Plans For 4th Annual NFFC 12-Team Diamond League

[Ry's Guys]

I'm in again and have been a proponent of the pick a draft spot right before the draft!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Diamond League #1 is all full. Let's get our KDS set by valentine's day and announce the draft order on Feb 15th!

Thanks for reminding me. Can we FINALLY do this the right way? That is, pick your spot right before the draft. Live KDS would be a nice addition to the SiriusXM broadcast.

I have not written this into the rules yet, but it's definitely a worthy discussion here in February. I have no problem doing it this way and if we discuss it now rather than July we can come to a consensus. At $10,000 per entry, I'd like to get us all on board with this if possible, but we have enough demand for this to maybe move forward with this setup in place for at least one of them. Some may disagree, but let's have this private discussion and make it work if we can.

I can send out an email to get the conversation started. I agree that it would be great drama and would give all of you as long as possible to determine what is the best draft spot. That being said, it doesn't give you much time to plan your draft strategy from that spot. But let's start the discussion and see where it leads us.

Thanks for bringing this up in February.

Oh, and with Pat back in the first league, we have 8 guaranteed spots there and 12 in the second league. I'll contact the 4 other Diamond League owners from 2012 to see if they are returning and then we'll see if there's enough demand for a 2nd Diamond League on Friday morning. Wow, how cool would that be to get 3 Diamond Leagues in 2013!!!

[Cocktails and Dreams]

It is a dangerous game making people set KDS before a game is played in any event in my opinion. One bad injury or one horrific performance or incredible performance changes everything on draft day. If I were in charge there is absolutely no way, ANY league would have to set KDS before that game. Defeats the purpose of having KDS if it has to be done so early. It has never really been discussed that much, but KDS certainly conflicts big time with wanting draft spots early to prepare.

Heck, other major competitors treat the Thursday game very seriously. Won't even have main events drafted before that game even though they could increase business. And here we are with KDS being forced to set them before an actual game is played? That is the main reason I very much dislike KDS altogether. Has to be done way too early to be effective. If we want to have say in our draft spots, then lets do it the day before the draft so we really can choose where we want to pick.

[Greg Ambrosius]

It is a dangerous game making people set KDS before a game is played in any event in my opinion. One bad injury or one horrific performance or incredible performance changes everything on draft day. If I were in charge there is absolutely no way, ANY league would have to set KDS before that game. Defeats the purpose of having KDS if it has to be done so early. It has never really been discussed that much, but KDS certainly conflicts big time with wanting draft spots early to prepare.

Heck, other major competitors treat the Thursday game very seriously. Won't even have main events drafted before that game even though they could increase business. And here we are with KDS being forced to set them before an actual game is played? That is the main reason I very much dislike KDS altogether. Has to be done way too early to be effective. If we want to have say in our draft spots, then lets do it the day before the draft so we really can choose where we want to pick.

As you know Chad, everyone has a different opinion when it comes to getting draft picks. Heck, WCOFF used to give out random draft picks on July 15th and the other event you mention does it in early August. That way you get early signups and folks can plan for their draft spots. But let's remember, these owners don't get any say at all in those draft spots. So there is something to give up if you use KDS and not everyone is like you in saying they want it the day before their draft. Hell, we already know in the Diamond League several owners last year wanted no part of draft picks on the spot and I'm sure we'll hear the same thing again this year.

You are right, injuries can happen during the Thursday Night Game. They can happen in practice on Friday. Or during warmups. Heck, last year injuries didn't come out of the Thursday Night Game, just a great performance from Kevin Ogletree. It changed some drafts the next day, but not for the better for some owners. We all have to make tough decisions when we're drafting and hope injuries don't occur.

Again, I love the idea of picking draft spots live for the Diamond if we can talk it through and have this work for the vast majority. I like the discussion. I also like us giving enough time in most NFFC leagues for owners to plan their draft positions and form a plan for the draft spots they got. It makes sense that way, as does hosting drafts before and after the Thursday Game.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Yeah I don't think there is anything wrong with having drafts before or after the game being included in the same pool Greg. Not even a little bit. I do respect them thinking so, and even appreciate it.

