This morning I noticed on Ryan Houston of Fanball‘s Facebook account that he was checking out Citi Field, which is going to host one of the National Fantasy Baseball Championship‘s (NFBC) drafts. A quick perusal of the NFBC site, and it looks like Fanball is pulling out all of the stops to make this year’s NFBC its best ever, by a lot.

Fanball, which purchased both the NFBC and National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) from F+W Publications this past year, is really trying to make these high stakes leagues the leading high-stakes leagues. More importantly, Fanball is working towards turning these events into destination experiences that are bigger than just the fantasy baseball leagues which are drafted. With two weekends in Las Vegas, one in Chicago, New York, Atlantic City, and St. Louis, the NFBC gives you a number of places to go away for the weekend and have some fun.

I love this strategy. Fanball is creating places that you can go with your buddies, or, more than likely, your girlfriend/wife/significant other would be willing to go away for a weekend. The NFBC goes from you doing something selfish to a shared weekend for the both of you. As the age of fantasy players increase, fantasy players have to worry about families more often and this is a great move to capture that audience.

Second, by investing in making these great experiences, Fanball is able to create added value for the fantasy player. The guy who places last in a regular high stakes league is much more likely to keep playing and try again the following season if he had a blast at the draft. If he really has fun, maybe he will get a few of his buddies to enter the following season. While the venues it has chosen may cost a little bit more, the potential for long term relationships with their customers far outweighs it.

With three months to go, it will be interesting to see what else Fanball has planned for the NFBC. Do you have any thoughts on high-stakes leagues, the NFBC, Fanball, or this strategy? Let me hear me.