This could be a special, special time in Las Vegas if you can take extended time to join us. The First Weekend of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is March 21-24 with games starting on Thursday, March 21st at 8 am PT. There will also be two MLB regular season games March 20th and 21st as the Dodgers and Padres kick off the season in the Seoul Series in South Korea. All 30 MLB teams will kick off Opening Day on Thursday, March 28th, with Sweet Sixteen NCAA games also starting on Thursday, March 28th.
In other words, if you can stay for the whole time you will have plenty of action taking place all around you!!! Come for the NCAA play-in games starting on Tuesday, March 19th and then stay for the start of the MLB 2024 season the next weekend. During that time, you'll be able to fit in some NFBC drafts and auctions into the mix and you'll have the time of your life!!! It's going to be a week to remember.
We have the Mirage's Grand Ballroom reserved once again for the Saturday Main Event drafts on March 23rd. Last year we had 8 NFBC Main Event leagues going at once and we certainly have room for one or two more leagues in that big ballroom. We also have the Grand Stage again and will bring up all of our past national champions and Hall of Famers to the Stage of Champions. We'll celebrate the past and then add new champions that day. Can't Wait!!
We are still working on the Schedule of Events, but we expect to kick off the live events on Wednesday night, March 20th with a Main Event league and an Auction Championship league. We'll have drafts available on Thursday as well and then continue with our Friday through Sunday schedules like in the past. Last year we filled a Monday morning $1500 Auction Championship league that was great fun and we know we'll fill that one again. Then look for Main Event leagues at 4 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, while adding in other live events as well. Let's take advantage of the great space we have at the Mirage and have some fun.
We have a room block at the Mirage just for our NFBC attendees and I'll post details of that soon. We are guaranteeing a pretty big room block to secure all of this great space, so we hope many of you will stay at our host hotel. We know you have your choice of places to stay in Las Vegas, but if you book under our room block I believe you'll get a great rate and be helping us out, while also making it very easy to attend all of our live events. Thanks.
And we already have FABULOUS space for a Friday night party again. Last year was so much fun when we reserved the Portofino restaurant and we had close to 100 people attend that gathering. The Portofino restaurant has been changed into a different venue now, so we can't repeat that night, but we have even BETTER space this year. We have reserved the second floor of the Capri Lounge and can host 100+ attendees up there. Look for more details on that event, but set your Friday night aside because you won't want to miss this party with fellow NFBC competitors.
It's our 21st anniversary season in the NFBC and I promise it's going to be bigger and better than ever before. We have decided not to return to New York City this year, so the options this year are between Las Vegas and Online. With the extended time in Las Vegas, we believe we can more than make up the five leagues that we had in New York City last year. We wish we could continue hosting live events in New York City, but the lack of participation since 2021 has made the decision an easy one. Now it's time to grow Las Vegas and make it bigger and better for everyone who takes the time to travel for our live events.
Look for more details on Las Vegas throughout the off-season and get those flights reserved early. With our live events coinciding with March Madness in Las Vegas, flights and hotel rooms will only get more expensive as the off-season goes on. Plan ahead, stay at the Mirage with us and then secure those spots in the Las Vegas Live Events because we're going to sell everything out. Thanks all and enjoy.
