I just wanted to give a shout out to Metro Sports of Kansas City and one of the local rooms Side Pockets of Lenexa, Kansas. The Side Pockets hosted a tournament that was televised by a local sports cable channel. It was a nice plug for pool and the local players. Here was the format and how it got started, just in case it could work in other areas.
The manager of Side Pockets had a contact with the local cable channel. They talked about doing something involving the two businesses and pool. I'm not sure of the exact business arrangement but Side Pockets held 4 qualifiers every Saturday in April. The qualifiers were limited to 16 players, one for men and one for the women. The entry was $30. The top 4 of each qualifying tournament went on to the finals held this past Saturday. The game was 9 ball race to 5 on the winners side and race to 4 on the losers side. Alternate breaks with Texas express rules.
The finals were brackets of 16 for the men and women with the top 4 earning a nice payday. All of the entry money went into the final prize money along with some added money from Side Pockets.
The finals were played down to the last 3 players in each division. Metro Sports filmed the men's hot seat, semi finals, and finals match. They also filmed the ladies semi final and final match. It was quite a production. They used 4 cameras including one from the light for a full table view and one hand held by a cameraman plus 2 stationary cameras with cameramen. It was a professional set up rivaling anything from espn and I have seen their set ups a few times. There must have been 15 people from the cable channel including the producer of the program. It was hosted by a well known local sportscaster and Paul Gerni of trick shot fame.
The show was broadcasted the following evening on Sunday (yesterday). It was originally scheduled for 2 hours but the matches went longer so I wasn't sure what they were going to do. Well, they showed all 3 men's matches including the finals that went to 2 sets and showed the women's finals with clips from the semi finals. The whole production lasted 3 1/2 hours of prime time local pool that preempted their local sports newscast a 1/2 hour!
The cable company is rebroadcasting the tournament later this week in 2 parts with the men's airing Tuesday night (2 1/2 hours) and the women's on Wed at noon (1 1/2 hours).
I know it's only local cable televsion but it was professionally done and a lot of fun. They even hinted that it could be a yearly event. Who knows, maybe it will catch on to other markets :thumbup:
The manager of Side Pockets had a contact with the local cable channel. They talked about doing something involving the two businesses and pool. I'm not sure of the exact business arrangement but Side Pockets held 4 qualifiers every Saturday in April. The qualifiers were limited to 16 players, one for men and one for the women. The entry was $30. The top 4 of each qualifying tournament went on to the finals held this past Saturday. The game was 9 ball race to 5 on the winners side and race to 4 on the losers side. Alternate breaks with Texas express rules.
The finals were brackets of 16 for the men and women with the top 4 earning a nice payday. All of the entry money went into the final prize money along with some added money from Side Pockets.
The finals were played down to the last 3 players in each division. Metro Sports filmed the men's hot seat, semi finals, and finals match. They also filmed the ladies semi final and final match. It was quite a production. They used 4 cameras including one from the light for a full table view and one hand held by a cameraman plus 2 stationary cameras with cameramen. It was a professional set up rivaling anything from espn and I have seen their set ups a few times. There must have been 15 people from the cable channel including the producer of the program. It was hosted by a well known local sportscaster and Paul Gerni of trick shot fame.
The show was broadcasted the following evening on Sunday (yesterday). It was originally scheduled for 2 hours but the matches went longer so I wasn't sure what they were going to do. Well, they showed all 3 men's matches including the finals that went to 2 sets and showed the women's finals with clips from the semi finals. The whole production lasted 3 1/2 hours of prime time local pool that preempted their local sports newscast a 1/2 hour!
The cable company is rebroadcasting the tournament later this week in 2 parts with the men's airing Tuesday night (2 1/2 hours) and the women's on Wed at noon (1 1/2 hours).
I know it's only local cable televsion but it was professionally done and a lot of fun. They even hinted that it could be a yearly event. Who knows, maybe it will catch on to other markets :thumbup:
