Matchroom's European Open Mar 11-16 2025, Sarajevo (Bosnia) - empty field?

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wealmostlostdetroit

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Matchroom announced that this year's European Open will happen next month in Sarajevo, Bosnia. $200k prize fund, $40k to the winner.

Just thinking out loud:
- Matchroom failed to find 256 players for all their 2024 majors (EU, UK, US Open, etc)

- It seems that WNT Pro idea is slowly being abandoned - afaik last year the 128 WNT pros had a free entry to the major however for this event I see that players like Oscar Dominguez had to pay the $250 fee to enter; it's also a little silly that we don't know who the current WNT pros are despite season well underway

- The announcement came incredibly late; the event is in less than a month which will make it tough/expensive for anyone outside Europe to attend; also means there's going to be no qualifiers for the event (would argue that about 25% of last year's WNT pros won't make it)

- WPA/EPBF ban is still very much in effect; almost safe to assume that the European pros that attended the Eurotour event in Italy last weekend more or less committed to WPA and not Matchroom

- Therefore I don't see many local players signing up for this event as it bans them from all local, national and international competitions for 6 months and carries a $500 fine + cannot imagine locals are prepared to spend an entire paycheck with very little chance of cashing
 
It doesn't start for another month. May not have 256 but the field will be STOUT. Don't think MR is too worried about locals playing/not playing.
 
Matchroom just sent an email inviting all WNT TV subscribers to play in the event but still not sure this will fill the field. Setting the over/under line at 150 players starting the event.

On one hand it's a fantastic offer to pay $250 and play a major. On another hand this kinda shambles can only happen in pool. Imagine being able to play in the main tournament of Roland Garros just because you subscribe to Tennis TV.

Not hating on Matchroom, they are doing many things right, but an event like this (prize fund / location) organized by WPA probably draws 500+ players.
 
wealmostlostdetroit said:
If one of the 3 majors in a calendar year can't get 256 players what are we even doing?
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'Major' in pool terms is pretty nebulous. What are you so concerned about? Own stock in Matchroom? MR/WNT is doing fine. Much better than WPA. Take away Snooze,errrrr, Heyball and what do they have? Nothing. I wouldn't lose any sleep over how many show-up in that 'garden spot' Bosnia. I wouldn't go there if you paid the bills. Who chose this shithole anyway?? Emily?? If so she dogged it.
 
garczar said:
'Major' in pool terms is pretty nebulous. What are you so concerned about? Own stock in Matchroom? MR/WNT is doing fine. Much better than WPA. Take away Snooze,errrrr, Heyball and what do they have? Nothing. I wouldn't lose any sleep over how many show-up in that 'garden spot' Bosnia. I wouldn't go there if you paid the bills. Who chose this shithole anyway?? Emily?? If so she dogged it.
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ah, Bosnia is pretty nice

Scenic, historic towns; alps; rivers. And Bosnian food is delish.

Lou Figueroa
just sayin’
 
garczar said:
'Major' in pool terms is pretty nebulous. What are you so concerned about? Own stock in Matchroom? MR/WNT is doing fine. Much better than WPA. Take away Snooze,errrrr, Heyball and what do they have? Nothing. I wouldn't lose any sleep over how many show-up in that 'garden spot' Bosnia. I wouldn't go there if you paid the bills. Who chose this shithole anyway?? Emily?? If so she dogged it.
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seems safer than London or A.C.:

Crime Comparison Between Atlantic City, NJ, United States And Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina. Safety Comparison.

www.numbeo.com www.numbeo.com

probably safer than my country sweden too but that's a low bar.
 
skogstokig said:
seems safer than London or A.C.:

Crime Comparison Between Atlantic City, NJ, United States And Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina. Safety Comparison.

www.numbeo.com www.numbeo.com

probably safer than my country sweden too but that's a low bar.
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Crime stats for US cities are very mis-leading. In almost every case the hi-crime areas are the low income, often black, parts of town. Not being racist just telling it like it is. You could drive all around AC and not see any crime unless you venture off into sketchy parts. I'm not leaving the US for ANY sporting event other than maybe the BritishOpen golf or a F1 race. Not for any pool event that's for sure.
 
I believe Matchroom will find a way to make this a phenomenal event with an elite field.

How "dead" the "dead money" will be is not going to be the measure of the quality of this event.

In the absence of a list of players under contract with the WNT, this event will be our first glimpse of the kind of field that we can expect to see in WNT events in 2025.

Bashing of the event or field, to me, makes no sense at all. This is going to be a fantastic spectacle that will kick off the WNT major season in style.

Matchroom produces superb events, and the European Open will not be an exception.
 
garczar said:
Crime stats for US cities are very mis-leading. In almost every case the hi-crime areas are the low income, often black, parts of town. Not being racist just telling it like it is. You could drive all around AC and not see any crime unless you venture off into sketchy parts. I'm not leaving the US for ANY sporting event other than maybe the BritishOpen golf or a F1 race. Not for any pool event that's for sure.
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that's true of european cities as well, with the difference that the inner cities are more safe than the suburbs (iow it's the other way around).

not asking anyone to go to sarajevo, these kinds of stats just interest me. often eastern european countries are more safe than western europe nowadays. i won't digress further into why that is.

the biggest problem with this event isn't the location but the schedule. emily claims to have informed players ahead of the announcement but that doesn't cut it for me
 
Anybody know if Matchroom covers the costs of flights and hotels for their signed players?
 
Based on recent Frazer comments, MR tried to sked the Euro Open for Fulda, Germany, where it took place the last three years. But there was a conflict with dates.

The Euro Open previously took place in August. The hotel in Fulda tends to have a very light calendar in August.

The early part of the year is much busier, however. My guess is MR wanted to move up the Euro Open to March to help its new WNT.TV. But when it couldn't get a date with Fulda, it had to seek a backup plan.

These big MR opens are obviously difficult events to schedule and it probably took longer than MR expected.

Of course, not having it in Fulda gets around the issue of MR not having a Filler Junior Open. Instead, there will be an unnamed junior open in Sarajevo.

I have to wonder if MR/Frazer are really ticked off at Filler in particular, among players who sided with WPA over Hanoi, because of how much it invested in him from a nonmonetary perspective. They created a junior open named after him and made his wife the first woman on the WNT tour list. Perhaps they even chose Fulda for the site of the Euro Open because of him.

None of that means Filler should have sided with WNT. I respect that he decided to do what he thought was best for himself.

***

As for the MR offering WNT.TV subscribers a chance to play, MR knows only very good players would likely take up the offer. So it doesn't bother me at all.

I, for one, am not going to pay a few thousand dollars and fly to Sarajevo to make a fool of myself!
 
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Eastern Europe is much safer than Western Europe these days.

Fatboy<——goes to these places and sees what’s happening, I don’t watch tv for my information. And the Middle East is safer than Eastern Europe.
 
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