2009 Los Angeles Open

jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Okay here's the deal. I want to produce an All Around event in Los Angeles next year. I feel like men's pro pool needs something. There is a complete lack of quality events for the top men to play in. I mean, after the U.S. Open and DCC, what's left. There are a few good 25K added events put on by Mike Zuglan, Shannon Daulton and Mike Janis, and that's about it. Then you have the regional tours with two to five thousand added events, with the Seminole Tour being the lone exception.

I want to produce a Major tournament in Los Angeles with major prize money. I'm talking $60,000 in added money. It would look something like this.

Bank Pool - $225 entry fee - Limited to 64 players - $10,000 Added
With a full field, first prize would be $7,500

One Pocket - $325 entry fee - Limited to 96 players - $15,000 Added
With a full field, first prize would be $15,000

Ten Ball - $425 entry fee - Limited to 128 players - $25,000 Added
With a full field, first prize would be $20,000

Plus a $10,000 bonus fund that is distributed to the top three players overall.
$5,000 to first, $3,000 to second and $2,000 to third.

It's possible (but highly unlikely) for one player to win $47,500. I wouldn't be surprised if someone wins over 30K though. And several players may win 10K or more.

The entire event would last nine days, with the first five days devoted to Bank Pool and One Pocket. The last four days would be Ten Ball.

I'm projecting an overall budget of $100,000 to stage this event. I would be willing to put up $50,000 of my own money. I need another 50K to pull it off. I am looking for 25 partners to put up $2,000 each. They would each own 2% of the gross revenues the event brought in. Of course someone could buy a larger share. It is basically one point for $1,000.

Now for the risk assessment on this investment. YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT MAKE ANY MONEY! And neither will I. The best case scenario is realistically we break even or make a small profit. And the worst case scenario is you may get back only half your investment.

Projected income is as follows:
Live gate - $40,000 to $80,000. I'm looking at all day passes of $20. And a season pass of $120.

Exhibitor and Vendor income - $15,000 to $30,000. Ten foot booths that rent for $750 each.

Registration fees - $5,000 to $7,000. It all depends on how many players we get in each event.

Hotel rebates - $0 to $10,000. Totally a factor of what I can negotiate. Bottom line, we must get the ballroom for free based on room rentals.

Sponsor income - $1,000 to $20,000. Again dependent on what can be negotiated.

Table rental income - $3,000 to $6,000. This for after hours play on the sixteen tournament tables.

DVD sales - $10,000 to $25,000. There is a cost factor on this, so it is not gross income. Whether I produce the DVD's or have an outside company do it, we will get a piece of this pie.

So as you can see, the worst case scenario is that we all lose some money, me more than anyone else. I don't mind losing a few dollars, but I sure don't want to blow twenty or twenty five thou. The best case scenario is that we all make a few dollars, and put on a helluva event. NO ONE is going to get rich off this one!

Each investor gets two free passes to the event. That's it, sorry. We need that gate! All investors will get a full accounting of all expenses and all income. If it comes in under budget, the left over money will be considered as income. If it goes over budget, that is on me to make up. The investors still own their full shares. All investors will receive their full accounting plus a check within thirty days of the conclusion of the event. Supplemental income on DVD sales will be paid in quarterly intervals.

Investors will not be expected to do anything other than invest their money. The actual organization and conducting of the event will be up to me. Of course if any investors would like to help in some capacity, that would be a welcome bonus for all concerned. We will need personnel manning the box office, the doors and at the tournament proper. The fewer hired workers, the better the bottom line.

Okay first question. :)
 
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Think you have a great idea Jay, with you good reputation for delivery what you say you will do, I am sure competitors will flock from around the globe to you event. Good luck to you with this venture.

Buy the way where are you projecting the venue be Hollywood Billiards, or a Hotel with a big convention/ball room arrangement.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Think you have a great idea Jay, with you good reputation for delivery what you say you will do, I am sure competitors will flock from around the globe to you event. Good luck to you with this venture.

Buy the way where are you projecting the venue be Hollywood Billiards, or a Hotel with a big convention/ball room arrangement.
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It will definitely be in a hotel. I have a good relationship with several large hotels from past events in Los Angeles. I also have a good rating with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. A must if you are producing events in Los Angeles County. I can be contacted directly at jayhelfert@yahoo.com
 
Rubyron said:
If KT shows up, will he be escorted off the premises? :p

Seriously, with you at the helm, I predict this event will successful. I might have to travel down to spectate.
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He can come, as long as he brings all those ringer spectators he knows, and they all pay of course.
 
