That's good to know. I think them loaning me $5,000 so I can buy that cue I'm looking at on the for sale items forum is perfectly reasonable. They can take it out of my earnings from the next US Open.
Conditions to participate in the upcoming U.S. Open
- Thread starter jay helfert
- Start date
Do the US pro players have any respect for Mark Griffin and his events? Seems like it would be pretty hard for Matchroom to black ball every top US player if they chose to support Mark and his tournaments.
But after reading SVBs comments about it, it seems he is team Matchroom on this, which is kinda disappointing and ironic seeing he’s won a ton of Marks tournaments.
But after reading SVBs comments about it, it seems he is team Matchroom on this, which is kinda disappointing and ironic seeing he’s won a ton of Marks tournaments.
Attachments
It’s to my understanding that CSI has relinquished those back to Mark.
First of all none of this will affect the U.S. Open Eight Ball or U.S. Open Ten Ball held at Griffs at the end of August. These cannot be considered as major tournaments based on only $10,000 in added money, making them no bigger than many other poolroom events that have been held already this year. In September there is the Diamond Open in the first week with 25K added and the World Ten Ball immediately after with 100K added. Both will be held at the Rio hotel and are more important tournaments for the top players, and neither one has the U.S. Open name attached to it. The World Ten Ball ends on Sept.10, more than enough time for players to make it to the U.S. Open which starts on Sept. 13. This puts things in proper perspective regarding the immediate future of U.S. based events. There will be no change currently in any scheduled tournament! There is no reason for that to happen.
I suspect that between now and Sept. 13 when the U.S. Open is scheduled to begin we may see some changes in the wording of these "conditions"
as we now see them. The way they are currently worded it could be interpreted as participation in ANY pool tournament would violate the "style" of the U.S Open, simply because it is a pool tournament and not checkers. Hopefully this will resolve itself amicably for all concerned. It appears to me that Mark Griffin could easily attach a new name to his events, which are not really so lofty as to have the name U.S. Open anyway. As for Matchroom, in the interest of good public relations and the furtherance of our sport they should think twice before being too heavy handed with the players. After all these are the people that the fans pay to see and without them you have no event! I have all the admiration and respect for Barry and Emily but I wouldn't walk across the street to watch them play pool.
I suspect that between now and Sept. 13 when the U.S. Open is scheduled to begin we may see some changes in the wording of these "conditions"
as we now see them. The way they are currently worded it could be interpreted as participation in ANY pool tournament would violate the "style" of the U.S Open, simply because it is a pool tournament and not checkers. Hopefully this will resolve itself amicably for all concerned. It appears to me that Mark Griffin could easily attach a new name to his events, which are not really so lofty as to have the name U.S. Open anyway. As for Matchroom, in the interest of good public relations and the furtherance of our sport they should think twice before being too heavy handed with the players. After all these are the people that the fans pay to see and without them you have no event! I have all the admiration and respect for Barry and Emily but I wouldn't walk across the street to watch them play pool.
CSI is Mark.
Ozzy Reynolds Becomes CEO of CueSports International
CueSports International, Henderson, NV (July 9, 2018) – CueSports International (CSI) is excited to announce that effective August 1, 2018, Ozzy Reynolds will become the new owner and CEO of CSI. ...
www.playcsipool.com
That makes sense, because those events are on CSI’s 2019 events page but not 2020 or 2021.
I think those are the exact events that Matchroom is targeting with this language. They want one US Open and no other events to dilute their US Open, and to them 9-ball = pool, hence US Open Pool Championship and World Pool Championship with no 9-ball in the titles.
I also think Predator’s World 10-ball Championship is going to be on the blacklist in the future, for the same reasons.
I doubt that Matchroom will interfere with Predator's events, but we'll see.
Yeah, that language is sufficiently broad to cover all of those events. And the relevant time period starts when the player signs - not when the US Open occurs. So if they sign today - no "US Open Championship style" events (whatever that means) for 14 months from today. I'm guessing MR has a date that these agreements need to be returned by to avoid people turning them in right before the Open.
Right, logic is the same, but the companies are different (Predator is a sponsor of some of Matchroom’s events).
Sure it can. Those have been canceled. Or as Griff's posted: "have been postponed until further notice."
To clarify, I sold CSI and it included the marks (us opens). I now have ownership of the US open names. I have some of them since 2004. I don’t plan on stopping or renaming the events.
Matchroom was aware of my selected September dates -my calendar (dated March 5) was on their site. I elected to move dates to give the players some events. Unfortunately I ended on top of the Texas Open.
I understand everybody’s dates are messed up from Covid, but I don’t think Luke Riches would have made these restrictions on players.
the pool world needs to work together
Matchroom was aware of my selected September dates -my calendar (dated March 5) was on their site. I elected to move dates to give the players some events. Unfortunately I ended on top of the Texas Open.
I understand everybody’s dates are messed up from Covid, but I don’t think Luke Riches would have made these restrictions on players.
the pool world needs to work together
What's the difference in 'the marks' and the names? Confusing. Who actually owns the us opens(8b,10b,1p)?
