jay helfert said:Okay first question.
Where do I sign up?
2009 Los Angeles Open
- Thread starter jay helfert
- Start date
Where do I sign up?
CocoboloCowboy said:
Please read my post number 1 and 69. This is definitely not a Trudough "Get Rich Quick" scheme and it is NOT the best place to invest your money. I only want investors who will not mind losing a few bucks in helping to produce a great event.
I don't think anyone without an extra twenty grand laying in a bank account should invest in this. I wouldn't!
jay helfert said:
Count me in for a half share. I think this is a great idea
Count me in
Jay,
I can bring you a cashiers check when I see you at the "Swanee". If things come together before then I will mail it to you.
I can also certainly plaster posters all over San Diego County for you. If you use the Fed Ex Kinko's link up idea then I would be looking to pick them up from the 5304 Jackson Dr, La Mesa 91941 location
Fran
Jay,
I can bring you a cashiers check when I see you at the "Swanee". If things come together before then I will mail it to you.
I can also certainly plaster posters all over San Diego County for you. If you use the Fed Ex Kinko's link up idea then I would be looking to pick them up from the 5304 Jackson Dr, La Mesa 91941 location
Fran
jay helfert said: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.
Jay,
The other think you can't forget is the internet presence. Actually you can team up with bwin.com to have the games broadcasted and payed for like they do on the Eurotour. Bwin might even want to sponsor the event as well. Let me know if you need any help since I am a web developer myself.
Meezer Girl said:
Fran, I'm glad you see the benefit to the FED EX KINKO'S as an output resource to be utilized. I can send one file from my computer to any KINKO'S PRINTER location in the U.S. Volunteers like yourself could collect them from THEIR LOCAL KINKO'S and distribute them to local pool halls. It could be a little hassle getting the right number of brochures needed for each city but it is cheaper than sending them out via postal service.
Maybe a thread could be started to assemble volunteers to pick up flyers from KINKO's in each city that is interested in distributing them.
Extra copies should be kept for souvenirs and for autographing at the tournament. They might even be a market for them depending upon how nice they look.
It sounds like a great event in the making. I'll get some cost estimates together to see how much black and white cost versus color.
JoeyA
JoeyA said:
Joey
Just curious as to what you would think the return would be in putting out the flyer/posters across the country??
Not your personal return but rather what do you think you would gain out of placing the posters all over the US?
I think blanketing the SOCal and west in general would be very worthwhile but am wondering how much a poster in GA or NJ would really help. Just looking at the return on the investment. Posters, especially good ones, are not very cheap.
Perhaps this could be the AZ posters contribution to Jay's project. A grassroots funded and distributed project with Jay signing off on it.
Maybe I am way off in my estimates on poster numbers and costs. What do you think 1000 posters in good quality and in a decent size would cost?
Also if something changes and you can not provide tournament boards I can handle those on my end. Not 100% sure as to what size Jay would want the boards.
Hope Ike doesnt make a trip your way!! My relatives are still without electric from Gustav.
Meezer Girl said:
Thanks Fran and thank you Chris too. We are a lonnng way from putting any money up. I will not ask anyone who commits to this for any money until a location and date have been secured. We now have commitments for seven full shares and two half shares. That is a total of $16,000 committed toward the 50K we need to pull this thing off.
We have a long way to go, but I am beginning to think this grass roots campaign to bring big time pool back to SoCal might work. We have raised $16,000 in two days. AMAZING! Somehow I feel that if we can keep this thread alive a miracle will happen. Can you imagine a major tournament created on an internet forum? Too cool!
And the outpouring of support has been amazing too. So many people already offering their help. And trust me, I am taking down all your names and I won't hesitate to put you to work when the time comes. And just like the Geico commercial, you'll each get your own cool badge with your name on it! :smile:
THANKS EVERYONE!
Like Frank, I believe the biggest draw for this tournament, spectator wise, will come from Southern California number one and the West Coast number two. There will be a smattering of hard core pool fanatics that will fly in from out of state. As far as the players go, they can and will come from anywhere and everywhere. That's their job.
It would be VERY beneficial if I had someone in every city in SoCal assisting me in getting the word out, by distributing our publicity material in their area. Same goes for major cities out West like Phoenix, Vegas, Sacramento, San Francisco, etc. Anything within one days drive or a one hour flight is close enough to be a factor.
As far as distributing flyers and posters in the rest of the country, I'm not sure the cost factor would make it worthwhile. Posters aren't cheap. A printing of 1,000 could easily cost $2,000. And then you have mailing costs. I'd prefer to advertise nationally in billiard publications and with flyers handed out at major pool tourneys. Anywhere you can reach the players is good.
My preference once again is to saturate the S. California market. That is where we will get the biggest response. And there are enough pool fans and general sports fans to fill a 1,000 seat arena, IF they know about it. And that's always the challenge.
