BCA Green Fees at Nationals

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tulsayankee

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What are the feelings towards the new green fees that are being applied at the 2013 BCA Nationals. My feelings is that it's a great idea for the singles events, but I feel the team event is a little steep. What are others opinions?
 
If you play a lot, greens fees are great. In Vegas, my buddy will play for hours every day. He plays 10 practice games before every match (if time permits) on the exact table we're about to play our match on. He plays in mini's until the wee hours of the morning. For him, greens fees are a good deal.

If you don't play a lot, you get the short end of the stick. In Vegas, I play maybe 10 practice games all week long. No mini's cuz we go to shows. I show up 10 minutes before the match and hit a couple balls. For me, I get screwed on greens fees.

Greens fees make life "easier" for everyone, including the tournament staff. Personally, I'd much rather pay for my own games cuz of the above reasoning. But, I'm in the minority as is evidenced by so many tournaments going to greens fees.
 
The team green fees are $175 for the open division. If a team was to go hill/hill every match they would have to go thirteen rounds until the fees were paid. I do realize that there are a lot of warm-up games that are played so it may not be too out of line, but I thought this was a little steep.
 
Green fees cover a lot more than just table time.

At the BCAPL we try to provide an 'experience'.

This year we are going to be at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino.
Much nicer space and more room to provide practice and mini tables.

It costs a LOT to bring out 300+ tables.
We usually add around $90,000 to the amateur events.

This year there are 3 Pro events: FREE admission to BCAPL members.
All mini and practice tables: FREE to BCAPL members.
2nd Chance events: FREE table time.
Several pros will be avialable for FREE l(group) lessons.

50 referees to make sure things go as smoothly as we can make them.

We have had people say they spend $10 total. If that was the case for everyone, the event would have disappeared years ago.

We took surveys the last couple of years and the results were very much in favor of green fees.

If you have any questions concerning this, please feel free to contact me at our office or by email.

Mark Griffin, CEO
CSI - BCAPL - USAPL
702-719-7665
markg@playcsipool.com
 
That comes out to $35 per player (based on 5 man team).
That includes FREE entry to 3 pro events, FREE dedicated practice tables, FREE mini events, FREE group lessons from top pros.

And much more. Including $90,000 or so added money.

It costs a LOT to get 300+ tables to Vegas.
Last year I think we brought out 8 loads - over $5,000 per load in fuel and driver fees. Then we had to set them up!

Mark Griffin

tulsayankee said:
The team green fees are $175 for the open division. If a team was to go hill/hill every match they would have to go thirteen rounds until the fees were paid. I do realize that there are a lot of warm-up games that are played so it may not be too out of line, but I thought this was a little steep.
Click to expand...
 
Imo...thats a great deal.There is always going to be
some one thats not happy.

Bcapl is great..you don't have to win your way there..
pay your membership..play your games to qualify..
then pay your entry fee..
 
Mark Griffin said:
Green fees cover a lot more than just table time.

At the BCAPL we try to provide an 'experience'.

This year we are going to be at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino.
Much nicer space and more room to provide practice and mini tables.

It costs a LOT to bring out 300+ tables.
We usually add around $90,000 to the amateur events.

This year there are 3 Pro events: FREE admission to BCAPL members.
All mini and practice tables: FREE to BCAPL members.
2nd Chance events: FREE table time.
Several pros will be avialable for FREE l(group) lessons.

50 referees to make sure things go as smoothly as we can make them.

We have had people say they spend $10 total. If that was the case for everyone, the event would have disappeared years ago.

We took surveys the last couple of years and the results were very much in favor of green fees.

If you have any questions concerning this, please feel free to contact me at our office or by email.

Mark Griffin, CEO
CSI - BCAPL - USAPL
702-719-7665
markg@playcsipool.com
Click to expand...

Great post. This puts it in perspective. I would have argued against them before reading that post.
 
It is about time the BCA went to green fees. This is awesome, no more tokens, no more minimizing the amount of practice games you put in, increased chance of action taking place as now there is no more plugging and when you play a guy for $20 the table is not eating up a portion of the stakes/winnings.
 
I think it's great! I spend $300/$500 every year in Vegas on tables. If you play all events, practice, and mini's you are out allot more. When I go to Vegas I'm there to play pool. My wife gets upset with me because I don't care about going to eat the buffets every day, shows, or the machines.

I think it will be a little harder to get a table to play on. I foresee a lot more gambling and taking up tables since the tables are free and by people not in the tournament (road players, short stops that won't enter the tournament).
I believe the Ref's will have their hands full monitoring the patrons. If any problems arise it will be when teams arrive. I truly hope everything runs smooth so we all can enjoy the new venue.
 
