Lenny Pappano joins Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC)

Lenny Pappano, co founder of the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF), joins the FFPC after leaving retirement from FF  high stakes league (HSL) business.  Lenny established the award-winning fantasy football content site, DraftSharks.com, in 1999. His duties will include the day-to-day operations, marketing and strategy for the FFPC. Lenny was kind enough allow me to interview him for Fantasy Football Guidebook. In the interview he talks of his experience in starting the WCOFF in 2002. 


Pappano started WCOFF with Emil Kadlec who also recently left his HSL retirement  behind to start the Fantasy Football World Championship (FFWC). Both men co-founded the entire high stakes fantasy football industry in 2002 and then built up the World Championship of Fantasy Football into the biggest contest on the planet before retiring in 2007.


It is with great pleasure that I welcome both men back into the FF high stake league competition. 


Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100

Fantasy Football World Championships-New High Stakes Fantasy Football League Debuts

You knew it was coming. I just did not know how long it would take before someone tried a  replacement for the now defunct World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF). Lo and behold I received an email detailing a new high stakes league called the Fantasy Football World Championships. All of the other big money leagues use acronyms  (FFPC, NFFC and the deceased WCOFF) so let me be the first to crown this new venture the FFWC. 


The Fantasy Football World Championships come from some well known names in FF, Emil Kadlec (who was kind enough to write the forward for my book Fantasy Football Basics) and Ian Ritchie who I have played in several "Expert" drafts over the years. I met Emil while playing in the WCOFF back in 2007.
{Emil was a co-founder of WCOFF back in 2002 and then sold it in 2007} I like both Ian and Emil. I wish them both luck with the FFWC. Heck I might even play this year if I can make it out to Vegas for 2012. 


Here are the details of the new Fantasy Football World Championships (FFWC)
First it has nothing to do with the WCOFF (which defaulted on paying their winners last year and collapsed this year) 


Details: 
In Las Vegas Sep 6-9, 2012
Cost $1740 for live managers; $1575 for online managers ($100 off each if enter before May 1)
12 Teams per league
4 Teams make playoffs
Total Points in Wk 14-16 determine Overall winners


Prizes: 

• FFWC Champion $200,000
• Prizes for 2nd overall through 25th place
• League 1st place $4,000
• League 2nd place $2,000
• League 3rd place $500
• League 4th place $200
• Best regular season record $1,000
• Most total points regular season $1,000

Events: 

• Thursday Night Game Viewing Party-free with main event entry includes co-manager and food during draft
• Main Event Drafts
• Ancillary Higher Stakes Drafts
• Ancillary Lower Stakes Drafts
• Sunday Game Viewing Party-I assume this is free with main event entry
• Entertainment All Weekend

MISC

Waiver wire on Wed and Friday every week

Passing:
Yards passing divided by 20 (e.g. 301 passing yards = 15.05 fantasy points).
4 points for every passing TD.
Minus one point (-1) for every interception thrown.
2 points for every 2-point conversion.

Rushing:
Yards rushing divided by 10 (e.g. 116 rushing yards = 11.6 fantasy points).
6 points for every rushing TD.
2 points for every 2-point conversion.

Receiving:
Yards receiving divided by 10 (e.g. 73 receiving yards = 7.3 fantasy points)
6 points for every receiving TD.
1 point for every reception.
2 points for every 2-point conversion.

Starting lineups will consist of:
1 QB
2 RB
3 WR
1 TE
1 Flex player (a RB or WR, or TE)
1 PK
1 Team Defense/Special team

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts...
Competition is good. Although I love the FFPC and NFFC. A third different HSL format is welcome competition. And if I know Emil and Ian the FFWC will be some competition.

Interested to see how the 13 Game regular season happens with 12 teams. I suspect some sort of "All play" format in weeks 12 and 13, but as I  mention in Fantasy Football Guidebook I think this way of doing things is a bit flawed since the "dead" teams do not really play hard at the end of the season. AP tends to be the best playing those who have given up so the standings do not change that much. We shall see...


Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

Fantasy Hockey: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Hockey Players ($14.95) www.amazon.com/dp/1936635100

Fantasy Players Association asks: "Is the WCOFF broke?"

The World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) announced their early draft spots on 15 Aug.
Only 181 teams were shown and many of these may have been from "rollover" money from 2010 winners who have been "strong armed" into playing again.

WCOFF has not paid their 2010 winners in full and the FPA is aware of over $600,000 in unpaid winners from 2010 and the World Championship of Fantasy Baseball (WCOFB) will have prize money due for 2011 as well.

The Fantasy Players Association recently posted an article questioning if the WCOFF is broke.
Read it here:
 http://www.fantasyplayersassociation.com/fantasy/fantasy-news/

The FPA went on to say that the provider of league management services (known as a back end software provider) RTSports has stated they have no contract with WCOFF for 2011. Satellite leagues were not available for signups today.

Although I played in WCOFF in 2006 and 2007 and recommended them in my books Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, I do not recommend playing them in 2011.
I suggest you wait and see if they can recover and somehow pay their 2010 winners before considering playing there again.

I sincerely hope all winners are paid.

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

NFL and Fantasy Football developments in the past 24 hours

Steve Smith (formerly WR NYG) has signed with the Eagles. He is not going to be ready to play until week 4 (some say week 6) at the earliest and probably more likely week 8 since PHI has the week 7 bye.

Chris Johnson, RB TEN continues to holdout. This is worrying as holdouts tend to be higher injury risks. But in the case of CJ I am prepared to give him some room based simply on his amazing agility on the field. Lets hope this is settled soon.

The World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) has still not paid all of its 2010 winners and it looks as if a hoped for buyout by some well known FF people has fallen through. I sincerely hope everyone owed money is paid in full but time is running out for a happy ending here.

Fantasy Football Players Championship releases early draft spots this weekend (Aug 13-14)

That's it for now.


Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003">http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635003




Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669">www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669



Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634">http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634



Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650">http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650



Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95) href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693">www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693



Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011">http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936635011

World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) sold?

The World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) recently announced a pending "transaction to transfer ownership". The announcement is printed below:

Announcements from WCOFF
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's with great excitement that I announce the beginning of a new chapter for the World Championship of Fantasy Sports (WCOFS). Over the next 30 to 45 days, I, along with my partners in GridIron Fantasy Sports LLC, will be working through a transaction to transfer ownership of the WCOFS. During this period of time, day to day activity at the WCOFS will continue, specifically the contest administration of the World Championship of Fantasy Baseball (WCOFB) and preparation for the 10th annual World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF).

Since 2002, the WCOFF has awarded over $14M in cash awards and provided a playing field for fantasy sports players willing to embrace the challenge of competing against the best of the best. It's been our pleasure at GridIron Fantasy Sports LLC to have participated in the growth and evolution of the premier fantasy sports contest in the world since 2007 and look forward to what's next for everyone associated with the WCOFF and WCOFB.

So what does this mean for players who have made a prize claim and are awaiting their award distribution? During this period of finalizing a transition of ownership, we will not be releasing checks. As soon as this process is complete, we will resume the awards distribution process. We will go above and beyond to make it up to those of you who were delayed in receiving your award distribution as a result of this transition.
What does this mean for the 2011 WCOFF? The 2011 and 10th Annual World Championship of Fantasy Football will continue as planned with live drafts in Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlantic City and S. Florida - September 8th - 12th. The MGM Grand will host the Las Vegas festivities and the Sheraton Hotel will again host the live events in Atlantic City. Venues for Chicago and S. Florida are still being finalized.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WCOFF followed this announcement with the following:

On behalf of the Partnersof GridIron Fantasy Sports LLC we want to again apologize for the delay you have experienced in receiving your award distribution. We never anticipated it would take us this long to correct our error and we're committed to making it right with you in consideration for this mistake.

