Las Vegas Schedule Of Events For Sept. 8-12

[Greg Ambrosius]

We regret to make this announcement today, but we have no choice due to Covid-19:

The NFFC is cancelling the New York and Las Vegas Weekend 1 Live Events for Sept. 4-5. We will still be hosting all scheduled Live Events at the Bellagio Las Vegas Sept. 9th through the 12th, but all First Weekend events have been called off.

We apologize for this late notice, but several factors went into this decision. It pains us to cancel these two live events because we have been hosting live drafts and auctions in New York City and Las Vegas during Labor Day weekend every year since 2004. That's 16 straight years of Tom hosting in New York City that weekend and me hosting in Las Vegas that weekend with some of the best fantasy players in the country.

But not this year on that weekend.

New York became more complicated for us to host live events when Governor Andrew Cuomo put more than 30 states on a quarantine list, meaning anyone flying into the state from those states needed to be quarantined for 14 days. Wisconsin and Minnesota were on that list, making it almost impossible for Tom and Darik to host there and still fly to Las Vegas for our second weekend events. It also made it tough for all of our participants to fly there and compete. And finally, we talked to a lot of veteran NFFC owners who were scheduled to compete live in New York City and many of them were hesitant to attend live as well. That did it for us.

We were looking at unfilled leagues and possible cancellations of some contests in New York City, so we made the choice to put everything Online for all of those contests. The New York Super League will still be held as scheduled and we'll create a Zoom conference room for all of the participants to jump into. Tom or I will be the facilitator and owners can easily announce their picks with one of us making the picks or you can just make the selections yourself online. SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio is still planning to broadcast this high-dollar league and to create a Zoomcast of its own for the live broadcast just like it did for baseball. More details to come on this league, but we have 12 owners for this one and it's still scheduled to go on Friday, Sept. 4th at 8 pm ET.

We will also schedule some $750 Online Auction leagues at the same scheduled times as we had for New York and Las Vegas on Friday, Sept. 4th. Between those die-hard participants, maybe we can fill a few $750 Online Auction leagues.

Las Vegas Weekend 1 also saw limited signups and the chance that both auction leagues and both Draft Champions Live leagues would be cancelled. We also were looking at unfilled Classic and Primetime leagues, whereas in the past we would have 9-10 live events there that weekend. The fact that college football is no longer opening that weekend made it tough for players who loved to go to Las Vegas that weekend to travel in this environment. Instead, we are asking people who signed up for that weekend to consider Second Weekend in Las Vegas if they can do it.

We have ample space at the Bellagio for the Sept. 9-12 Las Vegas events, but even with that we have some restrictions. Nevada's governor is restricting for now 50 people max per ballroom. He is going to update the state's guidelines at the end of this month, but for now we are limited to basically 2 drafts per ballroom. We have multiple ballrooms set aside, so we can do multiple drafts in multiple ballrooms, and we'll have the big Penthouse Executive Suite for some private leagues. But this really means we are limited to 4-5 drafts per time period and so once we sell out a league at a certain time we'll likely close it off on Registration.

Again, that max limit could increase above 50 per room if conditions improve in Nevada and we'll update accordingly. But expect us to be spread out among multiple ballrooms this year, rather than 6 leagues in one ballroom like we had last year. Unfortunately, we're at the mercy of the state guidelines to pull this off.

We will be doing all we can to make the draft U's comfortable and spaced out, even if that means more space away from the big HD draft screen. We'll allow co-managers to sit closer to the principal owners, but there will be more space between teams. If you can, bring a personal laptop to call up your league's draft board on that device, but again we'll get the biggest screens possible to showcase the draft boards in HD so that you can see them no matter how far away from the boards you are. It will be spacious, I promise!!

Also, the Bellagio has a mandatory mask guideline within the casino and throughout the hotel. The ballrooms are being treated like the restaurants, where people are asked to wear them until they get inside and then they can take them off to eat. We will follow the same guidelines and just ask everyone to be as respectful to others as possible. It's not an ideal situation for any of us this year and we don't want to be the Mask Police, but we also want everyone to be safe and to feel they will remain healthy at our events.

Our Thursday Night NFL Viewing Party will also likely be called off or limited to much smaller numbers due to the max restrictions. Even though that suite is 2,600 square feet, it's not conducive to the number of people we've had in both suites over the last two years in today's environment. We'll see what we can do and if we can get both rooms for viewing, but as of now those plans are up in the air until we get an update on the guidelines.

We currently have a good crew of owners signed up for Las Vegas Second Weekend and hopefully it grows. Tom, Darik, Mike, Brady, Kim and myself look forward to hosting everyone out there. Let's hope the NFL gets through training camps and starts the season on time and finishes it through. That's the goal.

