Bogus Ball..from the start
- Thread starter sopadre
- Start date
I'd love to think there are rich people out there willing to fund 50 small startups thinking that if one of them
becomes the next google, then they've recouped all that lost money and then some.
But from what I understand, rich people didn't get there being loose and carefree about their money,
like "I'll throw a million bucks at this even though it's a long shot."
And nothing in pool EVER blew up like internet startups.
There is no google or facebook equivalent in pool. One great success in pool might at best erase
half of one failure. It won't recoup the cost of 50 train wrecks.
If I were an investor I'd keep away or treat the money as a flat out donation with no chance of getting it back.
And if I were starting something I'd start extremely small and not try to jump straight from rough idea to
"new national cue sport playing on TV with custom built arena and 30+ pros". Seems to me they
skipped a lot of rungs on the ladder.
becomes the next google, then they've recouped all that lost money and then some.
But from what I understand, rich people didn't get there being loose and carefree about their money,
like "I'll throw a million bucks at this even though it's a long shot."
And nothing in pool EVER blew up like internet startups.
There is no google or facebook equivalent in pool. One great success in pool might at best erase
half of one failure. It won't recoup the cost of 50 train wrecks.
If I were an investor I'd keep away or treat the money as a flat out donation with no chance of getting it back.
And if I were starting something I'd start extremely small and not try to jump straight from rough idea to
"new national cue sport playing on TV with custom built arena and 30+ pros". Seems to me they
skipped a lot of rungs on the ladder.
Actually that is EXACTLY what Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors do. They fund dozens and dozens of startups that they feel has potential because the FACT is that one Google, one Facebook, one YouTube, etc....pays back such HUGE dividends that it's worth it to fund hundreds of startups.
They don't fund many train wrecks and often along with their money comes their management teams.
At this point almost nobody knows what the deal with Bonus Ball is. That's a fact. Not Justin, Mark, or Jay has the real inside scoop on BB's finances. Sure they have buddies on the teams, sure they are closer to the action, but I'd stake my life that they don't know all the innermost details of Larry Chiborak's networking outside the industry.
All we know at the moment is that in two weeks they will resume the season. So, let's see if that happens. At this point the facilities are built and the show will go on.
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Not what you said
The APA has done nothing for PRO Pool, that I know of. However, that is not what you commented on. You said in the last 50 years no dream of pool has come true. There was no amateur pool leagues until the APA. Larry Hubbart and Terry Bell had a dream about leagues in bars and poolrooms. The same can happen with PRO POOL. It has to start somewhere, or it can never happen. I don't know if BB is the answer, no more than anyone else. I hope that BB is successful, the players deserve to make a living at what they love to do. Good Luck BB. Gary Lutman
The APA has done nothing for PRO Pool, that I know of. However, that is not what you commented on. You said in the last 50 years no dream of pool has come true. There was no amateur pool leagues until the APA. Larry Hubbart and Terry Bell had a dream about leagues in bars and poolrooms. The same can happen with PRO POOL. It has to start somewhere, or it can never happen. I don't know if BB is the answer, no more than anyone else. I hope that BB is successful, the players deserve to make a living at what they love to do. Good Luck BB. Gary Lutman
I'm just glad there are people out there willing to think big when it comes to professional pool. So many people in the pool world have the potential capped so low.
I don't think its crazy at all for the investors to see the league as becoming very profitable.
I don't think its crazy at all for the investors to see the league as becoming very profitable.
Well put. And there's another factor here: Pool has a history of bad investments. Hell, I recently saw a pro pool player post a message of support for Kevin Trudeau, the convicted scam artist who started the IPT. With friends like that...
Maybe it's pool's history of hustling and cons and gambling, I don't know. But most pool players dont exactly have a track record of sound financial planning.
All I know for sure is there a bunch of players in Vegas who haven't been paid.
Whatever his plan is he couldn't meet payroll for a month.
Thats what I know.
I'm not saying they don't exist, what I'm saying is, they can't exist in the pool world...
because nothing in pool has the potential to explode on a facebook-like scale.
Zuckerberg turned his time + cheap servers into (conservatively) $40 billion.
In the pool world, nothing can return your investment money 1000-fold.
You're way ahead of the curve if you break even.
"Let's take a gamble on this huge underdog" is fine in a volatile field where there are numerous examples
of tiny startups exploding to multimillion dollar companies. The pool world doesn't have those stories.
It makes me kinda wish they'd dumped that money into a safer, more boring bet...
an 8b or 10b league. Bonus ball was always a very long shot.
i havent looked at my email in over a week, or 2. i will check it tonight. sorry:sorry:
thats what Barry said and got banned. i got no beef for him getting banned he was out of line-but he was(so it appears) correct, the money so far isnt there for the payouts, or even payroll. Very sad. i hope what ever Scott was referring to does infact happen.
Yep that's what we all know. And from that we go on the rollercoaster of speculations.
Yup! Speculation is what makes forum life more interesting.
What the players need to do now is draw the line in the sand. If the season resumes on August 1 or whenever, the players should demand that they get paid the 5K each that they are already owed.
The BB players supposedly now have legal representation. The BB players should redraw the terms of their contracts so that if BB fails to deliver in the future, then the players have some recourse.
All of the above is following common sense and standard business practices.
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Nothing has the potential?
How about we do a math experiment?
Bonus Ball gets picked up by a cable channel who agrees to buy 40 weeks. it gets popular and people across America start playing. Bonus ball leagues sprout across the land and within 12 months there are 2 million bb players shipping $10 to bb central every week. In the space of 12 months with exposure bb does what the APA didn't achieve in 20 years.
Is the above scenario possible? I say it is. Is it likely to happen? Of course not. But again the potential is there. If any of us could truly predict the future we would.
Have you ever considered purchasing a laser cue? I haven't. and in fact I once panned them on azb. Would you have bet against launching a company to sell a pool cue with a laser in the tip?
I would have.
But the reality is that one company went ahead with the idea and that cue has sold tens of thousand of units and spawned a general billiard supplies business that combined has generated on the order of 30 million dollars so far. And they aren't even the biggest player in the space.
Banks
Banned
If I had been drinking anything, I would've spit it up laughing right there. :thumbup2:
Well if you had asked me if people would ever watch other people play cards I would have laughed as well.
I mean let's face it there is a lot of stupider crap on TV than bonus ball. Stuff that probably costs a lot more to produce.
Banks
Banned
Good point. Though, in cards, it's easier to find people that'll gamble.
They could always do Real Housewives of Bonus Ball. :thumbup:
I'm not familiar with all the details but my impression was they creator of the thing was hoping it would work.
Maybe I'm naive. I thought Trudeau's IPT was created with the intention of making it work because of internet gambling which congress then made illegal which subsequently ruined his business plan. Not a comment on Trudeau's other activities but his plan could have worked if the internet gambling had remained legal.
Again, maybe I'm naive.
Maybe I'm naive. I thought Trudeau's IPT was created with the intention of making it work because of internet gambling which congress then made illegal which subsequently ruined his business plan. Not a comment on Trudeau's other activities but his plan could have worked if the internet gambling had remained legal.
Again, maybe I'm naive.
I think it's a shame that Bonus Ball is not a huge success. I would only wish the best for anything of this sort to bring interest to the industry. I watched a couple of the broadcasts and just thought it was anything but pool. I did not like anything about it. Seeing the top talent of pool playing this weird pool like game in a Vegesy game show stage style format made me cringe. I don't think this is what pool needs or is looking for. But someone thought it might work, they came they tried, and....history will soon tell.