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

particra · Post by **particra** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:58 am

Originally posted by Quahogs:
quote:Originally posted by Hells Satans:
quote:Originally posted by Quahogs:
quote:Originally posted by Hells Satans:
Steve, I would imagine that the contract has some termination rights. RT Sports runs the risk of being sued as a conspirator to commit fraud if they enable what amounts to a fraudulent contest to go forward (and, in effect, take the money of the players) Yah.. I can see their skittishness now. It's probably a RUN not walk from that situation over there. [/QUOTE]By the way, I need to thank you.

You probably don't remember, but back at the AC NFBC ME draft this year I asked you about WCOFB. I was considering dropping serious cash into their baseball league but was hesitant because the noise about football non-payment was starting to pick up steam. You told me you weren't playing based on some issues you had. That was all I needed to hear. If someone who his playing in just about every Super/Ultimate/Diamond/whatever was avoiding it, that's enough for me. So, thanks. [/QUOTE]YW Bob.

Hey, you had the wherewithal to ask in AC. I'm glad you did

Chance put you next to me in AC but bummer for me since you're cleaning my clock

[/QUOTE]You will get it back from me in football, for sure.

This just goes to show, however, that it is important for players to communicate with each other about all fantasy issues, whether it's on this board or otherwise.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:00 am

I just remember having to babysit Jupinka in Atlantic City after the NFBC. Guy was out of control.

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:03 am

Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:
I just remember having to babysit Jupinka in Atlantic City after the NFBC. Guy was out of control.

Bah! I saved you from that lonely cougar at the end of the bar just in time. She would have eaten you alive !

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:06 am

Originally posted by Quahogs:
quote:Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:
I just remember having to babysit Jupinka in Atlantic City after the NFBC. Guy was out of control.

Bah! I saved you from that lonely cougar at the end of the bar just in time. She would have eaten you alive ! [/QUOTE]Ha. That was Cougar Heaven. No doubt about that.

texasducks69 · Post by **texasducks69** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 5:30 am

I believe we are now in the end game.

In order to have an event, you must have a backend provider. Its me belief that the WCOFF doesn't have a backend provider. I believe that RT Sports would only agree to move forward had the 2010 winners been made whole. I think the leak of the email yesterday showed that wasn't going to happen.

The constest that gave birth to the high stakes format, and serve as the gold standard is now all but dead.

We probably will never know what brought us to this point, there is plenty of blame to go around.

[ August 17, 2011, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: The Yellow Line is Unofficial ]

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:01 am

I played fantasy football in the early 1990's. Back then, I had to put my lineup in the mail on Tuesday to make sure it arrived by Sunday. I used to look forward to the mail on the following Friday as I would receive my report on that day telling me whether I won or lost my game the previous week.

Maybe "Dustin on a cocktail napkin" will take over as WCOFF"s back end provider and he can market this as "retro fantasy football."

In all seriousness, I hope that some of the players who are owed money will have the tenacity to go after these people, and not simply let this go. Maybe if someone loses their house or goes to jail over this, it will leave a lasting memory on other future potential new entrants into this business who may think about doing the same thing to their customers in the future.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:18 pm

It's been a full day of reaching out to fantasy players and players reaching out to us about the upcoming season and I will admit it was a sobering day. There are a lot of people who are owed thousands of dollars who are very upset with everyone in this industry. They are so mad that they don't even want to play fantasy football anymore. The combination of the weary 137-day NFL lockout and now this kick to the groin has knocked them out of the game for the time being.

My hope is that once Opening Weekend rolls around, people will get their football mojos going and remain in this space. A lot of signups could come in those last 7-10 days. The initial reason for starting this thread was to say that we all had to be diligent about our customers and not take them for granted. Yes, we had 1,700+ high-stakes teams last year among the three contests, but if one contest screwed up we knew the growth pattern would head downward faster than a bear market. And we're seeing that now, with fewer than 1,000 teams signed up for the two contests still operating legitimate games.

I thought more things would get cleared up with the other contest today, but it looks like things are back in a non-communicative way. I'm not sure why someone over there doesn't say something constructive of what is going on with the contest. Many of the folks I talked to were hopeful that they'd be able to get money if they are owed less than $2,000 as promised last night, but they know that was dependent on a transaction. There doesn't appear to be a transaction anytime soon. Others would gladly take the 25 cents on the dollar offer. Others honestly believe a live event will be held in Las Vegas with only rollover money financing some type of contest.

