What Is Going To Happen To High-Stakes Fantasy Football?

KenGill · Post by **KenGill** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:40 pm

The WCOFF is dead. The kind of BS they are pulling reminds me of the last days of Enron. Anyone who wants a good read...pick up the book "The Smartest Guys In The Room" by Bethany McLain/Peter Elkind. The situations are really one in the same...only the industry is different. I would not be surpirsed to see a bankruptcy announcement within a few days. You simply can't run a business like this and expect to make it.

BONGIZMO · Post by **BONGIZMO** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:19 pm

What many are failing to possibly realize is that WCOFF appears to be buying time and attempting to lower the amount of outstanding PEOPLE (not dollars) owed. If they use a restructured prize pool and run the event forcing the rollovers and other unpaids like myself to play, they can shrink the sheer number of folks owed as each league of 12 will see 9 people come up empty.

My guess is they are reducing the number of folks outstanding owed to a more manageable number where they can then take this smaller group now owed larger dollars and jam them into a long term payment plan, ownership stake and/or rollover it again until they find someone willing to buy this mess.

Just my thoughts...

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:56 pm

Originally posted by The Yellow Line is Unofficial:
180 draft spots posted

An announcement that there would be be no other announcement tonight

Satellite signup page down (Is the WCOFF still using RT Sports)? If they are really posting draft spots then folks that they are assuming are playing there should know how this game is being powered. Was that in the announcement? The online signup page was disabled yesterday and it does not look like RT Sports is going to be powering this game, at least from what I can see in the announcement or noline. So who is? Did they really go forward with a plan yesterday without letting folks know if there is a back-end provider or not?? How do you run a game without the all-important game provider?

Maybe I'm wrong, but outside of customers nobody is more important to the high-stakes contest than the back-end provider. We certainly know that here at the NFFC and NFBC. It would be amazing if draft spots were announced and the new plan for a back-end provider hasn't been told to the participants. You need that to power the game.

Someone in the know should reveal that fact. It's pretty damn important to the rest of any new plans that may be revealed today.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:22 am

I have to say, it's amazing that the post by Dustin with the 2011 draft picks wasn't even done on a new thread last night. It's posted within a thread where there's plenty of disdain towards the contest. Now it's tough to even find that post with the posts that follow it railing on everything. Why wouldn't he start a new thread and lead off with the 100+ draft picks?

The industry and those customers deserved better. Is there even a new announced prize pool? I hope everyone knows that our industry can do better than this for its loyal and hard working customers. This should not be a reflection of what to expect if you are planning to join the live events contests for the first time. I think we can all agree, yesterday was a terrible day for that pioneering contest, for our industry and especially for all players owed money over there. It dug a MUCH deeper hole for all of us. What a shame.

bald is beautiful · Post by **bald is beautiful** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:38 am

Originally posted by Silver and Black:
Jack,

If they cannot pay all of their winners, how can they pick and choose how much each player gets from the remaining cash on hand?

In English now and using the numbers below as an example with no knowledge of how many are actually owed or what amounts:

If 300 people are owed and there is say 50K left with over a million owed, shouldn't each player receive an amount equal to the percentage they are owed based on the overall numbers? Shouldn't this be done equitably? Why should folks who are owed a specific number, let's use 2k or less, be able to choose an option not available to someone who is owed $2001 dollars or more? That does not seem right to me? As far as I know, there is no obligation on them right now to distribute equitably. They were at first distributing to shut up the rabble rousers. That is how Yates and I got our money, after I starting saying things on the message board. In bankruptcy, then the creditors would be paid equitably from the pool.

I think Bongizmo is right - they are paying down the number of winners to try and get the number more manageable. That is what the last contest to have issues did also. IF WCOFF actually does that, which I doubt will happen, they will then claim that the "majority" or "most" people were paid.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:19 am

It's distressing that event has become a cautionary tale but that's the case. It's become a cautionary tale for players on not blindly trusting the pie in the sky goals game operators dangle in front of you and it's a cautionary tale for game operators to realize that no matter how great your event may be, it can all go away in a blink if you do not manage your games properly and intelligently.

The good news is there remains two strong and dependable high-stakes football games in the industry. I'll repeat what I posted a few days ago - fantasy players have four choices if they want to play high-stakes football this year:

1. Play NFFC
2. Play FFPC
3. Play both
4. Play neither

Hopefully we won't see a lot of people choose No. 4 after this latest debacle. But fantasy players need to know that despite the sad, silly mess of the past six months this is still a great part of the industry where people can play enjoyable games and most importantly ...

GET PAID.

[ August 16, 2011, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: Tom Kessenich ]

da bears · Post by **da bears** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:22 am

It is so pathetic that WCOFF appears to be going ahead and actually having an event this year with the announcement of some main event draft positions last night. As a veteran high stakes player I'm truly sickened by this situation and feel extremely bad for those players owed money they likely will never see.

To treat so many good people like this and screw them out of their hard earned prize money is beyond criminal. I really do think those in charge deserve substantial jail time for what they have done. Like others have said it truly is/was a sad day for the high stakes football industry.

[ August 16, 2011, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: da bears ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:27 am

Originally posted by da bears:
It is so pathetic that WCOFF appears to be going ahead and actually having an event this year with the announcement of some main event draft positions last night. As a veteran high stakes player I'm truly sickened by this situation and feel extremely bad for those players owed money they likely will never see.

To treat so many good people like this and screw them out of their hard earned prize money is beyond criminal. I really do think those in charge deserve substantial jail time for what they have done. Like others have said it truly is/was a sad day for the high stakes football industry. You can host a live event Matt or even host online drafts, but you can't run a game without a back-end provider and a web site. That question needs to be answered first by those in charge because things have changed in the last day on that front, it appears. No signups are being allowed online at this time.

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:49 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by da bears:
It is so pathetic that WCOFF appears to be going ahead and actually having an event this year with the announcement of some main event draft positions last night. As a veteran high stakes player I'm truly sickened by this situation and feel extremely bad for those players owed money they likely will never see.

To treat so many good people like this and screw them out of their hard earned prize money is beyond criminal. I really do think those in charge deserve substantial jail time for what they have done. Like others have said it truly is/was a sad day for the high stakes football industry. You can host a live event Matt or even host online drafts, but you can't run a game without a back-end provider and a web site. That question needs to be answered first by those in charge because things have changed in the last day on that front, it appears. No signups are being allowed online at this time. [/QUOTE]So what are you saying here Greg ? As long as you have a contract with RT Sports and the bill is paid (supposedly) how can they pull the rug from under wcoff? RT just can't assume it's a bad contest and winners won't be paid can they ?

particra · Post by **particra** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:58 am

Steve, I would imagine that the contract has some termination rights. RT Sports runs the risk of being sued as a conspirator to commit fraud if they enable what amounts to a fraudulent contest to go forward (and, in effect, take the money of the players)