If Bonus Ball fails...

Roger Long

Roger Long

Sonoran Cue Creations
Silver Member
I've read a lot of the posts in the threads here that predict Bonus Ball's ultimate failure and I'm just wondering: if it really does fail, (as many people on here seem to hope it will) how will that failure benefit the sport overall?

Thoughts?

Roger
 
The failure of Bonus Ball would be a compound fracture. Since it is bulldozing right over already-existing pool events produced by valued American promoters, it could have killed these events from happening in the future as well.

The pool players will have less events to go to on American soil. Lines in the sand were crossed, and some promoters will segregate these Bonus Ball players from competing in their events after their blatant disregard of scheduling conflicts and disloyalty.

IMO, Bonus Ball puts the nail in the coffin on American pool.
 
Roger Long said:
I've read a lot of the posts in the threads here that predict Bonus Ball's ultimate failure and I'm just wondering: if it really does fail, (as many people on here seem to hope it will) how will that failure benefit the sport overall?

Thoughts? Roger
Click to expand...

Other than help to make the games we all know and play obsolete, and the possibly of not being able to see the "pros' play those games, the success or failure of BB will have absolutely zero effect on me personally.

How will it's success benefit anyone other than players and BB owners?

J
 
If any tournaments or events are so fragile that they die forever when a handful of players don't show up,
then they probably need to look again at their business model.

Some players have passed up pool to play poker, hoping for a bigger payday.
But we don't demand poker bend over backwards to help pool and wish poker would die.

Anyway to answer your question, bonus ball will not help anything by failing,
except as a well-documented warning on what pitfalls to avoid (check out your contractors, hire a PR person,
keep a muzzle on public airing of dirty laundry, don't overpromise, and don't make scheduling inflexible).

BB isn't going to put the nail in anything, if pool drops dead in america it will be because there's
deeper flaws that have never been fixed, not because six dudes couldn't make 2 or 3 events.

You can find a thousand threads outlining the major issues like lack of sponsorship, lack of viewer interest,
lack of organization, shady reputation, etc.
If those deeper flaws were addressed then pool events would be unfazed by something like BB.
 
CreeDo said:
If any tournaments or events are so fragile that they die forever when a handful of players don't show up,
then they probably need to look again at their business model.

Some players have passed up pool to play poker, hoping for a bigger payday.
But we don't demand poker bend over backwards to help pool and wish poker would die.

Anyway to answer your question, bonus ball will not help anything by failing,
except as a well-documented warning on what pitfalls to avoid (check out your contractors, hire a PR person,
keep a muzzle on public airing of dirty laundry, don't overpromise, and don't make scheduling inflexible).

BB isn't going to put the nail in anything, if pool drops dead in america it will be because there's
deeper flaws that have never been fixed, not because six dudes couldn't make 2 or 3 events.

You can find a thousand threads outlining the major issues like lack of sponsorship, lack of viewer interest,
lack of organization, shady reputation, etc.
If those deeper flaws were addressed then pool events would be unfazed by something like BB.
Click to expand...

DING DING DING, we have a winner
 
CreeDo said:
If any tournaments or events are so fragile that they die forever when a handful of players don't show up,
then they probably need to look again at their business model.
Click to expand...

I think you may not be fully understanding what is going on behind the scenes, CreeDo, with all due respect. :)

It is *not* that the tournament is so fragile that it will sink; rather, it's the tournament promoter will throw in the towel becuase of the disloyalty exhibited by the very players he had supported for decades. There comes a time when you just get disgusted and quit.

Promoters quitting is not a good thing in American pool, especially valued promoters with a sterling reputation in the industry and a long existing track record.

Bonus Ball has created division, forcing the players to pick sides. This is no good.
 
JAM said:
...it's the tournament promoter will throw in the towel becuase of the disloyalty exhibited by the very players he had supported for decades. There comes a time when you just get disgusted and quit
Click to expand...

Bee Eye Enn Gee Ooh.

My caveat to the above would be that the players are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
 
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No recreational player is EVER going to play BB - but it could certainly still succeed commercially as a regular PPV event. And that would generally be good for pool. If it does not enjoy that success, I believe BB will leave pool pretty much as it found it, but I don't think it'll be the Apocalypse. GF
 
Apparently BB has a group of investors paying attention to it. If it fails, then you have a very rare group of people (people willing to invest in pool) alienated from the sport. That can't be a good thing for anyone trying to make a living at pool. So many bridges to sponsors or investors have already been burned that any more hurt all the more.
 
Bravo !!

George Fels said:
No recreational player is EVER going to play BB - but it could certainly still succeed commercially as a regular PPV event. And that would generally be good for pool. If it does not enjoy that success, I believe BB will leave pool pretty much as it found it, but I don't think it'll be the Apocalypse. GF
Click to expand...

Coming from this gentleman speaks for itself, Bravo !!
 
So far, we've seen a few people in this thread reiterate their opinions on the damage Bonus Ball has done, and the potential damage it is yet to do, to our sport, but no one has offered any opinions on who and how someone would benefit if Bonus Ball should suddenly disappear.

