Why I think like I think about the IPT. I am not and never have been an IPT basher, just an observer and have made a lot of comments that have been attract as well as me personally. If you have read any of what I have written going back to the beginning you find the common thread to be my, "It makes no sense" theme. I am not one who operates on faith or wishful thinking. There has been one glaring problem with the IPT from the start and that has been the defining of what their product was and what it was to be. Here is what I mean by that.
Way back in the beginning I commented on why hasn't there been any marketing of the players and promotion of the IPT outside of the tiny subculture of the pool world, I.E. this web site? Posters and supporters of the IPT have defended them by saying, "they have to wait till they have a few tournaments first". This is completely backwards. You don't wait till a movie has been in the theaters for a few weeks before you tell people about it, you promote the hell out of it first. You have to make people want your product before you can sell it to them and this was never done with the IPT from the start. They can have all the "Get rich quick" affiliate programs and schemes they want but the bottom line is their product is pool and the public will not buy it, at least not now.
Anybody with any history with the sport knows this, pool has a very small hard core following. It would take a very long term plan and an almost indoctrination program to get the public interested. Who have they been doing all this flash for, themselves, us? We already watch pool and have proven historically there isn't enough of us to even support the minimal financial well-being of a professional pool tour, so who is the audience and where are they going to come from and how are they going to develop this fanatical interest that would be required for this to succeed at any reasonable level? This was what they should be asking themselves and it is certainly going to be what any potential sponsor would ask before making any long term commitment. I am talking about a real SPONSOR, one with a commitment, not just someone who bought some one time advertising.
By the way, am I the only one who noticed Vonage, and Emerson no longer appear on the home page of the web site? I suspect they just got sold an ad by a sales person of the IPT and were NEVER any kind of sponsors, just short term advertisers. To make a long story short, NO business on this planet can exist without some positive or at least the potential for a positive cash flow. It is not possible for the IPT continue, their potential for failure from the start has been and still is 100%.
These are my views, it is not meant to be a debate but if I am missing something please tell me what it is because I can't see it any other way and never have. I can sympathize with those that want to believe, but you need to be following someone with a real vision and plan, not a flute.
Way back in the beginning I commented on why hasn't there been any marketing of the players and promotion of the IPT outside of the tiny subculture of the pool world, I.E. this web site? Posters and supporters of the IPT have defended them by saying, "they have to wait till they have a few tournaments first". This is completely backwards. You don't wait till a movie has been in the theaters for a few weeks before you tell people about it, you promote the hell out of it first. You have to make people want your product before you can sell it to them and this was never done with the IPT from the start. They can have all the "Get rich quick" affiliate programs and schemes they want but the bottom line is their product is pool and the public will not buy it, at least not now.
Anybody with any history with the sport knows this, pool has a very small hard core following. It would take a very long term plan and an almost indoctrination program to get the public interested. Who have they been doing all this flash for, themselves, us? We already watch pool and have proven historically there isn't enough of us to even support the minimal financial well-being of a professional pool tour, so who is the audience and where are they going to come from and how are they going to develop this fanatical interest that would be required for this to succeed at any reasonable level? This was what they should be asking themselves and it is certainly going to be what any potential sponsor would ask before making any long term commitment. I am talking about a real SPONSOR, one with a commitment, not just someone who bought some one time advertising.
By the way, am I the only one who noticed Vonage, and Emerson no longer appear on the home page of the web site? I suspect they just got sold an ad by a sales person of the IPT and were NEVER any kind of sponsors, just short term advertisers. To make a long story short, NO business on this planet can exist without some positive or at least the potential for a positive cash flow. It is not possible for the IPT continue, their potential for failure from the start has been and still is 100%.
These are my views, it is not meant to be a debate but if I am missing something please tell me what it is because I can't see it any other way and never have. I can sympathize with those that want to believe, but you need to be following someone with a real vision and plan, not a flute.
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