Jay- What can you do to assure that your dates dont get stepped on?

and give the investors one pass-2 if they work the event.
 
A great idea and we sorely needed a true annual Open on the West Coast worth of the name. Some ideas and comments:

jay helfert said:
It's possible (but highly unlikely) for one player to win $47,500.
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So presumably you are going to ban Efren Reyes :-)

jay helfert said:
The entire event would last nine days, with the first five days devoted to Bank Pool and One Pocket. The last four days would be Ten Ball.
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Personally I'd suggest getting the scale down to where it fits within 7 or preferably 6 days. It will be hard to get a decent sized venue willing to give you more time than that in their schedule for relatively little return. Pool is a very hard sell to anyone in the business world. You can always expand the event in future years if it takes off like the DCC.

jay helfert said:
I am looking for 25 partners to put up $2,000 each. They would each own 2% of the gross revenues the event brought in. Of course someone could buy a larger share. It is basically one point for $1,000.
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I like this, but it would be simpler to say you are selling a maximum of 50 shares at $1,000 each and let investors chose their level of investment.

jay helfert said:
Investors will not be expected to do anything other than invest their money. The actual organization and conducting of the event will be up to me. Of course if any investors would like to help in some capacity, that would be a welcome bonus for all concerned.
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Investors may also want a say in how it is organized, run, rules, location, equipment used, player seeding etc. How will you handle this?

Other than these questions, the most important things I don't see you mention are:

1) DATE - Isn't there still a UPA annual tournament in the LA area around January? You have to not compete with big Pro tournaments if you want the big Pros at your tournament.

2) PROMOTION - I don't see anything in your budget for promoting the tournament itself.

3) LOCATION - It cannot be stressed enough how vital it is to have the correct location with enough resources to handle the volume of people required to get a decent gate income, space for lots of booths (which will attract people in and of themselves if there are enough of them, like the old LA Expo) but not so large that you end up paying for lots of unused space. You also will need lots of accomodation close by, no-one from out of town will want to have to drive in LA if they can avoid it.

4) AMATEUR EVENTS/EXPO - If you really want to have a lot of people paying to hang around for 10 days you need to provide them something else to do other than watching loser bracket games all day long. I only went to the last one, but again the old LA expo had lots of booths and an amateur bar-table event to keep us hacks happy. You can also look at the DCC model with lots of tables available for "ad-hoc" games ;-) Otherwise you can expect no more than a handful of people on the gate on anything other than the finals days of the 10-ball event.

5) Whut, no Straight Pool?

With the right planning behind it I might well be an investor myself!
 
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I'd be happy to invest $2,000 in your idea, Jay. Contact me when your idea comes closer to fruition.
 
I forgot one:

6) TV - DVD/Internet sales are nice, but nothing appeals to potential sponsors like actual TV. The UPA did this for at least one of their LA tournaments (2005 IIRC) Yes, you have to pay ESPN to do this, and you may have to conform to their time requirements, but few sponsors outside the limited world of Billiards marketing are going to impressed by the idea of a few thousand DVD sales.
 
AuntyDan said:
A great idea and we sorely needed a true annual Open on the West Coast worth of the name. Some ideas and comments:



So presumably you are going to ban Efren Reyes :-)



Personally I'd suggest getting the scale down to where it fits within 7 or preferably 6 days. It will be hard to get a decent sized venue willing to give you more time than that in their schedule for relatively little return. Pool is a very hard sell to anyone in the business world. You can always expand the event in future years if it takes off like the DCC.



I like this, but it would be simpler to say you are selling a maximum of 50 shares at $1,000 each and let investors chose their level of investment.



Investors may also want a say in how it is organized, run, rules, location, equipment used, player seeding etc. How will you handle this?

Other than these questions, the most important things I don't see you mention are:

1) DATE - Isn't there still a UPA annual tournament in the LA area around January? You have to not compete with big Pro tournaments if you want the big Pros at your tournament.

2) PROMOTION - I don't see anything in your budget for promoting the tournament itself.

3) LOCATION - It cannot be stressed enough how vital it is to have the correct location with enough resources to handle the volume of people required to get a decent gate income, space for lots of booths (which will attract people in and of themselves if there are enough of them, like the old LA Expo) but not so large that you end up paying for lots of unused space. You also will need lots of accomodation close by, no-one from out of town will want to have to drive in LA if they can avoid it.

4) AMATEUR EVENTS/EXPO - If you really want to have a lot of people paying to hang around for 10 days you need to provide them something else to do other than watching loser bracket games all day long. I only went to the last one, but again the old LA expo had lots of booths and an amateur bar-table event to keep us hacks happy. You can also look at the DCC model with lots of tables available for "ad-hoc" games ;-) Otherwise you can expect no more than a handful of people on the gate on anything other than the finals days of the 10-ball event.

