How to Revive a Small Town Tournament

the chicken

the chicken

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm asking for your help. Any comment or suggestion will be most appreciated.

I live in a rural area. Fortunately, we have a business establishment that has two eight foot and two seven foot tables that are all in very good shape.

At the start of the year, bowling alley staff started a double elimination eight ball tournament on Monday night (using the larger size tables only). Things went smoothly for several months. This tournament has a five dollar buy in and prize money for first and second place winners.

Now, however, no one has shown up for the tournament for the past five weeks. I can't figure out why attendance is so poor.

Anyone know of an inducement to players that would motivate them to participate?

I should also add that a few of the locals are solid B and, on occasion, shoot like A class players: Your "average to good" bar box player usually doesn't stand a chance against these better players, especially on the larger tables.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions you may have.

John (the chicken)
 
Add money. Good equipment. Be consistent on the rules. Do not run it trying to get weak players to win but do not give favoritism to the better player no matter what their name. Start on time.
 
are the same B players winning consistently?

Your lower skilled players may feel they have no chance of winning, and stop coming.
If this is the case, perhaps a "winner ineligible to re-enter" for 3 weeks rule could help.
Also, door prizes might work- drawings for a chalkholder, a coozie, maybe a T-shirt. Heck, even a free chili dog . . . . . Little things go a long way.

If none of that draws em in, ya gotta resort to the ol' standby ~ half nekkid wimmin with tig ole bitties!
 
if you're trying to stir up interest. . . .

One of our local rooms here in Daytona has a "no entry fee" 9ball tournament where the winner receives 2 Orlando Magic tickets.
 
the chicken said:
Now, however, no one has shown up for the tournament for the past five weeks. I can't figure out why attendance is so poor.

Anyone know of an inducement to players that would motivate them to participate?
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Some things that will turn people away are bar staff or tournament director that are jerks, or who play favorites, or an environment that is full of cliques that are not welcoming to new people.

Assuming none of that is true and it is a good establishment with good people, the usual cause of people not playing in tournaments, particularly in a bar type setting that isn't deep with pool talent and hard core players, is if only a small percentage of people playing in it are actually capable of winning the tournament. What happens is the rest stop showing up after they have played it a time or two and figure out how outclassed they are and that they have zero chance.

Really nothing you can do about that except go to a handicap tournament format. It sucks for the better players, but it might make the best business sense. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. But very few tournaments can survive without attracting the "dead money" or crappier players. An alternative is that when someone wins the tournament, or makes the finals, they can't play again for x amount of weeks, say 3 weeks or whatever you choose. None are great solutions but not having a tournament at all is probably even worse...

I would also suggest doing some other things to raise interest such as having a break pot as one example. You can either have a dollar or two of every entry go into the break pot, or allow the players to buy tickets for a dollar a piece and then draw only from the ticket holders on who gets to take a crack at breaking for it.

One final thing that runs players off is using the wrong rule set for the situation. If they are mostly bar players used to bar rules, they will hate your tournament if it is using say BCA rules. If they are better players used to BCA rules then they will hate a bar rules tournament or APA rules, etc.

But most often what I see kill tournaments is when only two or three guys are capable of winning it and the rest stop coming.
 
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Another thing that kills tournaments is too small of a field. It is kind of a catch 22. You didn't say how many people you were getting at first, but if it was never big enough to begin with, say only 10-12 people, then people stop showing up because the prize money isn't enough, and they don't want to play only the same 10 people week after week after week.

On the flip side you don't have many tables, and if you get too many people then people will be waiting around forever for their matches, and the tournament will run too long, and that will drive people away also.

And finally, even if it is double elimination most people hate really short races like races to 1 or 2 on the winner's side and 1 on the loser's if that is what you are doing (I'm guessing they are very short races since you only use two tables).

