capacity at the hotel and believe it or not they are full this weekend and likely will be full each Thursday-Saturday this month. Capacity will likely increase after 30 days. My sales rep said the hotel is jumping and people are happy to be back.

She has plenty of meeting room space if we decide to do something live in July. We'll have to see if there's any demand or not and what kind of deal the owners and players make, but it's good to know it's an option in Las Vegas. We can cross that bridge later, but it's good to know it's an option if things suddenly turn for the good. We'll stay in touch about this and plan accordingly. Park MGM and Aria are not open at this point as they will be the last of the MGM properties to open, I was told.

Tom will talk with his contact in New York City later too. Stay well all and stay safe.

[Greg Ambrosius]

So just a heads up that today I am emailing all of the remaining owners in our NFBC Platinum, Diamond, Ultimate and Super Leagues and cancelling all remaining entries. Darik is taking care of the refunds and that money should show up on your Player Accounts by tomorrow morning.

With all refunds, we are putting the money on your Player Accounts for you to use any way you want. We are not stipulating that you must re-spend that with the NFBC or NFFC; you can Request Payment at any time and cash out.

Once we know exactly what MLB's new schedule is, we will recreate some new private high-dollar leagues and put them on Registration. The highest dollar private leagues will likely draft the latest, so likely draft times from the night before Opening Day to 2-3 nights before Opening Day. We're still working on all of that now.

Obviously, this is now a sprint for any newly drafted leagues: 60 games in 66 days if MLB can avoid coronavirus shutdown. That's 37% of the season, so in-season new position eligibility would be lowered to 4 games. We will change the minimum innings pitched number to 300 for all leagues, which is lower than 37%, but doable because Starting Pitchers may not go as deep early on.

We also will put in the legal section of our Rules the new guarantee of games that need to be completed for prizes to be paid with standings at that time determining the winners. I don't have that number yet and I hope baseball doesn't shut down during the season, but that is certainly possible and we need to have that in print.

We will announce new contests, price points and prizes once we have final plans from MLB. I don't expect any new available drafts until next week at the earliest. Look for more details on all of our plans here and via our email newsletter this week. We will also announce our plans on already drafted teams/leagues soon, so please be patient with us as we are trying to make this work for the players and the NFBC. Thanks.

Oh, and I will hold all choice words I want to use toward the MLB owners under my breath until we meet again at a live event and then I will curse for 24 straight hours without missing a beat. Should be fun.

[Gildz Nation]

Edit- So nothing official until later in week regarding already drafted leagues. Gotcha

[Greg Ambrosius]

Edit- So nothing official until later in week regarding already drafted leagues. Gotcha

I'm not sure I said later in the week, but since tomorrow is Wednesday that could be later in the week. We need all the facts and it's amazing that the players and owners couldn't even meet today's 5 pm deadline to agree to the safety protocals. We're waiting for the players' response so that we know if it's 60 games or not, if it's July 24th or not, or anything else. Why should we announce our plans when all of this could still blow up?

I don't trust these two sides to agree on anything and everything Jon Heyman writes comes right from the owners. Please, just finalize what the plan is and we'll announce our plan. Is it 60 games with Opening Day on July 24th? If so, then we can make our final plans.

[KJ Duke]

Edit- So nothing official until later in week regarding already drafted leagues. Gotcha

Why should we announce our plans when all of this could still blow up?

That's what Manfred would do. 100%.

[KJ Duke]

Finally, something almost official.

@BNightengale

#MLB and the #MLBPA continue to exchange ideas with the health and safety protocols. There are no major snags. The union already informed MLB that it plans to play, and be in spring training camps by July 1 with a 60-game season starting July 24-26 weekend.

[Gekko]

#MLBPA has informed #MLB players will report on July 1st for July 24 Opening Day. 60 Game season in 66 days. They are both still working on finalizing safety and health protocols which quite frankly will be something both parties will continue to improve on going forward.

Start your “engines”