You most likely received the announcement this morning regarding a new direction for the World Championship of Fantasy Sports. If you missed this announcement, you can view it HERE. While we reference a period of 30 to 45 days as our anticipated timeframe to finish a transaction, we are hopeful this process will be accelerated and allow us to resume the awards distribution process as quickly as possible. When the awards distribution process does resume, Dustin and Jill will have the full compliment of checks to be printed, signed and mailed. We know this excites Dustin and Jill as much as it does I'm sure you, as there won't be a guessing game as to when your award will be distributed once the process does resume.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding and for the many kind messages and phone calls the WCOFF player community has shared with the staff. While at times our critics have been outspoken and understandably upset, we're fortunate to have had as many, if not more, WCOFF players reach out with support and encouragement.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact the office at 636-728-1118 and speak to Dustin. While he will be somewhat restricted on what he can comment to regarding the transaction being finalized, he welcomes the opportunity to answer your questions. If your question can't be answered today, he will be revisiting questions he can't address at the present time as soon as he is able to.

GridIron Fantasy Sports LLC Partners

GridIron Fantasy Sports LLC
623 Timber Creek Trail
O'Fallon, MO 63368

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what does this mean? Your guess is as good as mine. I have recommended the WCOFF in previous books and played in the WCOFF in previous years.

As mentioned in a previous post, players need to examine the potential of any contest to pay their winners.

As of today, the WCOFF has not paid all of its winners for 2011 and the announcement that those payments have stopped until the 30-45 day transaction period (roughly June 15th) is complete, raises more questions. As I understand it the WCOFS is still taking money from 2011 entrants while stopping (the already significantly late) payments to their 2010 winners. In my opinion, a contest should pay their winners when they promised to do so. Not doing this is a major error.

I hope the "new direction" the WCOFF is taking proves to be a good one. However, I will take a "wait and see" approach for 2011. I am waiting to see them pay all of their 2010 winners, waiting to see if they pay their 2011 winners on time and then and only then deciding on whether to recommned them again only after these bench marks are met.

I wish them well, but in the words of Ronnie Reagan "Trust but verify".

Fantasy Football Almanac 2011: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide (10.95) now only $7.38 (32% off) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fantasy-Football-Almanac-2011/Sam-Hendricks/e/9781936635009/?itm=11

Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669

Fantasy Football Basics: The Ultimate "How to" Guide for Beginners available ($10.95) at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428634

Fantasy Football Guidebook (2nd Edition): Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95) http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982428650

Fantasy Baseball for Beginners: The Ultimate "How-to" Guide ($10.95) www.amazon.com/dp/0982428693

Fantasy Football (Soccer to Yanks): The Ultimate "How-to" Guide for Fantasy Football/Fantasy Soccer ($14.95) Now 32% off at $10.08. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fantasy-Football-for-Beginners/Sam-Hendricks/e/9781936635016/?itm=12

"Caveat Emptor"-Latin for Buyer Beware, FPA makes announcement on WCOFF

FPA follow up email/statement concerning WCOFF *******************************************
All winners must be paid out before the FPA will support any player depositing funds for 2011. In past conversation, Dustin has stated that the WCOFF books will not be opened to the FPA. That's fine. If that is the stance, then the players are only left with late or non payment of prizes to date and unfortunately left to assume what is true and what isn't. An example of this would be the observation as others have pointed out, that the baseball champion for 2010 was not paid until after baseball money for 2011 came in. Truly speaking, there is only one way to mis-manage a contest and that is, not to have enough funds to pay prize winners. Not one time has there been a confirmation or denial that the Grand Prize winner has been paid. Confirming this and other concerns would set players minds at ease and would reduce player suspicions. For that reason, it is the stance of the FPA that deposits for Football 2011 should never have been accepted until all 2010 requests for payment are paid. The FPA cannot be supportive of the WCOFF any other way, otherwise what is really being supported is the possibility and suspicion that this dilemma is simply passed on to next year's winning players to deal with. The FPA has reached out to Dustin this morning for more information as to the current happenings and what is in store for the future players of the WCOFF. We can only hope that these questions and concerns are treated with more seriousness and resolved quickly.

