After speaking to the BCA they said they are following the WPA guidelines and would not recognize any Russian players. The Legends Of Pocket Billiards will allow all Russian Players to play in the High Run Events and Challenge matches. If any of them in the Mens or Womens division set any World Records they will be awarded 100% of the prizes from us.
The BCA has never had any authority when it comes to who can participate in exhibitions. The Legends is an exhibition, not a tournament. In fact, the Legends, no matter how much money was put up, would still not qualify for sanctioning as it has stated limits on participation to those having won a world championship of some kind, and even this kind of stratification is disallowed under existing rules for sanctioned events. The current ban does not pertain to unsanctioned events. The addition of challenge matches (which we haven't seen in the Legends event) wouldn't change any of this, either, because it would remain an exhibition.
Thankfully, to this point, nobody has even tried to ban the Russians from any US-based unsanctioned event, and if it were to ever happen, all hell would break loose. As we've seen, those staging unsanctioned events in America have welcomed Fedor and Kristina with open arms, and properly so.
The BCA, not unexpectedly, is acting exactly as WPA is, following a policy with which they have openly disagreed because they feel bound by the WCBS (World Confederation of Billiard Sports) decision on the ban. I believe the ban will be lifted when WCBS meets in July, but we shall see.
That said, Bobby, at least in theory, you could ban them from your event, but you'd be way out of line. Nonetheless, your stated policy of paying them if they were to be successful no matter what outside contingencies were to arise is beneficent and should give Fedor and Krisitna a comfort level should they choose to participate.
Thumbs up to Bobby, a principled businessman, but not to the BCA, which continues to uphold a ban with which nearly all of us are greatly dissatisfied.