First Weekend Las Vegas At The Beautiful Bellagio!!
Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:29 am
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.
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.