The Multi-City Live Event Discussion

[Tom Kessenich]

Originally posted by Diesel:

My suggestion would be to pick a location where you'll get the best audience, even if they aren't playing.

And for us, that location has always been New York. As I said, NY had the most signups three times in the NFFC's history. So it didn't make sense to leave that location given how strong the turnout has been. As Greg said, we looked into AC and that didn't work out. Staying in Manhattan wasn't cost effective. We had a great NFBC event at Citi Field, the Mets really wanted to bring us back for football so we went that route. Perhaps the location is a reason why NY signups are down but I'm not convinced that's the case. I still believe New York is the proper location but it simply is not easy to find the right location that can support what we need and enable us to keep the costs from becoming an issue with our participants.

The reality is where ever we go in New York is going to be pricey. If we stay in Manhattan, then hotel costs and parking become an issue. We've had plenty of folks talk to us about that. And as I said, the fees on our end become a significant issue.

It's also important to remember that even with the numbers down in New York, it is still our No. 2 location so clearly a lot of people want to play there. Because of that, I'm not sure picking up and leaving NY completely is the prudent business move to make. But we'll have to examine everything once the event is over.

[pizzatyme]

The sad thing is that this was easy to see by many diehards.

Polling your contestants is a novel idea.

What type of advertising/marketing happens in these cities prior to the events? I think this might be an area of improvement (not knowing the current practice).

I feel like the high-stakes player should be treated like Vegas/AC does for their high rollers. What if you offered 2 (or 3) cities and offered a airfare or a room credit for multiple event entries. Use your budgeted expenses from some of the other 6 cities where you aren't going back to to pay for this. Even if you just went to one city, Vegas, and made it a major blowout, it would be fantastic!!!

Online should pay a premium (I suggest $100 for Main and $25 for ancillary events).

The local league thought needs to go away. We have plenty of options for those! No excitement means players would just take the online option.

Players want fun and excitement. Treat them like high rollers and they will come!

[Diesel]

Phil Popo...If you're staying in a hotel on the Western Spur off of the Jersey Turnpike, don't count on me driving you home, unless I'm crashing there too. Lmao. Wow, I'll never forget how long that took. 2 1/2 hours to get home. It normally takes me 30 minutes from Manhattan to Staten Island at night, WITH traffic!

Frank Mammola...I wouldn't change my cell phone. I have a feeling you'd find me anyway. Once I'm in with you, I'm told I'm in for life.

Tom K...I see your points. I've only been pumping Atlantic City since the NFFC asked about other possible locations after years of seeing the prices that NY charges. I understand that your people have worked their numbers and don't agree with Atlantic City. I always wish the best for the NFFC. But if I ever start a live contest outside of NY(but still close), AC is where it would be. I'm feeling like the mobster(bugsy siegel?) who was trying to tell everyone that Vegas would be the greatest place to gamble on earth. The mobster was whacked when it didn't work out initially, and now look at Vegas.

[Gekko 2]

As someone who will be looking at getting back in the NFFC next year, I think the answer is obvious. Expanding to 8 cities (while courageous) is not the way to go when the economy is in a depression. Go back to 3 cities at the most. Las Vegas, East Coast (I’d prefer AC) and maybe Chicago.

As someone who drafted at CitiField this year in the NFBC, I can tell you the stadium is beautiful, but everything (and I mean everything) around the ballpark sucks. No hotels within walking distance. Even if there were, I wouldn’t feel safe walking in that neighborhood. I don't see myself drafting at CitiField again. Just too much out of the way, too much hassle and there is nothing else to do there.

I concur that any bonuses you offer (75K for winning main event and online championship, etc) should only be valid if the owner drafted his/her main event team LIVE at one of the cities.

[ August 15, 2010, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: Gek ]

[BillyWaz]

I agree with Tom that getting rid of NYC is not the answer. It is the biggest city in the country, tons to do if you plan on doing other things besides drafting, and you can see "Professional Beer Pong Legend" Tom Kessenich school people IN PERSON!

