Live Chat With Greg A. On Monday At 3 pm ET

mattjb · Post by **mattjb** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:58 am

Greg

How robust is the live scoring software? apart from being ripped off by AAFL last year the live scoring was very unreliable.

Matt

Max Factor · Post by **Max Factor** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:04 am

Originally posted by Max Factor:
Which TD vulture will have the most impact on the primary back.
1) Thomas Jones
2) Willis McGahee
3) LT2
4) Mike Bell
5) Lynell Hamilton
6) Jonathon Stewart
7) Tim Hightower

...GREAT Q here MF...in which order would YOU put it? [Smile] ...GK

LT2,Bell,TJ first three. I am not sure of others.

lycanthrope · Post by **lycanthrope** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:32 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by Diesel:
Greg, I've never read so much slander about fantasy sports in my life, as I did this past pre-season...What can possibly be done so that every player, old and new, can be GUARANTEED that the high stakes contest they are joining is what they say they are? I mean, when someone places a wager in Vegas or Atlantic City, its never even a thought about whether or not they will get paid if they win. How can we, as fantasy players feel the same way with fantasy sports?

Thanks,

Marc Marc, I've been in this industry for 21 years now and what is taking place isn't anything new here nor is it anything new for a growing sector. But it still makes me sick and others sick, especially the way the businesses are acting in front of their customers.

Two great pieces of advice for all consumers: 1) Buyer Beware. And 2) if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.

The bottom line is that while it wasn't as high-profile as it is today, fantasy businesses have struggled to pay customers' prizes in full for years. It was one of the reasons we started the Fantasy Sports Players Association in 1999. Replica Corporation was a new company that came into the industry and promised the biggest prizes with name spokesmen and big ads and for two years really tried to overtake the salary cap games. But sure enough they folded and didn't pay off their prizes and it left many of us industry veterans upset and worried that government would say enough is enough here because it had happened before with other smaller games. So we formed the FSPA to police ourselves.

Honestly, there were few instances of contests going under without paying off their prizes until recently and I was surprised at both of them. Neil Wickham tried to get too big at AFFL and after five years of paying off prizes defaulted on his prizes. His $1,000 game had no chance of making money and yet folks still jumped in trusting Neil to pay in full. The next year Fantasy Jungle seemed to fall into the same trap and ran a full season contest and even took post-season contest money without paying prizes. Those two really left a bad stain on this space and now it looks like AFFL.com has defaulted again and is still trying to come back for another year of signups. It's just mind-boggling what is going on.

And of course FFOC has a lot of similarities to the Replica Corporation as it came into the market with big backers, a plan to be the biggest fantasy game around and a long-term plan that they felt was sustainable. At the very least, I give them credit for paying all of their cash winners, but of course last year's setup was built on league prizes of free entries next year and there is no game now that next year is here. So here we are again, having three high-profile games defaulting in a matter of 3-4 years.

Honestly, the consumer is king going forward. You folks determine which contests will survive. From my perspective, it's just not that hard to create a game with reachable participation levels, a worthy prize structure, sustainable expenses and being able to turn a profit. It's just not that hard. But if you look at some of the prize pools and do the math, you know there is no way for some games to ever be profitable. And so if those games go away, nobody should be surprised later on. In some way, that was already the case with some of the other contests yet consumers are acting as if they didn't see the end result coming.

Again, YOU are king in this space. If you don't trust the owners of these games or the game operators or the prize formats and you think it's too good to be true, don't put your hard-earned money there. If enough people do that, those bad game operators will disappear without hurting anyone else. And if you see a game you can trust, support it. Simple enough.

If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are IT'S A DUCK!!

[/QUOTE]I am one of the many NFFC members who got gipped by Fantasy Jungle. I was with them from their inception and I won at least some $$ every year. There was one warning sign that I didn't pay enough attention to and it finally came back to bite me (and others). FJ was always a little late in paying out their winners. In retrospect, they couldn't pay the previous season's winners until they got money from their next contest buy-ins or the next season's buy-ins. Obviously, they didn't secure each contest's winnings. So, if you win money from a contest and they can't pay you for a month or more after the season, that is a major red flag.

Money · Post by **Money** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:43 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by GK:
quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by FAST MONEY:
Greg,

If you were setting a KDS for yourself in a 14 team league, what would your strategy be and why?

Any tips for the newcomers on how to prepare would be helpful.

