Will KDS Work In 2007?

TradeStar28
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by TradeStar28 » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:47 am

We need innovation and technology and need this to be implemented immediately. There are so many synergistic relationships and partnerships that NFFC can form as the fantasy sports industry remains in its growth stage.

It was a step in the right direction once the cheesy slimey off-shore gambling sponsorships dried up due to legislation.

Now NFFC should partner up with major corporations to expand. And like I mentioned, these relationships should cater to the technology aspect of delivering real time information to us, the end user.

Here are some thoughts -

Major Cell phone carrier - Verizon, Cingular, Sprint, Tmobile. Their are times when you must leave the couch during Sunday. Therefore, we could have data send to our crackberrys , treo's , palms , etc.

Sirius Satellite Radio - Company has all of the games on Sunday to listen to via sirius receiver or streamed live to computer. Their could be relationship where Sirius is implemented into the management site and we could click to listen to the games in real time.

Sling Media - Make the sling box...which phase shifts video/audio to a computer or smart/cell phone.... When I was in Disney during my playoff run last year (Week 15), I had the Slingbox @ home slinging the games to my Motorola Q on that Sunday....kept me from missing the action

Eventually fantasy sports must evolve to something greater. If anyone is old enough to remember sports games for the Atari 2600, that is about equal to how static fantasy play is right now.
2012 - FI$HER - Flying High Again

Leroy's Aces
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by Leroy's Aces » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:40 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
I know I started this thought on another thread, but I thought I'd share some thoughts here about KDS and 3RR and get some input from you folks. After running a few drafts this off-season, it's obvious to Tom and myself that KDS is working just fine for our NFFC participants as 3RR makes each draft spot have some value this year. That just didn't seem to be the case in the past.

I decided to talk about KDS here because I noticed that draft inequality is being talked about on the WCOFF boards. It's a good, valid discussion that was started by Sam Hendricks, who wrote a fantasy football book this year. He suggested that to make serpentine drafts more fair this year, the top three players should be tossed out to prevent an unfair advantage to the top three teams. That seems a bit drastic, but it's obvious he feels that LT2, LJ and SJax are just too good to be included in leagues this year.

Again, I think that's a bit drastic and other WCOFF owners have agreed. Some have even commented that the NFFC has 3RR to alleviate this problem. Leroy's Aces, who was a co-manager in the NFFC last year, states that while 3RR may work in the NFFC, we're becoming a bit quirky with all of our rules to be accepted by the masses. We now have 14 teams, KDS, 3RR and FAAB, so we appear to be non-traditional, which is correct.

But in the end, shouldn't every product give what the customer wants? Or should we all be like sheep and just follow the same rules and guidelines? I feel strongly about this because I agree that competing in a 12-team, serpentine draft is the most common format and I LOVE playing in those leagues. When a few bucks or a travelling trophy or bragging rights are on the line, that's a great format.

But when folks are plunking down a month's salary to play fantasy football -- or more -- maybe the format should be the fairest way for everyone to compete for the prize. And almost as importantly to me, the format should be PERCEIVED by all participants as being the fairest. Over the last three years, folks complained about our draft order because the facts proved that it was tougher to win from the back end of the draft than from the front. It wasn't IMPOSSIBLE to win from back there, but it was tougher. Same is true in the WCOFF.

3RR was designed to balance the power in the NFFC this year and I hope it does make all leagues more competitive. But 3RR has also made KDS better because with Third Round Reversal folks have a different view of what spots are the most valuable on Draft Day. Some like the front of the draft, some prefer the back-end and some have even requested the middle picks. It's amazing how different each KDS list is and it's also amazing how it seems most owners get one of their preferred choices each draft.

We've run a few satellite leagues so far and for the most part owners are getting one of their top four or five preferences. The recent NFFC Magazine II league is a perfect example as 10 of the 14 owners got their Top 4 preference. Only one owner got a preference lower than 7th. Now no matter how you slice it, knowing that 13 of 14 owners got a draft spot that was in their top half is good news for everyone. Everyone is drafting in a spot that doesn't tick 'em off and some got spots exactly where they wanted. How can any of that be bad for fantasy football participants at this price level?

I agree, that the NFFC is now unique and different from the masses. Maybe we're too non-traditional. It's now important that we make sure EVERY owner understands how KDS works and how 3RR will be implemented. Tom and I will have to personally call a lot of folks beforehand to make sure they are on the same page. And of course I think providing data from NFFC Satellite Leagues will help people understand it, too. That's our job this off-season.

I agree with Dave (Leroy's Aces) that the NFFC is non-traditional now. Maybe we are quirky. But I trust our participants will enjoy the experience and our return rate will increase with each passing season. And in time, maybe other high-stakes contests will realize that with this much money on the line, balancing the playing field is as important as bringing in the highest number of participants. Because what it comes down to is that every owner just wants a fair shot at the grand prize. Honestly, I think the NFFC offers that better than any other contest out there.

Thoughts? WCOFF participants are welcome to chime in too. Thanks for the post, Greg, and good feedback on the topic from the various fantasy players.

Greg, my point of bringing it up was more of a reference to the consumer appeal of the league. As Nag' stated, with the rules changes and 3RR and KDS, it gets a bit tougher to appeal to the masses and grow the event. Truthfully, a 14 team league does not usually appeal to the typical fantasy player because it is unfamiliar, and, yes, challenging. If a typical fantasy player had never done a high stakes league and was going to pony up $1300-$2000 for one high stakes event, wouldn't they be likely to choose the event that had the format most familiar to them?

Personally, I like the quirky, unusual formats, so NFFC is actually more appealling to me with KDS and 3RR. Baker Boy and I are splitting a team in the $10,000 league for WCOFF, where you bid and pay in real cash on draft spots in rounds 1 and 2 and use real money for free agents.

