The owners of Footballguys.com will be here for 90 minutes to answer a variety of questions.
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Interview w/Joe Bryant & David Dodds (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Clayton Gray
- Start date
You guys please show up for this. If we don't have a crowd, Clayton's threatened to start interviewing himself. And that won't be good for anyone.
J
J
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Well let's get things started. I would welcome you to the site, but you're here every day. I guess I'll just say thanks for taking the time to sit in here tonight.
The first question starts at the beginning:
How did Cheatsheets.net / Footballguys.com get started? How did you guys meet?
The first question starts at the beginning:
How did Cheatsheets.net / Footballguys.com get started? How did you guys meet?
David Dodds
Administrator
We met through FanEx. Joe was a founder and I had my Mr. Football website. I had read his VBD explanations and loved the logic. I disagreed on some baseline things, but still thought the overall concept made sense. We met in person in Vegas for a Fantasy Football Convention hosted by Jim Lenz. The convention was a bust, but it allowed us some time to become better friends. When I sold my website a few years later, I contacted Joe and told him I was interested in doing this the right way. He and I brainstormed the concept of Footballguys.com. The plan was to build a database driven website that provided the best information and tools in fantasy football. The original plan was to remain completely free. That changed after the dot com bubble burst and ad revenues went into the toilet.
Few people know this, but David is actually my twin brother so I’ve known him pretty much all my life…. Seriously, I met David at a Fantasy Football convention in Las Vegas. The convention sucked but meeting David made the trip worthwhile. I was a nobody and he was the hot shot owner of mrfootball.com. I think he liked me because while everyone was fawning over how great his site was, I was sort of like “meh”.
If I’ve got one talent, it’s recognizing talent and understanding character. I quickly realized David was a guy that I would want to work with in the future. We stayed in contact and became better and better friends and the rest is history.
Name the five smartest things you two did to grow this into the large website it is now? What were the biggest blunders that you wish you could change?
David Dodds
Administrator
I'm the calm twin.
1. Let go of the ego and realize I couldn’t do it all by myself. 1a. Surround myself with really smart and talented people.
Like David and Clayton....
2. Invest heavily in Visine and Starbucks. The creators of Footballguys have fueled most of the growth in the caffeine and eye care industry.
David Dodds
Administrator
1. Joe’s idea to create the Daily Email Update. This was no small undertaking and the reason few sites even try to copy it. It is such a huge part of who we are.
2.Our decision to keep the Message Boards free. This has fostered the best fantasy discussions anywhere. It’s no secret we have discovered a lot of talent from our boards. Many now hold staff positions.
3. Our commitment to community. The boards, survivor leagues, etc. We have tried our best to make this more than a website. For many it’s a daily stop to just hang out among friends.
4. Our ability to find quality people to help us. Joe and I may have had a lot of the ideas about this website…but it’s the dedication from our staff that makes this thing go. Most of our staff have high-paying jobs and make peanuts from us. We try our best to treat them well, but it’s more a testament to their willingness to make this site the best that has done just that.
5. Realizing what Bruce Henderson sent me when I opened up his screenshots to his “Draft Dominator” prototype. I knew it was special immediately. Between my thoughts and his programming ability, I think we have created some tools that define who we are.
Blunders:
I can’t think of too many blunders actually. We try a lot of things and some may not stick, but it’s that willingness to try and improve that gets us better. Additionally, the boards keep us honest. When we make major mistakes, they are there to get us back in-line quickly.
2.Our decision to keep the Message Boards free. This has fostered the best fantasy discussions anywhere. It’s no secret we have discovered a lot of talent from our boards. Many now hold staff positions.
3. Our commitment to community. The boards, survivor leagues, etc. We have tried our best to make this more than a website. For many it’s a daily stop to just hang out among friends.
4. Our ability to find quality people to help us. Joe and I may have had a lot of the ideas about this website…but it’s the dedication from our staff that makes this thing go. Most of our staff have high-paying jobs and make peanuts from us. We try our best to treat them well, but it’s more a testament to their willingness to make this site the best that has done just that.
5. Realizing what Bruce Henderson sent me when I opened up his screenshots to his “Draft Dominator” prototype. I knew it was special immediately. Between my thoughts and his programming ability, I think we have created some tools that define who we are.
Blunders:
I can’t think of too many blunders actually. We try a lot of things and some may not stick, but it’s that willingness to try and improve that gets us better. Additionally, the boards keep us honest. When we make major mistakes, they are there to get us back in-line quickly.