All I will say is that you need a stat service to run a contest. You can hold the live draft with lots of people, but once everyone goes home you need a stat service. Last year's back-end provider isn't powering the game this year. The WCOFF site is powered by Gridiron and anything can be added on there, including draft picks and the "WIN $300,000 GRAND PRIZE" banner. But at the end of the day, someone has to power the game to run the contest and even his closest allies have admitted that when this was lost, this season was seriously in jeopardy if not worst.

For those players still hoping for a miracle, I hope it happens. I really do want to see you get paid and then play where you'd like. But waiting for a conclusion to this epic play isn't going to come anytime soon. The reality of what happened last night during the "announcement" just won't sink in. It's too painful to admit. An honest answer and saying what is inevitable is the right thing to do, but it's just too hard to admit what the next step is going to be, even though it's so obvious to everyone else.

It's bad for everyone. But it's time to let these customers free with the truth. It will be interesting if anyone can do that soon. I hope so, but I doubt it.

FFBL23 · Post by **FFBL23** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:16 pm

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
It's been a full day of reaching out to fantasy players and players reaching out to us about the upcoming season and I will admit it was a sobering day. There are a lot of people who are owed thousands of dollars who are very upset with everyone in this industry. They are so mad that they don't even want to play fantasy football anymore. The combination of the weary 137-day NFL lockout and now this kick to the groin has knocked them out of the game for the time being.

My hope is that once Opening Weekend rolls around, people will get their football mojos going and remain in this space. A lot of signups could come in those last 7-10 days. The initial reason for starting this thread was to say that we all had to be diligent about our customers and not take them for granted. Yes, we had 1,700+ high-stakes teams last year among the three contests, but if one contest screwed up we knew the growth pattern would head downward faster than a bear market. And we're seeing that now, with fewer than 1,000 teams signed up for the two contests still operating legitimate games.

I thought more things would get cleared up with the other contest today, but it looks like things are back in a non-communicative way. I'm not sure why someone over there doesn't say something constructive of what is going on with the contest. Many of the folks I talked to were hopeful that they'd be able to get money if they are owed less than $2,000 as promised last night, but they know that was dependent on a transaction. There doesn't appear to be a transaction anytime soon. Others would gladly take the 25 cents on the dollar offer. Others honestly believe a live event will be held in Las Vegas with only rollover money financing some type of contest.

All I will say is that you need a stat service to run a contest. You can hold the live draft with lots of people, but once everyone goes home you need a stat service. Last year's back-end provider isn't powering the game this year. The WCOFF site is powered by Gridiron and anything can be added on there, including draft picks and the "WIN $300,000 GRAND PRIZE" banner. But at the end of the day, someone has to power the game to run the contest and even his closest allies have admitted that when this was lost, this season was seriously in jeopardy if not worst.

For those players still hoping for a miracle, I hope it happens. I really do want to see you get paid and then play where you'd like. But waiting for a conclusion to this epic play isn't going to come anytime soon. The reality of what happened last night during the "announcement" just won't sink in. It's too painful to admit. An honest answer and saying what is inevitable is the right thing to do, but it's just too hard to admit what the next step is going to be, even though it's so obvious to everyone else.

It's bad for everyone. But it's time to let these customers free with the truth. It will be interesting if anyone can do that soon. I hope so, but I doubt it. So RT Sports has officially backed out? Is that confirmed?

fflmaster · Post by **fflmaster** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:47 pm

i asked rtsports and their comment was:

"RTSports is not currently under contract to power fantasy football leagues for WCOFF." I would refer any questions to this matter to Dustin Ashby at wcoff.

Deanna
Customer Support Specialist
www.rtsports.com

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:56 pm

Kevin, it's not fair of me to put RT in this position and I apologize to them for that. But I also think it's unfair of that contest to promote a possible live event without a back-end service in place right now to run it. It's misleading to the customers and there are not many other options in our industry for third-party providers.

Nobody could back out if no signed contract was finalized. It's possible a deal was dependent on 2010 prizes being paid, which would make sense to anyone allowing any contest to take new signups. Makes sense. If all prizes can be paid in full, that would likely change everything.