I just came across this thread and have been reading through all the replies and would like to address some of the things that were mentioned earlier and get a response back from Neil. I think this absolutely needs to be addressed before anyone should ever play in the AFFL again, even if they obtain their money and pay their debts.I played in the AFFL back in 2005 and at that time, the rules were different on these large contests (this was before the new laws making fantasy football a game of skill came out). Sites could announce a grand prize, and if they didn't achieve the number of players they needed to pay out the prize, all they needed to state was that the prize was based on set number of participants and if this wasn't reached, it would be reduced by some percentage to pay out the winners. However, after the 2006 season, when these rules changed, they made it a requirement that if a site announces a grand prize they needed to guarantee its payment regardless of how many people signed up. That was a huge change in the industry for these high stakes leagues that were out there. It should have also been a huge red flag and should have warranted a lot of precaution before continuing (will get to this more in a bit).When I joined AFFL, back in 2005, one of the main reasons I chose this league was because it was one of the only high stakes, web-based leagues. All the other big money leagues required you to travel to the draft, and at the time I was not willing. But back in 2005 the Grand Prize for the Platinum League was $200,000. Which at the time was equal prize money as compared to the WCOFF.And since they were based on the old laws, they did not have to pay out the entire 200,000 and only paid out somewhere in the vicinity of 40,000.$40,000!!!!!! (They used to have the exact PY information on the site with payouts, but I have not been able to locate it recently) In 2006, with the same laws, the payout (from the site) was only $47,459 for the platinum and $31,669 (prize was supposed to be 75,000). This is the reason why I only played for one season. I never looked at past winners until I was curious about the top prize for 2005. When I realized they only paid out around 40,000 of a 200,000 stated grand prize, I thought this was not for me and have since made the switch to WCOFF and paid the extra money for travel for the comfort of knowing the grand prize will be paid.In 2007, the year of question, the platinum top prize was reduced to $100,000 because of the laws, but my question is this:If since the inception of the AFFL, you have never paid out even close to your stated grand prize, let alone ever topped $100,000 to the platinum league in the past, how did you ever anticipate being able to pay a 100,000 grand prize?!?!?! (with the past 2 years alone under 50,000, and while I don't have exact figures for pre 2006, I would not expect your members to decrease since you stated that you have consistently had about 20% growth each year).In 2006, you didn't even pay out 25% of your stated grand prize, yet somehow, you expected to increase your payout for the Platinum league by over 100%, which I can only assume that in order to achieve your goal, you would have needed over 50% growth with expenses remaining static (probably being generous here) in order to pay out your highest Platinum prize ever!Why would you keep the prize at 100,000, when all you had to do was reduce it to 50,000...and if you obtained the players, you could up the grand prize. No problems with increasing a prize, you are simply not allowed to lower it once you have set it. Based off your PY numbers, you should have lowered Platinum, cut Gold and introduced some smaller games with high profit margins. Then, over time, you build your base and consistently increase your grand prize. You were in no position to pay out 100,000 for the Platinum Grand prize in 2007, especially if you cut a lot of your marketing like you stated earlier.And it doesn't make sense that you would have large losses carrying over from the past or how you can have so much liability. How can you lose so much money when you are allowed to reduce the payout based on the number of contestants? Or, in better terms, how do you have 850,000 in liabilities? Since your main asset is your technology, most of the value is intangible as it in no way cost 850,000 to develop, or even close to that. And besides stat fees, marketing and payroll, there shouldn't be many other expenses since everything is done on-line. So what are you buying or borrowing that you owe money for?And another question: Why on earth would you do this job free of salary with all the possible legal ramifications that could stem from this (especially this year when you needed seed money from the start in order to cover any guaranteed payouts)? It simply does not make any sense whatsover, why would you put yourself at risk for no personal gain?You should have known that once they changed the law you were in trouble (well before the 2007 season began) and the fact that you didn't do anything about it while accepting money constitutes gross negligence and fraud, and despite what you may think about bankruptcy, it has nothing to do with the charges that will be filed against you if you do not pay. And I still don't understand why? It seems like you have nothing to gain and everything to lose.I will not make accusations or theories about what is going on, but something isn't right. If the questions above are not answered, I encourage all FBG who play in AFFL to switch to WCOFF or NFFL or RotoBowl. Cause now, if there isn't something fishy going on, it is simply bad business, poor management, and gross negligence, and while I do not want to see the industry suffer, I think there needs to be repurcussions to deter all the average joes from trying to start up a fantasy business promising huge payouts if they are allowed to mismanage this much money. I think you should have been paying yourself Neil, at least then, right or wrong, it would have been worth something.
Questioning their interests in this seems foolish at this point. They have point blank answered the questions...let it go.
Joe and Jason insist that they have no reason to give Neil or the AFFL any favorable treatment. I take them at their word. But, this move is perplexing and uncomfortable.
Joe and Jason insist that they have no reason to give Neil or the AFFL any favorable treatment. I take them at their word. But, this move is perplexing and uncomfortable.
Joe and Jason insist that they have no reason to give Neil or the AFFL any favorable treatment. I take them at their word. But, this move is perplexing and uncomfortable.
Joe and Jason insist that they have no reason to give Neil or the AFFL any favorable treatment. I take them at their word. But, this move is perplexing and uncomfortable.
On Joe(Klecko) for giving everyone the business. 
I am not involved but why make a comment like that? 
Joe and Jason insist that they have no reason to give Neil or the AFFL any favorable treatment. I take them at their word. But, this move is perplexing and uncomfortable.
type thing. I can see that as this is a serious thing with real people out real money and it'd be best to keep it focused on a positive resolution not anything else.Thanks for the good words though. I too am hoping for a great resolution here.J
Joe and Jason insist that they have no reason to give Neil or the AFFL any favorable treatment. I take them at their word. But, this move is perplexing and uncomfortable.
This is why you're paid the big bucks, Joe.
Umm...wow.Phenomenal posting. I mean...sensible, anecdotal, historical. I will look forward to Neil's eloquent and comprehensive response when it comes around, because these are excellent and pertinent questions for him to address.
to FBG staff for burying it here. Looks like there's been a pretty upfront and honest discussion here. Should be pinned at the very least, imo.