Like David and Clayton....
3. Focus on what the customer wanted vs what I wanted to give him.4. Don’t dumb down the content. We’re guys. But we’re not stupid. Not all of us.
5. Stick to my guns with Jeff Garcia before the 2000 season. While everyone was making fun of his lisp, I kept preaching the gospel. He wound up as the #2 QB that year. Blunders next....
Blunders I’d like to have back?
Believing in Cade McNown.
Believing in Cade McNown.
And Believing in Cade McNown.
Seriously, we’ve made tons of mistakes. I’m a big believer in this business that you have to be constantly trying new things. Some work, some don’t. Fortunately, none have broken us yet (Although McNown came close)
So it’s pretty simple: Try stuff, see what works, learn from what didn’t work. Try more stuff. Repeat.
Believing in Cade McNown.
Believing in Cade McNown.
And Believing in Cade McNown.
Seriously, we’ve made tons of mistakes. I’m a big believer in this business that you have to be constantly trying new things. Some work, some don’t. Fortunately, none have broken us yet (Although McNown came close)
So it’s pretty simple: Try stuff, see what works, learn from what didn’t work. Try more stuff. Repeat.
Tell us what an average day looks like for you guys.
David Dodds
Administrator
My days are pretty nuts actually especially during the season. I put in about 16 hours a day on Wednesday and Thursday just to get all of our content published. I have a checklist and I just grind through everything on it. The preseason is a little less pressure as most things can just be delayed a day if need be.
I just goof off.Even after all these years, I'm still amazed at how much time email takes. It may be quick answers. But 500 emails in the mail box take a while.
This time of year, the Daily Email Update is a 3-4 hour task each day. I'll usually wrap that and send to David around midnight.
The other time is just keeping up with everyone and trying to stay on top of it. It's like herding cats sometimes.
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You are looking to publish 30,000 pages of content this year. Isn't that a tad overkill? Who can possibly read all of it?
David Dodds
Administrator
I doubt anyone reads everything we do. But according to our hitcount on every feature, there are people that like everything we do. That’s the beauty of things. Read what you like. For some they just want our cheatsheets and upgrade info. Others can’t live without the Random Shots, etc. I think our depth is what separates us from our competition.
You wonder sometimes who reads it all. But just try misspelling Houshmandzadeh and see how many emails you get. Seriously. I don't know how you'd ever know for sure but I know that a ton of our people read every single word.
I am a good writer and love FF. How does someone get on staff?
Don't underestimate payola.
Easy. Show us what you can do. I get something just about every day from guys wanting to be on staff. There are two great ways to showcase your stuff#1. Be a regular contributor on our message board forums. Especially the Shark Pool. If there’s a consistent theme among our staff guys it’s that they were all solid message board contributors.
David Dodds
Administrator
Typically by being active on our boards and submitting quality freelance assignments.
When Cheatsheets.net and Footballguys.com were getting started, I recall it being a collection of established fantasy info providers who had their own sites consolidating into one location so you could get a consensus of "expert" opinions in one place. Many of those original contributors seem to have gone away. While there have been a few acquisitions along the way bringing in some new blood, most of the new staff members have come from the message boards. I think over half of the folks contributing to your overall rankings are now former message board contributors. At some point did you feel the need to change your approach to what the site would be, or was it always part of the plan to draw replacement staff members from the message board contributors who had demonstrated ability, but had little or no established presence outside of FBGs?
#2 Submitting articles in our freelance section. We’ve found some great talent there.Hold on and I'll dig out that info
J
Gmail search rocks.
Freelance Writing Opportunity
Our readers are some of the most knowledgeable football guys anywhere. Now's your chance to show the world and have your work published and promoted to a zillion serious Fantasy Owners. We are looking for up to 60 great freelance articles on fantasy football. Specifically, we are looking for articles that have not been published before on other websites. New takes...new ideas...interesting studies, etc.
Here is a starter list of ideas (but not limited to this)
- General Draft Strategy
- VBD Strategy, Tips, Tricks, Deviations, etc
- IDP Strategy
- Auction Tactics
- Dynasty Strategy
- Lessons Learned
- Finding Value Kickers
- Finding Value Defenses
- Finding Value Receivers
- Exploiting Rules Deviations
- The Psychological Aspects of FF
- Statistical Analysis
- Trading Strategy
- Draft Position and It's Effect on Strategy
- Drafting Strategies In Leagues w/Odd or Unusual Rules
- Survivor Draft Strategies
- Commissioner Help
- Creating Realistic Projections
- National Contests Strategies
- Playing Over the Internet
- How to Set up a League (Auction, Keeper, Redraft)
If we select your article to be posted, we will pay $30 and put you in an FFTOC league where you will compete against 11 other writers for $250 cash.
