No question about it, Rich R. I agee with you, 100 percent, too! Many players have been hurt, professionally and financially, because of some ill-thought-out decisions made by the UPA leadership at that time. I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER forget how I felt at that one event you are speaking about. It was degrading, humiliating, and discrimination at its finest.
I think we may be referring to different events. The UPA wasn't involved with the first year of that event. If there were any of the problems you are referring to, I have no knowledge of them. That first year, the event went well, as far as I know.
In the second year of the event, the UPA came into the picture and everything went down hill quickly. During the planning stages for the third year, the UPA reared its ugly head again and the promoters threw in the towel.
We as a pool community have lost some great events in recent times. Some of them were a direct result of the UPA trying to strong-arm the independnet promoters. These independent promoters threw the towel in because it wasn't worth it anymore, not to mention that these events turned out to be huge financial losses.
Just to be clear, the event I was referring to made money in its first year. The promoters planned to continue. It was the UPA involvement that ran them out of the pool business.
It is just too damn tough to keep up with today's prices for independent promoters. The Glass City Open is another huge loss to the pool community. The pool public whined and moaned about being charged a fee to watch the events. Meanwhile, the independent promoter(s) not only did not make any huge profits, but most times they were stuck. I cannot recall if they ever broke even.
If promoters put on a good tournament, the fans must pay their way. Expecting a free tournament is totally unreasonable.
You and I are singing from the same song sheet. We both want professional pool to grow and thrive. The success of pool as a whole doesn't wear flags on its back. We are all caught in this together, but the great dilemma of our time is that we are not structured. It is almost a Westphalian system, if you will, here in the States, with Canadian and Filipino players representing America in some events, and other events, they represent another country.
Pool has become a truly international sport. I only wish some sponsors would realize that and put up the necessary money to support pool in a similar manner to other sports.
A structure has to be in place where players can have their voices heard, where decisions are made. This recent move by the BCA yanking the authority from the UPA is not one that I understand fully. The BCA hasn't done much for professional pool in the past. And I still am not a fan of the WPA one bit.
Each tournament today is like a Commedia dell'arte. There is no uniformity in the picking and choosing which players will perform. Sometimes it is which player has the stakehorse, and other times, it's at the sole discretion of the promoter. The BCA Open is a joke, IMHO, the way it has been held in the past. I look forward to this year's event as being an improvement. Time will tell.
JAM
You may be a world beater in that arena! I'd do it too /shrug