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2022 Subscriber Contest Talk - Old Way vs Other Ideas? (1 Viewer)

How important to you is The Footballguys Premium Subscriber Contest?


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For this, can you be more specific on exactly what you'd be looking for there?
Sure can, and thanx for such a quick response.  The contest querier has been part of the contest for many seasons, and it's a great tool.  As soon as the submission deadline arrives, you can see exactly how many teams there are, as well as the makeup of each team.  For example, I could do a search for all teams that have between 18 and 30 players, and it would show me all entries.  You can search for all teams with a given amount of players, amount spent at each position, ownership percentages of given players, and a slew of other things.  Also, it updated every week, based on entries that got booted.  I hope I am explaining it correctly, and if not, I am sure many other regulars can chime in and say how fun it was to play around with.  Anyone?  Bueller?  Frye?

 
Sure can, and thanx for such a quick response.  The contest querier has been part of the contest for many seasons, and it's a great tool.  As soon as the submission deadline arrives, you can see exactly how many teams there are, as well as the makeup of each team.  For example, I could do a search for all teams that have between 18 and 30 players, and it would show me all entries.  You can search for all teams with a given amount of players, amount spent at each position, ownership percentages of given players, and a slew of other things.  Also, it updated every week, based on entries that got booted.  I hope I am explaining it correctly, and if not, I am sure many other regulars can chime in and say how fun it was to play around with.  Anyone?  Bueller?  Frye?
The key to the querier, which made it nerdgasmic:  You could enter a combo of players, and see how many teams had THAT combo. And see those teams. 

With the contest, roster originality is valuable. So it's fun to see how many other teams ALSO have Lamar Jackson, Kyle Pitts, and Skyy Moore.

I will enter the contest, and really ignore until my annual week 11 exit, but I always like playing on the querier, and now that I type this, if you are alive when the contest gets interesting, I would be on the querier regularly.

Which would drive my lady friend crazy. "Baby, we rooting for Russell Gage and Austin Hooper this week!!"

 
The key to the querier, which made it nerdgasmic:  You could enter a combo of players, and see how many teams had THAT combo. And see those teams. 
I could spend hours hunting for the 23-kicker teams, or guys that paid no attention to bye weeks, etc.  IIRC, one year I found a team with only 18 roster spots who had only used like $190 of his $250 budget.  We would have long discussions in the yearly thread based roster makeup.  And remember, the contest querier was always run by someone already with the FBG staff; it has been a part of the contest for many years, and the contest just isn't the same if it's not working correctly.

 
I really like the current contest. At FFPC I also like the terminator contest. Maybe there is some hybrid option. But I also know this is funded by subscriptions and is not an additional fee contest so fully understand you need to balance the effort to create/manage a contest. 

thanks again for the years of this (and plsyoff( contest! 

 
@Joe Bryant

I know it's early (roughly 5 weeks before the contest typically opens), but have you decided if you are going to change the format?  I'm not talking about eliminations (raw number per week versus percentage); simply wondering if the contest will still be the typical salary cap survivor contest?  I want to create the 2022 contest thread (again, I know it's early) to start discussions, but it will be hard to discuss without knowing the contest type.  Thanx in advance.

 
@Joe Bryant

I know it's early (roughly 5 weeks before the contest typically opens), but have you decided if you are going to change the format?  I'm not talking about eliminations (raw number per week versus percentage); simply wondering if the contest will still be the typical salary cap survivor contest?  I want to create the 2022 contest thread (again, I know it's early) to start discussions, but it will be hard to discuss without knowing the contest type.  Thanx in advance.


Thanks. Not yet. Still working on it. 

 
You mean to make the contest like a Scott Fish Bowl type league with drafts and playing out the regular season?
Joe,

I am assuming hosting the yearly subscriber contest can become expensive, but isn't the current setup one of the most cost effective methods?  Once you set the rules/prices and open the contest, it pretty much runs itself, free of charge, right?  Please don't forget though - us diehards love the contest querier, and live scoring is awesome, even if you have to give out a lifetime subscription to someone to do it.   :)

 
Joe,

I am assuming hosting the yearly subscriber contest can become expensive, but isn't the current setup one of the most cost effective methods?  Once you set the rules/prices and open the contest, it pretty much runs itself, free of charge, right?  Please don't forget though - us diehards love the contest querier, and live scoring is awesome, even if you have to give out a lifetime subscription to someone to do it.   :)


Yes. The actual running of the contest isn't expensive. It's funding the $35,000 that's expensive. ;)

And I mentioned earlier, live scoring is in the tens of thousands of dollar range in cost so that's unfortunately not possible for a contest like this.

