Question about NFBC sign ups

[ToddZ]

The problem with rolling the cost is you only get charged the fee once, regardless of how many drafts you do at a location. Keeping it separate is necessary.

[JEagle]

Once you start making drafting at home cheaper then you give people more reason to draft at home. This is a live draft driven format , which is what I love best about this event. Pay the 75 and move on.

[Driver Love]

I don't think it matters what you call it or if you call it anything. It's part of our game.

Driver Love asked a legitimate question and wanted to debate it a bit, that's his right. Lets not jump him for keeping it going, the Lord knows we've beaten a lot of things to death around here.

Vegas here we come baby!!!!

I actually didn't even want to debate it but when some said "everyone has to pay the same ENTRY FEE" I was confused because there is a clearly defined ENTRY FEE and then a separate fee that clearly isn't part of the entry fee that is for the cost of the live event.

I understand that ideally everyone would be drafting life. I understand that the live draft is more fun, exciting and the ideal experience. Glenlake22 hit the nail on the head when it comes to why I posed the question. It has nothing to do with being cheap. I had already entered well before asking the question. I did have a friend ask "why do I have to pay for the party those who can afford traveling to the live drafts get to enjoy if I can't afford to go and enjoy it?" As Glenlake22 outlined, it is a fair point/question.

I am not looking to debate it. I am not complaining to Tom and Greg. I have nothing but respect and admiration for how they do business.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'll jump into this discussion now that my feet are back in snow and slush. I hate winter in Wisconsin, by the way.

For the first 6 years of the NFBC, we never charged an Events Fee. We also didn't supply a lot of food or drink at the live drafts and we didn't have any online options for the Main Events. In 2010 when we joined Fanball, we upped the ante a bit by moving from the Flamingo to the Bellagio and to Citi Field in New York City. We also offered some online options. We provided food and drink at those venues because obviously our commitment for space was now more expensive. There really was no way we could eat the entire costs, so unfortunately some Events Fees were needed.

We tried to be creative back then by taking off Events Fees if you played multiple live events and we've never charged Events Fees for the Supers, Ultimates or Diamonds. Our expenses to host these events go up every year and yet we're trying to balance the costs of doing business live to what financially makes sense. It's not easy. But we also don't want to go cheap at the drafts as there's nothing quite like a first class draft where you're not worrying about getting too hungry or finding a nice cold beer at the break.

That being said, we don't discount the online entries over the live events. Owners who attend the live events already pay more in time and money to draft live and if we charged less for online I think we'd see a trend towards fewer live events. Again, anyone participating online can easily eliminate the Events Fees by taking multiple events just like the live event owners. And to say there isn't any cost online just isn't fair. We have people watching every 4 1/2 hour draft online just like we do at the live events, so consider that guy part of the expenses, which he is. And besides, our costs per person is more than $50-$75 for the live events, so nobody is really paying for everything. The costs of hosting all of this is six figures and the revenue generated through Events Fees and co-manager fees covers just a few percentage points of that.

Adding in the $75 to the total and having us look like we are now paying less than 75 percent isn't the way to go, either. That expense would be there for EVERY signup. We are giving you ways to avoid the expense and have us eat it. Many owners are taking advantage of that, which is fine by us. If we added the event costs to every signup, it would hurt more people than we are now. Right now, the majority of owners are avoiding the charges by spending more to play here. It works.

We understand the question and it is a legitimate one. The answer is that we don't want to kill the live events by discounting the online ones. Plain and simple. And we need a little help with the live event costs because they have more than doubled since we started providing food and beverage at each one. And there's no way around that because if you don't do that now then you just pay for space. I'd rather get something out of my costs and make the events more enjoyable for you folks.

I hope this helps. Thanks for the debate and we'll always try to keep your costs down while still providing a first class experience.