Provided we get ample good efforts, we will select up to 60 articles for posting.
Note: If you submitted an article in the past to Footballguys.com and it was published on our website, feel free to tweak to make current and resubmit. If selected you will be eligible for the prizes as outlined.
Here is how it will work:
You write an article between now and Saturday, July 15th.
You send the article to Clayton Gray (gray@footballguys.com) and also provide the following information:
Name
E-mail address - where we can ask you questions (if needed) about the article
Please put "Freelance Article" in the subject header of the email
Articles should be sent as Microsoft Word documents or as text (.rtf, .txt). If tables are to be included, attach an Excel file. Do not send HTML files.
Payment will be $30 for the first article selected from each writer. If multiple articles from a writer are selected, you will be paid $35 for each additional article, but given just 1 entry into a FFTOC league (to compete for $250).
Note: Just because an article was sent in does not ensure that it will be used by Footballguys.com. We are looking for quality material with good takes backed up by strong statistical or real life experience.
By sending an article to Footballguys.com, you are agreeing to publish the content only at Footballguys.com. We are not interested in posting material that can be found at any other website or publication.
Material placed on the site becomes the property of Footballguys.com and can be used at their discretion for future publications.
If you are interested, start writing. We will be accepting freelance material from now until Saturday, July 15th.
We will publish on the message boards the full list of people selected on Monday, July 17th.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Freelance Writing Opportunity
Our readers are some of the most knowledgeable football guys anywhere. Now's your chance to show the world and have your work published and promoted to a zillion serious Fantasy Owners. We are looking for up to 60 great freelance articles on fantasy football. Specifically, we are looking for articles that have not been published before on other websites. New takes...new ideas...interesting studies, etc.
Here is a starter list of ideas (but not limited to this)
- General Draft Strategy
- VBD Strategy, Tips, Tricks, Deviations, etc
- IDP Strategy
- Auction Tactics
- Dynasty Strategy
- Lessons Learned
- Finding Value Kickers
- Finding Value Defenses
- Finding Value Receivers
- Exploiting Rules Deviations
- The Psychological Aspects of FF
- Statistical Analysis
- Trading Strategy
- Draft Position and It's Effect on Strategy
- Drafting Strategies In Leagues w/Odd or Unusual Rules
- Survivor Draft Strategies
- Commissioner Help
- Creating Realistic Projections
- National Contests Strategies
- Playing Over the Internet
- How to Set up a League (Auction, Keeper, Redraft)
If we select your article to be posted, we will pay $30 and put you in an FFTOC league where you will compete against 11 other writers for $250 cash.
Provided we get ample good efforts, we will select up to 60 articles for posting.
Note: If you submitted an article in the past to Footballguys.com and it was published on our website, feel free to tweak to make current and resubmit. If selected you will be eligible for the prizes as outlined.
Here is how it will work:
You write an article between now and Saturday, July 15th.
You send the article to Clayton Gray (gray@footballguys.com) and also provide the following information:
Name
E-mail address - where we can ask you questions (if needed) about the article
Please put "Freelance Article" in the subject header of the email
Articles should be sent as Microsoft Word documents or as text (.rtf, .txt). If tables are to be included, attach an Excel file. Do not send HTML files.
Payment will be $30 for the first article selected from each writer. If multiple articles from a writer are selected, you will be paid $35 for each additional article, but given just 1 entry into a FFTOC league (to compete for $250).
Note: Just because an article was sent in does not ensure that it will be used by Footballguys.com. We are looking for quality material with good takes backed up by strong statistical or real life experience.
By sending an article to Footballguys.com, you are agreeing to publish the content only at Footballguys.com. We are not interested in posting material that can be found at any other website or publication.
Material placed on the site becomes the property of Footballguys.com and can be used at their discretion for future publications.
If you are interested, start writing. We will be accepting freelance material from now until Saturday, July 15th.