 
And I mentioned earlier, live scoring is in the tens of thousands of dollar range in cost so that's unfortunately not possible for a contest like this.
I totally understand.  We have just lucked out by having board regulars do live scoring a handful of times, so we got spoiled.

Also, the contest querier has always been run by FBG, but I think it was non-operational last year.  Please tell me that will be working this year? 

 
Yes. The actual running of the contest isn't expensive. It's funding the $35,000 that's expensive. ;)
I may be in the majority but to me the prize isn't as much of a draw, I would be happy with a lifetime membership or something like that if I were to finish top. Don't get me wrong - winning $35K would be awesome, but it wasn't why I have loved and entered this contest for years. Its the format of the contest that I love, the endless roster churns for practically all of August, the trying to make that perfect lineup using the tools FBG has to offer and then sitting back and watching it all unfold (as well as interact with the regulars in the contest thread as well). That is what gets me up in the morning about this contest. 

 
I may be in the majority but to me the prize isn't as much of a draw, I would be happy with a lifetime membership or something like that if I were to finish top. Don't get me wrong - winning $35K would be awesome, but it wasn't why I have loved and entered this contest for years. Its the format of the contest that I love, the endless roster churns for practically all of August, the trying to make that perfect lineup using the tools FBG has to offer and then sitting back and watching it all unfold (as well as interact with the regulars in the contest thread as well). That is what gets me up in the morning about this contest. 


Thanks @Dacomish  I really don't know how many others are like you. The impression I get is the money is a huge factor for most people. 

 
Thanks @Dacomish  I really don't know how many others are like you. The impression I get is the money is a huge factor for most people. 
Sure, the money is huge, but I also just love the contest format.  Seriously, I enjoy this contest more than my actual redraft league.  You can play around with pricing and cutlines, but please keep the Salary Cap set-it-and-forget-it format.  And if getting the contest querier operational is a matter of money, I will be the first to donate.  I promise not to ask about live scoring again.   ;)

 
I am another one that pays for the subscription just to play in the contest; the rest of the content is icing on the cake (which is great, btw).  

 
Yes. The actual running of the contest isn't expensive. It's funding the $35,000 that's expensive. ;)

And I mentioned earlier, live scoring is in the tens of thousands of dollar range in cost so that's unfortunately not possible for a contest like this.


Have you considered a second contest that we could buy into and you keep 20% off the top or do you have a non-compete with FFPC?  Toss in some prizes like free subscriptions or entires to a future contest for another 20% and your profit margin goes up even more.  The work is already done on the first contest so this would be mostly profit outside of sending out prizes.  I'd suggest rolling out something small like 1000 entires at $10 to see how it fills.  I suspect many here would be buying multiple entires and your would be opening up a second contest shortly thereafter.

 
Thanks @Dacomish  I really don't know how many others are like you. The impression I get is the money is a huge factor for most people. 
Since I don't expect to win the contest the draw isn't the prize pool and would be happy with subscription costs as winnings (which is why I stated earlier in this thread that having more "winners" of subscriptions would be awesome).

You could even get creative with random subscription winners:

  • scoring exactly XXX pts in a given week
  • Getting eliminated after week 10 by less than a point
  • The XXXX place scorer for a week 5
  • having a unique score for a week (nobody tied with you)
  • ??????
The possibilities could be really fun and add an unexpected reward (minimal cost to FBG).  Just some ideas.  

 
Have you considered a second contest that we could buy into and you keep 20% off the top or do you have a non-compete with FFPC?  Toss in some prizes like free subscriptions or entires to a future contest for another 20% and your profit margin goes up even more.  The work is already done on the first contest so this would be mostly profit outside of sending out prizes.  I'd suggest rolling out something small like 1000 entires at $10 to see how it fills.  I suspect many here would be buying multiple entires and your would be opening up a second contest shortly thereafter.


