any ideas on a 'play the pro' event?

[gabesmom]

How big of a town is it in? I did not see anyone suggest that the challenger should get to break, it would probably be the only shot most people get. As for the cue, I thought Gabe's dad was a cuemaker (Shurtz Cues?), he should be able to finish over the autographs. You may also want to have a cue raffle, get pretty young ladies to carry the cue around selling tickets. If it is a big town, there might be enough interest, to make a killing. Is the prize cue, a Shurtz? We might all have to start planning some vacation time, sounds like fun.

Tracy

Hi RSB, yes, his dad is sponsoring the grand prize of an autographed cue. He said they need to sign it before he finishes it up, so I guess that is what you are talking about (finish over the cue) because I wasn't sure what he meant. The town is only about 15000, but there will be about 30-50,000 come thru for the festival, so should have a good turnout. It's the 21st annual festival. We are going to get the word out thru league newsletters, etc. also. And of course we can get alot of media coverage. It's just the actual handling of it, prizes, costs to play the pros, etc. that we are trying to figure out. We are getting awesome ideas from everyone on this thread!! Thanks!

 

[gabesmom]

There are no losers, only "winner-challenged"

Oops, I just hadn't heard it put that way, but you're right! I'll tell Gabe that, because he & Corey just became hugely 'winner-challenged' yesterday at the golf course!

 

[RSB-Refugee]

Hi RSB, yes, his dad is sponsoring the grand prize of an autographed cue.

Will you put us in the drawing, if we send $5 and an address? You could get a little capital for T-shirts and key-chains that way.

He said they need to sign it before he finishes it up, so I guess that is what you are talking about (finish over the cue) because I wasn't sure what he meant.

The ink will smear and rub off, unless it is underneath the clear coat finish.

Tracy

 

[gabesmom]

Will you put us in the drawing, if we send $5 and an address? You could get a little capital for T-shirts and key-chains that way.


The ink will smear and rub off, unless it is underneath the clear coat finish.

Tracy

Now that's a novel thought...get entries by mail! Will have to give that some thought! Maybe we can get them to play people on the road between now and then and turn the entry money in when they get here in October!! haha

 

[sjm]

I once played Mike Sigel in a shoot the pros event in the late 1980's. If you beat him, a polaroid of you and Mike was taken and Mike autographed it. Sad to say, he beat me that time.

In another shoot the pro event, iu=in about 1997, the pro was George Breedlove and if you beat him , you won a certificate that was good for $10 of free table time at the local poolroom. I had him hooked on the five and he kicked it in and ran out. That was quite discouraging.

 

[gabesmom]

I once played Mike Sigel in a shoot the pros event in the late 1980's. If you beat him, a polaroid of you and Mike was taken and Mike autographed it. Sad to say, he beat me that time.

In another shoot the pro event, iu=in about 1997, the pro was George Breedlove and if you beat him , you won a certificate that was good for $10 of free table time at the local poolroom. I had him hooked on the five and he kicked it in and ran out. That was quite discouraging.

Some here have discussed possibly taking photos, we would sure like to implement that somehow. What we have thought of so far for the basics is people pay to play, either $5 or $10 or price by age group so kids could play too. Losers or 'winner-challenged' I should say, will get some kind of a prize/souvenir just for playing, (these may be a combination of items in the bucket, donated items from local businesses/restaurants/pool halls/ etc, whether it be free pool time somewhere, or free ice cream coupons, or possibly those keychain things, we haven't figured all that out yet. And the winners would also get a souvenir too, but in addition, would get their name put in the drawing for the bigger prizes, including the cue stick, as well as larger prizes donated by merchants. We just found out tonight that in Kansas, a raffle drawing is illegal if there is 'consideration', meaning that they would have to pay a certain amount to be in the drawing. So we have to say 'suggested donation' of the $5.00 (maybe for the kids) or $10 (for the adults) or whatever we end up pricing it at to play the pro. So we have to get those ducks in a row. But the Festival committee tonight approved the event, and we don't have to worry about the temporary floor being put in now for the pool tables that are being donated. The Festival committee is moving the Church's set-up off the concrete area (the pavillion) and into a tent, and letting us have the pavillion that has the concrete floor!! Yeah!! It has a roof over a concrete floor, no walls around, so we just have to have tarp available in case of inclement weather that we can put 'walls' up and around in case it rains or cold winds, etc.! I don't think the boys know what they are in for!! (well, Gabe does, he knows that park) So keep these ideas coming, I know we plan to be using alot of them!! Thanks to all of you!!

 

[StormHotRod300]

Well, the first thing i would do, is make it so the person paying to play Gabe, or Corey gets to break. That way gabe and corey are not running racks all day long. Or, you could give the payer the opening break, plus ball in hand to have the first shot on the table, even if the person makes a ball, or scratches.

And the idea's for pictures is good too, you could have them taken either before or after the match, and raffling off the Cue that has thier autograph is a plus too. like with Corey you could make it a 5280 cue, which i think is still sponsering him. I bought a 5280 sneaky pete for 100$ so its not a monster investment for this event.

 

[gabesmom]

Well, the first thing i would do, is make it so the person paying to play Gabe, or Corey gets to break. That way gabe and corey are not running racks all day long. Or, you could give the payer the opening break, plus ball in hand to have the first shot on the table, even if the person makes a ball, or scratches.

