2009 NFFC Plans...For Now!

renman · Post by **renman** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:01 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
James, I appreciate the ideas, but trust me we are working on sponsorship possibilities every day. If you have a contact that will lead to a sponsor being part of what we're trying to do here with NBC Sports/Rotoworld.com, send them my way. Trust me, I worked with NBC and a separate ad agency last year and we did everything we could to make that work and at the end of the day it's still very tough to get a national company to attach themselves to a niche fantasy product. But that is the one area that is needed to make final numbers work for anyone in this space.

When we started the NFFC and NFBC, MVP Sports saw the value of our audience and gladly became a sponsor of our live events and the WCOFF as well. They realized that this was a target demographic they wanted to reach. It's bizarre that only offshore gambling companies realized this. Now it's our task to convince mainstream companies that this is a special demographic, but without more eyeballs and reach from a partner like NBC/Rotoworld.com they'll never consider an event this small.

Our biggest expense of the live drafts is Manhattan and it will be a site we will review for 2010. It's an expense we take on outside of the prize money, so trust me, internally every expense is being discussed. That includes the Sheraton in New York.

Las Vegas hotels are hurting right now, but they still don't give space away. In March after baseball, we will again meet with the Harrah's and MGM reps to see what is available for 2010 for both of our events and hopefully get an even better deal than we have now at the Flamingo.

We're not screaming poverty here, just looking at the guarantees in a down economy and trying to come up with the best model that is fair for the players and sensible from our side. We'll figure that out and make an announcement soon. It won't agree with everyone, but hopefully it will work for enough people to make our sixth season of the NFFC a good one. Greg,

I am pumped the main man read my post! I wish I were not so busy with my own new job otherwise I would seriously consider making efforts to sell sponsorship for this event myself. I am happy to hear you are considering being flexible with the NYC location. I have no problem with the Sheraton or where we have been drafting at all. My point is that my gut sense is most of, if not all, the guys drafting at this event are there for the hardcore fantasy football competition... period. So they would draft in a warehouse so long as there are seats and draft boards. I just wondered how much money could be saved (and put back into the prize fund) if we didn't draft in one of the most expensive settings that exists.

Nice to know you are shopping it around in Vegas. Maybe you will get lucky and have some property surprise you. I think in time (and I believe a short period of time) this crazy time in fantasy football will work itself out and the NFFC will be in a great position to dominate the market. The mainstream business market will soon see the value of this demographic.

Good days are coming.

Ted's Cracked Head · Post by **Ted's Cracked Head** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:59 am

Phone Leagues in the main events:

If there are a substantial number of these leagues this year as folks choose to save funds and not travel, will they again have their own leagues or be randomly selected and placed in leagues with all of the mains?

[ January 23, 2009, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: Rob B ]

pizzatyme · Post by **pizzatyme** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:26 am

Greg,

I suggest you take a look at The South Pointe Casino in Vegas. It is on the far South end of the strip, but it is new and nice. We have gone there the last 2 years and again this year for their Super Bowl viewing parties.

The rooms are huge and plentiful. Just a thought for you to consider something besides right in the heart of the Strip.

Good luck!

Ted's Cracked Head · Post by **Ted's Cracked Head** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:05 pm

Russ,

They have been to the South Point as the WCOFF held their drafts there two years ago.

Greg and Tom weren't too hard to spot with all of their Packer gear on.

I think the consensus for that event was that the location was too far away from the Strip. IMO, those who travel to Vegas would rather sacrifice a few more bucks to be in a better location and nearer more Casino's. Cab fare was around $20 to the Strip from there.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:40 pm

Originally posted by Rob B:
Phone Leagues in the main events:

If there are a substantial number of these leagues this year as folks choose to save funds and not travel, will they again have their own leagues or be randomly selected and placed in leagues with all of the mains? Their own leagues hopefully. That's the plan.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:42 pm

Originally posted by Just Russ:
Greg,

I suggest you take a look at The South Pointe Casino in Vegas. It is on the far South end of the strip, but it is new and nice. We have gone there the last 2 years and again this year for their Super Bowl viewing parties.