Thanks. We have considered that but stuff that is really more of getting a business that runs contest. And that's not us. When people are paying for something like that, they expect live scoring and the stuff you get with a "normal" contest. We feel way more competent as a content provider and not a contest operator. 

 
Since I don't expect to win the contest the draw isn't the prize pool and would be happy with subscription costs as winnings (which is why I stated earlier in this thread that having more "winners" of subscriptions would be awesome).

You could even get creative with random subscription winners:

  • scoring exactly XXX pts in a given week
  • Getting eliminated after week 10 by less than a point
  • The XXXX place scorer for a week 5
  • having a unique score for a week (nobody tied with you)
  • ??????
The possibilities could be really fun and add an unexpected reward (minimal cost to FBG).  Just some ideas.  


Thanks. That could be fun incorporate more subscriptions into the prize pool. Our retention rate is super high so every subscription we give away does cost us the value of the subscription. But maybe those could be factored into and counted in the prize pool.

 
Thanks. We have considered that but stuff that is really more of getting a business that runs contest. And that's not us. When people are paying for something like that, they expect live scoring and the stuff you get with a "normal" contest. We feel way more competent as a content provider and not a contest operator. 


From my outsider's perspective, you're more competent being a contest operator.  Now obviously content is much tougher, but I don't remember missed deadlines and maybe one or two contests errors over the years.  You've paid more timely than most and you're platform has been stable.  Maybe you don't want to be a contest operator and that's fine, but you are extremely good at it and I would say excel at it.

 
From my outsider's perspective, you're more competent being a contest operator.  Now obviously content is much tougher, but I don't remember missed deadlines and maybe one or two contests errors over the years.  You've paid more timely than most and you're platform has been stable.  Maybe you don't want to be a contest operator and that's fine, but you are extremely good at it and I would say excel at it.


Thanks GB. You're kind.

 
Joe Bryant said:
Thanks. We have considered that but stuff that is really more of getting a business that runs contest. And that's not us. When people are paying for something like that, they expect live scoring and the stuff you get with a "normal" contest. We feel way more competent as a content provider and not a contest operator. 


Keep the contest open to just subscribers and one free contest entry with the subscription as is. Then add the option to buy additional entries for X number of dollars with a cap on the number of entries for each individual. Many have stated that they buy a second subscription just for another entry. If you offer another entry for something less than a subscription price ($10-$20) you'd capture those people and add more paid entries as well.

 
Voted "Very Important." The 2-3 week flurry of making constant roster changes is what I'm here for, and I like that once it's locked in, that's it. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I believe (right or wrong, probably wrong) that I'm better than average getting the jump on player evaluations, so to add the ability to manage the roster throughout the season gives too many others the ability to level-up.

Besides, and thinking of you, isn't it easier for FBG to run with the old format? I've never worked through the exercise of assigning values on players like you have to, but seems to me everything is on autopilot once you get past that. Set it and forget it.
 
I look forward to this every year. Was able to nab a free subscription a number of years back, but always love the debate on the 25+ roosters vs 18 roosters. I am in the circle of don't change it as I do enjoy the format and I also enjoy the querier, as I am sure there are a number of us that are curious on the rarity of our rooster creation. I recognize that you mentioned the querier isn't heavily used, but I recall it also was one of the harder features to find. I know I was always searching for it unless Iggy posted it to the front thread. That could be why you don't see the usage.
 
If you made the league prize $20 it would be most of the prize money. This would also feel like a very small prize because it would be compared to other leagues you compete in.

You certainly won't lose me as a subscriber if the contest changes, but it would make me sad. The current contest is fun.


Understood. And it certainly seems like most folks here like the current format as I expected. All good.

My primary concern is getting more value out of the $35,000 we spend on this. That's my main thing. I just want to be a good steward of how we spend the money and that means getting the most out of it and giving the customers the most value and fun.
This may be a bad idea for reasons I have not thought of, but what if you opened the contest a little and allowed subscribers to buy x-amount of addtional entries for y-amount of $$. I'd easily pay $10 for an extra entry.

Maybe the legal side of things get a little too complicated if you do this. Not sure if this would be perceived as an unlevel playing field for those that don't want to pay an extra $10.