And the idea's for pictures is good too, you could have them taken either before or after the match, and raffling off the Cue that has thier autograph is a plus too. like with Corey you could make it a 5280 cue, which i think is still sponsering him. I bought a 5280 sneaky pete for 100$ so its not a monster investment for this event.

I think you're right about the break thing. I'll be sure & tell them. I talked to Gabe last night, told him & Corey about so many of you on AZB are helping me out tremendously with your fabulous ideas. They thought that was cool.
I believe we are getting close to having most of the major details put together. Just a few things we're waiting on. We have about 6 months to work on it & begin promoting it. I'll be sure & let Mike at AZB know all the details once we have them. So I don't get on here and make an AD out of it!! haha
I think we should have a fairly good turnout. The town is about 15,000 but it's a bedroom community off of Wichita, which is 300,000, so we pull alot from there, and the news media has done things on Gabe in the past, and probably will do so again. It should be fun. And they'll have a good front spot in the pavilion, it is between the carnival rides and the car show. And if this goes well, they will probably continue it each year with different players. The Festival committee are folks (volunteers in the community) that like to try to keep the events going from year to year that the festival-goers like.
And we have to have the pictures you all have recommended! So I'll work on that too! Thank you soooo much!

 

[TheBook]

I don't know how much you plan on making but I think you need to back into this so you don't end up on losing. At max I think if you allow 3 minutes per game you are only getting 20 games per hour. At $5 per game that amounts to $100 per hour. If you let kids play it will be slower and if you charge less it will also be less money comming in. Under optimal conditions I think 20 games per hour is being liberal. Take into consideration all of the other expenses involved. Festival fees, set up and delivery of the table, prizes, insurance? and etc. You also said that you are paying some fees to the players. You can't give away a shirt that says I beat the pro or lost to a pro you will not make any money at all. The shirts will cost more than $5 each. If you give away a shirt that says I beat the pro it will probalby cost $15 to have made up. You will then have to have some on hand in different sizes. You are trying to raise some money but you need to be careful on how much you give out. I think maybe a autograph picture signed with that person's name beat So and So or got beat by So and So and dated would be enough.

Good Luck
Let us know how it works out.

 

[gabesmom]

I don't know how much you plan on making but I think you need to back into this so you don't end up on losing. At max I think if you allow 3 minutes per game you are only getting 20 games per hour. At $5 per game that amounts to $100 per hour. If you let kids play it will be slower and if you charge less it will also be less money comming in. Under optimal conditions I think 20 games per hour is being liberal. Take into consideration all of the other expenses involved. Festival fees, set up and delivery of the table, prizes, insurance? and etc. You also said that you are paying some fees to the players. You can't give away a shirt that says I beat the pro or lost to a pro you will not make any money at all. The shirts will cost more than $5 each. If you give away a shirt that says I beat the pro it will probalby cost $15 to have made up. You will then have to have some on hand in different sizes. You are trying to raise some money but you need to be careful on how much you give out. I think maybe a autograph picture signed with that person's name beat So and So or got beat by So and So and dated would be enough.

Good Luck
Let us know how it works out.

Yes, thanks for bringing that up. We've pretty much gone through what all our expenses are going to be, including most everything you just stated. We discussed with Corey & Gabe how many games they should be prepared to play maximum, in the event they were to stay busy all the time on each table. (they did say they may lose about 50 games each!! too many don't you think, for pros!! haha)
The advantage to having this at the festival is that we do not pay for the building of course, the festival is insured already, we will get alot of corporate sponsors for this event, media coverage, etc. We've already gotten alot of commitments of things, pool tables for the weekend, of course the cue, and I know most every pool related business in Wichita area, and have spoken to several, and those I've spoken to so far said count them in. So we raise alot of money or get donated items from the sponsors. And we sell and offer advertising in the program book as well. We decided to make the autographed cue (or cues) as there may be two, we do not know yet, and a few other nice items in a separate 'Raffle' apart from playing the pro. And have maybe a 'cute girl' that someone on this forum suggested, (or boy!!) go around to everyone walking the festival and selling raffle tickets and telling them about the event going on. I think I'll contact some of the sportscasters that have done interviews with Gabe, and see if they'll come out and challenge the guys, and possibly get that on the sports news.
That's about where we are so far! Still welcoming all of your ideas!!!! It's coming together faster because of all the input you all have given! I had another question come up that I'm stumped on. Do you recommend 8 ball or 9 ball????? 8 ball could be more beneficial by possibly lasting longer for the payer, but I've heard 9 ball is more fun. Haven't figured that out yet! HELP!

 

[gabesmom]

Well, the first thing i would do, is make it so the person paying to play Gabe, or Corey gets to break. That way gabe and corey are not running racks all day long. Or, you could give the payer the opening break, plus ball in hand to have the first shot on the table, even if the person makes a ball, or scratches.

And the idea's for pictures is good too, you could have them taken either before or after the match, and raffling off the Cue that has thier autograph is a plus too. like with Corey you could make it a 5280 cue, which i think is still sponsering him. I bought a 5280 sneaky pete for 100$ so its not a monster investment for this event.

Thanks for that info, and Corey's cue deal! I called Gabe about that, and he's going to let me know. Maybe we'll get to have 2 separate autographed cues for the raffle!