First let's talk about our draft dates and venues:
Since this is our 10th anniversary season for the NFFC -- no high-stakes event has ever lasted this long and we are the longest running event in the industry -- we want to throw a HUGE party!! Just like we are doing now in the NFBC, we will have just one venue on the main weekend of drafts. That means that we'll only be in Las Vegas for the Second Weekend: Sept. 4-7. Tom, myself, Dennis and the whole NFFC work crew will be at the Bellagio (still finalizing space) in Las Vegas for 3-4 days of drafts and more. This year folks found a way to get to Las Vegas on Wednesday for early drafts and for the early NFL game, so we're going to make somewhat similar plans with a couple of Wednesday night offerings, followed by Thursday morning and early afternoon drafts and then an NFL Viewing Party. We'll then have drafts and auctions throughout Friday and Saturday, Sept. 6-7. Get your vacation time in early and plan for a Wednesday through Monday stay in Las Vegas!!!
We will have regional drafts on Labor Day weekend, which is Aug. 30-31. We are currently planning for drafts in New York, Las Vegas and Chicago for Friday and Saturday, and we'll be in Las Vegas for the entire time, with live drafts scheduled every day from Aug. 30-Sept. 7 if demand warrants. Plan accordingly because we know you'll have many options next year and we want you to schedule around the NFFC in advance!!
As for each of the contests, little will change there. We do have a few tweaks and here they are:
NFFC Classic: We really liked the increased league prizes this year and giving $7,000 for first place was nice. Now it makes sense to get the grand prize back up to $100,000. We can do that by raising the entry fee from $1,500 to $1,600 and keeping all of the league prizes the same with prizes based on 322 teams. We hate to raise any entry fee, but being the lowest entry fee in this space isn't helping us at all. So we will raise the entry fee, but we'll give everyone a chance to lock into a Classic team at $1,500 by signing up by May 1st. No down payment, just a commitment. If you do that we'll lock you in at $1,500 (a $100 discount) and waive your Events Fee and co-manager fees if you take a second Main (either Classic or Primetime). That's one way to lock in early entrants, save you money and get the ball rolling on a sellout event. So the grand prize rises to $100,000, you can still lock in at $1,500 and the league prizes stay at $7,000, $3,000 and $1,500. Everyone wins.
Two small tweaks for making the NFFC Classic Championship Round: We will guarantee that all third highest points teams in each league make it into the Championship Round even if they were beaten out by a top head-to-head champion, and we will raise the Wild Card level to Top 20% of all total points teams through Week 13. In 2012, 21% of all teams made the Championship Round and if these rules had been in place we would have increased that total to 22%. I do not think this is going to overload the Classic Championship Round and I believe this safety net is needed here with 14 teams per league. FAAB will remain the same as it was in 2012 and we'll slightly tweak the defensive scoring with one rule change being -2 points for interceptions. We also will have Live Overall Standings from Week 1 in 2013.
NFFC Primetime: We will again retain the $150,000 grand prize and create prizes based on 540 teams even though we fell short of that this year. We believe in this format with the 13-week regular season and playoff setup. Like the Classic, we feel the entry fee should increase to $1,600 because being the lowest priced contest in this space isn't helping us, in fact it's hurting us. But like the Classic, we'll give everyone a chance to lock into a Primetime team at $1,500 by signing up by May 1st. No down payment, just a commitment. If you do that we'll lock you in at $1,500 (a $100 discount) and waive your Events Fee and co-manager fees if you take a second Main (either Classic or Primetime). That's one way to lock in early entrants, save you money and get the ball rolling on a sellout event. All of the increased prize money will go towards the league prizes and we'll discuss that payout structure shortly, but something in the $6,500 range for 1st place is a must. We'll figure out increases for 2nd and 3rd place soon and take your input there. But once again, everyone wins and we'll take the promotional hit at $100 per team to lock in people early and often.