This is about KDS though. People change their opinions all the time on things. Right up until the draft when you have to make the decisions. KDS is the same way for me. I like to be able to make optimal decisions come draft time. An incredibly important decision when KDS is allowed, is where to set it. Not having up until the draft to make this extremely important decision seems to defeat the purpose of it from my perspective. This shapes your entire base of your team to a large extent. That is why I don't think it works well with having to set it so far in advance. KDS in its purest form is awesome. It allows one to make an extremely important decision at the draft on how you want to start your team. KDS set well ahead of time, with games played, injuries happening, roles changing etc is not good in my opinion. Can you give me one good reason why it needs to be done so early? Cause people need to prepare for their draft spot? Is there anything else? That does not seem to be a good enough reason to me. When considering all of the things that can happen in that time frame, the theory of why one wanted to set it a certain way can change big time, especially with a game in between. It is similar to how people don't like to deal with incomplete information on Wednesday FAAB. Except for there is not a good reason in this case for not having complete information. In FAAB, it disables contingency bidding which would not work well at all. Here it would disable nothing aside from the ability to "prepare for a draft," whatever that means. And people still could prepare for it anyway if they so choose and want to spend the time. Glad I got this KDS stuff off my chest as it has been a flaw in your games in my opinion for a long time. Probably the only major flaw. And it should be a huge positive thing, if used correctly. As for WCOFF, it doesn't matter how early they sent them out. There wasn't KDS. You could send our diamond spots out tomorrow for all I care if there was no KDS. I won't prepare anyway. The draft changes so much on the fly, preparation is overstated. I think it is more about people being curious where they pick, than actually doing this serious in depth "preparation."

Please enlighten me if there is another reason I am missing beside this preparation theory.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Chad, it's ALL about preparedness for our customers. You hit the nail on the head. There is no other reason. It certainly could be done for every league on the spot by us on a technical basis, but I don't think our customers or most customers in the industry want that. I think they do want more time to prepare for their draft spots.

The one thing you haven't touched on is that even with KDS you sometimes get draft spots you don't want. So even waiting to run draft spots until the day of the event can still leave you scrambling to enact your strategy. You are correct, running KDS as late as possible allows you to strategize right until the end about your favorite draft spot, knowing everything you can about injuries, starting jobs, etc. But even then you can be randomly picked late and not get the spots you want.

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but we believe that most folks want more time to prepare for their draft spots in the Main Events and other events. That being said, let's consider later KDS deadlines for the high-dollar private leagues if the vast majority wants that and we can test the waters on public opinion right here in the Diamond League. There was a majority of people who wanted draft spots announced on the spot last year, but not a consensus, that's for sure.

Keep the dialogue going and we'll find a happy medium here to make this right for as many people as possible. Thanks.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Then if it were me, I would determine which is more important. Having KDS or having draft spots earlier. The two do not blend together very well, especially with actual football games in between when we have to set it and when the draft is.

And the thing about getting a bad draw doesn't play for me either. Even if I get the 9th draw, it is equally important to choose correctly based on what is left for me, and having up to date information and knowing what happened in the actual game that was played allows for that. Far more important than "preparing" for a draft slot. People can do that anyway if they want, even if they don't know where they are going yet. What people cannot do is have the information necessary to set KDS properly that far ahead of time, especially when there are games played that are included in the contest.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

If Demarco Murray had gone for 120 and 2 TDs and caught some passes you think that would affect KDS? Or if Dez had a game like week 16? Something will happen eventually in that game that changes things drastically. Surprising that people would want to not have all information available to them when making this very important decision. How do you even know that? I wonder how many have even thought about this aspect.

[larry schechter]

I like the advance notice to prepare. If I don't know in advance, then I'm going to have to prepare for a bunch of contingencies...am I drafting pick 1-3? 4-6 , 7-9, 10-12? That means for me I'm just wasting time having to prepare for some scenarios that won't happen.

Having said that, I don't need a week. 24-48 hours is enough notice. If there's a game Thursday night and we draft Friday morning, there's not enough time to give me 24 hours notice and fulfill Chad's request that we don't choose KDS until after the Thursday game. But other than the Thursday game, 24-48 hours rather than a week might be a compromise solution.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Sounds like a great idea to me. 24 hours is plenty of time to analyze a draft and the most effective time to do it as well as you have the most current information and the most current ADP information. Why not auto run the KDS 24 hours in advance of the draft time? Everyone would easily know when it is due then, and they would generally have very up to date information. Big leagues could still be discussed to do KDS live like they do elsewhere in big leagues, but 24 hour rule seems like a tremendous idea for all NFFC contests in general. Especially football. It allows people to make this important decision with current information and for the most part after the Thursday game is played. The Friday drafts would be still be a little bit messy but would still be a heck of a lot better than it is now. That last week so many guys rise up boards etc. It is brutal having to set KDS that far in advance. Defeats the purpose of it. I am curious who likes having to set it so far in advance. Nobody I have talked to about it does. Not one person.