Originally posted by Sandman62:
Ok... I am officially WORRIED about this Boston venue for the main events.
With less than 4 weeks left, we don't even have a single full league. This was my concern when the NFFC expanded to more cities - that the "product" gets watered down. Think about it... if you go to NYC or LV or CHI where there are 4-8 leagues drafting, your chance of being placed in a league where there are MANY top players is less than if a bunch of top players all go to Boston (or Buffalo or Denver, etc.). So not only are you stuck drafting w/ the same small group of people for all 3 main events (and learning each other's tendencies as you progress through the weekend), but if the talent level is high in that small group, each of you will likely end up w/ lesser quality teams than if you were in leagues where not everyone is of the same caliber. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for stiff competition in a private league (i.e. GAMERS, BillyWaz or Enter Sandman DCs), but for a national event, this hardly seems fair.
If this Boston league doesn't get to at least 3 full leagues, I will be transferring to New York.
Greg/Tom, what is the latest date at which I can make a switch? I seem to recall asking Greg about this a couple months ago and he indicated we could switch right up until draft date.
But if we do and others also switch, you might find that spreading out so thin leaves you with no leagues in these new cities by the time the drafts are here, and instead, just a lost hotel/conference room deposit.
I hope I'm wrong, but the clock is ticking. Do you plan to do any local advertising (i.e. radio, newspaper) in these new cities? If not, how will you increase the participation in order to try to offer the same quality experience and chance of building quality teams (that can make a strong playoff run) as in the 3 major cities?
Thoughts? Mike, we felt that by expanding to more cities we could grow the event and save our customers money in travel and hotel. For years people have been telling us to expand to Florida, expand to Boston, expand to California. Well, we did and the response has been less than what we expected.
If folks now decide that New York and Las Vegas are still their destinations of choice, we'll honor that and move on. Chicago is struggling this year, but it's not because we expanded to Minneapolis or Dallas, that's for sure. It's because those customers haven't signed up yet or they've chosen the online option or they've chosen not to play in the NFFC this year.
I understand the concern of competing against the top players in one city and if folks need to move because of that let's do it now. I thought when we got some of our best of the best to sign up for Boston early we were on our way. I thought the $129 hotel rate was a big winner for those who said they don't go to New York because of the costs and now we're struggling. So let's move some to New York if that's what they want and see what happens in Boston. You are right, I can deal with the hotel contract as long as everyone who competes on the East Coast is happy. The contract isn't my concern; getting these leagues right is the major concern.
The DC on Friday needs to be addressed too. Both NY and Boston look to be together no matter where everyone goes. But then we have to get the mains figured out. This is totally your call on where you compete. I'll deal with each customer and place them wherever they want to draft. And if we struck out in any city, then Fanball pays the bill and learns the lesson. But dammit, it wasn't for a lack of trying to expand this live events business. People are speaking loud and clear and future events will be shaped that way.
Founder, National Fantasy Football Championship & National Fantasy Baseball Championship
Twitter: @GregAmbrosius
[/QUOTE]i guess that might be the only way billy but this is not what i thought would happen. i thought we would fill the dc and have 3 tables filled in boston. looks like we are going to be drafting with the same group of guys as we still need one more team to fill the classic.
