Like it or not, the pros are going to show up. It is too big of a payday for them to pass it up. The amateurs will probably show up in droves as well.
As to AZBilliards tainting the feeling of the promoters for this event: I think you may be right. It seems that the brain pool on AZBilliards has always been rather high and sometimes I think it is AZ Billiards that just comes off as arrogant to those who don't follow the Main Forum on a regular basis.
Also, just as a member I see posts that seem far more negative than they need to be but everyone's entitled to their opinion so that's not going to change.
Even though most people have their own agenda, AZBilliards presents a cross-section of the pool world, not just nationally but internationally and their consensus of opinion is worth noting.
Personally, if I were a promoter or a professional pool player, I would not post on this forum unless I fully understood the medium, the audience and had the skills and time to respond and defend myself.

This forum is better left to those who talk about pool, talk about doing things for pool and the doers of pool should just check in briefly to keep themselves informed about what the talkers say and this will help them keep their scalp in tact and they can continue on with their plans with additional perspectives to ponder.

JoeyA