NFBC Site Is Live!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:38 am

Well, I tried to get the conversation going about the draft sites before we had the NFBC site live but the folks in St. Louis worked faster than I anticipated. We are very close with final contracts on all of the venues and thus we are ready to rock 'n roll for 2011. Not only is the site live but Registration is now open too.

Check out the NFBC site at:

http://nfbc.fanball.com

We are still making a few text changes and adding in the official rules for 2011, but most of that should be done tonight. I need to create a new Hall of Fame file with all of the career listings I posted on the message boards, but otherwise we should be good to go soon. All of those links under NFBC Players will be updated first thing next week.

Take a look at everything and I'll gladly answer questions if you have them. We don't have all of our early-bird promotions done yet, so look for those shortly. We definitely want to reward those who play in multiple live events and even multiple Online Double Plays.

As I had mentioned earlier, we are raising the entry fee for the NFBC Classic to $1,400 while increasing league prizes and maintaining similar overall prizes. The overall prizes are based on 390 teams despite hitting 435 last year, but anything over 390 will add to the overall prize pool. So if our numbers grow this year like they did last year, we could see a nice bump in the overall prize pool.

As for Events Fees, we lowered them to $50 on the second weekend as we worked closely with the Bellagio and Citi Field on those expenses. We will still have food and beverage at all of our events, but that is a cost that is tangible and is part of the required space expense. I've been doing this now for eight years and trust me the cost of reserving 15,000 square feet in Las Vegas and New York is MUCH greater today than it was in 2004. If we are to continue paying out 75-80% for most events and 85-93% for our private high-stakes leagues while hosting them at top notch venues, there has to be expenses involved. And we need help there.

Also, these are 4 1/2 hour drafts and there isn't food outside at Citi Field or Trackside or the Bellagio you can just buy. And if you go anywhere at the Bellagio, it's going to cost you close to what we are providing for food and beverage with a long, long wait involved. I think everyone at the Bellagio last year felt it was a good spread and it got even better at our football drafts. By now lowering that cost to $50 per person we aren't covering all of our expenses obviously but it helps. And you are still getting good food and beverage for what is a good, long draft.

We need Events Fees for both weekends if we're going to provide food and drink and host these at the best venues. But again, we tried to keep them low enough this year. For the Live Double Play, we are just adding $25 to the cost and making that already part of the entry with no additional Events Fee. With that setup, we are still paying over 76% in league and overall prizes. That event is tough for us financially with three facilitators, space, food and a draft board, but I really believe it helps us grow the 12-team format and hopefully brings in a few new members for our 15-team events. And as we saw last year, someone can win a big chunk of money for $525.

Like I said, we'll have early-bird specials soon and we'll save you some of these add-on expenses if you sign up early for multiple events. Let's get the ball rolling on the 2011 season.

And the Slow Draft software will follow this web site launch shortly. This has been a lot of work, but that is next on the agenda. We're excited to announce the first Slow Draft Championship with $25 from every team competing in Slow Drafts going towards an overall guaranteed prize pool. I think this will be fun and will keep our message boards hopping early in the off-season. We are shooting for 20 leagues between the $150 and $375 price points and we'll expand the overall prizes if we go above that total. Look for those Slow Drafts at $150 per team and $375 per team to start shortly. Thanks all and enjoy.

[ November 12, 2010, 05:51 PM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]

Jim Christie · Post by **Jim Christie** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:01 pm

Pretty cool; just visited the site; will be signing up for 2-3 1st weekend events soon...

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:12 pm

20 leagues?

You're already a tenth of the way there

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:17 pm

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

20 leagues?

You're already a tenth of the way there

Thanks to you!!

We can go above that total and we'll all benefit!!

It's exciting to be live already with the web site and moving forward. The boards are talking about baseball already and people are getting excited. I saw live baseball last weekend in sunny Arizona. It almost makes you want to forget about the 5 months of winter that are approaching!!

Thanks all.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:33 pm

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

We are shooting for 20 leagues between the $150 and $375 price points and we'll expand the overall prizes if we go above that total. Look for those Slow Drafts at $150 per team and $375 per team to start shortly. Thanks all and enjoy. hmmm...one alias per league * 20 leagues = 20!!!!

