DerbyCity going to Nashville...???

maha said:

Would HIGHER entry fees make for better tournaments?

I sponser and stake and few players from time to time. Most recently the Florida pro tour Finale. Before that the US Open. First place in the Florida event was 5k and I can't remember the open but it couldn't have been more than 15 or 20k! It has been said outside sponsership or TV could be...
forums.azbilliards.com

here is an old thread about this. they explain it well. especially about how the entry fees to play are the same as 20 years ago. and how so little prize money brings nothing to help pool.
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Not my problem, and I'd say the vast majority of dead money amateurs in the field at DCC would agree. I'm ALREADY paying way too much for entry fees at this event as it is, with very little chance of getting anything back, and when I compare what I spend overall at DCC compared to what that casino is doing for it's "customers", I am about ready to tell both Diamond and Caesar's to "F*** right on off", until the venue changes, or Caesar's start's treating us with a little more respect, given the major shot in the arm we give that sh**hole in the dead of winter...

Pro players do very little to promote the game, and Diamond has agreed to exclude extremely talented juniors from the field so the casino can soak up more of the action money. Both have some culpability in lack of growth of the game. It's not my responsibility to put in more dead money so a midtier pro player can stop living on their girlfriend's couch.
 
your not one of the valued customers of the tournament or the casino. just looking from their stand point.

you dont inflate the prize pool much or spend enough in the casino to justify your business.
 
The people who run the Derby know they could hold event in most places. Pool players will come.

Promoter will change venue if it is better financially for them.

Large city like Dallas, or Indianapolis would offer more option for motels, hotels, and food choices.

Current venue is in place with few options for choices.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
The people who run the Derby know they could hold event in most places. Pool players will come.

Promoter will change venue if it is better financially for them.

Large city like Dallas, or Indianapolis would offer more option for motels, hotels, and food choices.

Current venue is in place with few options for choices.
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Let's do some math

503 rooms

Regular rate $50

503 × 10 days x $100

$503,100.00

Room profits

Casino and food go to the house!

10k added 10k added 10k added

20k overall

1k mini times 3

Vendors 10 times 1k best guess

Why move from the only game in town?

To an area crowded with options !

They have a monopoly at that location!

Kd
d6b778ca13668594b73b0e4afd6425a7.jpg


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The following needs to happen:
- increase entry fee's = higher prize fund
- improve match scheduling = 500 players per event
- open up food court = happier players/customers and you'll still sell all the food available
- have a mini event every nite except the last one
- have a trick shot event
- make sure the people movers aren't out of order
- HAVE A SHUTTLE SERVICE AVAILABLE DURING TOURNAMENT WEEK TO/FROM THE AIRPORT
 
ill ad the shuttle goes to town as well.
then more spectators and players can get rooms.
and are willing to come as there are other eating options as well.
 
Baby Huey said:
The following needs to happen:
- increase entry fee's = higher prize fund
...
- HAVE A SHUTTLE SERVICE AVAILABLE DURING TOURNAMENT WEEK TO/FROM THE AIRPORT
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Looking into my Magic 8-Ball, the future I see for the next five years is:

The DCC will stay at the Horseshoe.

The Horseshoe will get a little better, like more food options, but not cheaper.

The tournament will remain essentially the same as this year, and Saturday night will remain a scheduling problem.

Fewer and fewer pro players will show up each year.
 
if they put in jerry's list and

the promoter negotiates a few more things for the players.

then it can grow. year 2025 attending costs with 2000 entry fees is a joke.
 
Baby Huey said:
The following needs to happen:
- increase entry fee's = higher prize fund
- improve match scheduling = 500 players per event
- open up food court = happier players/customers and you'll still sell all the food available
- have a mini event every nite except the last one
- have a trick shot event
- make sure the people movers aren't out of order
- HAVE A SHUTTLE SERVICE AVAILABLE DURING TOURNAMENT WEEK TO/FROM THE AIRPORT
Click to expand...
Depends on how high you raise the entry. All that "dead money" is needed and keeping the entry fee low ensures that happens.
500 players per event would require another day
My guess the food court operation stuff is determined by the casino and not diamond.
A mini every night would be a nightmare
Being an artistic pool player, I would love a trickshot event. Won't happen though. We would require our own tables due to the masse and jumps and there is no room for that.
A working walking sidewalk is up to the casino and not diamond.
Shuttle to the airport is again a casino issue and not diamond.
 
yes keeping entry fee low does lead to more dead money. but that also means much less total money. and that leads to less total interest.

and also tends to have more of the kind of players you want to watch not show up to play.
 
