Part1
DCC behind the scenes:
Although there will be some useful info regarding room rates, most of the information I'm going to discuss may not be important to everyone, so since this may be a long post feel free to quit at any time.
It's been non stop since the DCC ended in January 08. The changes taking place at the Executive West hit me quite hard. I discovered my contract which was written thru 2012 wasn't worth the paper it was written on. I wasn't smart enough to put clauses in the contract so they couldn't take away the areas I needed for pool tables or increase the room rates to a point where players couldn't afford to attend. However, this did happen.
The Executive West is spending 30 million on improvements and the name is being changed to a Crown Plaza. I have had further discussions with the people there and almost reached an agreement, but the rate was well over $100 and I was no longer to receive the same help on comp rooms as I had in previous years. Basically, I felt like I was starting over and this didn't set well with me. So we hired a firm to help us to try and find a location along with sponsorship money to allow the event to continue.
I'm probably giving too much detail, but what the heck, some future promoter out there in internet land may find this useful.
The firm's name we found happens to be the Griffin Group, which has nothing to do with my partner Mark Griffin. This may be a lucky omen, after all many at Diamond already refer to Mark as "Lucky Mark". We paid the Griffin Group $6,000 plus I think it's 15% of what they raise as added money. At first I thought I was probably throwing money away, but now I know I probably wouldn't be going to the Horseshoe without their help.
Mark and I drove to several locations checking out conditions and rates. One location was Operaland in Nashville, Tenn. The location was beautiful, but the cheapest rate we could get after guaranteeing 5,000 room nights was $169 plus $21 more per night for an amenities charge that included parking, a free bottle of water and internet access. Also you had to pay for this service even if you didn?t use it!! WHEW!
While I'm talking about places we drove to, we went to another Harrah's property in Tunica Mississippi. I want at this time to give a special thanks to Lou Figueroa as he got me in touch with Mike Richardson, an employee at Harrah's in Tunica, that lead to meeting the "Right People" to possibly get more things done in several of Harrah's 54 other properties. It seems to me that it's the who you know or meet that makes things possible, so writing this post may somehow lead to better things for pool.
As some may observe I'll probably be jumping around a little as that's just the way my mind works. There's a lot been going on in my head and I'd like get it down on paper so even I might read it and see if it makes any sense.
I really had my hopes up of going to another property that was owned by the same people as the Executive West. This property is called the Galt House and is located in downtown Louisville. After checking it out it would have been perfect IMO for both an amateur and professional tournaments, but there always seems to be a catch. I thought after having a 10 year track record with that group I'd been shown more consideration. The best room rate I could get was $141 plus a $12 parking charge. This was after me offering to pay in advance for 5,000 room nights, which I hadn't had to guarantee for years at the Ex. West. I really couldn't understand what was going on. Maybe they new how much I didn't want to leave the Louisville area and they thought were the only game in town. Anyway I didn't leave this group on bad terms; I didn't do anything wrong so time will tell if they miss us in January.
We will be at Harrah's Horseshoe 15 minutes from the Ex West in Jan. 2009 with only a 1 year contract at this time. It seems I'm starting a relationship with a Hotel all over! Nevertheless, I'm optimistic that the upside is much better. Even though I'm not getting near everything I wanted at this time. It's been some pretty hard negotiation for me, as I now realize the Casino World really doesn't now know anything about the DCC and not much about pool in general. I was lucky enough to have in my corner someone pretty high up who likes pool and another more hands on person who went to bat for us with the what I call "Bean Counters" to give us a chance. This year is going to be one of the most important years IMO for the future of Pool Tournaments outside of Pool Rooms. The people I'm working with at Harrah's told me it's in my court, they need to see first hand numbers of people who attend a pool event. They also said that if the number of people show in 09 as in 08 then working with all Harrah's properties will be much easier.
I know believe after contacting as many hotels as I have, its way to difficult to reach an equitable arrangement with a regular hotel, even if they enough space for tables. They don't have the extra income derived from gambling! Even Vegas has changed. It wasn't that long ago that rooms and food were cheap and the majority of their money was derived from gambling. Now Casinos know the value of bodies and that's why I think were getting the opportunity we now have. We can produce numbers of people who eat, drink and fill rooms. Gambling on the boat will be an extra. That's why they are allowing us to do our action thing 24/7.