Background: On March 8, 2011 The Fantasy Players Association (FPA) (http://www.fantasyplayersassociation.com/) placed the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) "on the clock" for "failing to pay some of their 2010 football prize winners by the posted deadline". The FPA statement is reposted below: FPA’s Statement: It seems like high-stakes fantasy players just can’t catch a break. Even playing in the biggest contest in the land, issues still arise. We at the FPA are very disappointed to be revisiting this issue in 2011 after the off-season promises for improvement. It is our opinion that their rules already give a very lenient payout date of February 15th, 6 full weeks after the Championship week has concluded. WCOFF has been the premier contest for 9 years now, but will have challenges to remain so in the hearts of the players if payment issues continue to persist. With such vague public responses as to the specific issue causing these delays, one is left only to wonder if this issue is due to paperwork mishaps, incompetency or cash flow, however it appears that if more off the record details are desired, that Dustin and the WCOFF are only a phone call away. The FPA encourages everyone with questions or concerns to contact Dustin or the FPA for more information.
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As of today, tax day, April 15th the issue is not resolved. I hope all winners are paid immediately.

I have played in the WCOFF for several years and have never had any problem receiving my winnings. However, I have not played in the WCOFF the past two years due to travel commitments which precluded attending the draft. It seems like the payouts have taken longer and longer in the past few years. This years delay is especially troubling.

In the past when companies have gone bust and not paid players they simply do not pay winners period.

The WCOFF situation appears to be different in that payments are slowly being made to winners, just not in a timely manner.

As with any fantasy sports league you are thinking of entering, you must do your homework and evaluate all issues-rules, set up, commissioner, format, ROI and management. One key step in the evaluation process is to determine if all winners from the previous year(s) were paid. Often the message boards are the first place to find out about these 'red flags". But as with anything, take some of the posts with a grain of salt as there are some who wish to damage a contest with posts that reflect them in an unfavorable light. Bottom line: do your homework!

Caveat Emptor

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In NFL Draft news, the current opinion has the top three picks of 2011 as:

1 Cam Newton QB to CAR

2 Marcell Dareus DT to DEN

3 Von Miller LB to BUF

Don't miss out on the World Championship of Fantasy Football 2009

Ready to try the next level of Fantasy Football?
Have you dominated your local FF leagues or YAHOO/ESPN/CBSSPORTS leagues?

-Feel like you are one of the best but in a little pond with no competition.
-Tired of beating teams that give up after they lose a few games? Think about a High Stakes League.

The World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF), http://www.wcoff.com/
offers the chance to play with other dedicated fantasy football enthusiasts competing for a $300,000 grand prize. That's right Three Hundred Thousand Dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And League prizes total over $10,000.

I have played WCOFF in the past and have a .725 W/L record in that competition.
The Main Event is held in Las Vegas on Friday 11 Sep or Sat 12 Sep. Other drafts occur in Atlantic City, NJ, Orlando, FL or Dallas, TX so you have 4 great cities to try your luck at Fantasy Football to be named World Champion.

If you care to try, mention code “Slam” and get $100 off your entry fee.
Good luck!

Sam Hendricks, Author:
Fantasy Football Tips: 201 Ways to Win through Player Rankings, Cheat Sheets and Better Drafting ($9.95, www.amazon.com/dp/0982428669)

Fantasy Football Guidebook: Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football ($19.95 on sale for $17.95) http://www.amazon.com/1602640203

Fantasy Football Almanac 2009: The Essential Fantasy Football Reference Guide ($12.95, http://www.amazon.com/1602643989)