Sorry for the bad news everyone, but thanks to all who can still do Online drafts or auctions, and thanks to everyone who is coming to Las Vegas Sept. 9-12. We'll make it safe and we'll make it fun. Now we just need the NFL to make it happen. Good luck and stay safe everyone.

[TamuScarecrow]

See everyone in LV on Sept. 9. Gerard has the antibodies & I have the faith. Have masks, will travel.

[kjduke]

The kickoff gridiron leagues are still on for now, too.
I will be in Vegas if Greg and his team are there.

For those who can't make it this year we will use zoom or phones for slot bidding, and ppal/venmo to collect remote bids.

Email or PM me if you have any questions.

[Greg Ambrosius]

See everyone in LV on Sept. 9. Gerard has the antibodies & I have the faith. Have masks, will travel.

I'm staying away from Gerard!! I don't trust anyone from the Bayou!!

Safe travels and we'll see you in Sin City Tamu.

[Greg Ambrosius]

The kickoff gridiron leagues are still on for now, too.
I will be in Vegas if Greg and his team are there.

For those who can't make it this year we will use zoom or phones for slot bidding, and ppal/venmo to collect remote bids.

Email or PM me if you have any questions.

Yes, we do have the Executive Parlor Suite with the big boardroom and we'll have the screen and HD projector in the other room as well. Maybe we put that one towards the TV so people can spread out between that table, couch and the bar area. While we won't be able to host a big viewing party in that suite, we can discuss if there's room enough for the Kickoff Gridiron members there and in one more suite between drafts to stay. I think it will probably work for that group.

Thanks all and yes we'll make this work.

[chriseibl]

The kickoff gridiron leagues are still on for now, too.
I will be in Vegas if Greg and his team are there.

For those who can't make it this year we will use zoom or phones for slot bidding, and ppal/venmo to collect remote bids.

Email or PM me if you have any questions.

Great to hear, understand the decision on 1st weekend and I look forward to seeing those who can make it to the 2nd weekend. Thank you KJ and the NFFC for setting up the Gridiron Drafts.

[Erok]

So unfortunate.

I would look to move it out of NY permanently.

Doesnt seem very safe in the city there anymore.

Thats what happens when people keep voting for communists disguised as democrats.

[Greg Ambrosius]

So here's the latest update from the Bellagio: The Spa Tower has been closed since March 16th and at this point it isn't scheduled to re-open before mid-September. I am still talking with my sales rep and we'll know more by the end of the month, but it's possible that the Wednesday night Primetime and the two Gridiron Leagues will be in a ballroom in the Convention Center. Stay tuned.

We are looking at some suites in the Main Tower, but it's unlikely that anything is quite as big as that Executive Parlor Suite in the Spa Tower with the board table. Possibly a lake view suite could work, but we'll see.

I love the Spa Tower and those two Parlor Suites. Let's hope things improve in the next month and the Bellagio is able to open that tower by mid-September. I'll update everyone when I know more. Thanks.

[nolencole]

Thanks KJ and Greg for keeping the GridIron a LIVE event. hopeful most can attend. MC

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, we are set for the Las Vegas live events. I'll email this to all participants shortly, but here's the schedule of events:

2020 NFFC Las Vegas --
Wednesday, Sept. 9th
8 pm PT – Primetime Monet 1&2

Thursday, Sept. 10th
9 am – 14-team Super Auction Monet 1&2
10 am – Primetime Monet 3&4
Noon – Classic Grand 1
1 pm – 14-Team Kickoff Gridiron Monet 1&2
2 pm – Primetime Monet 3&4
8 pm – 12-Team Kickoff Gridiron Monet 1&2

Friday, Sept. 11 –
10 am – 12-Team Auction League Monet 1&2
10 am – Primetime Monet 3&4
10 am – Diamond Grand 1
2 pm – 12-Team Auction League Monet 1&2
2 pm – Primetime Monet 3&4
2 pm – Classic Grand 1
2 pm – Silver Bullet Grand 2
6 pm – 12-Team Auction League Monet 1&2
6 pm – Primetime Monet 3&4
6 pm – Super Grand 1
8 pm – Diamond Grand 2

Saturday, Sept. 12th
10 am – Primetime 1 Monet 1&2
10 am – Primetime 2 Monet 3&4
10 am – Primetime 3 Grand 1
1 pm – Primetime 1 Monet 1&2
1 pm – Classic Grand 1&2
4 pm – Primetime Monet 1&2
7 pm – Primetime Monet 1&2