Fanball.com statement to the newsgroup...
FFInsider
to address some of the valid concerns that the loyal Mrfootball and Exit42
users have expressed in this forum over the past 24 hours.
It may feel hard to believe, but the end user will benefit from these
acquisitions. I know some of you are shaking your heads at that statement, but
if you continue reading, I hope that you'll see another side to the news.
First, I wanted to give some of you some background on Fanball.com and let you
know about our intentions.
Contrary to popular belief, Fanball.com isn't trying to take over the world and
we aren't trying to become the Microsoft of the fantasy sports industry. Do we
have some ambitious goals? Absolutely. Our goals include bringing the fantasy
industry the most authoritative news and information available by using actual
NFL beat writers, actual NFL team sources and the largest full time staff in
the industry. They also include lowering the barrier of participation by
offering free leagues and free contests to anyone who wants to play fantasy
football. Everyone at fanball.com feels that these goals "raise the bar" for
the industry. Those who most ardently oppose it may be interested in keeping
the bar comfortably low.
Obviously, the last thing we want to do is to alienate ourselves from the same
people who have allowed us to make a living doing something that we love.
Mrfootball.com and Exit42.com weren't the targets of a hostile takeover. The
people behind both of those sites understood the fanball.com vision, and wanted
to be a part of it.
Another myth that is going around is that Fanball.com/FFW is some sort of
corporation hell bent on capitalism. When our co-founders Robert Phythian and
Paul Charchian started FFW seven years ago, they did so with the intention of
improving the level of content and journalism within the industry. Considering
that when the company started, both Rob and Paul put together Fantasy Football
Weekly magazine in a garage, they will get a chuckle out of the recent
portrayal of Fanball.com.
The company has come a long way since the days of the garage. We have grown to
a 10-person company based out of the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka. Fantasy
Football Weekly is the best-selling fantasy sports magazine in the world.
We've worked with the Minnesota Vikings and Chris Mortensen in the promotion of
the Fantasy Football Expo.
And now we have our site on the web.
As many of you know, for five years I ran the Fantasy Football Insider web site
and newsletter. Last November the CEO of Fanball.com/FFW Rob Phythian contacted
me about a vision he had. Through conversations and negotiations, Rob explained
his vision to me in detail. A lot of the ideas he had were things that I had
wanted to do for years but couldn't because of the resources needed for such an
ambitious undertaking. A lot of the ideas he had were ideas and suggestions I
had heard from my subscriber base over the years. I had a relationship with FFW
that had begun last June, and I had gotten to know Rob and Paul very well. I
became comfortable with their personalities and intents, and I became sold on
the Fanball.com vision for the web.
Rob gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to be involved with this project and
seeing that I was energized by our discussions, it seemed like a natural to
join forces.
Which leads me to as to the mergers of Fanball.com and Exit42.com and
Mrfootball.com:
1. Rudy Menendez will remain involved with Fanball.com as an employee. Rudy
has been named our Executive Director of Fanball.com League Services. That
means that Rudy isn't going anywhere. The same free Exit42 leagues you have
grown to love will still be available to you. Like Rudy, the leagues aren't
going anywhere. I've known Rudy for a few years now and I know that he takes a
lot of pride in Exit42. He isn't about to jeopardize all the hard work and
money he has put in over the years. Rudy's motivation for working with
Fanball.com was the opportunity to expose his model to an even greater amount
of users.
2. David Dodds will remain with Fanball.com as a consultant. As David has
informed his visitors at his site, he needed to dedicate himself to some family
issues. David was faced with a choice between his family and the site. As any
man would, David chose his family. The alliance between Fanball.com and Mr.
Football is great for his loyal fan base because without us, there was a very
real chance that Mr. Football wouldn't be operational this year. By working
with us, David will still be able to contribute and keep Mr. Football alive.
For instance, David will be doing a lot of writing for the site. Many of his
interactive tools will also be used within our yet-to-be-launched interactive
area. And I am pleased to announce that David's world famous projections will
be featured on Fanball.com during the entire month of August. Keep in mind
that David felt extremely comfortable with Fanball after reading some material
in our Annual because he saw the same edge in our writing that he had brought
to his very own site. More importantly, it was a good fit because David saw a
merger with Fanball.com as a way to remain active within the fantasy football
community while still attending to his family.
3. The biggest reason why the fantasy football owner will benefit from
Fanball.com is that the site primarily will be FREE! I won't lie to anyone, it
won't be completely free. But the overwhelming majority of the site is FREE!
You'll be able to play in leagues powered by Exit42 for FREE. You'll be able
to enter a weekly $1,000,000 fantasy contest (modeled after a pick six in
horseracing) for FREE. You'll be able to chat with some of the nation's
leading experts for FREE. You'll be able to run your entire league online
using our Commissioner product for FREE. You'll also be able to get free depth
charts, free schedule makers, free news, free team reports, free articles, and
some of the best content on the net at no added charge!
I've gone on long enough but my intention of this message was to set the record
straight by letting you know our intentions.
- Samuel Caplan
Fanball.com
chris gough
you're fired!!!!
Deek40
up yet. They better be done soon if they are to be any use for drafts.
Marketmker
Dan
>3. The biggest reason why the fantasy football owner will benefit from
>Fanball.com is that the site primarily will be FREE! I won't lie to anyone, it
>won't be completely free. But the overwhelming majority of the site is FREE!
>You'll be able to play in leagues powered by Exit42 for FREE. You'll be able
>to enter a weekly $1,000,000 fantasy contest (modeled after a pick six in
>horseracing) for FREE. You'll be able to chat with some of the nation's
>leading experts for FREE. You'll be able to run your entire league online
>using our Commissioner product for FREE. You'll also be able to get free depth
>charts, free schedule makers, free news, free team reports, free articles, and
>some of the best content on the net at no added charge!
>
That's all nice, but a lot of Exit42 users are really annoyed about
the two-month (if not more) delay in opening- a direct result of the
takeover- and consequently the inability to prepare for the season
appropriately, conduct email drafts, etc'.
HomeboyPat
money.
Their predictions rarely pan out.
In 1995, Curtis Martin's rookie sesson around week 4 they said to dump him
because Parcells was going to bench him. It never happened.
I'm glad I didn't listen as Martin was huge down the stretch in weeks 15 and 16
and lead me to my only Championship.
According to them every game will end up with a score of 49-42.
Just my opinion.
Peace,
Homeboy Pat
Fugee24
>From: marke...@aol.com (Marketmker)
>Date: Tue, 20 July 1999 03:00 AM EDT
>Message-id: <19990720030014...@ng-fg1.aol.com>
>
>Sounds like monopoly to me
cool! i get to be the horsey..
madm...@my-deja.com
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
JWeste2906
>> >
>> >Sounds like monopoly to me
>>
>> cool! i get to be the horsey..
>>
>How come you always get to be the horse?
Cool I guess I can still be the race car. I cant believe you idiots wanted the
horse ahead of the race car.
Westy
Fugee24
>>> >Sounds like monopoly to me
>>>
>>> cool! i get to be the horsey..
>>>
>>How come you always get to be the horse?
>
>Cool I guess I can still be the race car. I cant believe you idiots wanted
>the
>horse ahead of the race car.
studies show that the race car is the popular choice among men who have a small
penis.
JWeste2906
>Date: Wed, 21 July 1999 06:11 PM EDT
>Message-id: <19990721181140...@ng-fg1.aol.com>
Hmmm.. Interesting that you would know about this small piece of trivia
Westy
>
>
>
>
>
>