What Is Going To Happen To High-Stakes Fantasy Football?

thegambler · Post by **thegambler** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:04 am

this is coming from a guy that has done nothing but support them (wcoff) and battled with people on several boards for them. i have burned a lot of bridges over this BS.....no more

[ June 09, 2011, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: thegambler ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:28 am

Originally posted by thegambler:
this is coming from a guy that has done nothing but support them (wcoff) and battled with people on several boards for them. i have burned a lot of bridges over this BS.....no more Andy, you shouldn't apologize for supporting the WCOFF throughout this off-season. Heck, you believed what you were told by Dustin and there was a track record of paying that stretched back nine years. But with no payments since late March and no communication from management in 44 days, it's very disheartening now. You put your trust in Dustin and expected him to provide updates throughout this 30-45 day period and instead everyone has been met by silence.

Everyone gave Dustin the full 45 days to announce this "transaction" or to at least give hope of this "transaction." The full 45 days is tomorrow and now some are saying the news will come on June 15th as reported to the Better Business Bureau. There's no reason for anyone to wait for a message if good news is coming on the 15th. Dustin can certainly give people a glimpse of good news a week before then. The 15th isn't any special date; just a date reported to the BBB from a consumer complaint. C'mon, the customers deserve better than that.

I'm hopeful that something good comes out of this long wait, but something should be said ASAP. WCOFF's customers have waited long enough for any sign of progress or even bad news. But silence isn't the answer. And even those loyal folks like Andy now feel bad about supporting them throughout this wait. Nobody feels good about what may happen next.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:35 am

Here's my 2 cents. All HSFF Events know that the majority of signups come in July or later. In fact, August is the huge boom. So from the outside looking in, this looks like a company that is only concerned about settling its financial problems before they start accepting NEW entries for their new fantasy year under a new company name. Paying the winners from last year is just a hurdle to continue business. There's no nice way to say that. I would truly hope that even when you get paid on June 15th or later, you realize what I'm writing here, and take your money and run from that contest, no matter what "sweetheart deal" they may have for you to return after waiting so long for your payments. I do hope you all get paid. Good luck and I'll be looking in on the 15th to see what happens.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:07 am

NFFC owners have confirmed that the WCOFF sent out this email this morning to past players:

"On April 25th we announced the World Championship of Fantasy Football and Baseball was in the process of transitioning ownership of the business.
We are still in the process of working through a transaction and unfortunately the process is taking longer than expected.

On behalf of the partners of GridIron Fantasy Sports LLC, we thank you for your patience and support of the World Championship of Fantasy Football and Baseball."

It's a shame that there isn't more details for the players and in fact it's even more discouraging that there isn't a possible date for payment. This just drags things along without any courtesy or regard to the past winners. It isn't a good sign at all for the players or for the future of the contest.

Thoughts?

thegambler · Post by **thegambler** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:14 am

i did not get the email as of yet sure i will sometime today.

is anyone really surprised by this?

here is my guess on what is happening. the wcoff is dumping one of the old owners, and they are suppose to get a nice chunk of change in a endorsement, from a major US wide company, along with some big bucks from the MGM themselves. my guess is that both companies aren't paying out dime one until the nfl settles. why would anyone pay money, for a fantasy football league, if there is no football? so i think we all need to pray hard that somehow the nfl settles soon. otherwise i don't see anything happening for those still unpaid.

thegambler · Post by **thegambler** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:14 am

at least that is what i was told by a so called "insider". the endorsement parts not them holding off to the nfl settles

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:45 am

Originally posted by thegambler:
i did not get the email as of yet sure i will sometime today.

is anyone really surprised by this?

