STATS Update: Game Site Is Ready

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 4:48 am

Okay, I apologize for being out of touch yesterday, but I spent the day in Chicago working with the guys at STATS, Inc., and finalizing the NFFC game site. For NFBC members, it's very similar in the look of our baseball game site and many of the transaction processes are very similar. We have improved the FAAB bidding process and have allowed you to change your contingency bids without having to redo all of them. We think this is a much simpler process the way we have it now.

Our goal is to have all current registrants able to go into the game site by the end of the week, name their team and check out the process. STATS will e-mail every individual owner and co-manager an ID and a password to get into the game site and will create that area to enter the game site on the home page. For NFBC owners, it will be the same ID and password for the NFFC. I think everyone is anxious to name their team, so let's get that process started.

Here's a couple of other updates coming from STATS:

** We'll have live scoring from STATS, so NFFC guys will certainly be able to track their team's progress on Game Day. We have live scoring in baseball and we'll have it in football, too.

** There is no FAAB period between the Draft and Week 1. Remember that the rules state that FAAB begins after Week 1. With the draft being over Labor Day weekend and with the Thursday game kicking off the season, we felt it was best to carry the team you draft into Week 1. FAAB pickups begin after Week 1's games.

** FAAB deadline is each Friday at 4 p.m. EST and STATS believes all free agent pickups will be posted within the hour. For baseball, it's been within 20 minutes most of the time, so we're saying an hour conservatively. We have had no delays in baseball and I don't expect any for football either. The only exception to the FAAB deadline is the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving Day games as that FAAB deadline will be Wednesday at 4 p.m. EST.

** Week 16 has a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday game, so that final weekend of the season with all of the prize money on the line should be interesting. Since there are no FAAB pickups in the playoffs, teams will just have to make sure they set their lineups before the Friday game.

** Team lineups must be set five minutes before the day's first game. In Week 1, obviously, you need to enter any Colts and Patriots in your lineup before the Thursday game, but you still have the right to change your starting lineup for your other players up until 12:55 EST on Sunday. The same scenario is true for the Thanksgiving Day games and even late-season Saturday games.

** Anyone who wants to call in lineup changes or FAAB bids can do so at 1-888-450-2730. STATS will have operators working on Sundays.

** We will have a Top 10 on the home page and show the Auction League and Draft Masters League leaders for all to see. That should be fun to watch as it's been great for baseball.

** The game site has player news, player career stats, 2004 player stats plus upcoming opponents, and even career stats vs. that week's opponents. I think you'll like the game site a lot.

** The Auction League is the only contest where we have two divisions. Division A will be the odd-numbered teams from the draft and Division B will be the even-numbered teams from the draft.

I think that covers most everything. Feel free to ask questions here and we'll make sure the game site is just the way you want it. Thanks everyone and look for that e-mail that gives you the keys to the NFFC game site. See you inside the game.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:00 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
** FAAB deadline is each Friday at 4 p.m. EST I'd be curious to know the reason why the FAAB deadline isn't something on Sat, like at 7pm? Gives owners a chance to see any latebreaking news. The deadline for baseball is Sunday at 7pm.

JB · Post by JB » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:34 am

Although I'd prefer Sat. @ 7pm, I'm sure there are plenty of teams that want to set their starting lineups Friday afternoon/night. They might be going out of town for the weekend or just have a busy weekend ahead and would prefer not to have to worry about it. That's my guess.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:36 am

It was out of courtesy for those millions of Americans who set their lineups during work hours!!! You oughta know that Gordon!!! I purposely wanted to give everyone the weekend to know which free agents they picked up and have enough time to set their starting lineups based on those FAAB pickups. Baseball has worked great with our later deadline, but obviously there are games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and any smart high-stakes game would have the deadline when we have it. Football is different.

I'm interested in other thoughts, but that was my reasoning.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:43 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
It was out of courtesy for those millions of Americans who set their lineups during work hours!!! We are only looking at a couple hundred here, not millions. I don't know of anyone who sets their line-up on Friday.

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
Baseball has worked great with our later deadline Football is different.I think it would work great for football too. Be a trend setter...Allow us the customer greater flexibility.

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
I'm interested in other thoughts, but that was my reasoning. Let's go gentlemen. It's worked great for baseball.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:44 am

Originally posted by JB:
I'd prefer Sat. @ 7pm There's #2.

TamuScarecrow · Post by **TamuScarecrow** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:11 am

Way to grab that part of JB's reply that supports your position. I would prefer the change to Saturday because in many cases you don't get the doubtful/questionable injury news until Friday. I work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days anyway so I'll be setting my lineup early because I don't have internet access in my golf cart for Friday or Saturday.

khandy29 · Post by **khandy29** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:28 am

I would prefer Sat. at 7pm too as football is different from baseball being that u have much less games and injuries figure in much greater. Whoever sets their lineup at work before they leave Friday with the intent that they think adjustments may need to be made will 99% of the time not win a championship.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:57 am

Again, we're talking about FAAB pickups. You still have plenty of time to change your lineups, but we're talking about free agents you can acquire. Those guys shouldn't change from Friday to Saturday.

My only concern with Saturday is the 800-number to take phone-ins. I know STATS has operators on Sunday, but I'm not sure about Saturday. The phone-in deadline would likely still be Friday.

I'm still leaving it on Friday, but I'll gladly listen to the masses and take a poll if needed on this point.

lichtman · Post by **lichtman** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 9:03 am

I don't think it is unreasonable for someone to set their lineup on Friday with 99% confidence (but of course everyone who wants to win should be available to make changes if needed right up to gametime). With a Saturday Night FAAB the window between getting your free agent and the final deadline for submitting the roster seems way to short. People do things on Saturday evenings and it is very conceivable that you would be away from a computer from Saturday afternoon until after the games start on Sunday. At least with lineups you can call in from anywhere at the last minute.

I don't think that it is reasonable to do it on Saturday evening -- baseball is Sunday evening, which is a whole different story.