When we did the first L.A. Open in 1992, we ran 2 one-eighth page Ads in the Los Angeles Times and also placed it in several other major SoCal newspapers. The response was off the hook. We had two phones and they rang all day long. It is possible to draw people to a pool tournament, if you don't keep it a secret.
There's an old saying that is appropriate here. You have to spend money to make money. In 1992 we spent an unheard of $15,000 on advertising, $10,000 of it in local newspapers. And it worked, that's all I know. There are people out there who like pool and would pay to see the world's greatest players. Just make sure they know they're in town! :wink:
It would be VERY beneficial if I had someone in every city in SoCal assisting me in getting the word out, by distributing our publicity material in their area. Same goes for major cities out West like Phoenix, Vegas, Sacramento, San Francisco, etc. Anything within one days drive or a one hour flight is close enough to be a factor.
As far as distributing flyers and posters in the rest of the country, I'm not sure the cost factor would make it worthwhile. Posters aren't cheap. A printing of 1,000 could easily cost $2,000. And then you have mailing costs. I'd prefer to advertise nationally in billiard publications and with flyers handed out at major pool tourneys. Anywhere you can reach the players is good.
My preference once again is to saturate the S. California market. That is where we will get the biggest response. And there are enough pool fans and general sports fans to fill a 1,000 seat arena, IF they know about it. And that's always the challenge.
When we did the first L.A. Open in 1992, we ran 2 one-eighth page Ads in the Los Angeles Times and also placed it in several other major SoCal newspapers. The response was off the hook. We had two phones and they rang all day long. It is possible to draw people to a pool tournament, if you don't keep it a secret.
There's an old saying that is appropriate here. You have to spend money to make money. In 1992 we spent an unheard of $15,000 on advertising, $10,000 of it in local newspapers. And it worked, that's all I know. There are people out there who like pool and would pay to see the world's greatest players. Just make sure they know they're in town! :wink:
jay helfert said:Like Frank, I believe the biggest draw for this tournament, spectator wise, will come from Southern California number one and the West Coast number two. There will be a smattering of hard core pool fanatics that will fly in from out of state. As far as the players go, they can and will come from anywhere and everywhere. That's their job.
It would be VERY beneficial if I had someone in every city in SoCal assisting me in getting the word out, by distributing our publicity material in their area. Same goes for major cities out West like Phoenix, Vegas, Sacramento, San Francisco, etc. Anything within one days drive or a one hour flight is close enough to be a factor.
As far as distributing flyers and posters in the rest of the country, I'm not sure the cost factor would make it worthwhile. Posters aren't cheap. A printing of 1,000 could easily cost $2,000. And then you have mailing costs. I'd prefer to advertise nationally in billiard publications and with flyers handed out at major pool tourneys. Anywhere you can reach the players is good.
My preference once again is to saturate the S. California market. That is where we will get the biggest response. And there are enough pool fans and general sports fans to fill a 1,000 seat arena, IF they know about it. And that's always the challenge.
When we did the first L.A. Open in 1992, we ran 2 one-eighth page Ads in the Los Angeles Times and also placed it in several other major SoCal newspapers. The response was off the hook. We had two phones and they rang all day long. It is possible to draw people to a pool tournament, if you don't keep it a secret.
There's an old saying that is appropriate here. You have to spend money to make money. In 1992 we spent an unheard of $15,000 on advertising, $10,000 of it in local newspapers. And it worked, that's all I know. There are people out there who like pool and would pay to see the world's greatest players. Just make sure they know they're in town! :wink:
Jay
What do live remote with radio stations cost? Are they cost effective. Here I listen to Frosty, Heidi and frank on 97.1 and they are constantly making appearances and have quite a listening base. The station also has
Tom Leykis. I would think that that network would cover quite a large range of pool fans. Not sure what a remote or plain old advertising would cost.
I wouldnt worry about blanketing SoCal with flyers and posters. There is a strong network of people you know here that will assist in getting that done. Myself I travel all over from Bakersfield to San Diego to Vegas for work so I can hit many places.
I know it will be a pain to be forced to go into many pool rooms/bars :grin: but I think I can manage.
I am a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles so i can get some flyers to those locations. Every lodge I have been to in SoCal has tables and I believe we are about to start a challenge series between lodges.
Take a HIKE IKE!
If the posters are distributed enough time in advance to pool halls outside of the California area, you will pick up some players and spectators that might not otherwise consider going. If it during the summertime or close to some holidays, people from out of state might be more inclined to go to the tournament as a treat to themselves or family members who play pool.
I was very surprised at the number of spectators from out of state at the U.S. OPen 9 Ball Championships last year.
Blanketing SoCal is definitely the core place you want to concentrate but players coming in from out of state are a big plus and add lots of flavor to a tournament.
Do you have access to a roll printer that can print PDF files 3 foot by 4 foot? If so, I can send you the file after Jay reviews it and you can print those locally and hand delivery those puppies.
