Does Fanball own FFOC

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat May 08, 2010 5:17 am

Well, at the very least, I'm glad folks still trust me and Tom!!

I'm sure some folks don't know what to believe today concerning any of this on this thread, from Fanball to FFOC to escrows to Goldman Sachs. Wow.

Yesterday's statement by Stan put a stake in the ground for some folks who have wanted answers about Fanball and the future of FFOC, but it was ambiguous at best. I trust you will see clarification soon as we've asked for it. Wait one more time before jumping off the NFFC bridge.

As for escrows, I'll gladly talk about that, but not on this thread. Once answers have been provided to the satisfaction of all here, we will move on with the 2010 NFFC and talk about OUR GAME. But the escrow portion of this thread deserves its own thread and I will GLADLY partake in that discussion. Remember, the NFFC and NFBC has now paid $6 million-plus ON TIME EVERY TIME. Nothing is more important to me than rewarding our winners in the most timely fashion we can.

We're all caught in the middle on this, but I think this will be cleared up shortly by those closer to the situation than me. I hope Stan is coming back with the FFOC, but only he can answer that, certainly not Fanball.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat May 08, 2010 5:23 am

Originally posted by Route C:
I think it's time all us NFFC pioneers stand behind Greg and Tom and continue to grow the greatest game in town.
I know some of you have gotten burned in other contests and with the switch to Fanball there's naturally going to be a little uncertainty but I've been giving this some thought and here's what I've come up with.....

In year 1 of the NFFC there was an advertised 200K grand prize. As hard as they tried the NFFC just couldn't get enough entries to award such a prize. Rather than run the contest under false pretense Greg was up front well before (at least a month I think) the draft and told us because of lower than expected sign ups the grand prize had to be reduced to 100K. He also offered a full refund to anyone who didn't want to play for a smaller grand prize.

Everyone was paid as promised that year and each of the 5 years since even though the NFFC lost money in all but 1 of those years if I'm not mistaken.

We've been given free prizes....drink tix...nice venues with no add on fees not to mention opportunities to play in magazine leagues for FREE with prizes for the winners.

Here's my point...AFFL, Fantasy Jungle, Fanball, WCOFF, NFFC are all names of contests. I don't trust inanimate objects but I trust Greg Ambrosius and Tom Kessenich because after 6 years...I think they've earned it don't the rest of you?

Now how bout we stop lookin for demons in the bushes and talk some football boys!

Thanks for the post Jeff. This industry has unfortunately created its own demons these past few years and it's unfortunate for all of us who have been in this industry for decades. I don't blame anyone for seeing demons possibly lurking even in the NFFC and NFBC, but we are going to address all of this and get everyone squared away. If you can't trust us, then you definitely won't play with us and I don't want that, especially for something I had no part in.

We all want closure on this situation, once and for all.

And then on Wednesday the new web site debuts. Registration pages will be live shortly after that. All games will be announced early next week. I'm moving forward and hopefully we can get this behind us with truthful facts and move forward with the new season. Let's see if that happens.

Coltsfan · Post by **Coltsfan** » Sat May 08, 2010 5:24 am

My gues is that most of the fantasy football operators that went belly up didn't set out to take the money from the players and not pay them. They probably had good intentions but they were lacking in the area of budgeting and financial management.

What the escrow does is sets aside the money in a separate account outside of the operating account so that this money cannot be spent on company operations. An attorney could actually hold the money until such time as the contest winners are determined and then the money would be distributed. There would be very little cost to do this.

Whenver a check comes into the fantasy football operator it would be easy to take whatever the percentage of money that goes to the prize pool and deposit it in the escrow with the balance going into the operating account.

The escrow account protects us against an operator getting upside down in his own business. The only reasons I would see a fantasy football contest not wanting to escrow is that it is an extra step or else they are using the prize money from the current contest to pay winners from previous events. Anyways, I sure do hope that this becomes the norm and operators start escrowing. I just makes sense and if we demand it then it will happen.

Wayne

TamuScarecrow · Post by **TamuScarecrow** » Sun May 09, 2010 3:15 pm

As someone who has been with the NFFC since its beginnings in 2004, this thread is getting absurd(THERE ARE BETTER TERMS BUT THIS WAS THE ONLY PRINTABLE ONE). Next thing you know we'll see people discussing Swiss bank accounts and how the turmoil in Greece will ruin draft weekend.

For 6 years, Tom/Greg/NFFC have done exactly what they said they would do every year in regards to the way they run their games and handle the money. Last year with the entrance of FANBALL, no change. So why the integrity question now, folks? Seems to me we went 6 years without a thread like this. Seems to me we are looking at a whole lot of BS and not a whole lot of substance. So much for 6 years of trust-building, Greg/Tom.

Coltsfan · Post by **Coltsfan** » Mon May 10, 2010 12:55 am

Greg,

Sorry - I was typing my post while your posts hit the board. I'm looking forward to the thread on escrows.