And like you said, Greg, by differentiating your product, you can more honestly say that you have the fairest high stakes event out there. I agree with you on that. NFFC is more balanced, and has more unique rules with 14 team leagues. One thing to keep in mind is that by growing the event, WCOFF is mathematically making their event tougher to win, while keeping their format the same.

I personally will have no problem playing in that format this year in NFFC. It should be fun, if I can convince the real Leroy to do it.


Dave
Leroy's Aces

[ June 25, 2007, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: Leroy's Aces ]
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Greg Ambrosius
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:41 am

Originally posted by ultimatefantasyfootballcheatsheets:
Greg,

What about new signees? How or when do we submit our KDS preferences?

Russ Russ, your team should be all set up. If you can't find it, just e-mail me and I'll get you set up.

Just click on your team name, then click on MY SETTINGS (far right), then DRAFT PREFERENCES and you'll see 1 to 14 in order. Set it any way you'd like and keep changing it until you're happy. In mid-August or a few days later, we'll set the deadline and put all of these in an Excel spreadsheet and use them after we randomly select the leagues. Should be fun.
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Greg Ambrosius
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:46 am

Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
"By the way, if the WCOFF and NFFC flip-flopped when they came into existance then I would bet the NFFC would have 1000 entries and the wcoff 400."

(...and there's a good chance the NFFC would be a 12 team league setup in the above scenario) :D

~Lance I'll respond to this one: I agree!! :D Yes, we probably would have been a 12-team league, but like I've said before I started the NFBC as a 15-team league at a time when 12-team baseball leagues were all the rage and I felt 14-team football leagues made more sense at the time as well. For a high-stakes contest, I felt the challenge was important. Thus, the 14-team NFFC did make sense to me.

But I cannot tell a lie. I probably would have gone with 12 teams over a 13-week regular season if I had been out of the gate first. But Lenny and Emil paved the way and proved that there was a market for high-stakes games. I'm pretty sure our company wouldn't have gone down this path if one hadn't been proven first. So it's all a mute point, isn't it? ;)

I'd take 1,000 teams, but considering that we're running baseball and football events, having 375 in baseball and 364 in football with all the side events we do seems about right for now!
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Greg Ambrosius
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:01 am

Originally posted by Leroy's Aces:
[QUOTE]Thanks for the post, Greg, and good feedback on the topic from the various fantasy players.

Greg, my point of bringing it up was more of a reference to the consumer appeal of the league. As Nag' stated, with the rules changes and 3RR and KDS, it gets a bit tougher to appeal to the masses and grow the event. Truthfully, a 14 team league does not usually appeal to the typical fantasy player because it is unfamiliar, and, yes, challenging. If a typical fantasy player had never done a high stakes league and was going to pony up $1300-$2000 for one high stakes event, wouldn't they be likely to choose the event that had the format most familiar to them?

Personally, I like the quirky, unusual formats, so NFFC is actually more appealling to me with KDS and 3RR. Baker Boy and I are splitting a team in the $10,000 league for WCOFF, where you bid and pay in real cash on draft spots in rounds 1 and 2 and use real money for free agents.

And like you said, Greg, by differentiating your product, you can more honestly say that you have the fairest high stakes event out there. I agree with you on that. NFFC is more balanced, and has more unique rules with 14 team leagues. One thing to keep in mind is that by growing the event, WCOFF is mathematically making their event tougher to win, while keeping their format the same.

I personally will have no problem playing in that format this year in NFFC. It should be fun, if I can convince the real Leroy to do it.


Dave
Leroy's Aces I agree with all your points Dave. The WCOFF is more well-known than the NFFC and the format in Las Vegas during the first weekend of the NFL season makes a lot of sense. The NFFC now has a fair format in place and I think we're about done tweaking the rules and format. We should be able to grow from here and continue to get the word out about our event. But the 12-team format is more appealing to most fantasy football players. Now we'll have to see if $1,900 rather than $1,300 is more appealing.

Seriously, if we can grow our grand prize going forward it will help us attract more participants. Let's be honest, people are playing for the big prize, but yet you can almost get too big for your own players, if you know what I mean. A 1:1,200 shot of winning $300,000 seems a whole lot tougher than a 1:364 shot at winning $100,000. But I'd still take the higher prize payout if I could get there.

Now get the other Leroy to spring for a boring drive to the Windy City and then a ride back to smoke-free Appleton!! :D We'd obviously love another Cheesehead in the NFFC and I trust you'd do us proud in our event. Stay in touch and give me a holler if you need anything. We'd love to have ya back in the NFFC and competing with our quirky new rules!! ;)
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King of Queens
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by King of Queens » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:05 am

Greg, out of curiosity, how would you have handled the schedule for 12 teams and 13 weeks?

King of Queens
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by King of Queens » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:07 am

Greg, out of curiosity, how would you have handled the schedule for 12 teams and 13 weeks?

Greg Ambrosius
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by Greg Ambrosius » Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:59 am

Originally posted by King of Queens:
Greg, out of curiosity, how would you have handled the schedule for 12 teams and 13 weeks? That's a great question. I'd probably have replayed Weeks 1 and 2, but of course people would have complained. Still, I think I would have gone that way or just randomly mixed up the Week 12 and 13 matchups each year. I definitely wouldn't have done any seedings or power rankings or anything like that and I hated the 11 week regular season from the start. It's just not long enough for that kind of money, IMO.

How would you have handled it?
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Captain Hook
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by Captain Hook » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:01 am

All Play!

Easy and THE correct solution

RiFF
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Will KDS Work In 2007?

Post by RiFF » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:12 am

Originally posted by Captain Hook:
All Play!

Easy and THE correct solution I knew he was the Captain for a reason!!

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