Non profit pool tour? $100,000 payouts?

[christopheradam]

Has anyone tried or toyed with the idea of a non profit pool tour. Have all entry fees and sponsorship money etc. go directly to the payout. It seems like it would be easy enough to get Billiard establishments to donate table time. The tournaments could be run by volunteers or the players themselves. Put up a Website annoucing Tournament dates, and results.

Say you get a tournament that gets 200 entries and the entry is the same as the US open $500. That's $100,000 going directly to the players. I'm not saying your gonna get 200 people to pay $500 for a new tournament, I am just using that as an example the type of payout you could get, and thats without any sponsors. Forget about wasting thousands advertising it. You have $100,000 in prize money for a open pool tournament, news will spread. Another option would be to do a type of qualifier and then have all qualifiers compete in the tournament. To qualify you put up the entry fee and it goes directly to the payout. You could have qualifiers all year long up to the tournament date. This could also alleviate some of the travel expenses that a lot of touring pro's and semi pro's have to pay out of their pocket. It could also eliminate some of the "hacks" early in the tournament as some one was talking about in the post about the US open.

Any thoughts, comments, ideas on this subject? I would especially like to hear Jam's comments on this since she is very knowledgeable on the subject and has recently had some postings about the low payouts in pool tournaments.

 

[cuesmith]

Has anyone tried or toyed with the idea of a non profit pool tour. Have all entry fees and sponsorship money etc. go directly to the payout. It seems like it would be easy enough to get Billiard establishments to donate table time. The tournaments could be run by volunteers or the players themselves. Put up a Website annoucing Tournament dates, and results.

Say you get a tournament that gets 200 entries and the entry is the same as the US open $500. That's $100,000 going directly to the players. I'm not saying your gonna get 200 people to pay $500 for a new tournament, I am just using that as an example the type of payout you could get, and thats without any sponsors. Forget about wasting thousands advertising it. You have $100,000 in prize money for a open pool tournament, news will spread. Another option would be to do a type of qualifier and then have all qualifiers compete in the tournament. To qualify you put up the entry fee and it goes directly to the payout. You could have qualifiers all year long up to the tournament date. This could also alleviate some of the travel expenses that a lot of touring pro's and semi pro's have to pay out of their pocket. It could also eliminate some of the "hacks" early in the tournament as some one was talking about in the post about the US open.

Any thoughts, comments, ideas on this subject? I would especially like to hear Jam's comments on this since she is very knowledgeable on the subject and has recently had some postings about the low payouts in pool tournaments.

Sounds great! Why don't YOU put it on?

just more hot air!

Sherm

 

[vapoolplayer]

gotta agree with sherm here...............are you going to put the time into that?

TDs put alot of time in to run tourneys. do you realize how much of a pain in the ass it is to run a 200 person tourney?

i'd play in it.....LOL........just find the people who are going to donate their time and effort to make it happen.


NOTHING IS FOR FREE


VAP

 

[TheBook]

It is not only the time but all of the aggrievation. There is still money involved from the players, sponsors, and spectators. A bunch of headaches because you cannot please everyone.

 

[Tokyo-dave]

A 200 player tournament would take a full day to complete in a very large room with the players playing back to back matches all the way to the finals. Most likely, 200 players would need two full days to play the whole tournament out. That would be asking an establishment to close it's doors for business for two full days (likely on a weekend) and that would be suicidal for any business establishment.
dave

 

[vapoolplayer]

A 200 player tournament would take a full day to complete in a very large room with the players playing back to back matches all the way to the finals. Most likely, 200 players would need two full days to play the whole tournament out. That would be asking an establishment to close it's doors for business for two full days (likely on a weekend) and that would be suicidal for any business establishment.
dave

say what??? a day? two days? maybe playing 24 hours a day, and then you would still be hard pressed to finish.

takes almost 7 to run it correctly with that many people.

thanks

VAP

 

[spartan]

we have tri state tournaments here using all 21 tables with usually a 40 man field the tournament sometimes goes 12 hours.

 

[christopheradam]

A 200 player tournament would take a full day to complete in a very large room with the players playing back to back matches all the way to the finals. Most likely, 200 players would need two full days to play the whole tournament out. That would be asking an establishment to close it's doors for business for two full days (likely on a weekend) and that would be suicidal for any business establishment.
dave

Yeah, I see that . Just using the 200 player as an example to the $100,000 figure.

Maybe a table time fee could be included in the entry fee. And possibly pick up some business from tournament if they sell food, drinks, and other and from spectators if any.

