See Below...
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So where is the Bonus Ball annoucement?
- Thread starter Gerry Williams
- Start date
See Below...
Blah Blah Blah Blah! Translation: No more money honey!
And all that would be because they had an idiot for a mouthpiece saying stupid ca-ca.
Lou Figueroa
my professional
PR opinion
We've covered these things already. Past numbers have shown a good stream PPV gets somewhere between 400 and 700 people buying it. A new thing such as BB would be closer to 100/150.
When they claimed to have a server overload because of 10,000 on day 1 for the Free stream, it was probably down to misinterpretation from what their host said. Or a lie. Or both.
The PPV revenue stream cannot generate anywhere close to the budget this thing needs to run on. And they acknowledged that by stating multiple times PPV wasn't the core of the business.
They did communicate on the forums, but not officially. It was some time before we could get proper PRs and pics. Which shows it was possible, but they were understaffed for the size of the project. Nathan & co tried to do what they could and over promised. Probably because of inexperience.
The media producs - stream and pictures - were top-notch. They just needed to triple the staff to be able to handle the load of work, and talented people are not easy to find.
Are you really talking about getting 3000 people to pay $169 a year ? Do you really think it is realistic ? I don't know of anything close to these numbers anywhere in our industry.
My guess would be that they had a maximum of 50 people buying the yearly pass, and i'm stretching it. There are just too many options out there of free streams and proven PPV such as AS and TAR.
The failure lies for sure on the total lack of revenue stream. PPV, seats, sponsors, anything. But apparently, every time we brought this point up we were told "we're missing the big picture".
I'd love to sit down and talk to anyone from BB with other industry people and learn from their vision. From what transpires in their PRs and talks we have a lot to learn from them. Good. I love to learn.
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From the 3 separate players I've talked to, they're all owed over 5k each. If thats true for every player than I think Bonus Ball is in big trouble.
It sounds like their investors backed out and their currently looking for new investors. - thats just pure speculation on my behalf.
It sounds like their investors backed out and their currently looking for new investors. - thats just pure speculation on my behalf.
I had said that the I wondered if the original investors had invested "patient" money that could cushion the obvious bumps. New money always exacts a premium and old takes a haircut. I am surprised that they were not better financed out of the gate to finance losses for a much longer period ( I kinow construction cost problems were the culprit......not).
That said, I enjoyed watching. There are several positive lessons that can be taken from this that I hope are not lost.
That said, I enjoyed watching. There are several positive lessons that can be taken from this that I hope are not lost.
One of the BB guys had said the announcement would be "some good, some bad, but all necessary" Im not seeing any good here. Anyone?
Management has, from the beginning, been totally clueless business wise. I dont see how they could have previously been a success in even a convenience store. I never saw any evidence they knew one blessed thing about the pool business or were ever part of the "pool community" because if they were, they would know SOMETHING.
I do give them credit for the idea of a pool game having a closely set time limit. Sets of 8 ball, nine ball etc lasting anywhere from 45 min to 3 hrs would never ever make it on weekly TV in a league format, even on Versus.
A few weeks will turn into a few months and then the 'For Rent' sign will go out in front of the arena. Im not hoping that,but logic tells me that.
Management has, from the beginning, been totally clueless business wise. I dont see how they could have previously been a success in even a convenience store. I never saw any evidence they knew one blessed thing about the pool business or were ever part of the "pool community" because if they were, they would know SOMETHING.
I do give them credit for the idea of a pool game having a closely set time limit. Sets of 8 ball, nine ball etc lasting anywhere from 45 min to 3 hrs would never ever make it on weekly TV in a league format, even on Versus.
A few weeks will turn into a few months and then the 'For Rent' sign will go out in front of the arena. Im not hoping that,but logic tells me that.
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If this is a sampling of what the players are owed, it is awful to think about the bills they have incurred to date. It is difficult to understand how any of the current Bonus Ball players can support the Bonus Ball mission, knowing their brother players are owed that kind of dough. :sorry:
On a good note, timing is good in that the CSI tournaments will be in full swing. While the BB players are out there, they won't incur the travel expenses. I'm sure this will be a topic of conversation for quite a few pool folks attending this event.
I wonder if Earl Strickland, who's traveling in Ireland at this time -- Lucky Earl! -- made a decision to go overseas because he wasn't paid either. I would love to know Earl's thoughts on Bonus Ball today, post press release.
It seems like the same one or two Bonus Ball players are praising them and pleading with others to stay the course. Of course, I guess the others are afraid to speak out because they want to get their 5 dimes first. Talk about a Catch-22! :frown:
Could "they" have signed up 3000 people in five to seven months? I mean we actually go back farther than January with this project. I don't know. I really don't know if a grassroots cross country tour hitting every major event with a booth and a table - room to room doing exhibitions getting people excited - I don't really know if that would have amounted to anything positive.
I know that in those 7 months they had players scattered all over the land. They had players on the payroll that whole time. Players who could have been going into local rooms promoting BB, hanging with amateurs, teaching the game, learning the game with them. Schmoozing, networking etc....
