I'm Worried About Our Sport. Investors needed !

kevin s said:
Are you familiar with this company? They have the busiest pool room I've ever seen! Its the nicest as well! Look at how many locations they have nationwide!! I was at their location in Knoxville Wednesday night. At 11:00 pm there was at least 200 people there! They are definitely a cool well received place.
www.tentcorp.com
www.tentcorp.com/locations/tnlocal.html
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Are you suggesting them as a tournament location or as an investor ?

Bailey's and Fox and Hounds are beautiful upscale sports bars and restaurants but I have never seen any interest from them to promote our sport through their establishments either through hosting or supporting any type of professional pool event.

Please correct me if I missed something.
 
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MikeJanis said:
Are you suggesting them as a tournament location or as an investor ?
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Perhaps both! They have around or so twenty tables. Over sized 8 ft I believe. I meet some friends there and the place was so packed we couldn't get a table. We headed over to Breakers and they had plenty of tables open. If you want to expose the sport to more people this would be a great place to do it.

My area has changed from mom and pop business to corporate companies. We had several family owned drug stores. They have all closed. Now we have Walgreens ,CVS ,and Eckerds. We had multiple family owned hardware stores. Now we have Lowe's and Home Depot. I feel like family owned poolrooms are dropping in numbers as well. There just isn't a corporate one to take its place.

Balieys Sports bar is a awesome business but its a hour away from me. It's part of a chain. All franchised sports bars that has a emphasis on pool needs to be involved in our sport period. I don't know how to make that happen! I just know it needs to!!
 
kevin s said:
Perhaps both! They have around or so twenty tables. Over sized 8 ft I believe. I meet some friends there and the place was so packed we couldn't get a table. We headed over to Breakers and they had plenty of tables open. If you want to expose the sport to more people this would be a great place to do it.

My area has changed from mom and pop business to corporate companies. We had several family owned drug stores. They have all closed. Now we have Walgreens ,CVS ,and Eckerds. We had multiple family owned hardware stores. Now we have Lowe's and Home Depot. I feel like family owned poolrooms are dropping in numbers as well. There just isn't a corporate one to take its place.

Balieys Sports bar is a awesome business but its a hour away from me. It's part of a chain. All franchised sports bars that has a emphasis on pool needs to be involved in our sport period. I don't know how to make that happen! I just know it needs to!!
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So basically what you are saying is that I need to get:
Bailey's / Fox and Hound
Jillian's and Dave & Busters in a bidding war against each other to see who gets the sponsorship category for Billiard Restaurans, Bars and Entertainment centers.

Now that's a good idea.

I'm pretty sure Jillians will be pretty tough to get interested due to the bad taste left in their mouth from the other BIG tours events.
 
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pro tour

Mike S. is on the right track. Form a corporation and get listed on the stock exchange. There is venture capitalist that will invest in anything if they think it will make them money. With stocks, you can have thousands of people investing and raise a lot of money fast. It would be a huge hassle, but it may be an option.
It is hard to believe that there isn?t a dot.com millionaire or lottery winner that loves pool and needs a tax write-off. Advertise at the US-Open 9-ball, Qlympics and Derby City, there will be millionaires in the crowd. Maybe someone will step up to the plate.
Thanks for trying!!!
 
MikeJanis said:
I[...]

If you are interested in investing in this venture contact Mike Janis at [...]
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Mike,

I wish you luck and note your favorable history following through and making things happen...

And I do think the pendulum of our sport will swing back to the good direction...

But I must say, prefacing "Investors needed" with "I'm worried about our sport" is a little like prefacing a pickup line in a bar with "I'm worried about this itch."
 
JAM said:
However, you felt a need to needle me. Your post thereafter is insulting to me, but, of course, that is your intention.

JAM
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Can say with total certainty and truth that I have never posted anything, anywhere, anytime, with the intention of needling you or insulting you. If it has been perceived that way I apologise for any ambiguity in any posting which led to that perception.

My only question is........should I apologise separately to the demonic persecution complex voices in your head or will you just show this to them?
 
memikey said:
Can say with total certainty and truth that I have never posted anything, anywhere, anytime, with the intention of needling you or insulting you. If it has been perceived that way I apologise for any ambiguity in any posting which led to that perception.