Part 2 coming next thanks, Greg
DCC behind the scenes:
Although there will be some useful info regarding room rates, most of the information I'm going to discuss may not be important to everyone, so since this may be a long post feel free to quit at any time.
It's been non stop since the DCC ended in January 08. The changes taking place at the Executive West hit me quite hard. I discovered my contract which was written thru 2012 wasn't worth the paper it was written on. I wasn't smart enough to put clauses in the contract so they couldn't take away the areas I needed for pool tables or increase the room rates to a point where players couldn't afford to attend. However, this did happen.
The Executive West is spending 30 million on improvements and the name is being changed to a Crown Plaza. I have had further discussions with the people there and almost reached an agreement, but the rate was well over $100 and I was no longer to receive the same help on comp rooms as I had in previous years. Basically, I felt like I was starting over and this didn't set well with me. So we hired a firm to help us to try and find a location along with sponsorship money to allow the event to continue.
I'm probably giving too much detail, but what the heck, some future promoter out there in internet land may find this useful.
The firm's name we found happens to be the Griffin Group, which has nothing to do with my partner Mark Griffin. This may be a lucky omen, after all many at Diamond already refer to Mark as "Lucky Mark". We paid the Griffin Group $6,000 plus I think it's 15% of what they raise as added money. At first I thought I was probably throwing money away, but now I know I probably wouldn't be going to the Horseshoe without their help.
Mark and I drove to several locations checking out conditions and rates. One location was Operaland in Nashville, Tenn. The location was beautiful, but the cheapest rate we could get after guaranteeing 5,000 room nights was $169 plus $21 more per night for an amenities charge that included parking, a free bottle of water and internet access. Also you had to pay for this service even if you didn?t use it!! WHEW!
While I'm talking about places we drove to, we went to another Harrah's property in Tunica Mississippi. I want at this time to give a special thanks to Lou Figueroa as he got me in touch with Mike Richardson, an employee at Harrah's in Tunica, that lead to meeting the "Right People" to possibly get more things done in several of Harrah's 54 other properties. It seems to me that it's the who you know or meet that makes things possible, so writing this post may somehow lead to better things for pool.
As some may observe I'll probably be jumping around a little as that's just the way my mind works. There's a lot been going on in my head and I'd like get it down on paper so even I might read it and see if it makes any sense.
I really had my hopes up of going to another property that was owned by the same people as the Executive West. This property is called the Galt House and is located in downtown Louisville. After checking it out it would have been perfect IMO for both an amateur and professional tournaments, but there always seems to be a catch. I thought after having a 10 year track record with that group I'd been shown more consideration. The best room rate I could get was $141 plus a $12 parking charge. This was after me offering to pay in advance for 5,000 room nights, which I hadn't had to guarantee for years at the Ex. West. I really couldn't understand what was going on. Maybe they new how much I didn't want to leave the Louisville area and they thought were the only game in town. Anyway I didn't leave this group on bad terms; I didn't do anything wrong so time will tell if they miss us in January.
We will be at Harrah's Horseshoe 15 minutes from the Ex West in Jan. 2009 with only a 1 year contract at this time. It seems I'm starting a relationship with a Hotel all over! Nevertheless, I'm optimistic that the upside is much better. Even though I'm not getting near everything I wanted at this time. It's been some pretty hard negotiation for me, as I now realize the Casino World really doesn't now know anything about the DCC and not much about pool in general. I was lucky enough to have in my corner someone pretty high up who likes pool and another more hands on person who went to bat for us with the what I call "Bean Counters" to give us a chance. This year is going to be one of the most important years IMO for the future of Pool Tournaments outside of Pool Rooms. The people I'm working with at Harrah's told me it's in my court, they need to see first hand numbers of people who attend a pool event. They also said that if the number of people show in 09 as in 08 then working with all Harrah's properties will be much easier.
I know believe after contacting as many hotels as I have, its way to difficult to reach an equitable arrangement with a regular hotel, even if they enough space for tables. They don't have the extra income derived from gambling! Even Vegas has changed. It wasn't that long ago that rooms and food were cheap and the majority of their money was derived from gambling. Now Casinos know the value of bodies and that's why I think were getting the opportunity we now have. We can produce numbers of people who eat, drink and fill rooms. Gambling on the boat will be an extra. That's why they are allowing us to do our action thing 24/7.
Part 2 coming next thanks, Greg
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