I think ALL of us pro's should get together and write up a proposal for some of these companies. In this proposal we need to show them what WE can do for them, not what they need to do from us.
I thought I would throw my 2 cents in on this discussion.
As a business person, sports fan and pool fanatic I would love to see a pro tour get off the ground the right way.
You need to start small in order top get this off the ground.
Any long time sports fan will recall that 30-40 years ago, MLB players, NHL players ans NFL players did not make that much more than your average joe. They just got to play sports for a living. The big money did not come until TV revenue.
What a tour would need is a group of pros who would play as much for the love of the game as money because the money would not be that great in the first few years.
Players need to have the ability to win $70,000 or more a year but not have a guaranteed salary. They need to start this thing for the love of the game
The first part of the plan would involve a players comittee that would write up a plan and approach all leagues looking for $500,000 in sponsorhip money form all leagues combined. They would have to sell the idea of what the tour would do for the leagues (how many new members). They would have to commit to having a tour event at each of the leagues National Championships to help draw interest to it.
With this funding they hire a commissioner and he/she then hires 2 other staff to get this off the ground. The first 6 months are scheduling and planning and the next 3 are qualifying the tour pro's.
You need to start off by qualifying 64 pros. That could generate 500,000 in qualifying fees using another posters numbers. That plus the sponsorship money is enough to get the office going and build a sizeable advertising fund as well.
Schedule 20 events per year - each entry has a $300 entry fee for the 64 pro's and 32 wild card spots (32 spots X 16 qualifiers X 100 entry fee) generating a total of 70,000 per event. Thus you have a total purse of 1.4 million in the first year. Each event would pay out the top 24 with $20,000going to the winner.
The sponsorship money can be used to offset shortfalls or spent on advertising or kept as an asset for the business. In short the tour players are guaranteed their 1.4 million.
The second year, the top 32 tour money leaders keep their cards for a $500 fee and then you run 32 qualifiers again generating another 250,000 for the Tour.
They cycle has been started. With the proper promotion by the leagues, dedication and enthusiasm by the pro players, and some smart business planning by the comissioner, they cycle could continue and the yearly purses would increase. Eventually you get a Versus type cable network to pick up a few tour events and now you have a national stage.
The pro players would be encouraged to seek sponsors to help with travel costs and entry fees as ther WPBA players now have.
It could take 5 years but the cycle could soon be good enough to have 2-3 million or more purse for the players.
Just some thoughts from a Leagueguy
Holly
:grin:!!!