My only question is........should I apologise separately to the demonic persecution complex voices in your head or will you just show this to them?
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Let me just cap it by saying your "delusions of adequacy" are overly exaggerated.

Rather, it could be that you experience an inferiority complex needing professional treatment.

You don't want to dance with me in this forum. Choose somebody else with the same intelligence quota of double digits.

JAM
 
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investors rather than sponsors

Dave,

The biggest stumbling block in your plan is commitment from sponsors. If they are getting a proven good return for investment they will stay with you. I did emphasis proven because I have seen sponsors lost because there was no concrete correlation between the sponsorship and profits. However if the sponsor doesn't feel that they are getting bang for their buck they will quit providing funds. Then what do you do? Sue a sponsor? Win or lose your dream is dead. This sponsor is gone and getting another will be a very long shot.

Speaking to Mike and Dave now, any plan put forward by anyone needs to be able to forecast at least a small profit for investors, with the potential of larger return should the tour attract major sponsorship. Investors aren't sugar daddies or dreamers. I had roughly $150k to invest a few years back. I looked at many options before making my decision. My decision was based primarily on three things, risk, return, and my ability to personally affect the outcome of my investment. At some point after somewhat qualifying them you do have to ask potential investors to sign a nondisclosure-noncompetition agreement and lay your cards on the table.

Mike, I do wish you the best of luck. I think you are one of the best men in the country to get something off of the ground. If I have dollars to invest I will talk to you when the time is right.

Hu


Blackjack said:
Mike,
About a year ago I was toying around with the idea of creating a tour similar to the one you describe. I came up with the same figures as you have, and my solution was to sell individual shares to investors, minimum investment of $3000. I won't go into all of the specifics, but this investment money was not intended to be distributed in prize money. This was money that would sustain the tour. In addition to the shareholders, there wuld be MAJOR sponsorship contracts, with a minimum 3 year commitment from the sponsoring entity - which in my plan was also responsible for choosing, selecting, and financing a venue that they believed would best promote their product/services. Official products such as balls/tables would be contractually obligated for 3-5 years. The basis for my idea was to COMMIT the sponsors to the tour, and to COMMIT individual and corporate investors.
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Be careful, for people to invest in a partnership like this (organized as an LLC with shareholders I assume) they would need to be accredited investors and I'm guessing 99% of the people on this forum are not accredited investors. In small deals its usually not a big deal, but trolling for investors on an internet forum might trigger an audit (you never know who's reading this and has too much time on their hands).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor
 
jcrack_corn said:
Be careful, for people to invest in a partnership like this (organized as an LLC with shareholders I assume) they would need to be accredited investors and I'm guessing 99% of the people on this forum are not accredited investors. In small deals its usually not a big deal, but trolling for investors on an internet forum might trigger an audit (you never know who's reading this and has too much time on their hands).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor
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Jack, since nothing currently exists I am positive that having a discussion about getting or becoming an investor is completely within legal limits. Additionally, setting up the LLC and taking the investments through a broker and private placement is a legal way to side-step the article you mentioned.

I will make sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed before anything happens.

Thank you for your advice.

Mj
 
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Mike,

Kingstreets Billiards in Fayetteville is opening up this week I believe. Danny Otem is the owner and I believe he wants to get some bigger tournaments coming through town. If you need contact information for him let me know and I will get it for you.
 
Neil said:
Gee, don't know WHY I would be posting this here. But I just started a thread in the NPR section that SOME just might find useful. ENJOY!
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=72663
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Neil, you are a genius. god should be the primary investor in Mike's idea. Please give god Mike's email or toll free # so the two of them can get together.

Mike, since you already have a great relationship with your 41 sponsors, I did some simple math.

$3,000,000 (needed for Pro Tour) - $250,000 you are willing to invest = $2,750,000

$2,750,000 / 41 current sponsors = $67,073.17

$67,073.17 / 3 years = $22,357.72 per year per sponsor.

