You requested, and we listened: today we are introducing 3 new tiers of ottoneu Fantasy Baseball, each with prizes for first, second, and third place.
$99.99 Tier
The team that finishes in first at this tier will receive $500, and second place will receive $100. First, second, and third will all receive a free one-year renewal of their respective teams.
$249.99 Tier
The team that finishes in first at this tier will receive $1250, and second place will receive $250. Again, first, second, and third place will all receive a free one-year renewal of their respective teams.
$499.99 Tier
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The team that finishes in first at this tier will receive $2500, and second place will receive $500. Just like the previous two tiers, first through third all receive a free one-year renewal of their respective teams.
Other than awarding cash prizes for the top 3 in each of these leagues, the game is the same as the $9.99 tier, which is now our permanent price for the basic tier. Full dynasty league with auction drafts, FanGraphs leaderboard integration, and more. Let us know what you think, and sign up today!
Will $9.99 leagues have the option to renew at a higher tier?
(just wondering)
Soooo why wouldn’t we just manage our own league fee and not lose half the prize money?
yeah I’m kinda confused. It costs $120 to run a non-pay league, but $570 to run a prize league and there the same other than the payout?
Well, they’re “only” taking $300, with the renewal fees also included. The question will be what’s it worth to have the prize money in a trustworthy place where the collection/payout is guaranteed? In leagues with all friends, it’s not as hard to give the money to a person/commissioner everyone trusts, but in public random leagues, the trust probably won’t be there.
Well you could use the site http://www.leaguesafe.com – They keep the money in a trustworthy place and don’t charge the insane amount for it.
I’m sorry, but this is a giant ripoff that ottoneau is trying to sell people. Even for a public league, this doesn’t make sense.
No, the money kept by FG is $570 for the first tier, $1470 for the middle tier, and $2970 for the highest tier.
For example, the lowest tier:
12 teams x $100 = $1200 taken in
$500 + $100 + $30 = $630 paid out
$1200 – $630 = $570 kept
I’m pretty sure it’s a renewal of the $100 team, not the $10 one everyone is currently registered for.
Ahh, yes, if the renewals are of the price of the tier (which makes more sense), then FG is keeping $300, $750, and $1500, respectively. Sorry for the earlier misinformation.
Sky – your math is off. They are giving back 3 x $100 teams in the lower tier, not 3x $30. That is $900 paid out. For what it is also worth they’d be returning 3x$250 in that tier and 3x$500 in the top tier.
These end up being significantly higher payouts for prize leagues than other providers use. CBS, for instance, keeps 30-50% of all fees across its prize leagues (its $100 fee league only pays out $600 total)
I just don’t understand how these leagues justify the massive rake they take in on pay leagues (I am aware CBS does it too).
Would you go to a poker game where the house took 25-35% of the cash? And this is worse – they get to hold on to the money for 6 months before paying it out! More people need to organize their own pay league structures outside of sites until they finally start playing fair.
Yea I think this may an option for leagues that are public, but other than that I don’t see why anyone would try that.
this one isn’t sitting right with me.
This is awesome. I think the cut is just a tad steep – but I imagine that it’ll come down in future years. I am pumped.
So our choices are:
1)
12 teams x $100 = $1200 paid to the website
$500 (1st) + $100 (2nd) +3 x $100 renewals = $900 in rewards
$1200 – $900 = $300 in profit for the website, taken directly out of our pockets
$300 / $1200 total outlay = 25% of money our players will never see again
or
2)
12 teams x $10 = $120 paid to the website
12 teams x $100 paid to commish or some cheap/free escrow = $1200
$800 (1st) + $300 (2nd) + $100 (3rd) = $1200 in rewards
$120 / $1320 total outlay = 9% of money our players will never see again
It seems if ottoneu brought their costs down to somewhere like 10-15% of total outlay that they keep, then it might be worth the extra overhead to handle the financials through the website, but 25% seems somewhat excessive.
I’d be interested if there was a $50 league. i don’t care as much about the payouts as i do owners maintaining interest, and i can see some owners flying the coup if it doesn’t go well and say, “whatever, it was just $10.”
Thanks all for the great feedback. I understand the concerns about how the prizes are structured, but at the end of the day, we believe we are giving some of the best prizes out there, with first through third all getting rewarded for their seasons. With the now permanent $9.99 tier as well, there is a full range of options for fantasy players to play a unique game unlike anything offered at any other major site.
If there is interest for a lower-priced prize tier, please let me know and we will look into rolling that out.
“We believe we are giving some of the best prizes out there”
(1) FG is not generating the prize money. Participants in leagues are.
(2) Assuming FG is out to make a buck — which it should — then FG makes profit in a 12-team league taking in fees with $119.88. But in the “prize” leagues FG is charging $300 and up with the only added cost mailing out a few checks.
(3) It seems clear FG has not generated the level of interest it expected — hence, the price reduction and now prize leagues. It’s a bit late for this but wouldn’t a better business model be to first generate participants by making the initial packages more attractive. If your game is as unique as you claim, your goal should have been to simply get as many people as possible playing the first — later you could raise prices and people would stay for the “unique” value.
i might be interested in a $25 fee, but that’s about as steep as i’d go. for the first year, i think i’ll just stick with $9.99 and see how it goes.
The game is cool, I’m excited that there is something new out there, but those are some seriously insane “rakes”. I have a feeling they will be adjusting those (much like the $10 drop in basic entry fee) once the market proves that no one is willing to pay a 25% vig just to gamble.
The average fantasy player on fangraphs is a fairly savvy person. I’m sure someone in each league will know of leaguesafe, which basically offers the same product at less than half the cost, and turn there.
Within the prize eligible leagues, is there anything to prevent teams from only continuing to play in their current dyntasy league if their team is built to compete in the upcoming season? Would seem that teams would make trades that help them in the current year while sacrificing the future, and then leave that league and join a new one with a fresh roster.
The rake is an absolute joke. Should be 10% of the pot, maximum.
$600 is the only money they make on the league ever though, right?
Year 1: 12*100=1200
payout: 500+100+300=900
Profit: 300
Year 2: 3 free teams; 9*100=900
payout: 900
Profit: 0
So the first $300 profit, plus the $300 recycle.
Hmmm. I’d probably be more concerned about a company lasting long term when they don’t bring in new money above expenses. If it costs $120 to run a league, you should probably just charge that no matter the denomination. A $500 league doesn’t cost more to operate. And get rid of the free teams. Pay out $1080 off the $1200, ($550 for first, $280 for second, $150 for 3rd and $100 for 4th).
I’m pretty sure this logic is off. You are accounting for the $300 in renewals twice. Bottom line, the net incoming is $1200 and net payouts are $900 every year. So they still get a profit of $300 every year.
Actually since the top 3 teams get free re-entry, they only get $900 every year… $900 payout makes it even after the initial entry-fee of the league.
The first year is really the year you lose out on.
Again,$600 “profit” the first year and $300 every year after. Its crazy. But if the blue jays could find a trading partner for vernon wells and kyle farnsworth keeps getting signed, why wouldn’t they be able to get people to pay a 25 % fee for playing in the league? And while were at it, the free entry is also a bit gimmicky. Let me decide next season whether or not I want to be in your league again, but pay me more than the league entry when I trump ten other teams.
FRANKLIN makes an excellent point. Keeper leagues for money collapse when you don’t have reason to trust your fellow owner.
Not sure about your math, Hello. Im falling asleep, but, if im not mistaken, theyre making $600 the first year, and $300 each successive year, less the cost to run a league.
I’ll just wait 3 years until this game becomes free like every other site that has ever done fantasy. Good luck getting as money as possible in the short term though.