You are limited by only having 4 tables, and really limited by only using 2 of them. I would start using all 4 tables, make sure you rotate players matches between the table sizes so everybody plays on each table size about half the time, have at least races to 3 on both sides ideally or at the very least 3 on the winner's and 2 on the loser's, and shoot for the proper amount of players for the amount of tables you are using (go to 4 tables) and the race lengths. Without thinking it out I'm guessing you could run it well with 20 or so players like that where the tournament isn't too short or too long, enough quantity and variety of players to keep it interesting, and not too much time spent sitting around between matches. And when only 10 players show up, make the races to 5 and 5 (or longer). If you pull 28 players, make the races to 2 and 2, etc.
 
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Inaction said:
A points race might help attendance with additional prizes at the end of the season.
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This is what I did when I ran a weekly 8 ball tourney years ago in a small town bar. My hometown only had about 100 residents so obviously, I had to draw from many other towns in the area. Before the season started, we purchased a cue (nothing special, a run of the mill Schmelke), hung it over the back of the bar. Ran a points based 16 week long season where 1st place received 4 points, 2nd got 3 points, 3rd received 2 points, if you didn't place in the top 3, you received a point for showing up. I took the top 16 point leaders from the season and placed them in the final tournament for the cue and some added money. Each week, the bar handed out a free drink token instead of added money. There was only 1 bar table in the place, so it was just a short race to 3 on the winners and 2 on the b-side, if we managed to get over 16 entrants (happened only twice) the race was 2/2. To keep the tourney moving, once a match was called to the table, the next match was also called so the players knew to be in the playing area. We only paid the top 3 players each week. Averaged 12 to 16 players every week. Many of the small towns in the area picked a day of the week and ran a similar style points based system in the following years. On a side note, I ran this tourney on a Sunday, we started at Noon and we were usually done between 8 and 9 pm, with the latest getting done was 1:30 am with 23 entrants that day. I sure do miss those style of tourney seasons.
 
If it is handicapped some players like that, as it gives everyone a chance.
If it is not handicapped then I suggest keeping the races really short. If you race to 5 or more the weak players will almost never win. If you race to two or three anyone can win sometimes. It makes the weaker players feel good to beat a stronger player even.

I saw a Five dollar entry fee Eight Ball tournament that was one game races, double elminantion with a $1 side pot for the first break and run in the evening. Sometimes the pot built up for weeks before anyone broke and ran.
They had twenty plus players week after week. They started out playing it on one 9 foot table and eventually got another table.
 
the chicken said:
I'm asking for your help. Any comment or suggestion will be most appreciated.

I live in a rural area. Fortunately, we have a business establishment that has two eight foot and two seven foot tables that are all in very good shape.

At the start of the year, bowling alley staff started a double elimination eight ball tournament on Monday night (using the larger size tables only). Things went smoothly for several months. This tournament has a five dollar buy in and prize money for first and second place winners.

Now, however, no one has shown up for the tournament for the past five weeks. I can't figure out why attendance is so poor.

Anyone know of an inducement to players that would motivate them to participate?

I should also add that a few of the locals are solid B and, on occasion, shoot like A class players: Your "average to good" bar box player usually doesn't stand a chance against these better players, especially on the larger tables.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions you may have.

John (the chicken)
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Do you know any of the players that had come before? Ask them why they didn't come back. You may try social media as a way of keeping in touch and tweet reminders about up coming events. You would be surprised, sometimes all it take is an invitation. You also want their input, after all the tournament is for them. Without them there is no tournament.

My wife's churches attendance had dropped off a lot. The minister who is kind of a dumb head at the last board meeting just had no idea what to do. My wife on here own spent a couple of weeks contacting members personally seeing what is going on in their lives, basically showing an interest in them. This week it was a full house. She is now going to use social media to try to not have it happen again.

People are all pretty much the same, it is easy to just not do something or change habits. They need a little prodding sometimes. Most people also like the idea you take an interest in them and would take the time to get in touch. This stuff has no real down side, it works.
 
the chicken said:
I'm asking for your help. Any comment or suggestion will be most appreciated.

