Our baby is now 16 years old and we finished 2019 with 252 teams and an $85,000 grand prize. In 2004, we had 224 teams and a $100,000 grand prize. The industry has moved on to 12 team national contests and so have we with $200,000 grand prizes now in the NFFC Primetime and in the Rotowire Online Championship. In a way, we are making it harder for even our most loyal customers to stay in the 14-team format.
The history of how we got into the 14-team format is interesting. In 2004 when I introduced the National Fantasy Baseball Championship, I wanted a tougher competition and decided to create a 15-team mixed league national contest. It gained some momentum and the format accomplished what I had set out to do, so when we decided to compete in the football space an equally challenging 14-team format seemed about right. Plus the WCOFF already had a stranglehold on the 12-team format and I just didn't think people would compete in multiple formats that were the same. I think now as I look back I was wrong, but we debuted with the 14-team NFFC Classic nonetheless.
The Classic peaked at 364 teams (26 leagues) all drafting on the same day in 2007, but the numbers began to fall after that. In 2009 we introduced the NFFC Primetime with 182 owners doing both contests. It was the last year that the Classic outdrew the Primetime (294 teams vs. 276), but we still had 280 teams in 2017 and 2018, which were sellouts as we reduced the grand prize from $100,000 to $80,000. We could make the Classic work as recently as 2018, but this year showed that this format is straining to maintain those levels, so it's time to look at everything.
We all know that there is a die-hard audience for this tough, 14-team format and I don't think we'll ever abandon it. As several folks said to me in Las Vegas, it's the contest we are most known for and the NFFC just wouldn't be the same without a 14-team national contest. But that's where we need to work together. For all its efforts and hard work, it can't be a break-even contest and we can't just keep expanding by having fewer owners take more teams. We need more than 150 unique owners and by reducing the grand prize again it makes it tougher and tougher each year to attract the number of teams to make the guaranteed overall prize pool work. In fact, it doesn't work.
So we've had some tough internal discussions recently about the future of the NFFC Classic. I'm sure some of you have had the same discussions within your groups. We want the Classic to grow and survive, but I don't think it can under its current prize format. We are looking at several scenarios for 2020 and I'll present them shortly. Now is as good a time as ever to start the discussion, so be ready.
The choices for 2020 will be posted shortly and we look forward to your feedback. Don't be afraid to post your comments on these boards, just like you did starting in 2004 when NOBODY was shy to post their thoughts.
Thanks all and LONG LIVE THE NFFC CLASSIC!!! And look for a followup survey that will be mailed to all recent NFFC Classic members. Those results will help us find the path that works in 2020 and beyond.
