Are Last Minute Signups Here To Stay?

[Tom Kessenich]

I thought this was a good topic for discussion. Greg posted this in our chat thread yesterday but I didn't want it to get buried there. Here's what he said. Let us know what you guys think:

Okay, now I have a question for all of you guys: Why the hell do you all wait so long to sign up for these Online leagues? I mean, I understand signing up on the day of the draft, but really at the last hour?? Why stress us out so much?

Okay, each night what are you looking for? The right contest? The right time? Are 9 and 10 pm ET the sweet spots this year? 7 pm ET too early? 11 pm ET too late?

Going forward we are going to load each night with Cutlines and Online Championship Leagues, but we want to fill each one. It's no fun to adjust on the fly and disrupt everyone's schedules. Let us know what you're looking for, when you most want them, and what we need to do to fill each one before the last few minutes!! Any help here is appreciated.

That being said, we've been doing real well on this front. Tom has been on the dial every night to make sure we fill most of these. And while it's not easy, you folks have really been patient with us and moved things around to make everything work. I think once we see more games on the field that we'll easily fill these up every night, but the trend has definitely changed from signing up for future events to signing up on the night of the draft!! And that change has happened over the last couple of years. Five years ago, we would close off leagues that didn't sell out at least a day in advance. NOT ANYMORE!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Interesting feedback from one veteran NFFC member about the late signups:

I think if you did not show the names on each league sign up, like others, you wouldnt have as much of the last minute jump ins. People wait to see who signs up for each league.

Also, life is so very hectic that it's hard to plan far ahead. Sometimes gaps open up in the schedule and you can draft...especially for $150/$350 leagues.

All good points. Plenty to agree with there.

[kjduke]

Interesting feedback from one veteran NFFC member about the late signups:

I think if you did not show the names on each league sign up, like others, you wouldnt have as much of the last minute jump ins. People wait to see who signs up for each league.

Also, life is so very hectic that it's hard to plan far ahead. Sometimes gaps open up in the schedule and you can draft...especially for $150/$350 leagues.

All good points. Plenty to agree with there.

I enjoy seeing who is in the league, I play more leagues here because of that. Some of my leagues are loaded with guys I know, in some I see familiar names who seem to be signed up for every league, and for some I don't know anyone. I like the mix, and I like knowing which I'm up against when I signup.

If nothing's going on for a particular evening it's nice to jump into a draft at a last minute. So my answer would be yes, I hope the last minute leagues are here to stay.

[Fourslot40]

It's really a simple answer - comes down to schedule and knowing the options exist.

I'm not sure how many 9am-5pm guys are out there, but I'm not one of them. Some folks have active family lives on top of that. I can't tell if a Tuesday two weeks from now would work for me, but I know that a draft will exist when I do know. I prefer to wait until I know that I can focus and enjoy a draft which is usually within 24 hours of the draft.

Bosch

[BLACKHAND]

Summertime people have hectic schedules and last minute plans. As far as knowing who you are playing against I agree with KJ. Sometimes you like to jump in with certain friends and other times you want to fight the Lambs instead of the Tigers.

[76erfan]

I sign up whenever I see Frank "the Lamb" competing. Did i say that out loud?

[Tom Kessenich]

One of the reasons we ask is this is because we don't see this trend in baseball, certainly not to the extent of so many drafts selling out so close to the start time. It's possible that's because baseball drafts take longer so people have to set aside a longer block of time to do them whereas with football if you have 2 hours open you can jump right into a league and get it done much more quickly. Should we debut the NFBC Cutline contest as we hope to next year perhaps we'll see more of that trend emerge in baseball too. But right now it's football which sees so many leagues selling out so close to the start of the draft. It's definitely a trend that's begun in the last 2-3 years or so. We have plenty of options in place and like Greg said we keep these leagues open much longer than we once did. So we're here to accommodate you guys, even if it kills us in the process.

[Fourslot40]

Understood TK... In my opinion, I think baseball is different for two reasons... there are spring training games everyday and there is nothing to compete with. The stretch between the Super Bowl and MLB season seems like forever. The excitement to draft builds a little sooner.

[Greg Ambrosius]

You know, the posting of names is interesting. We started doing that in 2004 to be as transparent as possible with our contests and to introduce people to other drafters. When people signed up for the NFBC and NFFC in 2004 I usually called them or emailed them to get to know them. Trust me, when you got a $1,250 signup back in 2004 it was a good day!!

So we tried to get to know everyone, we even introduced them to everyone on the Message Boards and since we really had only one contest (and some side Auction Leagues) it wasn't hard to do. We were transparent in 2004 with how far we were away from our goals and how much money we were losing in each sport that first year, but that transparency continues even now when we sell out many events. Along the way, we just never stopped posting the names because it seemed like our guys liked to either draft with other people they knew or stayed away from them. Mainly I think people like to see who is currently signed up and who they will be competing against before the sign up each night.

It's a lot of work to update every single signup, especially when you're getting 8,000+ teams. But unless someone has a good reason for us not doing it, we'll continue to update each and every league. There's no secrecy in how we're doing -- good or bad -- and it shows last minute who's in these leagues that you're considering each night. So who's ready to play now?

As for this latest trend of same night signups, it's cool and we certainly understand in this busy world why it's happening. We also have automated KDS to the point where it's done quickly enough and announced 15 minutes after the last signup. Everyone knows the drill in the NFFC these days and are in the draft room early and ready to go. It's just the strain on Tom and I as we watch the clock tick by with two open spots and 32 minutes to go. That's when we holler "WILL ONE OF YOU BASTARDS SIGN UP AND CLOSE THIS DAMN LEAGUE OUT!!!!" You don't hear it, but that's what we're saying!!

[Cdh]

I agree with all the points above. I also prefer the 9 & 10pm start times. My first OC team this year was either a 7 or 8 start and I was trying to put my 4 & 6 year olds to bed. (Very needy kids btw) I drafted Jordy and Cobb back to back and I still haven't forgave myself. So I like to wait last minute to make sure the distractions are at a minimum.