Roger
 
Roger Long said:
So far, we've seen a few people in this thread reiterate their opinions on the damage Bonus Ball has done, and the potential damage it is yet to do, to our sport, but no one has offered any opinions on who and how someone would benefit if Bonus Ball should suddenly disappear.

Roger
Click to expand...

Probably because nobody could benefit from the failure of a promoter who's bringing 60 top players a good income...

I, for one, don't want it to fail at all. Like the IPT or the PBT, Camel tours and such things, it will leave a hole if it fails with all the top players involved in it. Nobody wants this to happen.

That said, I still think the way they handled/are handling things could be much improved, and I think they deserve most of the hate they're getting just because of their general cocky attitude.


I don't think anybody who loves the game out there wants such a venture to fail. Get a kick in the butt and start acting like adults and gentlemen, maybe :D
 
jpparmentier said:
Probably because nobody could benefit from the failure of a promoter who's bringing 60 top players a good income...

I, for one, don't want it to fail at all. Like the IPT or the PBT, Camel tours and such things, it will leave a hole if it fails with all the top players involved in it. Nobody wants this to happen.

That said, I still think the way they handled/are handling things could be much improved, and I think they deserve most of the hate they're getting just because of their general cocky attitude.


I don't think anybody who loves the game out there wants such a venture to fail. Get a kick in the butt and start acting like adults and gentlemen, maybe :D
Click to expand...

You should be in politics, an ambassador. I've never seen anybody able to communicate with such finesse while getting the point across so accurately, without offending anybody in the process. :)

JJParmentier for Chief of the Tribal Nation of Pool! :cool:
 
Pool has already failed and has no future as a bigger sport in America for the short-term future.

We're like vinyl record enthusiasts in keeping it alive, while we can make a minor comeback, we ain't getting back to the prominence it once had.
 
Many many people, better than me, have already failed in trying to make all people involved in this sport work together. That's how it is.

It's just sad overall, that in such a market everybody end up fighting each other and trying to do things in their little corner.

Trying to all get together and work for the benefit of the sport is what needs to happen, but rarely does; And in that area Bonus Ball failed completely by making a statement from the start : they are better than the sport itself, and its community. Way to go...
 
JAM said:
I think you may not be fully understanding what is going on behind the scenes, CreeDo, with all due respect. :)

It is *not* that the tournament is so fragile that it will sink; rather, it's the tournament promoter will throw in the towel becuase of the disloyalty exhibited by the very players he had supported for decades. There comes a time when you just get disgusted and quit.

Promoters quitting is not a good thing in American pool, especially valued promoters with a sterling reputation in the industry and a long existing track record.

Bonus Ball has created division, forcing the players to pick sides. This is no good.
Click to expand...

What's the behind the scenes insider info that I'm missing?
I don't see anything like that in what you just described.

What you described is a businessman who closes up shop not because it's unprofitable,
but because his feelings got hurt. That seems like a weak attitude.
I'd like to think the promoters are a little tougher than that.

How would the players feel if a promoter said "Well if this handful of guys don't show up, screw it, I'm done."
Like those big name players were the only ones that mattered to the promoter, and the dozens (hundreds?)
of other 'lesser' players can just go screw themselves.

That's a poor way to treat players too, isn't it?
 
CreeDo said:
What's the behind the scenes insider info that I'm missing?
I don't see anything like that in what you just described.

What you described is a businessman who closes up shop not because it's unprofitable,
but because his feelings got hurt. That seems like a weak attitude.
I'd like to think the promoters are a little tougher than that.

How would the players feel if a promoter said "Well if this handful of guys don't show up, screw it,
I'm done." ...it like those big name players were the only ones that mattered to the promoter,
and the dozens (hundreds?) of other 'lesser' players can just go screw themselves.

That's a poor way to treat players too, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Until you've walked in the shoes of another, don't cast judgments. That's all I'm going to say on the matter.
 
CreeDo said:
What's the behind the scenes insider info that I'm missing?
I don't see anything like that in what you just described.

What you described is a businessman who closes up shop not because it's unprofitable,
but because his feelings got hurt. That seems like a weak attitude.
I'd like to think the promoters are a little tougher than that.

How would the players feel if a promoter said "Well if this handful of guys don't show up, screw it, I'm done."
Like those big name players were the only ones that mattered to the promoter, and the dozens (hundreds?)
of other 'lesser' players can just go screw themselves.

That's a poor way to treat players too, isn't it?
Click to expand...

I don't have any behind the scenes info, but I can understand that someone who, hypothetically, has worked hard for a number of years promoting pool, and he does it more for the love of the game than for a profit, may feel let down by the players he thought he was helping, and decide he doesn't want to bother with it anymore.
 
If I was the promotor I would ask my "supporters" to please, please stop making people believe that if the few teams that are playing bonus ball don't participate in my event that I will quit!!!

Wow!
 
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