I live in a rural area. Fortunately, we have a business establishment that has two eight foot and two seven foot tables that are all in very good shape.

At the start of the year, bowling alley staff started a double elimination eight ball tournament on Monday night (using the larger size tables only). Things went smoothly for several months. This tournament has a five dollar buy in and prize money for first and second place winners.

Now, however, no one has shown up for the tournament for the past five weeks. I can't figure out why attendance is so poor.

Anyone know of an inducement to players that would motivate them to participate?

I should also add that a few of the locals are solid B and, on occasion, shoot like A class players: Your "average to good" bar box player usually doesn't stand a chance against these better players, especially on the larger tables.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions you may have.

John (the chicken)
Click to expand...

Local pool tournament attendance is sometimes a total mystery as to who shows up. I play in one that has 12 people one week, then 4 show up the next.

A big issue would be the good players, I find that when you see new people come in, they tend to have a way over-rated view of how well they play. Then they come up against some decent players that can win in a turn or two, and those guys that make 1-2-3 balls at a time never come back there.

Is the tournament taking a while with only two tables in use? Do the same people keep winning? Maybe the rules or the game should be changed, give a fun handicap to the lower level players like a ball in hand once a set (but NOT at the last ball), or if you beat the winner of the prior week you get an extra $5 even if you don't win.
 
Maybe I'm over-simplifying but did you ask anyone that has stopped, why they stopped?

It could be any of the above - or none of the above. Don't guess. Simply asking someone for their input may be enough to get their interest back. People what to know their being heard. Listen, consider any suggestions they may have. Make it "their" tournament.

If you're rural, they probably don't have other offerings but it could be too much or too often. You'll find this out by talking with them.

EDIT: - Ha - read macguy's comment - geez is that macguy smart.
 
ridinda9 said:
Your lower skilled players may feel they have no chance of winning, and stop coming.
If this is the case, perhaps a "winner ineligible to re-enter" for 3 weeks rule could help.
Also, door prizes might work- drawings for a chalkholder, a coozie, maybe a T-shirt. Heck, even a free chili dog . . . . . Little things go a long way.

If none of that draws em in, ya gotta resort to the ol' standby ~ half nekkid wimmin with tig ole bitties!
Click to expand...

LOL, Thanks for the good laugh.
 
Another idea that is pretty obvious but could easily have slipped your mind is to simply ask the former tournament players themselves why they haven't been coming the next time you see them around somewhere.

"Hey I noticed you haven't been coming to the tourney lately and as a matter of fact attendance has been down across the board. I am trying to figure out why and make whatever changes are necessary for it to be as well liked as possible by all. What's been keeping you away? Thanks for your feedback and while I have you could you also tell me what things you liked most about the tournament? And what things did you dislike? On those things you disliked, how would you prefer to see it done instead? Well thanks again for your feedback, I am going to take that into consideration and after I get a couple of opinions I may be making some changes that hopefully makes for an even better tournament. Come back and check it out again the next time you get a chance."

Good chance that after you talk to a couple of the players you will learn volumes. But unless you only want to target one type of player for your tournament I would make sure and talk to former players that were more serious players, as well as those that were more social players. Also some of the better players as well as the less skilled players. Their answers could be very different and you want to take into consideration all of their viewpoints.
 
You mention you are in a rural area. Me too. Here's one thing you might not have considered.
A lot of the players that show up in my area are farmers. During spring and fall the tournament attendance drops because of planting and harvesting. Another reason is no advertising. There are a couple of establishments here that hang fliers in the place, but no other way of knowing the tournament even exists. Other then word of mouth. And here is my reason for not going sometimes....lack of disposable income. It gets too expensive for gas, food if you eat at establishment, and drinks (5 bucks for a single shot of something decent) entry fee, etc. I just can't drop 30 bucks every week. And face it....that's how much it comes too for the night in most cases. 2 drinks in six hours isn't overdoing it. Rather conservative estimates actually.
 
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