The WHAT THE HELL Greg & Tom Q&A!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

Next question please:

Can Indiana and Virginia residents play in the NFFC this year?

We are negotiating with both states now. We have been negotiating with Indiana for a while and are allowed to take Indiana registrations through July 1st as we continue negotiating this license. We hope to have a license by then. Virginia is currently exempt from Registration as we continue negotiating a license. We have every intent to be licensed by Virginia, but we just don't know how long this process will take and the state isn't giving a temporary license at this point.

We have a lot of reasons to work with each state to be licensed. Thankfully, we have a lot of different games already through the NFFC/NFBC, CDM Fantasy Sports, League Safe and Sports Technologies. All of those companies have been around a long time and we all have a long list of games we run. We hope to run even more as well. So we are bullish on the industry and want to be in as many states as legally possible.

Speaking about our family of games, it's fun to have game discussions, rules discussions with industry veterans like Charlie Wiegert, Rob Phythian and Paul Charchian. Those three and myself have all been recognized for our lengthy careers in the industry and for pioneering new products and games. So it's a company tailored just to the fantasy sports industry and with a lot of people with years of experience doing this. When we had a company gathering in April to talk about our upcoming products, it was damn exciting to have everyone in the same room knocking ideas around. You'll hear about some of them very soon.

So all is good. All in good time.

Okay, time to get off the couch and get some sleep. thanks for hearing me out and pop in some more questions when you have time. Tom and I are around to answer anything you have for us, even if it involves the Packers' shoddy defense. Just don't bring up Dom Capers if you direct that question to Tom!! Thanks all and happy drafting this season.

So I understand that Indiana can draft til July 1st. But can we sign up for the main events now and get the discount? The bigger question is can we go ahead and book our flights to Vegas?


Wayne

Yes, you can sign up for all events right now if you are an Indiana resident. I will give a shout out to Indiana for working with us on the license and allowing us to continue with our business as was before the law while we finalize this license. I'm told we should be licensed by July 1st, so book your Las Vegas plans and be ready to draft.

So the real question is why the hell are we paying these high state fees in Indiana and Virginia when other companies aren't? Again, the good thing with SportsHub is that we have multiple games and plan on adding more contests/companies in the future that spreads this expense across multiple products. It's not just CDM and NFFC/NFBC; Sports Technologies runs games for the NCCA, NFL, NCAA and other leagues. Consolidation allows you to do this and we think there is room for further growth. So it makes sense for us.

Virginia isn't done yet and we can't take signups while we finalize this license, but again I'm told that the hope we will be finalized this summer. Stay in touch with me if you are a Virginia resident and I'll let you know when we can get you in. Again, we have made the big jump there because we have enough games to make it work in Virginia.

Hope this helps. Thanks all and good luck this year.

[Greg Ambrosius]

[/b]Aren't those cute?!! The state-by-state laws require us to show every signup in every contest and to tag the Experienced Players so that owners know who they are competing against.

Does this mean no more anonymous sign ups or aliases?

Is this Joe? Are you asking this question for a friend?

With the STATS registration page, we had a special window that asked for your Display Name. In the early years, we heard from people who didn't want their full name on the Standings Page for personal or business reasons. So we added the Display Name box. This allowed you to sign up as Glenn Lowy but to have your name in the overall standings as GlennerationX and Anthony Weiner (not that you would do that!!). Well, we took the Display Name off Registration through SportsHub. Now, yes, your name has to be on Registration and on the displayed Standings. No more changing your Display Name.

And yes you can only have one account and it shows how many teams you have on the Contest Pages, so no sharing your credit card or your name on multiple logins. Each person can only have one. Whether this hurts early signups or Draft Champions entries can't be our concern anymore; the states have mandated this. And as for Anonymous, we can't allow that anymore. You have to be identified according to the new state DFS laws.

Our competitors must show exactly what we are showing if they are licensed in New York and other states that have this language. And if they don't they will be called out. We aren't DFS, but we are under the same guidelines that DFS companies are, so we have to accept the changes and program them into Registration. It's the way of the world today.

Hope this helps.

[Greg Ambrosius]

One thing I do want to add about the state-by-state licensing fees and taxes is that in my 28+ years of being in this industry professionally, I've never seen a bigger barrier to entry for entrepreneurs than I see now. Mainly that's for game operators, not content, but at no time in the almost 40 years of our industry has it been harder for a new game company to enter the space than it is today.

Think about it. The biggest DFS companies can easily afford these state fees and those licenses actually ENABLE them to outgrow their competitors. Not only have the vast majority of DFS companies left states like Virginia, but now season-long game operators are leaving that state, too. I'm all for consumer protection laws and we need them in this industry, but we can't stymie competition along the way.

