IPT sold to reputed "gangster"

J

jungledude

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
:mad: Everyone knew it was too good to be true, everyone knew Mr. Trudeau was a con man who could sell anyone anything. At the players meeting Saturday it was reported that the London IPT event has been cancelled and the tour has been sold to a Mr. Ho who is an Asian billionaire
who has been linked to heroin trafficking and casino holdings. Will the casinos now offer a line on the IPT tournaments and will Mr. Ho have any say who might win future tournaments ( Like Don King Enterprises). Well, it was good while it lasted, but once again the pool players of the world will once again have to lead the life of a pauper.:mad: :( :mad:
 
too soon to say

Way too soon to say what the results of the sale will be but I suspect a radical purse cut and the "$100,000 guarantee in 2007" will go out of the window. I think the 100K talk was all smoke and mirrors anyway but that is another story.

Other sports that pay huge purses command high prices for ad time. So far pool has shown no indication of being able to do the same so I am left to wonder where the justification for the huge purses is at from a business standpoint. Can pool demand high dollars for ad time? Can it put sixty thousand fans in a stadium?

I look for purses to be cut to a level that makes business sense and I look for the star treatment that pool players are just discovering could exist to go away. I also expect the tour to largely leave the US, maybe entirely.

Speculation of course but if the sale is real and comes to pass it is very likely to be the end of the fairy tale IPT that may have existed sole to create a sale after Sigel fell on his face. Early in the formation of the IPT I asked if the pool players were the target or window dressing. This may answer that question.

Good luck to all the AZB'ers in Reno and Chicago, I wouldn't be surprised if Chicago is the last hurrah for the IPT as we know it. I am forever skeptical of whatever seems too good to be true. Hopefully my best guess is wrong and the fairy tale will just grow larger and larger, however I won't be placing any bets on the IPT as it has been represented in the past if the sale takes place.

Hu




jungledude said:
:mad: Everyone knew it was too good to be true, everyone knew Mr. Trudeau was a con man who could sell anyone anything. At the players meeting Saturday it was reported that the London IPT event has been cancelled and the tour has been sold to a Mr. Ho who is an Asian billionaire
who has been linked to heroin trafficking and casino holdings. Will the casinos now offer a line on the IPT tournaments and will Mr. Ho have any say who might win future tournaments ( Like Don King Enterprises). Well, it was good while it lasted, but once again the pool players of the world will once again have to lead the life of a pauper.:mad: :( :mad:
Click to expand...
 
dacue said:
SAY IT AIN'T SO JOE! (aka Mr. Kevin Tradeau)
Click to expand...

Sure he'll say it ain't so. He'll say anything to take your purse, but that doesn't mean it aint so.
 
jungledude said:
:mad: Everyone knew it was too good to be true, everyone knew Mr. Trudeau was a con man who could sell anyone anything. At the players meeting Saturday it was reported that the London IPT event has been cancelled and the tour has been sold to a Mr. Ho who is an Asian billionaire
who has been linked to heroin trafficking and casino holdings. Will the casinos now offer a line on the IPT tournaments and will Mr. Ho have any say who might win future tournaments ( Like Don King Enterprises). Well, it was good while it lasted, but once again the pool players of the world will once again have to lead the life of a pauper.:mad: :( :mad:
Click to expand...

I assume you're not surprised. I certainly am not. Maybe the 'ho is just interested in pool and doesn't mind losing some money, but I doubt it.
 
Easy gents,

There are plenty of wealthy owners in the world of sport with criminal pasts,
doesn't neccesarily mean anything.

Hell, there are plenty of IPT players with criminal records.

It's all irrelevant imo.
 
I think you are correct in that there are going to be big changes in the IPT under the ownership of Ho, but I am mildly more optimistic that most in this thread.

I doubt the 150 million dollar figure, but I am sure that if Ho really has bought the IPT he has a solid plan to make money. I have a lot of dealings with Chinese in my personal and business life. I have yet to see a Chinese businessman throw away money. They tend to be very cunning. I don’t care how good of a salesman KT is, there is no way he pulled a fast one on somebody as successful as Ho.

I think the biggest change is going to be that most tournaments are going to start taking place in Asia. Asia is the present and the future of pool. Anybody that thinks the US is still the capitol of the pool world is deluding themselves. It pains me to say this, but there is no point in hiding my head in the sand.

I agree with everybody that the current financial model of the IPT makes no sense. The fans are not showing up and there can be no TV revenue when the events are not on TV. In Asia, I think this will be very different. The seats will be filled and TV coverage will be live. I don’t live in Asia, but I have heard for years now how popular pool is over there.

I also expect that Ho believes he will do well on the gambling side. Gambling is big in Asia, this I do know from personal experience. Granted, Ho does not need to own the IPT to run a book on the events, but he does need to own it to bring it to Asia. With the events in that part of the world I expect local interest to be larger thus the gambling being larger.