Thanks. I've done enough mocks to know that I can better build a good team with a RB I feel comfortable with in the first round. I've struggled in some mocks from the back-end, mainly because I just don't feel as comfortable with all of the top WRs like others do. But that's just me. [/QUOTE]...but Greg weren't all of your past drafts that you've done to date sans-3RR?...GK [/QUOTE]Many of the Fanball magazine drafts not only were straight serpentine but non-PPR too. So yes, I have been in more non-NFFC like mock drafts than NFFC like drafts. The majority of Fanball's customers do not play in PPR leagues, but like other long-time services in the industry they are seeing more and more of their customers migrating to PPR.

I look forward to mocking on our new draft software with 3RR ready to go, I'll admit that. [/QUOTE]Ok then, where is the best place to go for strategic insights and information as it relates to NFFC style scoring?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:01 am

Okay, give me a couple of minutes and I'll dig into some of these last questions. I'm here and ready to give the next hour to this chat if folks have meaningful questions. Training camp is right around the corner, so let's talk some football and NFFC strategies.

I'm here.

Max Factor · Post by **Max Factor** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:05 am

Who do you see as the top 5 wrs leaders in receptions?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:06 am

Originally posted by Max Factor:
Which TD vulture will have the most impact on the primary back.
1) Thomas Jones
2) Willis McGahee
3) LT2
4) Mike Bell
5) Lynell Hamilton
6) Jonathon Stewart
7) Tim Hightower This is a great question. I've already gone on record in saying that Thomas Jones will vulture value away from Jamaal Charles. I've lowered Charles on my rankings because of this and haven't drafted him yet.

Mike Bell certainly could steal some TDs from LeSean McCoy. Bell is tough around the goal-line and I can see this scenario playing out to the dismay of McCoy owners.

Stewart is valuable in his own right and there's no doubt he shares TDs with DeAngelo. I'd like to see Stewart as the full-time back once. He's going to be a stud soon.

You know LT will get some early scores to rev up the Jets' fans, but there's no way he's a better back in the Red Zone or even near the goal-line than Shonn Greene. This one fizzles out in a hurry, I think, and Greene takes over.

So I'd rank them:

1) Thomas Jones
2) Mike Bell
3) Jonathon Stewart
4) Willis McGahee
5) Lynell Hamilton
6) LT2
7) Tim Hightower

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:08 am

Originally posted by mattjb:
Greg

How robust is the live scoring software? apart from being ripped off by AAFL last year the live scoring was very unreliable.

Matt Wow, that's a double hit Matt. Welcome to the NFFC and PLEASE don't go back down that path again.

This is my first year with Fanball's live scoring for football, but we currently have it for baseball and really haven't had many hiccups at all. Our only trouble was early on getting the categories in the order the players wanted and the ones they wanted. Once we got that done, things have been very smooth. We get the live feed from STATS, Inc., so they are immediate. I think this will be a positive feature of the NFFC going forward.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:13 am

Originally posted by Lycanthrope:
quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
[qb] [QUOTE]Originally posted by Diesel:
[qb] I am one of the many NFFC members who got gipped by Fantasy Jungle. I was with them from their inception and I won at least some $$ every year. There was one warning sign that I didn't pay enough attention to and it finally came back to bite me (and others). FJ was always a little late in paying out their winners. In retrospect, they couldn't pay the previous season's winners until they got money from their next contest buy-ins or the next season's buy-ins. Obviously, they didn't secure each contest's winnings. So, if you win money from a contest and they can't pay you for a month or more after the season, that is a major red flag. [/QUOTE]Yeah Thomas, late payments are definitely a red flag. When folks need revenue from one sport to pay off winners of another sport, you know things are bad and just going to get worse. I sure hope that isn't happening now in our industry, but if it is stay away!!

I really never went to FantasyJungle, but both Mike and Scott played in the NFFC and NFBC for years and seemed to be players first and fantasy operators second. They were good guys, but something went bad in a hurry. I'm not really sure what to believe anymore, but they never should have taken the money and not paid out all of their prizes. Nobody should use the entry fees for anything other than prize money first and running the business second.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:14 am

Greg, what do you think about rookies getting these ridiculous contracts every year when they haven't played a single down in the NFL? In my opinion, if I were in negotiations this year for either side, this is where I'd be digging to save money. I think it's ludicrous to pay someone that much money before they play a game.