Fantasy Basketball: Anyone Up For It?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 2:39 am

Originally posted by King of Queens:
Greg, great news! When I didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks, I assumed the worst.

The season is coming up fast -- I had better get started on my player lists... Our NBA.com Fantasy Basketball Magazine hits newsstands in another 7-10 days, so look for that everywhere. We produced that in conjunction with the NBA, although they provided all of the content through Matthew Berry of RotoPass.com. It's a good tool to get your rankings started.

I need to get the licensing issue wrapped up first and then I'll officially announce something. Just hang tight for a little bit longer.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 2:56 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
We produced that in conjunction with the NBA, although they provided all of the content through Matthew Berry of RotoPass.com.Good to see TMR is keeping himself busy during the "slow days" of September.

Milkman Dead · Post by **Milkman Dead** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:52 pm

Originally posted by King of Queens:
quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
We produced that in conjunction with the NBA, although they provided all of the content through Matthew Berry of RotoPass.com.Good to see TMR is keeping himself busy during the "slow days" of September. [/QUOTE]I look forward to beating him.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:11 am

Okay, I'm just ironing some things out with the NBA and I should have an answer on this in the next day. We're ready to roll this out and see what happens, but we need to go through the licensing process first as we have a long-term relationship with the NBA.

Quickly, just on roster sizes:

I'm shooting for a 16-round draft and you'd start 12 players per week: 4 Guards, 4 Forwards, 2 Centers, 2 Flex Positions. You'd have a larger bench than I first announced and more roster decisions each week, but the free agent pool would be thinner. I'm definitely going with 12-team leagues. I know some have mentioned SG, PF, SF and other more specific positions, but the position eligibility is already tough enough.

Here's the plan: $600 entry fee, paying out three spots per league: $3,000 for first, $1,200 for second and $500 for third. That would leave me with $5,000 for the grand champion as I'd be paying out 80 percent of total revenue in prizes (up from my initial 75% total). Any additional revenue from more leagues ($1,060 per league) would go towards the overall prize pool.

I'd love to have a huge grand prize, but let's crawl before we walk. We're keeping the entry fee low, shooting for a realistic number of teams and paying out solid league prizes. That makes the overall prize pool lower for now. But it's a start.

I'll know more tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Milkman Dead · Post by **Milkman Dead** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 7:55 pm

Sweet. I'm kinda curious how you work with the NBA in this regard. Are they pretty cool/reasonable? Helpful? Do they have employees who strictly work on fantasy related stuff? Are they going to try to use the "National Fantasy Basketball Championship" as a marketing tool to get more fans involved? Hey maybe you could convince someone over there to fly the overall winner to an NBA Finals game... OK that might be pushin it but I'm interested in how the NBA views something like this. Hopefully you have plenty of good news on this front tommorow.

As for the 16 man rosters, I'm all for deeper benches and smaller FA pool. 192 deep, I like it.

The league prizes look great, and you are awesome for paying out 80%. I look forward to more good news tommorow...thanks Greg.

[ September 24, 2005, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Milkman Dead ]

Milkman Dead · Post by **Milkman Dead** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:09 pm

follow-up post.

I was just letting my mind wander with those NBA questions. No need to answer any of them, but please DO post the fantasy info when you get word. I gave up both fantasy baseball and football this season (and consequently stopped caring about both sports) so I'm chomping at the bit to get basketball flowing back in my blood.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 3:04 am

Originally posted by Milkman Dead:
follow-up post.

I was just letting my mind wander with those NBA questions. No need to answer any of them, but please DO post the fantasy info when you get word. I gave up both fantasy baseball and football this season (and consequently stopped caring about both sports) so I'm chomping at the bit to get basketball flowing back in my blood. I'm still awaiting word from the NBA as they didn't give me an answer on Friday. Trust me, this is new territory for the NBA as they have not licensed a high-stakes contest before. There have been others out there, but nobody has asked for a license to do this. So I can't guarantee a positive response, but I'm playing by the book....and unfortunately running out of time.

Yes, the NBA has a fantasy division and I'm talking with the head of that division. They definitely want to grow the popularity of fantasy basketball and that's why they published an NBA.com Fantasy Basketball Magazine with us. I hope to help them grow the popularity of fantasy basketball.

16 players per team could be fun. There will still be solid free agents out there and starting 12 each week will give everyone flexibility with their roster.

Paying 80 percent for an online draft makes sense. Maybe that will also help bring in more than I'm expecting. We'll see.

Milkman Dead · Post by **Milkman Dead** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 7:59 am

Thanks for the response. That's cool that they want to grow the popularity of fantasy b-ball and that you are trying to help them accomplish this. When is the NBA.com mag coming out?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 3:55 am

Originally posted by Milkman Dead:
Thanks for the response. That's cool that they want to grow the popularity of fantasy b-ball and that you are trying to help them accomplish this. When is the NBA.com mag coming out? It should hit newsstands and bookstores on Oct. 1.

Eddiejag · Post by **Eddiejag** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:47 am

GREG sorry i missed this post but im in.I NO ABOUT 4 OTHER GUYS FROM HERE WHO WOULD GET IN .
I LIKE THE 1060.00 LEAGUE MORE.