I think the Derby continues to evolve into something different than what it started out to be.

Back at the EW it was a raucous, ramblin', gamblin', free-for-all replete with high stakes matches (Jack Cooney v James Walden anybody); pool legends like Grady, Diliberto, Varner, Archer, Parcia; whoever the current crop of top-notch players were; working girls; three-card monte hustlers; magicians; and a long, packed hallway vendor's area that looked like a bazaar straight from Marakesh.

When it moved to New Albany, with the casino floating on a moat, it became more antiseptic but it still had something going for it. There were food choices and all the old-timers like Ronnie Allen would hold court in the area in front of the main room. There was plenty of top talent -- from Efren and the rest of the Pinoys, the Europeans, and all the top Americans -- in attendance. There were still plenty of vendors and always a couple of cue mechanics on hand.

But then the laws changed and the casino moved off the moat and consumed all the restaurants in the main building and the sitting area where the old-timers would congregate. The vendors became fewer and farther between. For many years the tournament scheduling seemed to get worse and worse with no cap on the entries, culminating in an event this year that, by my estimation, had significantly fewer of the elite players.

And so, the Derby is not what it was and as long as it stays in New Albany it never will.

Lou Figueroa
 
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decent dennis said:
Start it on Thursday instead of Friday.
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This. It has always confused me why Derby and other events (Turning Stone comes to mind) finish at odd ball hours on a Sunday evening. Shift the event back a day, or however many days you need to, to ensure a prime time Saturday evening final when the venue is loaded with people. I know Derby used to finish Saturday night but it has long outgrown that.
 
I’m a DCC veteran. I’ve been to twenty of the twenty-six. I missed the very first one because I simply didn’t hear about it. I missed another because my brother was having open heart surgery for the second time at Mayo’s. I think this counts as an excused absence. I haven’t been back since Covid. I live two hours away from New Albany. I was at Caesar’s for the ice storm. I loved the action room at the EW.

Lou Figueroa hits on two of the reasons I haven’t been back since Covid. The food choices are diminished. Boy! Is that ever an understatement! The tournament lost a draw for me when the Paula Dean Buffet disappeared. A very early instance of “Go woke go broke!“ Second, the sitting area in front of the tournament room was removed. I had wonderful experiences in that improvised bistro. I met a barber who has a shop in The French Quarter in NOLA, and when I asked him how he had come through Katrina he explained that the original French settlers had picked the only high ground for their settlement. He and neighboring businesses had almost no problem. He explained that most of his customers were maitre d’s in chic restaurants or owners of antique shops, so he was really a stylist. He told me what he charged. I told him what I paid for a haircut. He thought for a second and then asked, “And they can live on that?” Does anyone else remember Cadillac Ed? How about the guy in the fur coat? In that space I saw Ronnie Allen mesmerizing twelve people and then realizing his beer bottle was empty. Ronnie got up like The Pied Piper of Hamlin to go to the bar and get a refill and all twelve people followed him. Still casting his spell he led all of his listeners like the rats in Hamlin back to their seats. I reintroduced myself to Johnny Ervolino after forty years. I watched Billy Incardona play backgammon and banter with the next generation. I came down from my hotel room during the ice storm and got in a line of about eight guys to get a morning coffee. Two or three guys with Jersey accents were flirting with the pretty cashier. One pointed out she needed some help. She answered, “What I need is to go to the bathroom!” So Jersey Guy Number One says, “Then why don’t you?” The cashier answers, “Because there’s no one to relieve me. None of the other workers can get here.” Jersey Guy Number One reflects a moment and says, “Honey, go the the bathroom. All the thieves are here in this line. We‘lol watch the cash register for you.” And she went.

i need my sports to have some narrative.
 
jasonlaus said:
Another thing, our upcoming young superstars cannot attend anymore, remember a few years ago when Fedor was banned due to age

What a shame
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That's a very small number and not enough to make anyone want to change venues. As long as its in a casino it will be 21only.
 
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