EDIT: and it dawns on me, I'll bet the FBG dollar calculator is in an always on state... WHATIF ((x-dollars * y-subscribers) - expenses).
 
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If you made the league prize $20 it would be most of the prize money. This would also feel like a very small prize because it would be compared to other leagues you compete in.

You certainly won't lose me as a subscriber if the contest changes, but it would make me sad. The current contest is fun.


Understood. And it certainly seems like most folks here like the current format as I expected. All good.

My primary concern is getting more value out of the $35,000 we spend on this. That's my main thing. I just want to be a good steward of how we spend the money and that means getting the most out of it and giving the customers the most value and fun.
This may be a bad idea for reasons I have not thought of, but what if you opened the contest a little and allowed subscribers to buy x-amount of addtional entries for y-amount of $$. I'd easily pay $10 for an extra entry.

Maybe the legal side of things get a little too complicated if you do this. Not sure if this would be perceived as an unlevel playing field for those that don't want to pay an extra $10.

EDIT: and it dawns on me, I'll bet the FBG dollar calculator is in an always on state... WHATIF ((x-dollars * y-subscribers) - expenses).

Thanks GB. I hear you on that for sure. But the reason we don't is when it starts to be a straight "pay X for an entry" that changes some of the legalities compared to it being a perk of a subscription.
 
Joe I have been with the site I think since it started and the contest is one of the favorite things about this site. But at least for me it isnt about the money you win. So maybe you bring the cost down to 10k to 15k. And let’s us have fun picking 50 different lineups before the deadline. Lolol. What ever you decide on this will be great thanks for everything on this. Looking forward to a great season
 
Maybe us subscribers should set up some kind of parallel gofundme that we can pile contributions on. 10,000x ≈ a lot.

I'm just the idea guy here.
 
Where is the 2022 Subscriber contest? It's a fun thing I look forward to and it's not on the website. 2021 link is all that is there. I don't want to pay a bunch of money for a contest. I like having an option that I can participate in after paying for this service. I also don't do DFS. so I don't want that content. Where's the contest? how do we sign up?
 
I like the current format as is, even not seeing bye weeks in the player selection screen. It's different than other contests and I like variety.
The prize structure is fine and the inclusion of the charity aspect is cool, though I'd prefer to pick the charity if I won.

I would be curious what the results might be if you did 2 promo's.
1 - where you talked about the pro subscription including entry to the contest.
2 - where you talked about a paid contest entry including a pro subscription.
Just thinking on the keyboard.
 
For this, can you be more specific on exactly what you'd be looking for there?
Sure can, and thanx for such a quick response. The contest querier has been part of the contest for many seasons, and it's a great tool. As soon as the submission deadline arrives, you can see exactly how many teams there are, as well as the makeup of each team. For example, I could do a search for all teams that have between 18 and 30 players, and it would show me all entries. You can search for all teams with a given amount of players, amount spent at each position, ownership percentages of given players, and a slew of other things. Also, it updated every week, based on entries that got booted. I hope I am explaining it correctly, and if not, I am sure many other regulars can chime in and say how fun it was to play around with. Anyone? Bueller? Frye?
I did a lot of the same. It's always interesting to see that other teams are out there, especially when you get town to the end of the season, if you're still surviving.
 
Hi folks. Looking for feedback here. Thank you for the insights.

As we think about what the format might be for the 2022 Footballguys premium subscriber contest, I want to get your thoughts.

For years we've had essentially the same format for the Premium Subscriber Contest where it's a salary cap contest where you select players and keep the total under a certain amount. The lineups lock before the season starts and you're unable to make any changes after that. Then it's a survivor style with cut downs each week. You all know the drill. I know many of you love it. I do too.

But I also hear folks asking about a more traditional type contest that's more like a normal fantasy league. Where all the people are divided up into 10 or 12 team leagues and each league has a draft and they play this season out like a normal fantasy league would up through about week 12 or so. No trades are allowed to limit collusion and that type of thing. Then a certain number of teams from league are combined into another league and those teams play for the championship. Scott Fish bowl and FFPC and others use this format.