I'd show you a picture of the front of my house if I had a way of simply attaching it. Gustav snapped a 2 1/2 foot diameter tree in half (it was partially rotten) and laid it on the front part of my house causing 3% damage to my house (which is right at the hurricane deductible). I think they paid me $9.12 over the deductible. Sorry to hear about your relatives still without electricity. Conditions are improving FAST.
IKE is headed west of us we hope. WOO-HOO! Sorry about that Texas, Mexico etc. We just have been beat up too badly and worried too much to take another beating so soon.
Let me know if you have access to a printing device that can print 3 foot roll paper by any length. Thanks for the offer and ideas.
All is good here in New Orleans. Take a hike, IKE!
JoeyA
frankncali said:
If the posters are distributed enough time in advance to pool halls outside of the California area, you will pick up some players and spectators that might not otherwise consider going. If it during the summertime or close to some holidays, people from out of state might be more inclined to go to the tournament as a treat to themselves or family members who play pool.
I was very surprised at the number of spectators from out of state at the U.S. OPen 9 Ball Championships last year.
Blanketing SoCal is definitely the core place you want to concentrate but players coming in from out of state are a big plus and add lots of flavor to a tournament.
Do you have access to a roll printer that can print PDF files 3 foot by 4 foot? If so, I can send you the file after Jay reviews it and you can print those locally and hand delivery those puppies.
I'd show you a picture of the front of my house if I had a way of simply attaching it. Gustav snapped a 2 1/2 foot diameter tree in half (it was partially rotten) and laid it on the front part of my house causing 3% damage to my house (which is right at the hurricane deductible). I think they paid me $9.12 over the deductible. Sorry to hear about your relatives still without electricity. Conditions are improving FAST.
IKE is headed west of us we hope. WOO-HOO! Sorry about that Texas, Mexico etc. We just have been beat up too badly and worried too much to take another beating so soon.
Let me know if you have access to a printing device that can print 3 foot roll paper by any length. Thanks for the offer and ideas.
All is good here in New Orleans. Take a hike, IKE!
JoeyA
Jay -
If I had that extra 20k layin around, I would be more than happy to help out financially. Hell, I would probably invest more than just 2k...but, on top of struggling like everybody else, I'm still trying to get my Straight Pool Project off the ground. I think it's great what you're trying to do for pool in our area. Lord knows it has taken a bad turn lately. PLEASE give me call and/ or email me and let me know if there is any other way I can help.
BTW -
As a promoter, If I could only accomplish a fraction of what you have done for pool, I would consider myself a success.
I got a kick out of the resume you responded with earlier...lol! That was great. :lol:
If I had that extra 20k layin around, I would be more than happy to help out financially. Hell, I would probably invest more than just 2k...but, on top of struggling like everybody else, I'm still trying to get my Straight Pool Project off the ground. I think it's great what you're trying to do for pool in our area. Lord knows it has taken a bad turn lately. PLEASE give me call and/ or email me and let me know if there is any other way I can help.
BTW -
As a promoter, If I could only accomplish a fraction of what you have done for pool, I would consider myself a success.
I got a kick out of the resume you responded with earlier...lol! That was great. :lol:
frankncali said:
Your the BEST Frank! God, if there were only ten more like you! I would love to have any radio station do a remote from the event, if they deem it newsworthy. But I won't get into paying crews to come out and do coverage.
At the 1992 L.A. Open, three local television stations came out and did sports reports on the happenings, and one even did their 11 o'clock sports news from our site. They did the entire sports show with the pool tourney going on in the background. No cost to us other than press releases and follow up phone calls.
JoeyA said:
Without going into all the details at this time, I would say approx. $90-100,000. With 90,000 being an extremely low number. It will probably come in at just under or just over 100K.
$60,000 right off the top goes into the purse. High rise bleachers for 1,000 people will be around 10K. Tables, chairs and pipe & drape for 40 vendors about $3-4,000. Publicity and advertising, 15K or more. Tournament personnel $4-5,000. Printing and distribution of printed material $2,500+. Licenses $1,000. Audio-visual support $3-4,000. Oops, there went my budget!
I may be able to cut corners on some of this, like advertising and personnel if I can get some volunteer help. Audio-Visual at hotels is expensive, but they are the only ones who can help prepare the room for a big event. You're usually paying 2-3 guys $65/hr. in L.A. I know that I need the full 100K to pull this thing off right, and I'm still scrimping.
What I have going for me is the experience to know where I can save money, and what are the pitfalls to look out for.
Good news! We just got someone who is committing to five points total. That's 5K. We have commitments for 21K now. Keep those cards and letters coming!
SloRoller said:
Thanks SR. If you read my first post again, you'll see that each investor gets two free passes. I spoke with the Burbank Marriott today, formerly the Burbank Hilton. I have done two events there in the past. They have a 25,000 square foot Convention Center attached.
They found some dates for me from June 26 to July 6. I must guarantee them 900 room nights at $149 a night to get the Convention Center for $1,000 a day. I'm not sure this is doable. I love their facility, but I plan to keep looking.