here is my guess on what is happening. the wcoff is dumping one of the old owners, and they are suppose to get a nice chunk of change in a endorsement, from a major US wide company, along with some big bucks from the MGM themselves. my guess is that both companies aren't paying out dime one until the nfl settles. why would anyone pay money, for a fantasy football league, if there is no football? so i think we all need to pray hard that somehow the nfl settles soon. otherwise i don't see anything happening for those still unpaid. No, I don't believe that is what is happening. No sponsor is covering the prizes owed. "Dumping" a majority owner doesn't solve anything. The MGM is not paying big bucks to host this event. The NFL lockout is not why customers aren't paid yet. That comes from last year's entry fees. There's a shortage somewhere, but the reasons you give above Andy are not the reasons winners haven't been paid yet. I'm sorry, but what is happening here is embarrassing to all of us in this space. The buying of extra time makes it seem like the miracle is almost done when in fact no miracle should be needed if revenue from last year's game was set aside to pay off last year's prize winners. Obviously that's where the problem lies.

I've been in this industry 22 years now and I saw Replica Corporation default on prizes when they were the biggest game around. I've seen smaller companies default. I saw AFFL and Fantasy Jungle default when I knew and trusted those owners as well. I'm hearing about Rapid Draft and SportsBuff possibly defaulting when that owner was also in the industry two decades and prominent in the FSTA. Now this?? How does this happen? It's embarrassing for our industry and we all should be concerned.

No more making excuses for the WCOFF. Dustin should explain and explain it in full. If the "transaction" is going to be done to save the WCOFF and pay off past winners, then at least that much could be announced now. If not, then give the bad news now and do all you can to still make good with last year's winners, no matter what it takes.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:48 am

This is like the movie "Memento" -- you already know how it's going to end, just a question of how we get there.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:50 am

Originally posted by King of Queens:
This is like the movie "Memento" -- you already know how it's going to end, just a question of how we get there. That movie was a joy to watch. This? Not so much.

But I think you're correct, Glenn. There are so many enormous red flags at this point it's difficult to see the inevitable not occurring. I'll continue to hold out hope that won't happen but at this point all signs are pointing to one very unfortunate conclusion.

thegambler · Post by **thegambler** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:01 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by thegambler:
i did not get the email as of yet sure i will sometime today.

is anyone really surprised by this?

here is my guess on what is happening. the wcoff is dumping one of the old owners, and they are suppose to get a nice chunk of change in a endorsement, from a major US wide company, along with some big bucks from the MGM themselves. my guess is that both companies aren't paying out dime one until the nfl settles. why would anyone pay money, for a fantasy football league, if there is no football? so i think we all need to pray hard that somehow the nfl settles soon. otherwise i don't see anything happening for those still unpaid. No, I don't believe that is what is happening. No sponsor is covering the prizes owed. "Dumping" a majority owner doesn't solve anything. The MGM is not paying big bucks to host this event. The NFL lockout is not why customers aren't paid yet. That comes from last year's entry fees. There's a shortage somewhere, but the reasons you give above Andy are not the reasons winners haven't been paid yet. I'm sorry, but what is happening here is embarrassing to all of us in this space. The buying of extra time makes it seem like the miracle is almost done when in fact no miracle should be needed if revenue from last year's game was set aside to pay off last year's prize winners. Obviously that's where the problem lies.

I've been in this industry 22 years now and I saw Replica Corporation default on prizes when they were the biggest game around. I've seen smaller companies default. I saw AFFL and Fantasy Jungle default when I knew and trusted those owners as well. I'm hearing about Rapid Draft and SportsBuff possibly defaulting when that owner was also in the industry two decades and prominent in the FSTA. Now this?? How does this happen? It's embarrassing for our industry and we all should be concerned.

No more making excuses for the WCOFF. Dustin should explain and explain it in full. If the "transaction" is going to be done to save the WCOFF and pay off past winners, then at least that much could be announced now. If not, then give the bad news now and do all you can to still make good with last year's winners, no matter what it takes. [/QUOTE]you have to hold out some hope.....otherwise there is nothing left but to close the doors.

my question for you greg would be: if there is nothing left, no money coming in, no sponsors, no endorcements coming, then why would they paid anything at all this year? if they knew they were taking the money and stiffing everyone why pay out what they did?