My guess is the people from the forum vastly prefer the way we've always done it. If you're here, you self-selected that's the kind of thing you like.

But polls are easy to do and I want to always listen to our folks so I thought I'd ask here.

Let's hear it.
Aside from already responding to the poll a week or so ago, I just want to go on record saying I love the subscriber contest just the way it is. I've observed the minor tweaks you've made to it over the last 12 years that I've been a subscriber, but it's still a unique contest, and unlike any other that I'm aware of. Every year I wait for it to go live, and I check almost daily when it gets to August to make sure I get a look at it as soon as it's live. I want to have as much time as possible to study players and review stat projections, and then start making a preliminary lineup, that invariably gets tweaked dozens of times as the pre-season progresses. Before the contest even goes live, I always have a penciled in list of players I think I'll like depending on what their cap numbers turn out to be. I'm sure you'll do what you need to do with the contest, but I for one hope it stays largely unchanged. I can't imagine enjoying it as much if you were to change the format.

I've been lucky enough to finish in the money once in 11 years, ironically placing 4th the first year I played (2011). That year was the first year I paid to belong to any fantasy site, and I did it because I was in cancer treatment at age 55, and was spending lots of down time at home. I needed a diversion to occupy my mind and I have Footballguys to thank for rescuing me from extreme boredom during that ordeal, and for keeping my mind focused on football rather than thinking about on my ongoing treatment. It all ended well and now I'm going on 12 years cancer-free. Thank you for providing this contest. It's really fun to pay and I always look forward to it. :)
 
I've been lucky enough to finish in the money once in 11 years, ironically placing 4th the first year I played (2011). That year was the first year I paid to belong to any fantasy site, and I did it because I was in cancer treatment at age 55, and was spending lots of down time at home. I needed a diversion to occupy my mind and I have Footballguys to thank for rescuing me from extreme boredom during that ordeal, and for keeping my mind focused on football rather than thinking about on my ongoing treatment. It all ended well and now I'm going on 12 years cancer-free. Thank you for providing this contest. It's really fun to pay and I always look forward to it. :)

Awesome. I hope you win it all this year!
 
Steeler said:
I never really tried to quantify it like that - when I ran the live scoring I was doing it as a way to give back the awesome FBG community. You guys provided donations and my site included ads so I was compensated in that way. I had several years of free subscriptions "in the bank" during the begin of my time running the live scoring, but when that ran out FBG gave me a free subscription each year I was running it.
I was going to be doing it on my own last year, but when we didn't have a way for all I expanded it. I'll be honest it was a lot more work than anticipated getting the teams set up initially and updating it each week, but I learned a lot. I received a donation from a poster that was not expected, but appreciated. Referencing the cost for live scoring. I got creative with resources I had available, I did not pay any additional for it.
I would be happy to put in some money as I do each year we had live scoring
 
@joebryant I know this is an older thread but there is one thing I have never understood about the site and this contest…..

This is a great site with great information. I like the subscriber contest more than any other fantasy contest out there and it isn’t even close.

Many years ago, someone recommended using Rate my team on FBG. After I did that I checked out the site, found the contest and signed up. When I ask people about joining the contest and site they have never heard of either one.

If you want bang for your buck or more appropriately an increase in your return on marketing, you have to get the word out. What influencer enters this contest? Was the contest shown on IG? Did you put anything on FB? Did you roll it out on your YouTube channel?

Where is the picture of the giant check being handed to the winder? Where is the press release announcing the contest?

In other words, I feel like we have this great site but it is the regulars that are here. I am in a similar situation where the company I work for is a great place and our customers know about us and we are comfortable advertising to those customer. When I recommended advertising to non-customers to win more business, a lightbulb turned on over my boss’ head (slight exaggeration), but you see my point.
 
Contest is all set, and the total number of entries is 12,254. So that means after all the weekly cuts, approximately 222 entries will advance beyond week 14, (probaly a few more due to ties).

I hope this is enough of an incease in the number of entries from last year, that the constest will continue to run in the future. I love this contest!
 
Agreed Puppies!
The new formatting of the entry form and promotion was excellent - fear that the downtime for the site switch may have hurt things a little but we'll be out there beating the drum for next time if you throw it up on the socials Joe B :)
-QG
 

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