Pool Player Podcast............... WPA

The only entity in my pool career that has “claimed” to be life changing money was the IPT. They paid 300-500k for first place depending on the event. They “guaranteed” 100k to the last place member for the year. Of course we all know how that ended up.

The point is until MR gets into those kinds of numbers (which were from 2005/6), no one is really making a living from exclusively MR events.
Hardest part of promoting pool is making it accessible. To watch pool live (which is the best way) is near impossible because of time differences and how hard it is to know what's on/ where to find it.

I see these streams with 4k viewers and people say it's impressive. I had 3500 on a Wednesday night when I livestreamed Earl vs Shane from my pool hall using TV Mike. I keep expecting big numbers on some of these streams ....they just aren't there.

Matchroom will make their money on the venue by filling casino rooms, getting 95% pool related only advertising money and monry from DAZN by supplementing programming. I don't see where that is going to lead to the huge payouts. They need the audience before they'll ever attract national and international non pool advertising money.
 
Matchroom will make their money on the venue by filling casino rooms, getting 95% pool related only advertising money and monry from DAZN by supplementing programming. I don't see where that is going to lead to the huge payouts. They need the audience before they'll ever attract national and international non pool advertising money.
Matchroom also has TV coverage on Sky Sports for numerous events.
 
I'm curious about WPBA's financials, I can't locate any information on their web site. I wonder how much of the recent disruption they have brought is due primarily from money flowing in from Predator/CSI events. Those are the only events that I can see would matter to professional players as far as banning is concerned.

Anyone have any idea how to determine how much money WPBA is bringing in and spending?
I suspect you meant something other than the Women's Professional Billiard Association = WPBA
 
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Interesting Mike P says the WPA vote was 5-4 in favor of the ban, with the US and 3 other federations voting no. I’m not certain where that leads, but it can’t be good for the WPA long term if almost half their federations disagree with the operation of the WPA.
Just a matter of time. their little house of cards is about to blow over.
 
Interesting Mike P says the WPA vote was 5-4 in favor of the ban, with the US and 3 other federations voting no. I’m not certain where that leads, but it can’t be good for the WPA long term if almost half their federations disagree with the operation of the WPA.
Yesterday he was asking WPA what the vote was. Today he said it’s 5-4? Did he say how he found that out? (I watched the last half only of today’s podcast live).
 
Interesting Mike P says the WPA vote was 5-4 in favor of the ban, with the US and 3 other federations voting no. I’m not certain where that leads, but it can’t be good for the WPA long term if almost half their federations disagree with the operation of the WPA.

Thats from an American perspective. In a tyranny or dictatorship even more people disagree but have to hold their tongue and bend the knee.
 
Slightly off topic, Predator just announced a few minutes ago a 16 woman, 100k purse invitational event. (I assume free entry but not certain).

The WPA is trying to keep a level playing field for all promoters, IMO.
That's fantastic! Predator has added so much to women's pro pool over the last couple of years and they are taking those efforts to the next level.
 
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A level playing field is nineball on a heyball table. Start thinking like an ACBS official, its the future of the WPA. I am saying the next WPA President will be from the ACBS volunteers.
Heyball is a lot more like snooker than pool and might just belong under IBSF, the snooker arm of WCBS. Most pool players could care less about Heyball.
 
Yesterday he was asking WPA what the vote was. Today he said it’s 5-4? Did he say how he found that out? (I watched the last half only of today’s podcast live).

It was in the first half of the podcast today. Shane Tyree said publicly the US voted against it, and Mike P said he had "sources" that said the vote was 5-4. Europe and Asia driving the ban and apparently Europe was going to implement its own ban if the WPA voted no (like the Asian federation did a few weeks ago).
 
So, if WPA and Matchroom can't work things out, does that mean 9 ball will never be a sanctioned discipline under the IOC umbrella?

Or will Predator start doing WPA sanctioned 9 ball tours/events?
 
I suspect you meant some other than the Women's Professional Billiard Association = WPBA
LOL. I was looking at old posts on this topic and ran across this…
IMG_4324.jpeg
 
It was in the first half of the podcast today. Shane Tyree said publicly the US voted against it, and Mike P said he had "sources" that said the vote was 5-4. Europe and Asia driving the ban and apparently Europe was going to implement its own ban if the WPA voted no (like the Asian federation did a few weeks ago).
I'm confused. Where did 9 come from? The continental bodies (BCA, EPBF, etc.) are confederations of national federations. I thought only the confederations got a vote and there aren't 9 of them.
 
Even if it excludes those that will remain loyal to their WPA organization? Imagine if Filler, Ouschan, the Polish players, were to side with WPA because they receive funding from their government (Just using them as a hypothetical). Would MR really consider it a win if we never saw those guys in a MR event?
One monkey don't stop no show!
 
I'm confused. Where did 9 come from? The continental bodies (BCA, EPBF, etc.) are confederations of national federations. I thought only the confederations got a vote and there aren't 9 of them.

Likewise I don’t know the details, the process is pretty opaque. Perhaps Mike will cover more details in Billiards Digest.
 
Assuming the status of the bans and Matchroom stays the same.

It is possible alternative investors inside countries with sponsored billiard federations begin to develop private Matchroom leagues.

Matchroom is an entertainment model, they can distribute to hotels, lounges and clubs.

WPA is sanctioning body. WPA benefits by competing against Matchroom because they are innovating and updating right now.

The WPA updates are not interesting to players and fans because of the lack of WPA transparency or federation transparency.

Pool players are always out in the open. WPA officials do not make themselves as available as pool players.

The break in the pool ecosystem can be a storm or a growing pain.

Clearly America is uneducated on the power structure of players and federation sponsors.

What power structure is it? Are players part of their federation governance? Or are they disposable and interchangeable worker units?
 
I was like a fly on the wall at the recent world 8ball and even between some pro players the opinion is forming, that WPA had no choice, other than formulating a ban.

I think MR has to react, otherwise WPA will optain opinion leadership on this topic.
 
Maybe actually more than 9.
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Right. Something doesn't add up. If there are 6 continental members, each with 2 votes, that equals 12 total votes. If Asia is preliminary still (unknown to me), they would have 1 vote instead of 2. So the total vote would be either 11 or 12.

Ishaun said on the prior day's interview the vote has to be "4-2" or better for anything to pass. That makes sense in that he was counting federations as having equal weight. 4-2 by federation would translate to 8-4 by vote count, assuming each has 2 votes. 5-4 doesn't make any sense.
 
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