NFFC Message Boards

Despite all the frustration, I've tried to be patient with the NFBC and its software problems as it tried to sort through its many issues.

Now it is football season, and I'm trying to finalize what contests I'm playing in and those I am not. Frankly, after another software screwup tonight, I don't want to be another guinea pig as Fanball tries to "finalize" their software during the season. So, please, I'd like honest answers to these questions:

1) What is the truthful status of the software that will manage the NFFC season this year?

2) Is the league management software completed and tested?

3) Can you say that you expect free agency to be a smooth process this year, or are you expecting a few hiccups here and there while Fanball irons things out?

Thanks.

Thanks for asking these questions Jack. Gotta say, I've remained patient too and have defended the NFBC, but concern is setting in...

Originally posted by Bald is Beautiful:
Despite all the frustration, I've tried to be patient with the NFBC and its software problems as it tried to sort through its many issues.

Now it is football season, and I'm trying to finalize what contests I'm playing in and those I am not. Frankly, after another software screwup tonight, I don't want to be another guinea pig as Fanball tries to "finalize" their software during the season. So, please, I'd like honest answers to these questions:

1) What is the truthful status of the software that will manage the NFFC season this year?

2) Is the league management software completed and tested?

3) Can you say that you expect free agency to be a smooth process this year, or are you expecting a few hiccups here and there while Fanball irons things out?

Thanks. Jack, these are all fair questions and trust me it's frustrating for Tom and I too. We thought the draft software would be done by now, but it's not. Here's the plan for the draft software:

I've been told it will be done and fully tested by week's end and available for folks to test out. I've seen everything they've built and it's very good. The mock draft site will be free to all users and will be promoted heavily to the Fanball base and another big industry web site. The goal is to have lots of traffic and mock drafts available several times an hour, allowing users to pick their draft spots.

This software will be what the NFFC will use for all of its online drafts. Nobody wanted to wait this long for the software, but I also don't want any hiccups out of the gate. So give us this week to see the finished product if you can and then make your decision when it comes to our online products.

The commissioner software that will manage the NFFC leagues is fully done and the NFFC layout is about 80 percent done. We added many Fanball features that we never had before in the NFFC and we are now changing the navigational bars to be consistent with the NFBC layout. Most of the other features are also being carried over from the NFBC, including FAAB, Free Agent Quick, etc. Right now it's more of a style change than anything else. I'm working with John's team on that now and it's coming along well. We should have more to show you soon.

The football commissioner tools are already in place. Our rules and unique twists are being added now, but it's not like we had to start from scratch with this part of the back-end.

There should be no problem with FAAB from the get-go. We know why it failed the first week of the NFBC and we didn't have a problem since then until last night when a network problem shut down FAAB 30 minutes before our deadline. But FAAB ran well after we fixed the server and it will run well in the NFFC. In fact, I think you'll see FAAB results for football as quickly as you do in baseball, which is usually within five minutes.

I appreciate the questions and I'd ask them too. We had delays in baseball and a rough start and here we are again with delays in football. It's frustrating for everyone involved and you have a lot of money at stake. Nobody wants an unproven system with so much on the line. We need to build this and show it to you as soon as possible to ease your concerns and that's the plan. I'll try to get a timetable for all of our finished projects ASAP. Right now we're trying to finish the draft software while finishing your team pages and the last parts of the commissioner tools.

But it's a fair question and all NFBC owners should be asking these questions. It's on us to get all of this done as fast as we can to ease your concerns. But from the stuff I've seen so far, it's going to be a better back-end with more features than we had in the past and it will work from the get-go.

As long as the NFL plays in '11, I can guarantee this...The High Stakes contest that runs smoothest this year will be the contest to play in next year. This is a pivotal year in the fantasy market with 3 major contests running similar events. Gimmicks only go so far. Advertising only gets people to peek in. A great product and solid customer service is what will make one contest King.

Originally posted by Diesel:
As long as the NFL plays in '11, I can guarantee this...The High Stakes contest that runs smoothest this year will be the contest to play in next year. This is a pivotal year in the fantasy market with 3 major contests running similar events. Gimmicks only go so far. Advertising only gets people to peek in. A great product and solid customer service is what will make one contest King. Well said. It is a Big part of why I'm sitting this year out. If there's Football next season(2011) it still may be too early to tell.

I wish everyone well and Good Luck in 2010!

John

Originally posted by Diesel:
As long as the NFL plays in '11, I can guarantee this...The High Stakes contest that runs smoothest this year will be the contest to play in next year. This is a pivotal year in the fantasy market with 3 major contests running similar events. Gimmicks only go so far. Advertising only gets people to peek in. A great product and solid customer service is what will make one contest King. This is where Greg and I differ from the mindset others may have. We've never believed that one event had to dominate the landscape. We think there's room for multiple events that offer great products and different types of games while providing quality competition. I think that was definitely the case a few years ago when WCOFF was the No. 1 game in town and we were the upstart. We never set out to bury WCOFF. We believed our game had enough differences from theirs that plenty of people would find it appealing and perhaps find both appealing enough to compete in.

