First Weekend Las Vegas At The Beautiful Bellagio!!

[Greg Ambrosius]

When the NFBC first started in 2004, we held multi-city live drafts in Las Vegas, New York City and Chicago, same as we're doing 15 years later. And at that time, we held the live drafts on the opening weekend of March Madness, which in 2004 was 15 days before MLB's Opening Day. It was a glorious time in all three cities, but especially in Las Vegas, where drafters got a chance to draft winning fantasy baseball teams and to bet on 48 college basketball games that weekend.

At that time, we had to host live drafts two weeks in advance of Opening Day because we didn't have the capability to enter all of the draft picks on the spot. It was basically a week of work to enter in all of the league picks manually and to have rosters finalized and approved the week before the baseball season started. We held drafts on one weekend through 2009 before hosting two weekends of drafts starting in 2010.

We eventually missed the opening weekend of March Madness a few years later when Major League Baseball moved Opening Day from the last Sunday in March to the first Sunday in April. We also found a way to electronically enter all of the draft picks on the spot, thus allowing us to hold drafts the day before Opening Day. So progress was good.

But with Major League Baseball now having all 30 teams playing an Opening Day game this year on Thursday, March 29th we again had to move our drafts back slightly. We now are hosting live drafts and auctions in Las Vegas, New York and Chicago on March 16-18 and again in Las Vegas on March 22-26.

That means NFBC drafts coincide once again with opening weekend of March Madness in Las Vegas.

We will be at the Bellagio March 16-18 for drafts and auctions and I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends who continued to go to Las Vegas on that weekend and sometimes couldn't do our drafts the following weekend. We look forward to hooking up again.

I know it's five weeks out, but let's plan that weekend together. I know a bunch of folks are coming in early for the Thursday hoops games. I'll be in town by then as well and while the Bellagio is a tough place to watch March Madness games in the sportsbook (it's wild, but small for this day), I'm sure we'll find a fun venue to hang out at. I'll be around Thursday night and will have a suite to welcome folks to Las Vegas in. Maybe we can hook up then for a little Welcome Reception at the Bellagio. More details coming.

Last year we had two $1300 Auction Championship Leagues that First Weekend as we had a good core of Chicago drafters there. We don't have that this year, but hopefully we can still fill up two Auction leagues. Our best bets are Friday at 10 am PT and Sunday at 10 am PT. Let's get a push for those. We hope to get at least two Main Event leagues on St. Patrick's Day -- Saturday, March 17th at 10 am PT -- and last year we found enough participants to host a live $350 Rotowire Online Championship on Saturday afternoon. I'm game for hosting one of those live at any time that weekend.

So if you're coming for the First Weekend, plan accordingly to this schedule:

Thursday, March 15 - 5 pm PT Welcome Reception at the Bellagio
Friday, March 16 - 10 am PT $1300 Auction Championship League, 4 pm PT $350 Rotowire Online Championship
Saturday, March 17 - 10 am PT Main Event
Saturday, March 17 - 4 pm PT Rotowire Online Championship
Sunday, March 18 - 10 am PT $1300 Auction Championship League

Let's do it and rock St. Patrick's Day and March Madness. It's one of the best weekends of the year and it's even better when you can mix in hoops with some high-dollar fantasy baseball drafts. Who's with me in Las Vegas?

Secure your spots now and let's have some fun. See ya in Las Vegas.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, I will admit that I'm surprised by our First Weekend in Las Vegas....and unfortunately surprised is a not good way.

I thought with Opening Weekend of March Madness that weekend that we would return to the good ol' days. But it's turning into a tough weekend. Yesterday we had two owners leave that weekend for New York and Online because the lack of auctions is turning this weekend into a 1-day draft. I certainly don't want that and I know a lot of you folks don't want that, either.

So let's see what we can do. I know there are a few others still planning to attend at the Bellagio and will be signing up soon. But what else can we do to make this an eventful weekend and not a One and Done for the NFBC on this weekend.

We know that this is an expensive weekend to fly and stay in Las Vegas. We look to be struggling to fill any Auction Championship league when last year we had one on Friday and one on Sunday. If we lose these two auctions, it definitely will be tough to fill 12 leagues this year and thus reach our goals. If you are coming to Las Vegas already or will be, email me at [email protected] your interest and we'll see if we can't at least get one on Friday or Sunday.