Maybe half the billard hall could be used for the tournament and half open.

I see the point about it taking a long time to complete the tournament with the more entries you get and I also see the point from the other poster about getting people to donate their time.

 

[JAM]

Has anyone tried or toyed with the idea of a non profit pool tour. Have all entry fees and sponsorship money etc. go directly to the payout. It seems like it would be easy enough to get Billiard establishments to donate table time. The tournaments could be run by volunteers or the players themselves. Put up a Website annoucing Tournament dates, and results...Any thoughts, comments, ideas on this subject? I would especially like to hear Jam's comments on this since she is very knowledgeable on the subject and has recently had some postings about the low payouts in pool tournaments.

Sounds like a well-intentioned concept, Christopher Adam, but VAP hit the nail on the head when he said "NOTHING IS FOR FREE."

The costs of running a "tour" as opposed to a one-time "tournament" will vary tremendously. Each has associated expenditures, but the tour requires a commitment of man-hours and resources over an extended period of time.

The payouts in today's pool tournament market is exactly the same as it was 20 and 30 years ago, even less in some instances cash-wise. However, as we all know, a gallon of gas has at least doubled.

If the players from the '70s and '80s era experienced financial difficulties keeping up with the pro pack, you can imagine what a profit-and-loss statement for today's so-called "professional pool player" would look like.

Most room owners, with maybe a few exceptions, go into a host arrangement with a tour director in hopes to bring a pool happening to their "regulars." In return, it is desired that the host pool room owner make a profit. I have seen some pool room owners provide specialty buffets for the players, hoping to create income. Players like good food and not having to leave the premises to eat elsewhere. Sometimes a cue stick is donated by a vendor sponsor or the tour sponsor, and the raffle proceeds help to fray some of the costs as well. Remember that while a tournament is in progress, the pool room ain't making any dough on table time.

The tour/tournament director has a lot of bases to cover in order to bring a tournament to fruition. Even though most TD's I know are passionate about the sport, they still have to keep a roof over their heads as well. Weekend events are affordable and doable. Four- and five-day events which could in reality take place in 2 days are expensive not only for the room owner and the TD, but the pool player as well.

Until the payouts are commensurate with today's expenditures relating to competing, pool will continue to have one tire in the sand, except, of course, for all those who are getting a free ride!

JAM

 

[christopheradam]

Sounds like a well-intentioned concept, Christopher Adam, but VAP hit the nail on the head when he said "NOTHING IS FOR FREE."

JAM

It was well-intentioned and I see the drawbacks from your post. Thanks for the information.

Do you have any ideas to improve the low pay outs of tournaments?

 

[JAM]

It was well-intentioned and I see the drawbacks from your post. Thanks for the information.

Do you have any ideas to improve the low pay outs of tournaments?

That, my friend, may be the $64,000 question!

In today's tournament-inclined pool world, there is probably an event occurring every single week and weekend somewhere in the country. Because expenses are so high, the aspiring player who desires to compete and advance their game must choose their tournaments wisely.

In many instances, for larger events, a pool player is stuck $1,500 to $2,000 before they hit the first ball, unless, of course, the player is willing to share room expenses. Sometimes a pool player must at least place in the Top Five in order to just break even.

We try to budget our pool funds and do pick and choose because, in the reality of things, there truly is no place like home! Unfortunately, you can't live off of playing pool alone in these times. There is a small minority of players who do, but there is an abundance of world-class pool champions who are living beneath the poverty level in the United States and elsewhere.

The best ideas I have ever heard about progression of the sport came out of the mouth of Allen Hopkins in an off-the-record discussion. A chamipion player, Hopkins has been there and done that, to include at one time trying to bring a worthy men's professional organization to fruition, but he was overcome by a few zealots in the industry. Fortunately for Allen, he's a smart businessman and figured out a way to utilize his expertise to enjoy his pool journey in life.

History repeats itself when it comes to pool, and it boils down to greed by a few over-aggressive folk whose goals are to only increase their own bank account as opposed to the betterment of the sport.

JAM

 

[Nostroke]

It was well-intentioned and I see the drawbacks from your post. Thanks for the information.

Do you have any ideas to improve the low pay outs of tournaments?

You are not going to come up with any magic at this late date. You need sponsors and sponsors need customers. This past weekend at the BCA Pro finals the stands were 3/4 full at best with 6000 pool players within shouting distance. What does an ordinary tour event draw? Ask Hilton.