The rooms are huge and plentiful. Just a thought for you to consider something besides right in the heart of the Strip.

Good luck! That baby was WAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY too far from Las Vegas. Great hotel. Too bad they couldn't move it to the Strip.

Thank goodness Rob was there or Tom and I would have felt VERY lonely.

pizzatyme · Post by **pizzatyme** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:53 pm

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by Just Russ:
Greg,

I suggest you take a look at The South Pointe Casino in Vegas. It is on the far South end of the strip, but it is new and nice. We have gone there the last 2 years and again this year for their Super Bowl viewing parties.

The rooms are huge and plentiful. Just a thought for you to consider something besides right in the heart of the Strip.

Good luck! That baby was WAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY too far from Las Vegas. Great hotel. Too bad they couldn't move it to the Strip.

Thank goodness Rob was there or Tom and I would have felt VERY lonely.

[/QUOTE]Just a thought. Orlando is even further from "Vegas", but we managed.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:56 pm

I'm sure I missed a bunch of this thread, but has anyone come up with a better place, in place of NYC?

We've mentioned Atlantic City, and as much as it is the PERFECT place to hold this event, the weekend that the NFFC drafts is a very busy weekend there, and hotel rooms are just as much or more than NYC. The only thing cheaper would be parking.

Personally, I hate driving into Manhattan and paying $30-$50 to do the Auctions, and then another $30-$50 to do the Main Events if I do them. My drive is around 25-30 minutes, so I don't stay in NYC, but those hotel rates are nuts.

There's gotta be a better place. Good atmosphere. Attractions that would entice people to come to the events. Transportation. At a cheaper price?

Philly? Boston? I'd drive to either one of those places, even if it were just for the Auction days.

Ted's Cracked Head · Post by **Ted's Cracked Head** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:57 pm

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Rob B:
Phone Leagues in the main events:

If there are a substantial number of these leagues this year as folks choose to save funds and not travel, will they again have their own leagues or be randomly selected and placed in leagues with all of the mains?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Their own leagues hopefully. That's the plan.
I hope this aspect does not grow too much as I believe it affects the competitive balance. There is an advantage to drafting from the comfort of your own home. It makes me believe that these individuals should not have their own leagues and they should be mixed with the live drafters.

I have no problem sitting at a table with one or two of them in my league. More room for the rest of us.

You are offering the Online Championship for phone/home players and I would rather they stick to that option.

The main event should be live.

In an emergency situation I can see why you would want to allow that aspect but with the addition of the other version, I see no reason to offer this aspect for the two main events.

Could it affect growth? Maybe, but I feel that growth in the phone in portion could also negatively affect the overall health of the challenge.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 1:18 am

Rob, if you look at the two phone leagues last year in the NFFC Primetime it was filled with NFFC veterans and very few newbies. Those two leagues were extremely tough and without offering the online option those folks would not have been able to participate. For one reason or another, none of them could make it to our live events and this was one way to keep very good players and good NFFC vets in the event. And without them, our final numbers for the Primetime event would have been even worse than our final figure of 252.

I don't think this area is going to grow disproportionately to our live events, but when other events are offering this option and with the reality of the economy as it is, it's foolish for us not to offer this as well. And in our setup, these owners have 60 seconds to draft just like our live drafts. They don't get any added time and in fact it probably moves faster because it doesn't take as long to put the "sticker" on the MDC.com board.

In baseball we are offering the online version as well and we have 198 signups right now and only 6 are for the online option. When you are paying this kind of money to compete, you WANT to be at the live event, right? So I think we'll always have way more participants live than online. But again, in today's economy it might be the only way to keep our events growing and the technology is there to make this fair for everyone.

I understand what you're saying, but as we eliminate a fourth live venue the online option seems like a natural replacement for us in 2009.

[ January 24, 2009, 07:19 AM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]