MARK GRIFFIN,

Are the tables ALL open 24/7 to play on? When we put dollars in we could go to any table late at night and practice on the table we play on the next day.

Is that still the case? If so its great. IBecause there are going to be a whole lot more peopke staying in there practicing now.

Thanks
 
QUOTE: "So I have 40ish tokens from last year, am I able to trade those in?"


We are sensitive to those that still have a few tokens.
We don't have all of the answers yet BUT we are working on them everyday.

The goal is to have about 60-80 MORE tables this year.

We are trying to have dedicated mini and practice tables to keep everyone happy. (Trying to have mini events from 9am till midnight!)

We will police the tables to make sure everyone playing is 'legal'.

We also might have 6-10 challenge tables that will be coin operated. This will be for the 'players' that want king-of-the-hill tables. We want the practice tables to be for practice and they will be in demand. This will also give an avenue to get rid of the existing tokens.

To help provide security for the exhibitors, the main ballroom (with 120 @ 7' tables and 20+ 9' tables) might be closed at night, except for the 9' tables will be available for rent - probably at the same rate as last year - $10 per person (no in/out privileges). The room would re-open couple of hours before the next matches.

The other 3 ballrooms (with 180 tables) will be available for practice all night.

More coming - but it will be a LOT of pool.

Mark Griffin
 
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Hey Mark, are you going to have a Diamond 10-foot or two to finally show all of those league players what one looks like in person? Perhaps give people a chance to play on one? I can think of no better of a place then the BCAPL Nationals to have a couple of those tables set up for action and just general publicity for them. I am sure they would be played on non-stop at $15 an hour for the whole event.
 
I'm not against the green fees, but I was thinking that $80.00-$100.00 was good. I will be one matching up too, I will be taking advantage of this. The rest of my team doesn't do that though so they are still deciding on weather to play. I don't want that to be the determining point if a team goes or not.

I'll be honest I didn't know about the free stuff. I must have missed that in the brochure.

Thanks for clearing that up Mark.
 
Mark,

I mailed in my singles for 8 & 9 ball, I missed where I could do it on line. My question is, how can I get the texting for matches if you are still doing it.
 
BCAPL green fees

The brochure was done a long tie ago.

We are really trying to give a lot of value to everyone.
We will be adding more as we get closer to the event.

This is "The Greatest Pool Tournament on Earth" and we want our members to experience the experience! We actually want to provide the inspiration for players to improve - but also allow less competitive players to just enjoy.

Mark Griffin



tulsayankee said:
I'm not against the green fees, but I was thinking that $80.00-$100.00 was good. I will be one matching up too, I will be taking advantage of this. The rest of my team doesn't do that though so they are still deciding on weather to play. I don't want that to be the determining point if a team goes or not.

I'll be honest I didn't know about the free stuff. I must have missed that in the brochure.

Thanks for clearing that up Mark.
Click to expand...
 
Not happy with greens fees

I am sticking my head in here as one who is very unhappy with the newly established greens fees. I am the captain of a Mixed Open Team. When I saw the announcement about greens fees, I was intrigued. It sounds like a decent idea. Then I saw the amount - $175 per team, on top of the entry fee. That is pretty damn close to doubling the cost of entry.

As one has pointed out above, if you look at this fee as a "greens fee" - meaning, paying for table time - you would have to play 13-14 matches TO THE HILL for the numbers to work out. Look at a tournament board for this size field and you'll see that even the winning team will not play that many matches.

Mark, you say that the fees are inclusive of so many other benefits...free practice tables, free mini tables, free spectating at pro events, free "lessons" from pros... But those are NOT items that should be included in the Open Team division greens fees. If I want to watch a pro event, I'll pay you the $10 ticket fee. If Celtic wants to gamble all night or Papa Red wants to practice 24 hours a day, that should come out of their pockets.

What you're asking (decreeing, as it stands) here is that 80% of the players drastically overpay so that 20% can enjoy free benefits on our dime. When did Obama take over CSI pool?

Like I said above, greens fees can certainly take away some complication. I'm not surprised that your surveys have shown favor toward the idea. However, the way you've rolled them out is outrageous. All I would ask is that you apply some fairness and reason - which is sorely missing from this design.

I have some ideas if you'd like to talk. I gave you my number in the email. Call any time after 6:00 EST. Or we can chat here where others can chime in.

Seth Maxwell
 
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