National Auction Competition

Captain Hook · Post by **Captain Hook** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:21 am

Originally posted by fandango:
CC, no disrespect, but i think you are wrong with regards to the popularity of auction leagues...

if someone can give me a LEGIT reason why the main shouldnt be swithched to auction im listening...
Glad you are listening - I will even turn the volume up a little - BECAUSE THE MASSES WON'T PLAY IN IT FOR THESE STAKES - Yet

Look, most of us here like auction drafts better, but really look at the message board posters versus the rest of the participants. If the percentage of posters vs participants translated to auction vs draft it would be a pretty small event. Look how few the auction events draw now!

The way to grow it is to GROW the existing auction events; add some Smaller stakes ones; and initiate the NFFC Auction Championship as discussed in two other threads.

It will happen - it is just a work in progress and the two great national FF competitions are Both growing the number of auction leagues - we are just not there Yet.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:14 am

Guys and gals, I appreciate the enthusiasm for a national auction league contest, but I think you must realize that trying to build this concept is a work in progress. In the NFFC, we have gone from three auction leagues to six auction leagues in four years, which is a nice percentage increase, but honestly shows that auction leagues haven't been embraced by the entire industry. And we do struggle to fill these at $650 per team. At the same time, our main event has grown from 16 leagues to 26 leagues at $1,300 per team.

Now I know some folks can say we should just add another $350 per team and add a national grand prize, but I trust we'd lose some auction league teams if we went from $650 to $1,000. As Shawn has mentioned, he's asked me to increase the leagues from $650 to $750 and use the additional $100 per team for a grand prize and I've resisted in baseball and football because I think it could hurt the number of signups.

Listen, nobody wants the auction league format to grow more than me. I love the auctions and I think it is the best format to crown a champion. But from a business perspective, it's tough to set a guaranteed grand prize that makes sense financially while still trying to plan for growth in this area. Perry is right, this format needs to be done with the current auction leagues, but even that's hard because we have $1,300 leagues and $650 leagues in Las Vegas, and each year we've been forced to do teleconference auctions. Unlike the main event, not everything right now is exactly the same with our auction leagues.

I like the idea and I agree that any upstart contest that is trying to do this without a dedicated customer base like WCOFF or the NFFC is begging for unfulfilled promises. But I would have to question if the industry is able to fill enough leagues to make a national auction league grand prize a reality. I'd be the first to try, but even getting to 100 teams is a huge challenge.

Coltsfan · Post by **Coltsfan** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:09 am

Greg,

Try it cashless. Don't worry about a grand prize the first year. Use the same format as the nffc main event to determine who would advance to the finals and then have the 3 weeks decide who wins overall while maintaining the individual leagues as they are. It could even be done this year for bragging rights. As demand grows then go to some kind of prize pool.

Wayne

CC's Desperados · Post by **CC's Desperados** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:11 am

Originally posted by fandango:
CC, no disrespect, but i think you are wrong with regards to the popularity of auction leagues...

i have been asking for auctions drafts to become more prominent for years...i bet that people who had local buddy leagues, do them auction style...the auction (especially in football) is so much more indicative of a drafters skill then serpentine...last year if you didnt have a top 3 pick, you were toast...

its so simple, in an auction everyone starts n equal ground..that is so not true for a serpentine...

years ago, the reason for not switching the main event to auction was because "it took too Long"..that is not the case as auctioneers have improved...

if someone can give me a LEGIT reason why the main shouldnt be swithched to auction im listening...

in a world class event like the NFFC, would you rather have a draft at the level of a 5th grader (serpentine) or like a pro (auction)? I've played every year in the auctions in the NFBC and NFFC. I don't see the great demand. You can barely find enough teams sometimes. In Vegas, there is more interest. This was the first year we filled a $1300 league. There are many of the same owners in that league from previous years. All it is 10 guys willing to play for more money. Each year a few other owners give it a shot. Some come back and some don't.

You might consider an auction more for the pros, a wise guy would rather play against a weaker field in draft event.

Auction's will never be the future of high stakes fantasy football. You need it to easy to draw the masses.

You never know...maybe we can get 8 or 10 leagues going. It would be interesting. I play already so you don't have to sell me.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:26 am

Originally posted by Coltsfan:
Greg,

Try it cashless. Don't worry about a grand prize the first year. Use the same format as the nffc main event to determine who would advance to the finals and then have the 3 weeks decide who wins overall while maintaining the individual leagues as they are. It could even be done this year for bragging rights. As demand grows then go to some kind of prize pool.

Wayne That is definitely one option. We'd need to have STATS create that overall pool, but I trust we could get that done with enough planning. It definitely is a good option and I have a feeling we could find a prize around here worthy of being the top auction player in the country.

Captain Hook · Post by **Captain Hook** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:05 pm

Greg, what about my original idea:
1) Leave all existing auction leagues as they are now;
2) Anyone entering those leagues can choose to pay an additional $XXX for their team to compete simultaneously in the National Auction Championship;
3) Any team entered in the premium portion can qualify by being the top H2H record or total points leader in Their individual league;
4) Those N# teams play against each other in Weeks 14-16 (pretty sure STATS can just set up an extra page but NOT necessary as we have full access to all the scores and can post here) - in addition, I will run a separate email review each week for all those playoff teams.
NO extra work for Krausers.

Mike Costaglio · Post by **Mike Costaglio** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:15 pm

I hear the argument that there may not be enough National interest while we continue to point to the success of the main event, but has anybody ever offered a main event "auction" with a grand prize? Also why would you be concerned about fielding 100 teams when you already have 84. I have the feeling that you offered a grand prize you would pick-up many of the other auction draft participants from the "other" competition and they would probably join our main event as well.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:21 am

Originally posted by Captain Hook:
Greg, what about my original idea:
1) Leave all existing auction leagues as they are now;
2) Anyone entering those leagues can choose to pay an additional $XXX for their team to compete simultaneously in the National Auction Championship;
3) Any team entered in the premium portion can qualify by being the top H2H record or total points leader in Their individual league;
4) Those N# teams play against each other in Weeks 14-16 (pretty sure STATS can just set up an extra page but NOT necessary as we have full access to all the scores and can post here) - in addition, I will run a separate email review each week for all those playoff teams.
NO extra work for Krausers. Yeah, that is a good idea. I'd have to get STATS to create an overall ranking among the auction leagues and then keep track of those who wanted to compete for the overall title and additional prize money. It's worth considering.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:24 am

Originally posted by Mike Costaglio:
I hear the argument that there may not be enough National interest while we continue to point to the success of the main event, but has anybody ever offered a main event "auction" with a grand prize? Also why would you be concerned about fielding 100 teams when you already have 84. I have the feeling that you offered a grand prize you would pick-up many of the other auction draft participants from the "other" competition and they would probably join our main event as well. I would be concerned Mike because adding a meaningful cost on top of the original $650 entry fee could discourage my 84 owners I already have from competing in the future. Going from $650 to $1,000 per team to create this additional grand prize could deter some folks from re-entering.

It's not a bad idea, but I'm not sure there's enough interest in auction leagues to pull it off. If there is, I'll gladly run it.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:41 am

Hook's idea sounds like Carribean Stud Poker, where players have the "option" to put up an extra buck in exchange for a shot at the jackpot. As a result, it may violate the terms of October 2006 legislation.