I know that when the Women's World Cup of Soccer was held in the USA the USA Women's soccer team went grassroots and guerilla to sell tickets and as a result filled their stadiums, in some cases even getting more spectators than the NFL teams whose stadiums they were using.
And lastly I know that when I personally went on the road selling cue cases I never failed to make a sale at any stop I went to. For six months I did no lower than $1000 a day in revenue on average on the road. I think that people underestimate the power of real world connections and overestimate the power of online ones in today's world.
Anyway, everyone's got an opinion here and none of them matter because BB is where it is and if they survive going forward then then we will sweat it and if not then we will talk about them until we get bored.
Can i referee for $2 a game
Way to keep the humor Lee. Best of luck to you in the coming months. I hope you get staked to help you out. I'm unemployed right now, so can't offer to jump in.
Maybe, maybe not. Who among us has access to Larry's bank account? Maybe he is down to his last two million and decided to put on the brakes and hunt for more cash?
Now they have six weeks of footage to show and sell. FWIW investors just don't "back out" and take their money normally. They invest in a business plan and the money they put in is in play regardless of what happens.
The only thing I can see is that they obviously were not funded enough to carry them through months of delays while maintaining payroll. I know what that feels like as does every entrepreneur on this board. If I don't make a single cue case I still have to come up with the salary for 15 people on payday. If my laser breaks or four people are out and the result is that we make ten less cases then my staff doesn't expect to be paid less.
I guess for me I can't see myself having ever undertaken a project like this without a year's worth of expenses to burn. I think if I couldn't have collected enough to have a full year to implement the concept then I probably would have never gone through with it. And to be fair, something like seeing hundreds of thousands disappear to a bad contractor can throw a major wrinkle into the budget. I guess on some level you get too far in and say let's go all-in and see what the flop brings.
It's Vegas after all, what fun would it be if everyone wasn't betting?
The IPT stoppage was supposed to be temporary too, but then it cancelled the rest of the tournaments, did a handful of streamed challenge matches, and then got put into the dustbin of pool history. And people always wonder why it's important to know and study history.
I guess this means we would not see Frost at anymore 9, 10 ball events since this is the only game he wants to play?
Often times, what is best is not always what the players/promoters want (or want to see) in any sporting event, it is what a possible future audience would think is best/want to see. If you want a successful business model that does not fold after a few months anyways. Or, one that has more than 5-10 people in the audience. But I will bet that 90% (probably even go 98%) of general audiences will either tell you 8 ball and/or 9 ball is their favorite game to watch.
Try asking it sometime, outside a pool room.......
I really like the teams idea, Atlanta, Las Vegas, etc... But this model could have worked much better/easier with 8 ball and/or even 9 ball. Regardless if you like BB or not (as a more serious lover of pool), you have to look at the fact of if a general audience would like it? (you know, the ones that could put serious money into the game).
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What happened to the 2 seasons of financing in the bank??
So players were owed up to $5k? If I do my math, that means they weren't being paid prior to the Ultimate 10 Ball and Southern Classic.
When all the scheduling threads were going strong, some smart person (oh wait, that was me) talked about how they could have taken a 2 week hiatus in order to review what has been going right or wrong to make improvements during that down time.
But that would cost them $13k per week for rent, right? But if they weren't playing players for playing during that time (and it looks like they weren't paying even though they were playing), it would have saved money, right?
So isn't this "several week" hiatus costing them the same $13k per week? And messing up the schedule, which will now cause scheduling issues over other tournaments later in the season?
All that being said, I do feel for the players. They were taking a risk to chase the success of BB. Many will say they were stupid to believe, but I admire anyone taking a risk in a new venture. Some work out, some don't.
I sure hope this doesn't harm any players too much. As others have mentioned, hopefully the CSI events will help some of them get some cash while it's all straightened out. I picture savers galore in any matchup consisting of 2 BB players in these events.
So players were owed up to $5k? If I do my math, that means they weren't being paid prior to the Ultimate 10 Ball and Southern Classic.
When all the scheduling threads were going strong, some smart person (oh wait, that was me) talked about how they could have taken a 2 week hiatus in order to review what has been going right or wrong to make improvements during that down time.
But that would cost them $13k per week for rent, right? But if they weren't playing players for playing during that time (and it looks like they weren't paying even though they were playing), it would have saved money, right?
So isn't this "several week" hiatus costing them the same $13k per week? And messing up the schedule, which will now cause scheduling issues over other tournaments later in the season?
All that being said, I do feel for the players. They were taking a risk to chase the success of BB. Many will say they were stupid to believe, but I admire anyone taking a risk in a new venture. Some work out, some don't.
I sure hope this doesn't harm any players too much. As others have mentioned, hopefully the CSI events will help some of them get some cash while it's all straightened out. I picture savers galore in any matchup consisting of 2 BB players in these events.
Then why say anything - you obviously do not know for certain.
It sounds like their investors backed out and their currently looking for new investors. - thats just pure speculation on my behalf.[/QUOTE]
It sounds like their investors backed out and their currently looking for new investors. - thats just pure speculation on my behalf.[/QUOTE]