Nor can we prevent new companies from entering the space. Think about it again just from our standpoint. Who can enter the high-stakes space today, get licensed in every state and still pay out 80% or more to compete with the established companies? Sure it can be done, but it's so much harder today than ever before. Not only do you have to take the guaranteed prizes risk that we've all done with big grand prizes, but now you have to get licensed in advance, prove to credit card processors that you are legit and legal, and then compete for customers. We may have made it too tough for young entrepreneurs to look at this space and say "I can compete with the big boys."

I don't like that. Competition is good. It's not good for the industry when the barriers to entry are too high. It enables the established companies, who can get fat and lazy!! Competition keeps everyone on their toes.

I hope this all stabilizes one day so that we can have good consumer protection and a space that is easier for new companies to enter. I don't see that as the case today. The barriers to entry are too high. I guess I'm wearing my industry trade cap right now instead of my NFFC cap, but a vibrant industry needs new blood and new products. It's harder to offer that now, which is a shame for all players.

[Glenneration X]

[/b]Aren't those cute?!! The state-by-state laws require us to show every signup in every contest and to tag the Experienced Players so that owners know who they are competing against.

Does this mean no more anonymous sign ups or aliases?

Is this Joe? Are you asking this question for a friend?

With the STATS registration page, we had a special window that asked for your Display Name. In the early years, we heard from people who didn't want their full name on the Standings Page for personal or business reasons. So we added the Display Name box. This allowed you to sign up as Glenn Lowy but to have your name in the overall standings as GlennerationX and Anthony Weiner (not that you would do that!!). Well, we took the Display Name off Registration through SportsHub. Now, yes, your name has to be on Registration and on the displayed Standings. No more changing your Display Name.

And yes you can only have one account and it shows how many teams you have on the Contest Pages, so no sharing your credit card or your name on multiple logins. Each person can only have one. Whether this hurts early signups or Draft Champions entries can't be our concern anymore; the states have mandated this. And as for Anonymous, we can't allow that anymore. You have to be identified according to the new state DFS laws.

Our competitors must show exactly what we are showing if they are licensed in New York and other states that have this language. And if they don't they will be called out. We aren't DFS, but we are under the same guidelines that DFS companies are, so we have to accept the changes and program them into Registration. It's the way of the world today.

Hope this helps.

What the states are doing to our season long competitions are unfortunate for the most part, but this is certainly one positive for this contest and all others.

[Sabretooth]

Greg I'm noticing that there is no longer a "manage your teams" option on the site. I used to view my teams in the order of there draft dates and also to look at rosters from previous years. Is this something that will be added again?

[bald is beautiful]

[/b]Aren't those cute?!! The state-by-state laws require us to show every signup in every contest and to tag the Experienced Players so that owners know who they are competing against.

Does this mean no more anonymous sign ups or aliases?

C'mon man, he isn't Jared Danielsen!

[Tom Kessenich]

Greg I'm noticing that there is no longer a "manage your teams" option on the site. I used to view my teams in the order of there draft dates and also to look at rosters from previous years. Is this something that will be added again?

Yes, all of that plus past teams will be back on everyone's My Teams pages once the entire transfer from STATS is completed. All of the features that were available previously will remain available once the process is finished.

[Tom Kessenich]

Let's start with New York. We have narrowed our choices to two locations and we should have an answer shortly after Memorial Day weekend. One of them is a new site that has some unique possibilities and we're going to do a site inspection very soon. It's not easy hosting live drafts on the East Coast -- which is why we're the only contest to ever do it -- but we're excited about our options. Stay tuned and Tom will announce this soon enough. It will be fun again as we return to New York City for a 14th straight season of live drafts.

We'll provide more details when we announce the site but I will tell everyone we won't be returning to the Hilton. The reason is simple - cost. I loved the location and it's really ideal but as I told some of the NY players a year ago we were soon going to be driven out of the Hilton due to the expenses involved. That time has now come.

Like Greg said, there's a reason why we're the only contest that has continued with an event in New York. The cost of doing business is often difficult and it became (in my opinion) outrageous at the Hilton. So now it's time to move on. We hope to make the final announcement early next week. Hang in there, we're almost there.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I might as well put this post here as well since this was my frustration thread!! My frustration has subsided.

THE DRAFTING SEASON IS UPON US!!

Okay, the first four NFFC $150 Draft Champions Leagues have been formed and emails are going out now from STATS. Look for that now and jump into your team pages to set your KDS preferences. You have through midnight tonight to set your KDS preferences and you'll see draft spots shortly after 5 am ET. The draft room will open after midnight and we'll start the draft at 1 pm ET.

Everyone be ready to make your picks as we've waited long enough to start the season. Let's get through a few rounds in the next day and spread the news. Thanks all for your undying patience and let's get this season rolling now.

Thanks all and good luck.

[Coltsfan]

For some reason I cant get in. When I go to My Teams page and I hit the draft that I signed up for, the "view" button, all it does it take me back to the main sign up page. Can you tell me what I need to do?


Wayne