Fanball.com Acquires NFFC, F+W Fantasy Products

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:27 am

Here is the news that I told you was coming. I'll just post the press release here, make a few posts with answers to questions I know are forthcoming and then create a Live Chat later today. Here you go:

Fanball Acquires the Fantasy Sports Properties from F+W Media, Inc.

“Fantasy Powerhouse adds Leader in Live Events Fantasy Tournaments”

St. Louis, MO, August 14, 2009 – Fanball, the premier provider of online fantasy sports contests, content, strategy and insight, announced the acquisition of the fantasy sports properties from F+W Media, Inc-- including the National Fantasy Football Championship and National Fantasy Baseball Championship contests as well as Fantasy Sports Magazine and the Company’s fantasy sports custom publications division.

Fanball’s acquisition combines two of the fantasy sports industry’s leading online and offline properties.

The National Fantasy Football Championship and National Fantasy Baseball Championship are the leading high stakes fantasy sports live event contests. Both contests feature a $100,000 Grand Prize, along with several other overall and league prizes. The high stakes contests also feature online and satellite leagues with varying price points.

Fantasy Sports Magazine has been published since 1989, and is one of the foremost fantasy sports analysis publications. The magazine currently prints four issues per year. The publication will join forces with Fanball’s wide array of fantasy sports and NFL draft-related publications. Fanball has provided fantasy sports contests and content since 1992, and has awarded more than $50 million in prize money over that time.

"Fanball is leveraging our extensive online userbase to enter the fast growing live events business for fantasy sports," said Ryan Houston, SVP of Fanball.com <http://Fanball.com>. "This enhances our product offerings and adds key personnel to our group as we continue to look at partnerships. We are thrilled to add two pioneers in the fantasy sports industry, Greg Ambrosius and Tom Kessenich. Their collective industry experience increases our presence on the national newsstand and bolsters our array of existing print publications."

“I’m excited and honored to be working with the Fanball team. This is the right move at the right time for our live events,” said Greg Ambrosius, founder of the National Fantasy Baseball and Football Championships. “With the great customer base that already exists with Fanball.com <http://Fanball.com> and CDM Fantasy Sports, the future is now brighter than it’s ever been for the NFBC, NFFC and other sports we look to be a leader in. Tom and I are excited about the future of the live events industry, about working on all of the Fanball print and online products, and about being a big part of one of the leading companies in the industry.”

Said David Blansfield, President, F+W Media, “Although we are exiting the fantasy sports market, this does not affect the rest of the sports community at F+W Media. We will continue to build our sports collectibles community through our books and magazines, auctions, data and online presence. It is a testament to their talent and reputation in the field that Greg and Tom, who have managed our fantasy sports and events businesses, have become employees of Fanball concurrent with this transaction. We congratulate them on this new opportunity.”

The National Fantasy Football Championship Main Event will occur Saturday, September 5 in Las Vegas, Chicago, and New York simultaneously, with satellite leagues taking place throughout the the next four weeks. The National Fantasy Football Championship also offers online leagues that are ongoing through the beginning of the NFL season at different price points from $125 to $1,000.

For more info about the National Fantasy Football Championship, visit www.fantasyfootballchampionship.com <http://www.fantasyfootballchampionship.com> <http://www.fantasyfootballchampionship.com/> . For more information about Fanball, visit Fanball.com <http://Fanball.com> <http://Fanball.com>

About Fanball

Fanball (Fanball.com <http://Fanball.com> ) is one of the leading providers of fantasy sports products and services in North America. Fanball has operated fantasy sports games since 1992. The company currently offers baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf and auto racing games that can be played via a variety of methods, including phone, mail, email, fax and the Internet. Fanball also owns the fantasy sports sites Owner’s Edge (Fanball.ownersedge.com <http://Fanball.ownersedge.com> ), Fantasy Cup (Fantasycup.com <http://Fantasycup.com> ), and RotoTimes (RotoTimes.com <http://RotoTimes.com> ). Fanball, PicksPal and CDM Sports are all wholly owned subsidiaries of Liberty Media Corporation, which owns interests in a broad range of electronic retailing, media, communications and entertainment businesses. For more information, please see www.libertymedia.com.

trueblue · Post by **trueblue** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:31 am

WOW!!!

KOTRAX · Post by **KOTRAX** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:36 am

GREAT NEWS GREG. HOPEFULLY THIS CAN HELP THE NFFC/NFBC FAMILY BECOME EVEN LARGER!!!

trueblue · Post by **trueblue** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:40 am

THIS COMBO SHOULD AND WILL BECOME THE LARGEST IN THE INDUSTRY.

CONGRATS TO GREG AND TOM

bill

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:46 am

Okay, first things first:

I'd like to start out by saying that Tom and I are EXTREMELY excited about the possibilities here. Liberty Media is acquiring our fantasy properties and they have aggressive ideas for how we can grow this area of the space. The connections that Liberty and Fanball.com and the CDM Fantasy Sports group have allows us to think BIG for everything that Tom and I have been doing in the live events area these last six years.