Also, we can certainly host any type of additional draft at the Bellagio as we have good space all three days. Listen, we can do a 10-team Cutline Championship live, or a $350 Rotowire Online Championship Live. I don't care, but let's make this more than just two Main Event leagues on Saturday. We can do anything else on Friday, Saturday or Sunday as the space is there. Let's do more.

I think we'll get more signups and convince folks to stay on that weekend and do multiple drafts. There's no weekend like this one in Las Vegas with 48 college basketball games planned over 4 days. It's the best and when combined with baseball drafts it's crazy good.

And we want to stay on this weekend for years to come. But we have to take note of what is happening and make the right call here and even in Chicago for 2019. Let's fill both spots and return to each in 2019.

I'm planning a Welcome gathering on Thursday night to kick things off. Reach out to me if you're coming and let's make this a fun, draft-filled weekend. We still have time to do it. Thanks all and good luck with the travel plans.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, we have two Main Event leagues scheduled at the Bellagio for Saturday, March 17th, so let's get this party rolling.

I would like to give a hearty welcome to everyone attending the NFBC's First Weekend in Las Vegas. We have opening weekend of March Madness, NFBC Main Event drafts and St. Patrick's Day on a Saturday. Does it get any better than that?

Thanks to everyone who planned ahead, got relatively cheap flights and affordable hotel rooms for this wild weekend. We wish we had more drafts and auctions this weekend, but we'll have fun together with the Saturday, 10 am PT Main Event leagues. And maybe we'll find a way to add one more live draft that afternoon!!

Okay, let's get everyone on the same page for this weekend. First let's get you to the draft room on Saturday. Here we are:

Saturday, March 17th, 10 am PT
Renoir Ballroom 1 & 2

This is the same ballroom we were in last year First Weekend. Directions are:

Coming from the casino, walk into the Convention Center for about 200 yards. The Business Center will be on your left and we are in the first set of ballrooms straight ahead. Renoir 1 and 2 is near the back of those rooms, past Cezanne 1 & 2 and Gaugen 1 & 2.

Coming from the Tram, go down one set of escalators, take a left into the Convention Center and walk toward the very end of the convention center. You will walk past the Wedding Chapel, past Grand Ballrooms, past Bellagio Ballrooms until you see a set of ballrooms to the left of the Business Center. Renoir 1 and 2 is near the back of those rooms, past Cezanne 1 & 2 and Gaugen 1 & 2.

Just a heads up. The draft spots are on your team pages and you should have received an email as well. The actual draft room for that league is already set up and you can open it on your team page. It will also be open on Draft Day if you want to see the Room or Board on a tablet or laptop. I think the Bellagio has free Internet this year, so plan accordingly.

And there is some interest in a draft after the Main Event. We could do a Live Rotowire Online Championship or even a Cutline if needed. Or we could go watch basketball and drink beer!! I'm up for anything. Stay in touch and let me know if you have any interest. Should be fun. Safe travels everyone and thanks.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Just a big THANKS to everyone who came to the Bellagio in Las Vegas for the First Weekend Las Vegas Main Event leagues. We had a smaller crew for this weekend than expected, but everyone seemed to be here for the hoops and the baseball. It's hard to beat this weekend and we'll see if we can't keep this going next year. It sure was fun.

It was also great to meet and honor Jeffery Cox as our 2016 NFBC Auction Champion and Jim Phan as our 2016 Rotowire Online Champion. We had some nice plaques to give them and to honor them in front of our crew and it was great to meet them for the first time. They are great champions.

We had Charter Members like Shawn Childs, Andy Nolan and Rick Thomas in the house. Dohn Terrell and Emmett Ruland as well. Good stuff to see everyone and kick off our 15th season out here.

Oh, and our favorite steak and chicken lunch at the Bellagio wasn't bad either.

We look forward to seeing the Second Weekend crew. Bring warm clothes because there's a cold front out here that doesn't want to leave. Thanks all and good luck in all your drafts and auctions going forward.