“Ambiguous”? I would say! Ambiguity has it’s own special place in the legal world. I would not want to spend resources trying to hold someone to this language.
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If they can offer him a lot more than the chance at winning tournament prizes…it would be far from ironic or disappointing. It’s business.
If they can offer him a lot more than the chance at winning tournament prizes…it would be far from ironic or disappointing. It’s business.
In reading through this thread there are some really intelligent thoughts and some that clearly drink too much of the kool-aid.
I think the first thing that we all have to come to terms with is that Matchroom’s number one priority is to make money. All the messaging about wanting to grow the sport is nice, but make no mistake, Matchroom multi-sport is interested in profits.
When you look at Matchroom-Multisport as a whole, they list Pool and Snooker at the bottom of their sport offerings on their website. What comes first well… Basketball, Boxing, Darts, Fishing, Golf, Gymnastics, Netball, Ping Pong, Pool, Snooker, Ten-Pen, and Poker.
Any sound marketer knows there is a hierarchy to what one presents and you can see where pool really ranks in that order. That’s smart business - nothing wrong with that.
What is wrong? Well, I don’t see how Matchroom can claim in good faith that they want to grow the game. How could they, when they are not respecting other licensed trademark holders and events associated with the same game? More events, even those that are not as well funded or well packaged as Matchroom still hold an important place in the game’s ecosystem and are more easily primed to impact local markets and local businesses.
Here is the actual trademark information on file.
In considering the loose, and poorly constructed language sent out by Matchroom, I am reminded of how Matchroom handled forcing players to wear a competitor’s logo (Predator) at the CLP event. In short, they made a bad deal (with Predator) and tried to pass the problem on to the players, no matter the consequences with the players’ contracted sponsors – that doesn’t grow the game. In the new US Open case, I see players being asked to sign something that in theory, has the potential to limit their ability to play in other events – This doesn't grow the game. At the very least Matchroom should be legally required to define what a US Open styled event is in their opinion.
I believe Matchroom’s approach here is dead wrong and bad for the game and worse for the players. The one thing that is clear, is that the language was included for a reason. My best theories as to why this language was included are;
I believe a lot of us think "Pool" needs to evolve, but Matchroom and Predator aren’t always the right way to get there. They certainly deserve some credit for their contributions, but that doesn’t entitle them to bully or monopolize the game or it’s events.
I apologize for the lengthy post, AZ clearly got more than my two cents here, more like $2.50… but I can’t stand a bully, and with each passing month Matchroom looks more and more the part.
End of sermon
I think the first thing that we all have to come to terms with is that Matchroom’s number one priority is to make money. All the messaging about wanting to grow the sport is nice, but make no mistake, Matchroom multi-sport is interested in profits.
When you look at Matchroom-Multisport as a whole, they list Pool and Snooker at the bottom of their sport offerings on their website. What comes first well… Basketball, Boxing, Darts, Fishing, Golf, Gymnastics, Netball, Ping Pong, Pool, Snooker, Ten-Pen, and Poker.
Any sound marketer knows there is a hierarchy to what one presents and you can see where pool really ranks in that order. That’s smart business - nothing wrong with that.
What is wrong? Well, I don’t see how Matchroom can claim in good faith that they want to grow the game. How could they, when they are not respecting other licensed trademark holders and events associated with the same game? More events, even those that are not as well funded or well packaged as Matchroom still hold an important place in the game’s ecosystem and are more easily primed to impact local markets and local businesses.
Here is the actual trademark information on file.
In considering the loose, and poorly constructed language sent out by Matchroom, I am reminded of how Matchroom handled forcing players to wear a competitor’s logo (Predator) at the CLP event. In short, they made a bad deal (with Predator) and tried to pass the problem on to the players, no matter the consequences with the players’ contracted sponsors – that doesn’t grow the game. In the new US Open case, I see players being asked to sign something that in theory, has the potential to limit their ability to play in other events – This doesn't grow the game. At the very least Matchroom should be legally required to define what a US Open styled event is in their opinion.
I believe Matchroom’s approach here is dead wrong and bad for the game and worse for the players. The one thing that is clear, is that the language was included for a reason. My best theories as to why this language was included are;
- Matchroom is trying to devalue the other US Open trademarks owned by Mark Griffin
- Matchroom is trying to eliminate competition from Accu-Stat’s International Open
- Matchroom is trying to exercise some control over CSI/Predator’s US PRO BILLIARDS SERIES of which Matchroom is not affiliated
- Matchroom is trying to protect their event format, something one can’t typically treat as intellectual property.
- All of the above…
I believe a lot of us think "Pool" needs to evolve, but Matchroom and Predator aren’t always the right way to get there. They certainly deserve some credit for their contributions, but that doesn’t entitle them to bully or monopolize the game or it’s events.
I apologize for the lengthy post, AZ clearly got more than my two cents here, more like $2.50… but I can’t stand a bully, and with each passing month Matchroom looks more and more the part.
End of sermon
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