Secondly, all of our print products are being acquired by Fanball and Tom and I will also be part of all of the Fanball and Rototimes print titles. There isn't a better looking magazine in the industry than the Fanball fantasy magazines and after 20 years of being "down and dirty" with Fantasy Sports Magazine, I'm excited to see what that pioneering title can look like under their direction.

Thirdly, all of our live events members should know that our back-end commissioner service is still consistent with what we have now. STATS Inc. is still hosting all of our leagues and working with us on baseball and football. Through Fanball, we should more easily be able to add a basketball and hockey national contest, but we are still working closely with STATS on our two current contests. Everyone should know that I owe the live events business to STATS because without Steve Byrd showing an interest in my idea, this NEVER would have gotten off the ground here.

Me, Chris Adamski and my boss Dean Listle drove to Chicago in the summer of 2003 to talk with STATS about a few print ideas and I pitched this high-stakes baseball event idea to them after being rejected by USA Today and many other prominent companies. Steve shrugged off this idea, but the next day on the first tee of a golf outing he said he liked the idea and would like to work together on this. Dean felt such a positive vibe that he helped me convince management to do this on our own and the rest is history, with STATS as my partner every step of the way. I owe a lot to Steve and STATS and I hope we continue together for years to come. Their back-end system is AWESOME and I think we still can do a lot of great things together.

Hope this helps to explain a few things.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:55 am

I second everything Greg has said. This is going to be a terrific opportunity for us. To go to a fantasy sports company with a strong track record in the industry and with plans to really grow and expand what we're currently offering is very exciting. We know that Liberty has a lot of ideas and plans for our events going forward and we're looking forward to really building off what we've done so far and expanding even more. You've already seen a glimpse of what we can start to do with the Fencesitter Giveaways. We believe that's just the beginning of ways to make our events the best in the industry.

Today is a very good day.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:57 am

Okay, now about me and Tom to better paint this picture:

I've been at Krause Publications for 20+ years and have enjoyed most of my years here. I met my wife here at KP, we have three children and still reside here in Iola. We love this area of the country and certainly plan to stay here. Tom has been with me here for the last 10 years and just bought a place not far from Iola. We are extremely fortunate that Fanball understands our living situation and desires and they will open an office for us here in Iola and allow us to be based here.

For the next couple of months, however, we will work in a separate area of the company and continue through the payouts of the baseball event. All payouts for the NFBC and NFFC will come from Fanball, but our 800-number, e-mail addresses, cell phone numbers, etc., all remain intact for the next 90 days. So we'll get through the football live events without a hiccup and then get set up in a separate office in town here by October or November.

We now have a new boss in Charlie Wiegert, who a lot of our NFFC/NFBC/CDM members know well. What can I say? Could you ask for a better boss?

Charlie and I go back 18 years together and he was my first friend on the business side of the industry and he will always be my friend. This is a great setup for me and I think this has even energized him. We're happy for each other and happy for what could happen now in the future.

And it was Ryan Houston who took the bull by the horns and made this possible. He has a vision for this area of the industry that is similar to mine and he's less conservative than me and willing to take chances. This week he immediately got us the autographed memorabilia items to spur sales and he took the chance on the thousands of dollars in expenses even before the sale was completed. He takes more risks than me, which is good for everyone. Ryan and I will work well together and I'm telling you if all of his aggressive ideas come through, wow, LOOK OUT!!! WE WILL KICK SOME ASS IN THIS SPACE!!!

Finally, I just want everyone to know that this was a business deal between two major companies. I've said this many times that Tom and I never had any equity in the high-stakes space, we were just very dedicated employees who loved what we had created. I not only didn't precipitate this deal, I didn't know anything about it until I had to sign an NDA and then even after that I was completely in the dark. So ask Ryan if you want more details because Tom and I had little say in the transaction, but we've agreed to be part of it, we're excited about the new team colors and we're not looking back on the past.

KOTRAX · Post by **KOTRAX** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:59 am

I CERTAINLY HOPE SO. YOU GUYS RUN A GREAT EVENT AS IT IS.

I KNOW SOMETIME CHANGES CAN BE GOOD. I JUST HOPE YOU AND GREG STILL CONTINUE TO CALL THE SHOTS AND NOT SOMEONE ELSE.

TOMDOG · Post by **TOMDOG** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:01 am

WOW.
I was stunned while reading this news.When you said you had a big announcement i thought it would be along the lines of a new contest,something like that.
Big time congratulations Greg and Tom,and i hope you got all you wished for in the deal.Its great that you guys are part of the package as well,i know i really like that.

OrCal Crapshooters · Post by **OrCal Crapshooters** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:09 am

Greg

Will anything change as far as the online draft room or the way the league will be run from week to week ?