I would think this would be easy for you to 'sell' to your sponsorship team based on your track record of promoting 890 tournaments & their products over the years. And if you got say, Viking, to be the primary sponsor then the cost per year for each of the other sponsors would be considerably less. Plus, with your sponsors you would not only be 'selling' the idea to them that they would get advertising for their product but also an actual monetary return for their investment.
 
DeadPoked said:
Mike,

Kingstreets Billiards in Fayetteville is opening up this week I believe. Danny Otem is the owner and I believe he wants to get some bigger tournaments coming through town. If you need contact information for him let me know and I will get it for you.
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PM sent.

Thanks,

Mj
 
mike, i have absolutely no way in helping at all with this venture, but just let me say i wish you the absolute best of luck and you're a top, top man for doing this. like it or not, fact is pool is dying and it's solid plans like this that need to be made to get the game back on track.

good luck.
 
MikeJanis said:
So, JAM, SKY, MEMIKEY and BLACKJACK how much are you willing to invest ?

You don't have to post it here. Just send me an email at vikingtour2@yahoo.com and we can discuss it in private.

Remember, no investment is too small.

Thanks,

Mj
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Mike,

One of the industries that seem to be called on to "donate" is the cue maker. I am working on my 3rd cue this year that will be donated for a raffle to help raise funds for a local tournament. So you don't need to be a big investor or business to contribute (local tournament is mostly guys and gals who have a passion to play pool all weekend long!!!! - but occassionally we have a road hustler, Cole Dickson, Tyler Edey, Edwin Mondel(sp) etc show up ready to play).

btw, I understand there is a new room in the metro Phx area - Hollywood Billiards.
 
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Sadly, another one bites the dust

MikeJanis said:
I put a post out on FIVE different billiard websites asking if anyone knew of any new rooms opening around them. It was under the heading "***WANTED*** NEW Pool Rooms Opening This Year".

The part that worries me is that there were ZERO responses regarding any new rooms.

Fortunately, I know of at least 5 new rooms (IL, TX, SC, NC and GA) which gives me a little hope but I truly believe our sport is in a constant state of decline. I hope the powers that be ca (get it) realize this and start to do something about it ASAP !

I don't know what the cure is but I do know a PRO-Tour would be a great start. I'm not talking about a Pro-tour in namesake like the UPA but an actual Pro-Tour where you have to qualify to get in and not just put up your entry fee to play. We need a system that is supported by the industry and professionally run. We need to give new and existing players a reason to practice and get better. We need a catch to bring new players into our sport and then give them a reason to excel. We need a reason for new pool rooms to open and provide quality equipment. We need an organization to step up and put this together.

If you are still reading this you will be interested in reading the next paragraph.

Believe it or not, I designed a system, a modest system that could help to achieve our goals. I presented it to other associations and I have a tremendous amount of support for it. However it is still missing a few components. This is where you, an investor can come in. Yeah, it would be nice if someone offered me 10mil and said go do it but that's not about to happen and its not what is needed. What we need is 3mil over 5 years to effectively implement the system and turn a profit. With or without TV this will turn a profit. If you are an investor and have a love for our sport, I urge you to contact me. No investment is too small. Yeah, I know it sounds like I want you to send me money but that's not what I want. Together, with this plan we will take small steps as a group, achieve predicted revenue goals and proceed from there. I would prefer to show you how it can work, make a little money then do it again and again and again.

If you are interested in investing in this venture contact Mike Janis at vikingtour2@yahoo.com or call me on my cell phone at anytime. My direct phone # is 1-800-200-POOL (7665).

My brief resume is; I have successfully promoted, directed, and obtained sponsorship money for over 890 events. I own the Largest and longest running open regional tour in the USA. I already have 41 sponsors for this new venture and I will personally invest $250,000 into this new program over the next 5 years.


Respectfully,
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Went on a golf outing last week to Carson City, Nv. and one night headed to Cue-Phoria Billairds to play Bobby Hunter for some big cash.-----------------:Yeh right, but lo and behold his ex wife closed it down. Guess she could not get her asking price so sold off everything or rather in the process of. Think half her tables are gone. I know your tour does not come out West but it is sad another one bites the dust. There were quite a few players out of their for such a small area.
 
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