NYC is very accessible by both plane or train (parking is another story! )

However, people do love to gamble. Gambling and fantasy football go hand in hand, and that is why Atlantic City even exists. However, if you don't like to gamble, Atlantic City is a complete dump. There really is nothing else to do in AC unless you are planning on selling gold for ca$h.

Is that it possible that BOTH NYC and Atlantic City could work??

I'm thinking they could.

[ August 15, 2010, 02:29 PM: Message edited by: BillyWaz ]

[BLACKHAND]

Originally posted by Gek:
As someone who will be looking at getting back in the NFFC next year, I think the answer is obvious. Expanding to 8 cities (while courageous) is not the way to go when the economy is in a depression. Go back to 3 cities at the most. Las Vegas, East Coast (I’d prefer AC) and maybe Chicago.

As someone who drafted at CitiField this year in the NFBC, I can tell you the stadium is beautiful, but everything (and I mean everything) around the ballpark sucks. No hotels within walking distance. Even if there were, I wouldn’t feel safe walking in that neighborhood. I don't see myself drafting at CitiField again. Just too much out of the way, too much hassle and there is nothing else to do there.

I concur that any bonuses you offer (75K for winning main event and online championship, etc) should only be valid if the owner drafted his/her main event team LIVE at one of the cities. WOW. wonder who this could be. im glad you didnt spell your name with two E's ( geek ).

i agree 100%

[Gekko 2]

Originally posted by THE_BLACKHAND:
WOW. wonder who this could be. im glad you didnt spell your name with two E's ( geek ).
[/QB][/quote]

Frank,
I have enough "critics" that use the double E.

for the east coast i'd go:
#1 AC
#2 NYC (in the city)
#3 CitiField (not even in the same ballpark as #1 and #2)

[Tom Kessenich]

Originally posted by BillyWaz:

Is that it possible that BOTH NYC and Atlantic City could work??

From the sounds of it, many in this thread are saying we should go back to three cities plus the online option. If that's what people want to see, then we'd have to decide between New York and Atlantic City. And that's where it gets tricky. Earlier, I referenced the poll we took with our NFBC customers about whether they would prefer to New York or Atlantic City and the results were overwhelmingly in favor of staying in New York. Now that's our baseball crew so perhaps it would be different for football but given how many of our participants play both events it's possible their responses would be the same.

If we went with New York and Atlantic City would we be looking at similar results to what we're seeing with New York and Boston (and Buffalo to a lesser extent) now? There are a number of possible outcomes. If anything, this year is teaching us some things that we can take into consideration when we plan ahead for 2011 and beyond.

After this year's event is over we'll look at everything. Maybe we'll be put in a position where we have to move out of New York completely. Or perhaps the only way for us to stay in New York will be to return to Manhattan. Perhaps that would result in an increase in event fees due to the significant costs associated with hosting our event there. However, we have to look everything over and figure out what worked and what didn't and adjust from there.

Hopefully we all have a football season to prepare for in 2011. But that's a whole nother discussion entirely.

[BLACKHAND]

tom , you keep putting it out there that the fees will go up thus leading people to be against the nyc site. will the cost be more than citifield , boston and buffalo combined ? if not then why all the talk of increse of fees. i could be dead wrong but i dont think it would cost more than all three combined.

[Tom Kessenich]

Frank, I'm not saying anything definitive. That's not my call to make. I'm just saying that the reason why we left Manhattan was because the cost of doing business there was outrageous. If people want us to return there, then something has to give. We can't keep paying the charges the Hilton and Sheraton wanted. No matter how great those locations are, it isn't cost effective.

Whether it's cost effective to host the drafts in eight locations is something we'll also have to explore. I think we're learning some things and after the event we'll be able to answer some of these questions more definitively. The one thing I do know is that New York remains a prime location for our NFFC event. The question is where can we host it in 2011? Finding the right site which works for both us and all of you financially is the tricky part.