Coronavirus Update pt. 2

Ottoneu Updates
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Part 1 here

First off, I hope you are all doing well and staying safe during this uncertain time. Like I wrote earlier, health is much more important than games. Stay smart and hopefully things will return to normal sooner rather than later.

Today we are extending our refund policy to last until May 15th. Teams in leagues that are not full can withdraw until May 15th with a full refund, and leagues that are canceled will get a full refund up until May 15th. If your league is canceled for 2020, it will not be recovered for 2021.

After May 15th, full refunds for 2020 will no longer be available. However, if there is no MLB season in 2020, we will allow leagues to choose between a refund of their prize pool, minus administrion fees, for the 2020 season and rolling their prize pool over to the 2021 season. We will give more details on these choices if the MLB season is canceled.

New leagues can form any time, and available auction draft dates will be extended to include the first two weeks of the MLB season, whenever it does start.

This year is going to be a trying year for Ottoneu, and we will only survive with your understanding and support. We make all of our revenue from administration fees - there are no ads on the site and we do not sell user data. All of our money goes back into the product, so please keep in mind that Ottoneu would not exist without its users and its community, i.e. you.

I hope you are all safe and healthy. Thank you so much for supporting Ottoneu Fantasy Sports.

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A couple of things to add on:

Everyone who has emailed or reached out in the last few weeks has been incredibly kind and thoughtful about my personal welfare and supportive of Ottoneu, and I really want to thank you all for being so danged great.

I didn’t mention this above, but please please please email me or post here if you have any questions or concerns or feedback about this stuff. These are unprecedented times and we’re trying to do right by all of you while also being able to come back as soon as baseball does. We want to get this right, so your feedback is appreciated.

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My name is Ken Kochajda - I am a manager/owner in the beehives under 3rd base and with all of the uncertainty facing the 2020 MLB Season, I would greatly appreciate a refund of my entry fee. i c an be contacted @ coachken@add4men.com or <phone number removed> . I greatly look fiorward to hearing from you .

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There are two processes of getting a refund:

  1. Withdraw your team from your league, if it is not filled. This is available on your Team Settings page.

  2. Cancel your league. Commissioners can do this under Commish Tools -> League Settings.

If you renewed your team for 2020 and your league is not planning to cancel at this time, we currently will not be providing refunds. We believe fully formed leagues should make these decisions together.

Please do not post to these forums requesting a refund, but instead take advantage of the platform’s built-in tools. You can always email help@ottoneu.com if you have any questions.

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Can I put out an unsolicited call to not cancel your leagues? I love ottoneu - most of us do - and it’s a small business run by one guy. Niv has been more than generous and is clearly trying to do right by us. Let’s do right by him and this game. Even if there’s no baseball in 2020 there are still costs associated with keeping the site running. Times are trying. Cancel if you absolutely must. But if you can spare it, let’s keep this game running.

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Seconded. Baseball will be back, and so will Ottoneu with all the rosters you’ve worked so hard building, and all the friendship, camaraderie, and rivalry you’ve developed with each other. Niv has handled this unprecedented situation with aplomb, in my opinion. I hope our Ottoneu families will continue to be a great source of support as we get through this as a community. Stay safe out there.

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Thirded. I’m here for the season, even if the season isn’t here for me. I’d also support any creative fundraising necessary to keep the site up and running!

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Tshirt fundraiser?

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Really appreciate the support and kind words.

I already put in an order for 2020 t-shirts, we’ll see if they ever get here…

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5 posts were split to a new topic: How to handle salary increases and arbitration in the case of no 2020 MLB season

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Niv: Thank you for your transparency. As an owner in a non-prize pool league, I wanted to ask a quick clarifying question - is the $20 ownership fee 100% administrative fees or is there any portion that would be rolled to 2021, if there is no 2020 MLB season? We obviously want to stay here with Ottoneu and have no plans to cancel, by the way, just want to stay informed.

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At the $20 tier, that is entirely the administration fee. We don’t have any other meaningful revenue to keep site operations running.

The admin fee scales up for prize leagues to cover legal and transaction fees. I’ll have more details on specific numbers if it comes down to it, but simply: in the event that there is no 2020 MLB season, Ottoneu will not pocket any money that would have been sent to a prize winner in a prize league. We will either send that prize money back to the league participants or roll it over to 2021.

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That’s exactly what I thought, just wanted to confirm. Thanks for the quick note. Hope we get baseball back soon and if not, see you in 2021!

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If you end up needing options for T-shirts let me know. I work with road running events, we have suppliers domestically and internationally that are still operating.

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Thank you nivshah. Long live Fantasy Baseball!

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A post was merged into an existing topic: How to handle salary increases and arbitration in the case of no 2020 MLB season

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So if the $20 leagues are purely the cost of administration, then one way we can help is to create or join $50+ leagues?

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I appreciate you and everyone else who wants to make sure Ottoneu survives this tough time. It really means a lot to me.

The best way to help Ottoneu is to get more people to play at any tier and to keep your leagues together through this summer even if the MLB season is shortened or canceled. I cannot ask for anything more than that. We will survive if refund requests remain as low as they have to this point.

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Hear hear! I second the motion!

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