We will publish on the message boards the full list of people selected on Monday, July 17th.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Dodds
Administrator
The vision was always to do everything in-house. We realized early on that the boards were a perfect place to screen possible staff as it shows both writing and interaction ability. We also use the freelance writing opportunity to find talent. You are very limited when people give you work that do not work for you. For example, we could get rankings from outsiders, but would likely have trouble getting those same people to do faceoffs, etc. So once we could afford a bigger staff, we moved to bring everything in-house.
Yes. Once we began building our team, we felt more confident in their information than we did using other sites.
Now, let's talk a little about the boards.
Do you feel the overall quality or nature of FF discussion in the Shark Pool has changed over the last several years? If so, in what way, and what do you think has caused it? Are there things you think the FBG staff can do/plan to do to improve the quality of discussion?
Do you feel the overall quality or nature of FF discussion in the Shark Pool has changed over the last several years? If so, in what way, and what do you think has caused it? Are there things you think the FBG staff can do/plan to do to improve the quality of discussion?
David Dodds
Administrator
Posting content is always changing. It’s as good as the members that are there. Typically quality is top-notch in the off-season through late June and then degrades as newer people ramp up to draft their teams. But with that said, I think the Footballguys.com board is leaps and bounds better than all the other FF message boards out there for quality discussion. I strongly believe we have smarter people based on our overall approach (VBD, Draft Dominator, Drinen’s tools, etc). As for what FBG can do, I think as long as we are keeping it clean (PG) and stopping the flame wars before they get started, the smartest posters should stay with us. That has been the formula from the inception.
I think it’s better than ever. The sheer volume of posters is a two sided sword. You have a bunch of really knowledeable posters who have great opinions to share. With that size though, you also have more “noise” than you’d like. That’s why the Shark Pool is heavily moderated. I understand smack talk and making jokes. But it would quickly get out of control if we didn’t constantly moderate the threads. The Roethlisberger accident was a good example. We had several hundred people reading that thread looking for the news. The Shark Pool wasn't the place to debate helmet laws. But we had to manage that thread heavily to make it useful.
The forums seem to have a life of their own sometimes. We know you spend a lot of money and time to keep them a certain way. Can you tell us a bit about the costs, the hassles around the board. Do you feel the cost is worth it? Will these always remain free? Any chance of a forum just for subscribers?
David Dodds
Administrator
We understand the merits to having a subscriber only forum, but we like having a Shark Pool infested with the brightest minds. Splitting things up would kill that dynamic. We know not everyone will subscribe with us. There are lots of reasons for that. But we are hopeful that everyone with good information and discussion points would join the free boards. Costs – The board costs a lot. It runs on two Dual-Xeon dedicated servers (along with using portions of a third for graphics). With the extra memory, RAID setups, 4 GB memory, SCSI hard drives, etc these servers cost us about $900 a month with a managed server plan through The Planet. Additionally, we pay approximately $8,000 a year to have the board moderated and another $7,000 for tech support. Joe and I also spend a lot of time on the boards. So adding all of this up, we spend about $26K a year on the boards. We recoup a tiny bit of that back with advertisements. Despite the huge cost and time sink, we think the boards are very worth it. They provide the community that is Footballguys.
Around 25 thousand a year. The boards are some of the most active message boards on the entire internet. Not just for sports but for all subjects. We could get by with less money but that would mean sacrificing stability. It’s a tech nightmare. The scary part is we’re in uncharted water. My stock answer on tech questions is to tell Keith and David “we aren’t the only guys to ever have this problem with a board this size, what do the other guys do?”. Unfortunately, there aren’t many companies that have these same problems. There’s some pressure too. The board is extremely important for lots of people. It’s goofy but I feel an obligation to keep them stable.
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For the subscriber only thing - I understand the desire for a “members only” forum. I won’t do it at least for this year because I love the community that we have now with it free. Fracturing that community is just something I’m not anxious to do.
No really. Is there ever going to be a subscriber section on the boards? I have heard both sides and you may have voiced you opinion, but I missed it.
Pretty much what I said above. I do see it and understand people asking. I just really fear it would fracture what we have. Am I scared to change the Shark Pool? Yeah, I guess I am. I love what we have here now.
And I don't want to get into a "have" and "have not" situation.
I know the pay guys don't think it would turn out less, but I truly do. At least for now.
Say a FBG hits the lotto and decides to buy the board...(ballpark) what's it going to set him back?
David Dodds
Administrator
I doubt it. We don’t want to split up the discussion.
Hit the big one on PowerBall and then call me.