I don’t expect things to improve over where they are now in the US. At best, the TV coverage will continue to be months old. We can only hope that the IPT online membership will be popular enough that the new owners continue the offering and keep to the promise of streaming the matches live online.
 
smashmouth said:
Easy gents,

There are plenty of wealthy owners in the world of sport with criminal pasts,
doesn't neccesarily mean anything.

Hell, there are plenty of IPT players with criminal records.

It's all irrelevant imo.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with being a former criminal. However, I thought one of the concepts behind the IPT was to clean up pool's image. I didn't think KT owning it did that, and I certainly don't think a drug traficer owning does that. They can put the playes in 3 piece suits and wingtips, but the image will still reflect the owners and the side activities of the players.
Another poster mentioned that the IPT would still be successful, but in Asia. To my mind that does the typical American player no good whatsoever. There are already successful tours in Asia and they haven't helped the American pool scene one iota. As far as the typical American pool player is concerned, the IPT is a flop. Maybe now we can go back to slow growth organizations which is the proper way to grow a sport, there are no shortcuts.
 
Are you talking about Stanley Ho?

If so, you guys should be happy. Because he is easily worth hundreds of millions. He is obviously buying IPT because of the gambling revenue he can take on it. That is good for the sport, because gambling generates interst and more interest and gambling generates bigger purses.

So, it can be a very good thing..probably better than KT.
 
TheFish said:
Are you talking about Stanley Ho?

If so, you guys should be happy. Because he is easily worth hundreds of millions. He is obviously buying IPT because of the gambling revenue he can take on it. That is good for the sport, because gambling generates interst and more interest and gambling generates bigger purses.

So, it can be a very good thing..probably better than KT.
Click to expand...

Can't be any one else. He's the only Asian businessman who fits the discription. His empire is based in Macau where he used to monopolize the gambling industry.

I think it is wiser for the IPT to move to this part of the world. An event like the IPT guarantees a full house and live coverage in several of the pool crazy countries. Also crucial to bring in the Taiwanese players who at the moment look set to dominate the world pool scene for the coming decade.
 
In other news, Vonage is sponsoring some of the 2006 IPT events. Pool players have always wanted a big-name sponsor, here it is. Wait to see how things pan out before condeming anyone. As many have said before, non of the pool players are worse off now then they were before the IPT. If anything they got a badly neededshave, haircut, and a nice set of clothes, not to mention a few bucks.
 
On the plus side let's not forget Mike Seagull did win a shit load of money by defeating all time grandmother Lorry Don Johnson in the final of the universe to demostrate he's still probably the greatest cue player on the whole of planet Siegel. This was one of almost two positive things that we should focus on, not just get sidetracked by picky negativity like you all getting laid off.

Boro Nut
 
Snake Oil

That "Natural Cures" stuff that Trudeau was huckstering, the constant refrain of Siegel being the greatest and the general atmoshphere of the whole production was mildy reminiscent of WWW.

Maybe, just maybe, Ho will Grow the IPT into a billiard tour not unlike the PGA Tour.

"Grow It Ho"
"Make It Go Ho"
"Pool Dough For Ho"
"One Hole Ho"

Is this one more small, yet significant event that sidetracks pool and poolplayers from getting the recognition and $$$ that professional golfers and even pro bowlers get.
 
Snake Oil

That "Natural Cures" stuff that Trudeau was huckstering, the constant refrain of Siegel being the greatest and the general atmoshphere of the whole production was mildy reminiscent of WWW.

Maybe, just maybe, Ho will Grow the IPT into a billiard tour not unlike the PGA Tour.

"Grow It Ho"
"Make It Go Ho"
"Pool Dough For Ho"
"One Hole Ho"

Is this one more small, yet significant event, that sidetracks pool and poolplayers from getting the recognition and $$$ that professional golfers and even pro bowlers get.
 
Whoa, you all are pretty gloomy for the outlook of the IPT. KT has committed to lead the charge for 5 more years and that should at least guarantee some kind of longevity on American soil. All his staff will remain and will probably grow from the home base of Chicago.

Next year's schedule in many other countries will be a reality. Ho will only be involved in the managerial aspects, but KT is the Commish. I am pretty sure he wrote in clauses that assured him complete control over running the tournaments, etc.

Things will pretty much stay the same, with bigger money added and more clout, which means more TV exposure and sponsorship, and products with the attendant trickle-down effect.
 
wow

i must say, i have been an avid supporter of the tour and kt. but, all my life experience tells me that those guaranteed payouts and other "fluff" that inspired thousands of poor pool players to pour money into the tour were just scams.

in other words, kt knew he was going to sell from the beginning but he also knew he had to build the tour up (finacially and commercially), so he could get top dollar for his investment.

my 2 cents at this point, thanks for listening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top