And that's what happened. WCOFF did well and we did well and quite a few people played in both events. I'm not sure the "We must be Kings while others are vanquished" approach is the way to go and I'm not sure it's healthy for the industry.

I agree that having a good product and customer service are critical components. I believe we have both and those are two of the reasons we've been able to grow this event (and the NFBC) as strongly as we have. It's an unsettled landscape for a number of reasons (not the least of which is the potential lockout), but our focus is on making sure we provide the best game possible with the same level of customer service that people have come to expect from us. If we do that, I'm confident people will want to take part in all we have to offer.

Originally posted by Diesel:
As long as the NFL plays in '11, I can guarantee this...The High Stakes contest that runs smoothest this year will be the contest to play in next year. This is a pivotal year in the fantasy market with 3 major contests running similar events. Gimmicks only go so far. Advertising only gets people to peek in. A great product and solid customer service is what will make one contest King. I agree with Tom that hopefully all three contests will run smoothly, all three will have great customer service and that folks again have good choices to make in 2011 if football returns. If any of us fall flat on our faces with the back-end or the prizes or the customer service then that company deserves to take a hit in 2011.

Our baseball back-end has not been 100 percent perfect this year and our customers will have decisions to make in 2011. There are other choices in the marketplace and we understand that. We have definitely improved FAAB, Live Scoring and every other feature in baseball since the Week 1 troubles and I think our back-end for baseball is very nice. We can add a couple of new wrinkles to that software this off-season that will make it as good if not better than any in the industry. Our baseball customers will have to decide if they think that's good enough and if our contest is good enough to return next year or not and if not, again, they will have other options.

The same will be true for football. We are slow to unveil our site and draft software this year and that's frustrating for everyone, including me and Tom. And for NFBC owners, it's doubly scary because they know that delays in baseball led to a very rough start in the NFBC. We can't afford to be late or have a rough start in football and we know that. I think we'll be able to show folks a lot of what we have done shortly and it will start with the draft software. It's going to be a great plus for the NFFC and the mock draft room should be a great recruiting tool for our NFFC online leagues. I can hardly wait until we have that done.

I'm confident the back-end will be as good if not better than we've had in the NFFC before because I've seen how FAAB can work, how conditional bids are set up, how we've added more content to the site, etc. But if we don't show it to you soon you'll never believe me!! So it's time to stop talking and start showing you the finished product. And Jack and Jules and everyone else is right for asking about it.

[ July 27, 2010, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]

We just had an NFFC meeting with the IT team and the good news is that much of the back-end will be viewable once live drafts are done. The results will be loaded from our draft software to the commissioner portion of our NFFC leagues and those who drafted will have access to these tools. So after the Jules Gamers league is done, we'll load those draft results and those 14 owners will be able to see the new look and features of the commissioner product. That will be the case when all of the pay leagues are loaded.

It's possible that not all of the functionality will be done by next Thursday, but at least folks see most of it and have a better timetable now of when they will see the new NFFC back-end. It's certainly not going to be a last minute look and folks will soon be able to discuss the functionality and look of the new game site. That's good news because I wasn't sure of the exact timetable before today. But everything is on pace to get that area ready after next Wednesday's draft(s) are finished.

We'll have more to look at soon, but once drafts are done most if not all of the back-end will be viewable to NFFC owners.

Just my opinion, but I feel there is only 1 event out there looking to eliminate their competition (for whatever reason).

I agree that more options is better AS LONG AS the standard deviation is minimal as far as draft experience goes between the three.

I wish the NFFC the best! It was my "first love", and Greg and Mr. K are great guys!

Right now it's like hoping the jello comes together. I'm confident it will. I love jello!

Originally posted by Just Russ:
Just my opinion, but I feel there is only 1 event out there looking to eliminate their competition (for whatever reason).

I agree that more options is better AS LONG AS the standard deviation is minimal as far as draft experience goes between the three.

I wish the NFFC the best! It was my "first love", and Greg and Mr. K are great guys!

Right now it's like hoping the jello comes together. I'm confident it will. I love jello! This is your best post to date Russ!! And not just because you've compared Tom and me to Jello. Jello bellies maybe. You know us too well!!

Agree on all. More is always better and every other area of this great industry has three or more competitors and you don't see them back-stabbing each other. This is a sick business compared to the health of the rest of the industry.

Enjoy Vegas and if you ever draft where Tom or I are the hosts, look out. Either one of us will drink you under the table!! But just win league titles this year in all the events you join and you'll have enough money to join all three competitions in 2011...if there is a 2011 football.

The jello is forming and will be visible and eatable next week. Bring on next week baby!!