MadCow Sez · Post by **MadCow Sez** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:11 pm

Looking forward to seeing the package plans. When I see the deals, I'll commit my teams....bring it on, GA!

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:46 pm

Fanball actually raised the prices after last year? After stating they won't fix the IE problem?

Wow! I mean WOW!!!! :rolleyes:

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:41 pm

Originally posted by Walla Walla:

Fanball actually raised the prices after last year? After stating they won't fix the IE problem?

Wow! I mean WOW!!!! :rolleyes: The net increase to fanball is about $25 per team. The IE problem is more accurately a Microsoft problem than a Fanball one. Microsoft has $44 Billion in spare cash on its balance sheet ... they also haven't fixed it yet. Perhaps, John, you chould head over to Redmond and give them a piece of your mind.

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:01 pm

Looks great! I am tentatively planning to play.

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:40 pm

Originally posted by Gekko:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

We are shooting for 20 leagues between the $150 and $375 price points and we'll expand the overall prizes if we go above that total. Look for those Slow Drafts at $150 per team and $375 per team to start shortly. Thanks all and enjoy. hmmm...one alias per league * 20 leagues = 20!!!! [/QUOTE]YumYumGetchaSome Mark BTW, if there's any concern about getting paid for all your winnings (or whinings), don't enter. give everybody a break in advance.

[ November 12, 2010, 09:46 PM: Message edited by: Kentucky Reign ]

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:45 pm

Originally posted by Kentucky Reign:

quote:Originally posted by Gekko:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

We are shooting for 20 leagues between the $150 and $375 price points and we'll expand the overall prizes if we go above that total. Look for those Slow Drafts at $150 per team and $375 per team to start shortly. Thanks all and enjoy. hmmm...one alias per league * 20 leagues = 20!!!! [/QUOTE]YumYumGetchaSome Mark [/QUOTE]doughboys doesn't know it but i got one of my friends to sign me up for one of the leagues he's running! mmmuuhahahaha!!!! hi dough!!

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:49 pm

Originally posted by Gekko:

quote:Originally posted by Kentucky Reign:

quote:Originally posted by Gekko:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

We are shooting for 20 leagues between the $150 and $375 price points and we'll expand the overall prizes if we go above that total. Look for those Slow Drafts at $150 per team and $375 per team to start shortly. Thanks all and enjoy. hmmm...one alias per league * 20 leagues = 20!!!! [/QUOTE]YumYumGetchaSome Mark [/QUOTE]doughboys doesn't know it but i got one of my friends to sign me up for one of the leagues he's running! mmmuuhahahaha!!!! hi dough!!

[/QUOTE]do you REALLY think anybody cares... :rolleyes:

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:59 pm

Originally posted by Kentucky Reign:

] do you REALLY think anybody cares... :rolleyes: YumYumGetchaSome says someone does

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:06 pm

just keep thinking that...

Money · Post by **Money** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 5:24 pm

[ November 13, 2010, 04:04 AM: Message edited by: Fast Money ]

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Fri Nov 12, 2010 6:14 pm

Damn, Joe, looks like he got to ya. look up narcissistic in the dictionary and there's a picture of GG right next to the definition...

[ November 13, 2010, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: Kentucky Reign ]

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 2:53 am

Originally posted by Gekko:

doughboys doesn't know it but i got one of my friends to sign me up for one of the leagues he's running! mmmuuhahahaha!!!! hi dough!!

Gek, You are like the schmart burglar who spends over an hour picking the lock to the backdoor and quietly thrusts his fists to the heavens once the lock is picked...Only to find that the front door was wide open.

Rat's ass.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 5:39 am

Greg,

The biggest reason why I played in 12 team leagues last year was for a shot at the COMBINED prizes of the main event and the 12 team format.

Is there any thought to having additional COMBINED prizes based on TWO main event teams? This might get more people to purchase two main event teams over the course of two weekends?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:38 am

Good job all with signups this weekend. It's great to see folks commiting to the live events already. On Monday I'm going to start the Who's Coming To The 2011 NFBC and Where? thread. I can now easily look up last year's performances for each owner and put that in each welcome message as well. My goal is to stay on top of this right from the beginning this year and announce new signups as they come in each day. That's the goal, at least. Hopefully we can do it and stay on top of the signups this year.