5) Whut, no Straight Pool?

With the right planning behind it I might well be an investor myself!
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Many good questions here. First of all I want you all to know this won't be my first rodeo! :smile:

The best way to protect your dates is to make sure everyone in the pool world knows what they are long in advance, and you don't step on anyone else's dates. This is very doable.

I can and have gotten nine days in a major hotel before. You are right, it isn't easy, but it can be done. We NEED nine days for this event for a couple of reasons. One, it is an All Around with three separate tournaments. Second we need the gate receipts to recoup our investment. Sorry to sound capitalistic but that's the reality.

I am familiar with most of the large hotels in the Los Angeles area, and have done events at several of them. I'm quite aware of what kind of space is required to do an event of this nature.

There is $60,000 in the budget for added money and $40,000 for everything else. I do most of my own press releases and prepare my own Ads. That saves quite a bit of money. I also answer phones and handle entries and other fees. All money will go into one bank account set up for this event. Where I need the most help is during the event itself.

I think any potential investor is sophisticated enough to know what he is buying into and how much his share is worth. I will not ask anyone for money until I have a location and dates. That is when the event really begins.

There will be NO amateur tournaments at this event. It is for professional players! There is a big enough following in Southern California to fill a 1,000 seat arena (and maybe more). And I know how to reach this crowd. I have a very extensive mailing list. I may even place an Ad or two in the Los Angeles area newspapers.

I welcome input from all my investors but ultimately I will make the final decisions. Yes, I am the Chief of this tribe. :smile:

And yes, NO Straight Pool. Sorry if this offends anyone, but Straight Pool is just not the draw on the West Coast that it is back East.
 
AuntyDan said:
I forgot one:

6) TV - DVD/Internet sales are nice, but nothing appeals to potential sponsors like actual TV. The UPA did this for at least one of their LA tournaments (2005 IIRC) Yes, you have to pay ESPN to do this, and you may have to conform to their time requirements, but few sponsors outside the limited world of Billiards marketing are going to impressed by the idea of a few thousand DVD sales.
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We are not in a position to pay $40,000+ in production costs to get on ESPN. If they (or any other network) wants to shoot this event, they will be paying us!

The purpose of DVD sales is not to attract sponsors, although it won't hurt either. The purpose is to create additional revenue. Did I say capitalism somewhere before? I want to create revenue streams, not additional expenses.

I kind of want to bill this as,

THE LOS ANGELES OPEN
& All Around Pocket Billiards Championship
 
It still sounds like a good idea anyway. If you know that it's not right for the market then that's fine. I do think you might not get people from the East Coast without including Straight Pool.

I will still think about investing in it. After all, if we can't help pool from the inside why would people from outside help us?
 
sjm said:
I'd be happy to invest $2,000 in your idea, Jay. Contact me when your idea comes closer to fruition.
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Thank you Stu. You're number three. Seventeen to go and I start looking for a location. :smile:
 
hotel

would there possibly be any room discount for spectators with advance purchased event tickets (or purchased at the door) ??
 
Chris_Lynch said:
It still sounds like a good idea anyway. If you know that it's not right for the market then that's fine. I do think you might not get people from the East Coast without including Straight Pool.

I will still think about investing in it. After all, if we can't help pool from the inside why would people from outside help us?
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What I've learned from producing quite a few tournaments in Southern California is that most (85-90%) of your spectators come from within a 100 mile radius. In that 100 mile radius I have 15,000,000 people to draw from. I'm very happy to have 1,000 of them come each day. That sir, is a $20,000 gate!

Fifteen years ago, I did the first Los Angeles Open at the Burbank Hilton Convention Center (a 25,000 square foot facility). We had seating in two arenas for approximately 1,200 people and we filled it twice, at $10 a seat. The $72,000 gate we did there (in 1992) saved my ass. I lost money on that event but learned many valuable lessons.
 
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Meezer Girl said:
would there possibly be any room discount for spectators with advance purchased event tickets (or purchased at the door) ??
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We will get a room rate for attendees. I have no idea what I can negotiate at this point in time.
 
jay helfert said:
I will not ask anyone for money until I have a location and dates. That is when the event really begins.
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Thanks for the detailed answers. The once thing I'm confused by is this. I assumed you wanted to have the 50% investment capitol before you book anything? Or do you just want people to promise they will invest IF you are able to guarantee a suitable place and time?

I do not know your personal history promoting events, perhaps you can share some of it here?
 
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