David Dodds
Administrator
We would never sell the board and keep the website. If someone wanted the whole website (forum, Blogger, content, etc), they would need to bring boatloads of cash to even get my attention. It’s simply not something I want to sale. I have enough money. Joe’s #6 I think on the top 200 Forbes list. And frankly I enjoy owning this. If we ever sold we know it would likely not be the place it is today. So all told, I doubt someone could come up with the number I would want. Fanball got $12-$14 million. I know this will sound egotistical, but I wouldn’t sell it for less than $12 million. I am having too much fun owning it.
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Well that answers my next question:
Any thoughts of selling the whole franchise? What would the asking price be?
Moving on to the future of the site.
What are your plans with the magazine? I would have thought FBG would be looking to drive that segment out of business. What's the strategy here?
Any thoughts of selling the whole franchise? What would the asking price be?
Moving on to the future of the site.
What are your plans with the magazine? I would have thought FBG would be looking to drive that segment out of business. What's the strategy here?
Not really. David and I both are too young to retire. If I was retired, I’d probably be hanging out on a Football website writing articles and trying to figure out who the Bengals are going with at QB if Palmer gets hurt again. So why not just keep doing what we’re doing? I’m sure it sounds corny but I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from the site. I very much enjoy what I do everyday.
David Dodds
Administrator
On selling the franchise:None. As stated before, I wouldn’t even attend a meeting if someone was offering less than $12 million. I enjoy owning this. There are some people interested in buying us (or buying the rights to all the ad space), but their whole business model is illegal gaming sites. We have no interest in seeing our site plastered with these annoying ads, etc. We are one of the few fantasy football websites that has NEVER taken their money. Their ads are not in our magazine or on the website. This isn’t a morality thing. These businesses are illegal. Sporting News was handed a huge fine this year for taking these dollars.
Regarding the magazine:
Magazines are definitely old media. They are slowly losing ground to the interactive websites. But fantasy football magazines still have their place in this industry. When we decided to do one last year, we told ourselves we would only get involved if we could create the best magazine yearly. I think in year two, we have accomplished this. Our strategy is to grow this segment each year.
and frankly as long as houses have bathrooms, our magazine will have a place.
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Magazine stragegy? It’s a tax write off….
Hold on. Real answer in a second
David's right on the bathrooms.
Seriously, it’s an area where we leverage content. Much of the magazine material we’d do anyways with the website. It’s one more way to spread the “FBG Gospel”.
And to be honest, we did a magazine for some of the same reasons the website was created – I looked at what was out there and thought we could do better. And I’ll admit, I’m a magazine junkie. I subscribe to probably 15 magazines. I still read the print copy of Sporting News and USA Today SportsWeekly every week. And print copies of my local paper and USA Today. As cool as the internet is, there’s still something special about print. I think the “permanence” of it. You print it and it’s “out there”. Can’t get it back. I can change an article online tomorrow. Magazine is out there and gone.
Seriously, it’s an area where we leverage content. Much of the magazine material we’d do anyways with the website. It’s one more way to spread the “FBG Gospel”.
And to be honest, we did a magazine for some of the same reasons the website was created – I looked at what was out there and thought we could do better. And I’ll admit, I’m a magazine junkie. I subscribe to probably 15 magazines. I still read the print copy of Sporting News and USA Today SportsWeekly every week. And print copies of my local paper and USA Today. As cool as the internet is, there’s still something special about print. I think the “permanence” of it. You print it and it’s “out there”. Can’t get it back. I can change an article online tomorrow. Magazine is out there and gone.
Tell us about the FFTOC. Why did Footballguys buy a 50% stake into that contest format? What's the long-term goal there?
David Dodds
Administrator
Simply put I do not think any of the other high-stakes contests deserve to call their champion the best in fantasy football. The payouts after factoring in travel, hotel, add-on costs (co-manager, draft party, etc) make these events financial losers for virtually everyone playing. I believe the FFTOC and its online format is the way to crown future champions. With more decision points every week, I also believe it’s a truer test of skill and not who is lucky enough to get a top 3 draft slot this year. So with our muscle in this industry, we are looking to get 1,000 people to play in the Online Championships of Fantasy Football this year. We believe once we do that, the sky is the limit on how big this can be. We believe in a few short years, our payouts will be the biggest in the industry (despite just a $250 entry fee). And to get there, we have made all FFTOC contests 100% payouts (cash and prizes) this season. It’s an exciting time for us.
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