World Pool Championship to leave Saudi!

Jamal Khashoggi--look it up if you don't know what they did to him. We all want higher purses for pool tournaments. but this was always 100% about getting fans of various sports to view Saudi as some sort of benign, sporting kingdom. It was a pact with the devil and pool will be better off elsewhere, along with LIV Golf and everything else the Saudis played PR with.
 
Well there is a war going on in that region.
It’s time to bring it back to Cardiff and it’s glory
 
“The prize money, the prize money”. Sick of hearing about the prize money. Is it good that players can win better purses, and make a living at this game? Yes, but at what price? Frankly tired of MR, Emily, Championships in God forsaken 💩 holes like Qatar, Saudi Arabia etc. World Championships should be held somewhere where those that actually play the game can attend, enjoy and support the game, irrelevant of “the prize money”. If it has to be held in places no one will go in order to get better purses, it’s just not worth the trade off. YMMV
 
skogstokig said:
well that's true, didn't think of that.

still in many ways the most deserving place for it. most pro players, most fans. poverty, crime and politics may be deterrents though
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Florida or Texas might be a good place for it. If Matchroom can afford a venue in NYC that would be ideal.

Wherever it goes, it needs to be somewhere that has a lot of pool fans, like St. Louis. Some of us amateurs actually would like to attend a WPC once in their lifetime. I don't even like watching the stream with a dead crowd, but I do it for the love of the game. It's gotta change.

Matchroom promotes all these exciting venues and events like Hanoi, Phillipines, US Open, Mosconi Cup, where the crowd is ignited and the feel is electric, but when it comes to the biggest most important/prestigious event of the year, it's dead silence for the WPC.
 
SA96 said:
If the prize money is secured for the next 5 years, they should host the event in the USA, and not somewhere like Qatar.

St Louis would be a good place...
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Been professing for years, KS middle of the country, you can fly in, drive or take the train.
My guess, 50 million people live within a days drive from there.
 
Island Drive said:
Been professing for years, KS middle of the country, you can fly in, drive or take the train.
My guess, 50 million people live within a days drive from there.
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We even have a competent local sports authority who helped land World Cup games this summer (we are the smallest city by far to host this year, but have many soccer fans).
 
Major Poker Tournaments rely solely on entry fees.
Adding money does not help create a venue.
Added money helps the top players pay the rent.
 
they should move him over to the baseball hall of fame as there are quite a few fake giants in there for some reason.

it actually was cardiff new york where he was made. 100 percent amercian made
 
maha said:
they should move him over to the baseball hall of fame as there are quite a few fake giants in there for some reason. ...
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Whoever could you be referring to?

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not bonds, he deserves it more than most anyone. but did do the pirates. but it think they even retired his number.
wasnt a new york giant.

so many used some kind of drugs. he just got caught.

now most use adderall and i think that is legal in most sports. some with a prescrption.
simone biles got caught using it. i dont think anything came of it
 
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Kris_b1104 said:
Florida or Texas might be a good place for it. If Matchroom can afford a venue in NYC that would be ideal.

Wherever it goes, it needs to be somewhere that has a lot of pool fans, like St. Louis. Some of us amateurs actually would like to attend a WPC once in their lifetime. I don't even like watching the stream with a dead crowd, but I do it for the love of the game. It's gotta change.

Matchroom promotes all these exciting venues and events like Hanoi, Phillipines, US Open, Mosconi Cup, where the crowd is ignited and the feel is electric, but when it comes to the biggest most important/prestigious event of the year, it's dead silence for the WPC.
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It is not and has never been about geography. The US Open in Atlantic City had big crowds every day. That's not enough because production costs were high enough there that it was hard to make the kind of money sought by the event producer. Hotel convention centers are expensive to book and room night quotas will tend to be high. Hence the move to Texas, where I am sure production costs will be lower.

Does anyone think that Yuma, Arizona, which is less than 10 miles from the Mexican border and is nowhere near any of Arizona's three major cities (Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson) was the chosen site for the upcoming Matchroom major called the Arizona Open because of its geography? Yuma in August? Wow! I'm sure the site was chosen because production cost there will be manageable, opening the door for a profitable event.

Obviously, we all hope events will draw live attendance. Watching the stream of the past World 9ball events in Jeddah was shocking for me. The lack of interest in the event in a city of 3,000,000 was embarrassing. Seeing world champions playing in front of empty arenas was just painful. Despite the large prize fund, it just didn't have the feel of an important event for me and the optics did not serve the sport's image or future well.

The Saudis are to be thanked for the money they brought to the game, but the experiment just did not work and it is time to move on.
 
The announcement certainly solved a big mystery. The 10-year contract ostensibly should have let MR announce a date well in advance - well before the Iran conflict. And yet it didn’t.

The show is going to go on in 2026, just in a new location. I would be shocked if it's skipped. It's one of MR's three crown jewels. No WPC this year would be a severe blow to the WNT.

June is probably too soon and August thru October are pretty much booked. July has the most open dates. Mid-November is another good option.

As for the location, I would bet on either Germany or Vietnam. The US and Spain are possible too. Doubt it will be a new, untested location.

During the most recent European Open in Sarajevo, one of the WNT announcers casually mentioned how Matchroom could host a future event in Fulda, Germany again. Fulda was the home of the first few European opens.

The Hanoi Open has also not been announced. Maybe the delay is partly tied to the WPC situation.

Perhaps Vietnam could be the new future home of the WPC. if not longer term, then at least for this year.

Germany is a more central location, but Hanoi brings more fans and is closer to Asian players with less money to travel.

PS: I just remembered, Frazer traveled to Qatar last November during the non-WNT affiliated Qatar Open, right after the end of the Philippines Open. I was surprised to see her there, and wondered why. It's still a mystery, but could be WPC related.
 
spartan said:
As expected

There is talk that WPC would be moved back to Qatar especially since WPA tight with QBSF :ROFLMAO:
Huge blow to WNT , this is jewel in their crown. This could be start of the downsizing of WNT.
Without WPC, US Open is only event will really attract players and fans. Their other Open events like European Open have been disaster. Reyes Cup was super underwhelming did not deliver the fanspectacle they were hoping for. And MC has become a joke, rewarding those who fall in line and their buddies while penalising rebels
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The Hanoi Open has been a huge success despite the flooding last year.

The Florida Open was a big success last year.

The Philippines Open had a strong first showing.

All of these events were better attended than most or all of Predator's events.

WNT has issues, no doubt, but it's not falling apart. I would be surprised if its bigger foray into the US doesn't turn into good success, too.
 
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