Let's Do A Q&A With Greg and Tom

[Bronx Yankees]

Now if we could create one page with all of your teams on it and have you Search for Correa and it shows you every team you have him on that would be GREAT. How about a Search for Moncada that shows you which of your leagues he's a free agent in? That would be GREAT. Two clicks with two very important time-saving results. That "Player Search" page could be the key to saving you so much time every week in running your teams, especially when searching for free agents.

Greg, just wanted to say that the improved IT support sounds great and the two changes mentioned would be huge time-savers and make it easier to own more teams. For folks with a lot of teams, being able to quickly search and see in which leagues you own a player and in which FAAB leagues a player is available would be fantastic. Please keep the updates coming. As the 2017 season winds down, the 2018 drafting season is fast approaching.

Mike

[sandckaye]

I know its a little early but is there any plans for the playoffs this year...If there is what price point are you looking at?

Stan

[Greg Ambrosius]

I know its a little early but is there any plans for the playoffs this year...If there is what price point are you looking at?

Stan

I do have to amend my response on this question after digging in further. While we had every plan to go forward with the NFBC Post-Season Contest this year, it looks like we will be tabling this contest for another year. The plan is to bring it back in 2018.

Why? Well, we are transitioning off the STATS site for 2018 baseball and hope to launch Draft Champions leagues and the new site in early November. We would have had to start with this post-season contest and it's best to just take care of the big business of launching the new site one month after the playoffs start. That makes the most sense so that we don't add more programming time to the post-season contest. So the answer is that we won't have a post-season contest in 2017, but it will return in 2018.

Sorry about the confusion, but the reasoning makes sense as we launch a brand new NFBC site with Draft Champions leagues starting right after the World Series. Let's kick off the new season on a new site at a new time and do it all right. We're going to get this right and keep it rolling from there. Thanks all.

[Joe Sambito]

March Madness 1st weekend in 2018, is this still in the plans for the First Weekend of the NFBC? What a glorious weekend to be in Vegas, it would be great to be back there again.

[Greg Ambrosius]

March Madness 1st weekend in 2018, is this still in the plans for the First Weekend of the NFBC? What a glorious weekend to be in Vegas, it would be great to be back there again.

MLB doesn't release its schedule until September, but the word is that the season will start earlier this year and push us back a week to the start of March Madness. As long as that's still the plan, yes then it will be a glorious time again. We will book a hotel as soon as we know the official schedule. Thanks.

[Greg Ambrosius]

March Madness 1st weekend in 2018, is this still in the plans for the First Weekend of the NFBC? What a glorious weekend to be in Vegas, it would be great to be back there again.

It does look from reports I'm seeing that the MLB season will start 4 days earlier this year, possibly on Thursday, March 29th. That would give MLB a full weekend of opening games. Here's one story on this from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

http://www.startribune.com/more-days-of ... 422183313/

An excerpt:

Just one problem: Finding four more days on the calendar. With a postseason schedule three rounds long, and the addition of a wild-card game at the start, baseball’s playoffs now routinely extend into the first few days of November, and MLB is reluctant to go much further. No team is willing to schedule doubleheaders, so the apparent solution is to open the season four days earlier, making it a weekend event. Opening Day 2018 is tentatively set for Thursday, March 29.

He also likes the notion, if adopted, of a weekend opening, especially since the second and third games of a season are normally the least-attended; moving them to Saturday and Sunday might attract a few more fans willing to brave the weather.

The change will impact spring training as well, forcing games to begin almost as soon as players arrive. Players also won a two-day reduction in the length of spring training, 43 days instead of 45 for pitchers and catchers, 38 days instead of 40 for position players. The Twins played games on 34 days last spring, and spring-host cities that invested millions in providing fancy new facilities don’t figure to allow the number of games to be reduced. Tentatively, the Twins are planning a Grapefruit League opener Feb. 23, or about four days after the full squad reports.

I don't ever remember Opening Day being late in the week during our 14-team history. Usually Opening Day was Monday or later Sunday night for ESPN. This would force us to draft 12 days before Opening Day in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago, and 5 days beforehand in Las Vegas. Might be good for live drafts, but this is longer now before Opening Day than we are used to.

Thoughts?

[Greg Ambrosius]

NCAA Opening Weekend will be March 15-18. Sweet Sixteen will be March 22-25. Those appear to be the NFBC Draft Dates if this change to MLB Opening Day being on Thursday, March 29th, so yes it would line up with March Madness in Las Vegas. But it's also earlier than we'd like before Opening Day.

Easter is Sunday, April 1st this year, so that won't play a factor in this year's live drafts unless MLB doesn't agree to the new schedule. We'll know for sure in September when the official schedule is released. Stay tuned.

[ToddZ]

Greg - any lean to which would be the primary weekend, with the Friday AL/NL drafts? Asking for a friend that's in Tout Wars.

[KJ Duke]

So you wouldn't have drafts running up to opening day in Vegas?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg - any lean to which would be the primary weekend, with the Friday AL/NL drafts? Asking for a friend that's in Tout Wars.

I would think the Second Weekend in Las Vegas. It seems like First Weekend would be LV, Chicago and New York. Lots to talk through once we get this official schedule, but that's my thought today. I would assume Tout Wars would be that First Weekend too, but if not let me know.

[Greg Ambrosius]

So you wouldn't have drafts running up to opening day in Vegas?

All of this is definitely worth considering if others were interested. It would definitely be a long time in Las Vegas, but I'd be up for it. Now the key: How many other NFBC members would be up for it?

[ToddZ]

Greg - any lean to which would be the primary weekend, with the Friday AL/NL drafts? Asking for a friend that's in Tout Wars.

I would think the Second Weekend in Las Vegas. It seems like First Weekend would be LV, Chicago and New York. Lots to talk through once we get this official schedule, but that's my thought today. I would assume Tout Wars would be that First Weekend too, but if not let me know.

My friend has the LLC's ear, but not a vote. The decision is usually made around the 6th inning of an AFL game -- though with Peter not attending, they may do it via teleconference. Either way, as soon as my friend knows, so will you.

[Joe Sambito]

For me, I'd love to be in Vegas for the Opening Weekend of March Madness and Live NFBC Drafts. There is something nostalgic about that setup. I understand that the Sweet Sixteen Weekend would likely be the Big Vegas Weekend since it is closer to the Regular season opener. But for me, there is something special about that opening weekend.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg - any lean to which would be the primary weekend, with the Friday AL/NL drafts? Asking for a friend that's in Tout Wars.

I would think the Second Weekend in Las Vegas. It seems like First Weekend would be LV, Chicago and New York. Lots to talk through once we get this official schedule, but that's my thought today. I would assume Tout Wars would be that First Weekend too, but if not let me know.

My friend has the LLC's ear, but not a vote. The decision is usually made around the 6th inning of an AFL game -- though with Peter not attending, they may do it via teleconference. Either way, as soon as my friend knows, so will you.

I'll be at that AFL game, so hopefully there's as many leaks in Tout Wars as there is in today's White House!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

For me, I'd love to be in Vegas for the Opening Weekend of March Madness and Live NFBC Drafts. There is something nostalgic about that setup. I understand that the Sweet Sixteen Weekend would likely be the Big Vegas Weekend since it is closer to the Regular season opener. But for me, there is something special about that opening weekend.

Me too. We will definitely have live drafts that weekend in Las Vegas. The Second Weekend will be the biggest weekend, but there's nothing like Opening Weekend of March Madness in Las Vegas and live baseball drafts and auctions. Let's do this.