We haven't finalized our plans for the NFFC Primetime Championship Round yet. In 2012, we had 26% of all teams make the Primetime Championship Round, so do we really need more safety nets here? Should the third highest scoring team in each league earn an automatic bid into the Championship Round like we're doing in the Classic? We will discuss the merits of that soon in another thread. The 15% Wild Card level remains intact for now. FAAB deadlines remain the same as in 2012 and INTs increase to -2 points as well (that will be the case in all contests).
NFFC Online Championship: We love this format and we are proud that we reached 1,872 teams this year. The entry remains at $350 and the grand prize will remain at $100,000. I am interested in growing this event, yet adding more to the league prizes. We haven't finalized this yet, but I'm thinking of a league payout increase of $100 and making second place a little stronger. Something like $1,500 for 1st and $700 for 2nd. I feel that $500 for 2nd isn't strong enough and $1,500 is still a solid top league prize. And $2,200 for league prizes would be the highest we've done since we started this format in 2008. The 15% Wild Card level worked fine with 56 teams earning that distinction -- including our eventual champion Henry Muto -- so let's keep that in place. FAAB and defensive scoring is the same as the other contests.
NFFC Draft Champions National Championship: Again, we love this new creation, but we believe it can be even better than it was in 2012. We will keep the $10,000 grand prize intact. However, we are going to change the format from 14 teams to 12 teams and increase the number of rounds from 30 to 32. We will have $150 and $375 leagues for this format and will post league prizes shortly. We are considering a 14-Team Draft Champions format as well, possibly with just aggressive league prizes and no overall prize. We're still working on that. But we really believe this format can grow beyond the 54 leagues we had last year (we had 70 in baseball) and thus we'll unveil the first DC drafts well before NFL Draft Day. With any luck, we'll unveil these a month or two before that. Stay tuned. Early drafts are fun and we know some of you guys can't get enough. Plus, it's great to have ADPs and a knowledge of the player pool as early as possible. We'll be there for ya.
NFBC Auction Leagues & Draft Champions Leagues: We increased the entry fees to $1,000 in baseball and increased league prizes and they have been a big hit there. I think a standard $1,000 entry fee for 14-team and 12-team leagues makes sense. We'll again offer a $2,500 Super Auction in both formats and will make the NFFC Diamond League high-profile this year. Stay tuned for more details there.
Promotions In 2013: We have some nice surprises coming in 2013. We'll announce both in January, so stay tuned. But both have the potential to make the NFFC as high profile as we've ever been and introduce our contests to national audiences. We're excited about both items and look forward to announcing these soon.
And of course we need to get Live Overall Standings for every contest and we will. We will unveil a totally new program in baseball and have it for football. We are working on a mobile app for all sports now. I will inquire about a way to get League Total Points updated live if possible as well because that's an important category to follow as well. Real-time scoring is the drug we all want in these high-stakes leagues and we have to give that to you so that you remain addicted to the NFFC!!
It's as simple as that and we must lead when it comes to technology.As you can see, we are VERY EXCITED about the future. We want our 10th anniversary season to be the best season ever. We want to relive the past and build a brighter future. We have two great formats: 14-Team and 12-Team. And we'll introduce 10-Team Satellite Leagues in 2013 because there is a huge market there and nobody is servicing that market with 80 percent payout rates. We will. We also have two great drafting formats: Live and Online. We remain committed to regional drafts -- heck, we're the only contest servicing the East Coast and Midwest -- yet we want the finest live draft party possible. We love hosting drafts at the Bellagio, but now we need an NFL Viewing Party where many of us can get together and settle in for some football, drinks, good food and camaraderie. We had a nice private party last year that worked well and we'll expand on that this year. Our online drafts will continue to grow and we'll continue to upgrade the software to make them easier for you. All of this can be done.
Look for a Signup List in January once we've posted some dates and times for every contest and be ready to start the NFFC season earlier than ever before. We'll make it worth your while this year to sign up by May 1st. We're going to be extremely aggressive in 2013 to make sure our 10th anniversary season is the best it can be. SEE YA THERE!! And for the 2012 champions: CONGRATS, but don't sit on your laurels too long!! The competition to defend those titles is going to get bigger and tougher!! We'll make sure of that.
It's really not about additional revenue??? 