2011 FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship Preview

by Cameron MacMillan (Cameron) Last Updated 2011-12-10 20:59:58

I’m writing this from a plane, while on my way to Vegas to cover the FFFC finals. The excitement is starting to hit me. Time to get a beer from the stewardess. $5 for a Heineken? Don’t mind if I do. I mean this is kind of a big deal. I feel like this is the beginning of a Daily Fantasy tradition, that will be still going on 10 years from now. I’m happy to say I was around for the first couple FFFC’s, and really looking forward to this weekend.

Last year, RotoGrinder member GeneralV took home $25,000 and the title of first-ever FFFC Champion. This year, 12 lucky finalists will take a shot at a Grand Prize of $75,000! And you can watch all the action unfold right here on the RotoGrinders.com Home Page. The first place prize is larger than the entire prize pool was last season, and now we’re starting to get into the realm of ‘life-changing money’ with the $200,000 total Prizepool. Hopefully another Grinder brings back the trophy in 2011! Here’s a rundown of what you can expect this weekend:

Looking Back At 2010 FFFC

First, let us take a look back to the inaugural FFFC. Last year, the first ever large prizepool, live Daily Fantasy event, was a massive success. Of the 12 finalist from 2010, four were RotoGrinders: GeneralV, Beermakersfan, Whits23 and RotoGrinders founder Cal Spears. In an excerpt from Cal’s 2010 FFFC Trip Report, he said the following about the FanDuel team and the event:

“We had dinner and drinks Friday night at Dos Caminos and then free food and drinks from 9 am to 9 pm on Sunday. It was their first year holding an event like this and they knocked it out of the park. I can’t wait to see how they improve upon it next year – $500K guaranteed? (editor’s note: sorry Cal, just $200k) They are a sharp, sharp group with good direction and big plans. They also love what we’re doing here at RotoGrinders, so it’s great to have their support as we continue to try to build useful tools and produce content for serious daily fantasy players.”

GeneralV wound up winning the event for $25,000, but since FanDuel only paid the Top 3 spots, the remaining Grinder Finalists missed out on the cash. Here were the final standings from 2010:

2011 FFFC – Repeat Finalists and Bigger Prizes!

The most impressive storylines heading into 2011 have to be the repeat finals appearances made by Whits23 and Beermakersfan. After making their way through fields of up to 800 to qualify in 2010, these two had to beat out around 2,000 lineups to qualify again this season. An amazing accomplishment! GeneralV and Cal both made good runs at making back-to-back appearances, but came up just short. Whits23 impressively also made the Daily Fantasy Baseball Championship finals during MLB season on FanDuel. Though the event was not live, it had a massive $100,000 prizepool. Whits23 and 2011 FFFC Qualifier JackAndSoda are the only players to make both the DFBC finals and the FFFC Finals. Beermakersfan has been the last person to qualify for the FFFC for the past two years.

Heading into this year’s event, I asked Alex ‘Waiver Wire’ Zelvin of FanDuel if the game format will be altered for the Live event at all this season, Zelvin said that “they may try to make the lineup ‘reveal’ a bit more dramatic this year, but that it will be the same Salary Structure used every week on FanDuel.
Here’s a breakdown of Prizes for the FFFC 2011:

Follow What’s Going On In Vegas

The RotoGrinders team is headed out to Vegas this weekend to give our members some in-your-face coverage of the FanDuel FFC finals and festivities, while we watch the 12 finalists you see on the home page right now battle over $150,000 in prizes. If you will be out there make sure to swing by and come say hey! If not, make sure to tune into RotoGrinders this weekend for live updates of the event, exclusive interviews with the FD Staff and the 12 finalists (5 of which are RotoGrinders Members).

Hopefully we’ll be able to throw in some hysterical images and video of the celebration, stress, misery and other shenanigans as the drama unfolds this weekend. We’re working with FanDuel to have a podcast booth set up Saturday night at the FanDuel cocktail party, and will attempt to track down an interview each of the finalists in order to get their thoughts on the event and some of their strategies heading into Sunday. Sunday we’ll be patrolling the Emeril Lagasse Stadium at the Venetian, voted Best Sports Lounge in Vegas, and will use CoverItLive.com to give everyone an inside look into the event from our private booth at the SportsBook. Here’s what’s on the docket for the weekend coverage:

2011 FFFC Predictions

RotoGrinders.com’s Dan Back, aka Podcast Dan, aka DB730, recently gave each of the finalists odds of winning the event. This should make for some interesting side bet action over the weekend. Here’s how he’s got the competition projected:

Joshua Ecker Oneshot1819 – Odds to win 40/1

Aaron Goldsmith hadlock09 – Odds to win 35/1

William Whitlock Whits23 – Odds to win 10/1

Don Plugge plugdog – Odds to win 20/1

Chuck Zoeller highridgehoosiers – Odds to win 75/1

Ryan Tien kiet – Odds to Win 25/1

Raymond Reper therayray – Odds to Win 25/1

Jesper Madsen DKMaestro – Odds to Win 12/1

Kyle Koch Jackandsoda – Odds to Win 10/1

Charles Bell Spawns65 – Odds to Win 12/1

Maura Wilder somuchwilder – Odds to Win 25/1

Chris Prince beermakersfan – Odds to Win 5/1

So that about covers it! Congrats again to all that qualified. Hopefully, one of the bolded names above will bring one back to the RotoGrinders community! And a special congrats goes out to Beermakersfan, who will not be attending the event his weekend due to the likely birth of a new baby! There is the chance of Beer having a baby and winning the FFFC on the same day. Awesome news, though will miss him in Vegas. Vegas baby, Vegas…

Cameron MacMillan
RotoGrinders.com Fantasy Content Manager