Rick,

I haven't heard anyone question Tom and Greg. They have been nothing but fantastic to work with.

Wayne

Raiders · Post by **Raiders** » Mon May 10, 2010 2:09 am

Originally posted by Coltsfan:
Greg,

Sorry - I was typing my post while your posts hit the board. I'm looking forward to the thread on escrows.

Rick,

I haven't heard anyone question Tom and Greg. They have been nothing but fantastic to work with.

Wayne Again this has nothing to do with Greg or Tom, it never did. I've always spoke well of the both of them. In January I sent Ryan an email how lucky he is to have Greg and Tom working for him and how Great a job they do.

John

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon May 10, 2010 2:53 am

Originally posted by Raiders:
quote:Originally posted by Coltsfan:
Greg,

Sorry - I was typing my post while your posts hit the board. I'm looking forward to the thread on escrows.

Rick,

I haven't heard anyone question Tom and Greg. They have been nothing but fantastic to work with.

Wayne Again this has nothing to do with Greg or Tom, it never did. I've always spoke well of the both of them. In January I sent Ryan an email how lucky he is to have Greg and Tom working for him and how Great a job they do.

John [/QUOTE]John, we've asked Stan for clarification on his response to you about Fanball being involved because he sure caused some confusion on Friday by saying there were four shareholders in FFOC. He has not done that, but he did edit out his response to you in the FFOC thread. You can see that now, which tells you a different story. He did that rather than post why he no longer thinks there are four shareholders. Unfortunately, Stan didn't edit your post two posts later copying his response or the other responses after that insinuating that Fanball may have been the holdup of FFOC's return. Of course that's not true.

So again, this all looks like a stupid game with players in the middle, but it's serious stuff. His response to you has been deleted and it's on Stan to clarify what he meant, what FFOC is going to do for 2010 and what the players can expect. That's an FFOC decision and as the back-end provider all Fanball can do is wait for Stan and Len to either give the go-ahead to run the game or move on. We have no say in what FFOC does in 2010 or for the 2009 game.

We are concentrating on the NFFC for 2010 here. These other questions need to be asked of STAN and he has a forum where he is answering them. It's on Stan to do the right thing.

Raiders · Post by **Raiders** » Mon May 10, 2010 3:15 am

Thanks Greg for pointing that out. I asked the question again. I feel until it gets answered "Right" everyone won't be happy.

By the way thanks for not Deleting this Topic, it would have only made things worse. But you knew that.

I will also be clear, I do love the 14 team format and I hope this Contest can be taken to the next level.

1. KDS(You control your draft spot)
2. At least we can see who was the second highest bidder.
3. Now I really would like to see this Contest Escrow all monies.

Thanks,

John

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon May 10, 2010 4:01 am

Originally posted by Raiders:
Thanks Greg for pointing that out. I asked the question again. I feel until it gets answered "Right" everyone won't be happy.

By the way thanks for not Deleting this Topic, it would have only made things worse. But you knew that.

I will also be clear, I do love the 14 team format and I hope this Contest can be taken to the next level.

1. KDS(You control your draft spot)
2. At least we can see who was the second highest bidder.
3. Now I really would like to see this Contest Escrow all monies.

Thanks,

John John, I never thought about deleting the thread. That would be like censoring an important topic. Players want facts from FFOC and only Stan and Len can provide them. We all want this cleared up.

This industry feels like it's on egg shells right now when it should be in the midst of prosperity. And the live events business has the biggest concerns, when again, it should be peaking. You don't have to tell me why; I'm living it. I hate to see it this way. Let's get it right again together.

Raiders · Post by **Raiders** » Mon May 10, 2010 4:11 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by Raiders:
Thanks Greg for pointing that out. I asked the question again. I feel until it gets answered "Right" everyone won't be happy.

By the way thanks for not Deleting this Topic, it would have only made things worse. But you knew that.

I will also be clear, I do love the 14 team format and I hope this Contest can be taken to the next level.

1. KDS(You control your draft spot)
2. At least we can see who was the second highest bidder.
3. Now I really would like to see this Contest Escrow all monies.

Thanks,

John John, I never thought about deleting the thread. That would be like censoring an important topic. Players want facts from FFOC and only Stan and Len can provide them. We all want this cleared up.

This industry feels like it's on egg shells right now when it should be in the midst of prosperity. And the live events business has the biggest concerns, when again, it should be peaking. You don't have to tell me why; I'm living it. I hate to see it this way. Let's get it right again together. [/QUOTE]'Let's get it right again together.'
I'm trying just as hard as you are.

I believe if Monies are esrowed this would put Fanball/NFFC Contest over the Top. Does Escrowing mean all winners will get there money 100%, 'NO'. But it's a start by the Contest runner to give back to the Players and make the Players feel alittle better.

So what do you say?

Thanks,

John

[ May 10, 2010, 10:14 AM: Message edited by: Raiders ]