I'm also going to need to keep counts of teams in each city because we don't have unlimited space on that second weekend. We are limited to a certain number of teams if we return to the Bellagio as we have lesser space than last year and Citi Field is also limited on how many leagues we can get in Caesar's Place if we return there. So while we want to grow this to bigger numbers this year, due to demand for space we have to keep a cutoff number in mind.

Thanks again all and look for an updated signup list tomorrow and the Welcome Thread on Monday.

Winston's Empire · Post by **Winston's Empire** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:33 am

Thanks Greg.... Looks Awesome! I sent you a Private Message with a few questions if you get a chance. I look forward to getting going on some slow drafting and signing up for the other events!

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:31 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

And the Slow Draft software will follow this web site launch shortly. This has been a lot of work, but that is next on the agenda. We're excited to announce the first Slow Draft Championship with $25 from every team competing in Slow Drafts going towards an overall guaranteed prize pool. I think this will be fun and will keep our message boards hopping early in the off-season. We are shooting for 20 leagues between the $150 and $375 price points and we'll expand the overall prizes if we go above that total. Look for those Slow Drafts at $150 per team and $375 per team to start shortly. Thanks all and enjoy. Greg,

You will get WELL more than 20 slow draft leagues this year. I'd say somewhere in the 30's.

Any idea if they will start before December? If you think so, I better get started on my projections!

Thanks!

Winston's Empire · Post by **Winston's Empire** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:06 am

I am up for starting a $375 as soon as December 1st! I can't before that though, Deer Hunting in Wisconsin!!!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:48 am

Just a heads up that we have updated the text under the links for NFBC Players on the home page. There we've updated the NFBC Records, NFBC History and NFBC Career Money Leaders. I'm going to update the Hall of Fame link with many of the writeups I did on the message boards. I think we had 9 or 10 owners who are under consideration and I think we'll list their accomplishments there. When we pick our inaugural Hall of Fame class we'll update that link.

I thought it was interesting to see the Career Money leaders since 2004. Lindy Hinkelman still leads the way thanks to that historic 2009 season. Check it out. For a sneak peak, here's the top 25 career money leaders from that list:

NFBC CAREER EARNINGS LEADERS:

1. Lindy Hinkelman $245,300

2. David DiDonato $240,750

3. Stephen Jupinka $169,000

4. David Longood $142,300

5. Terry Haney $125,550

6. Shawn Childs $118,750

7. Robert Jurney $111,300

8. Rick Thomas $105,200

9. Artie Rastelli $105,000

10. Brian Oldenski $105,000

11. Donn Johnson $93,750

12. Jaime Baird $92,300

13. James Stanard $91,150

14. Ken Magner $84,100

15. Eddie Gillis $74,300

16. Ken Norred $69,925

17. Scott Fleming $63,800

18. Brent Grooms $60,500

19. William Tyrer $59,650

20. David Deterra $58,950

21. Shawn Johnson $58,750

22. Mark Srebro $57,075

23. Greg Morgan $52,250

24. Andre Bourcier $45,860

25. Jim Ferrari $41,300

Glenneration X · Post by **Glenneration X** » Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:19 pm

Great list Greg. Looks like the guys at the top of this list have made quite a living here, nice!

I checked out the link and see that I just snuck into the top 50 this year. Cool.

One question, what criteria is used for prizes that count on this list? I see that the moneys & prizes I've earned in the Main Event this year and last are included, but not those I've earned in satellites. Does this only tabulate the live events?

Glenn

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:50 am

Originally posted by Glenneration X:

Great list Greg. Looks like the guys at the top of this list have made quite a living here, nice!

I checked out the link and see that I just snuck into the top 50 this year. Cool.

One question, what criteria is used for prizes that count on this list? I see that the moneys & prizes I've earned in the Main Event this year and last are included, but not those I've earned in satellites. Does this only tabulate the live events?

Glenn Correct, the career money leaders list includes results from all live events and national contests. That means all past auction leagues, the Auction Championship, the Online Championship, Double Plays, Main Events, Supers, Ultimates and Diamonds. We don't include satellite leagues or private leagues in this list. I hope that helps.