State of the Billiards Industry - A Discussion

[JAM]

Mike,
Based on the press release last week, it seems the BCA is restructuring and redefining their focus. I guess we will have to see what develops.

Billiard Congress To Change Management Structure, Move Offices
Colorado Springs, Colorado: The Billiard Congress of America (BCA), the industry trade association for the billiards equipment and establishment sectors, will partner with Atlanta-based Meeting Expectations, a strategic consulting firm specializing in providing services to national trade associations. The BCA’s International Billiard & Home Recreation Trade Show (set for Las Vegas in June) highlights innovation in billiards, including pool tables and supplies for home recreation use as well as commercial billiard enterprises.

Meeting Expectations will provide membership, marketing, financial, IT and administrative services to the BCA. The contract with the firm begins in March, as the BCA reduces staff.

“Our membership has clearly stated a desire for the BCA to emphasize enhanced marketing, research, and strategic business improvement services, and we believe the best way to meet such needs is through a partnership with a seasoned organization such as Meeting Expectations,” said BCA CEO Rob Johnson.

Johnson also announced that the BCA will relocate its national office to Denver in May, citing the convenience of the Denver International Airport for regular meetings of the BCA national directors.

"Our goal is twofold; increasing efficiency and exceeding the expectations of the BCA’s members," said Brian Meyer, president of Meeting Expectations. “This partnership will enable the board to focus on providing guidance to the organization in order to ensure improved member satisfaction through marketing-oriented services. We will also assist the BCA with strategic planning by sharing the best practices we've developed through our years of experience in the association management field."

Johnson said restructuring with Meeting Expectations will allow the BCA to become more responsive to the membership’s desire for marketing-enhanced services such as information on consumer attitudes and opinions relative to the billiard industry, trends within the industry, business improvement tips and seminars, and consumer marketing programs.

By Press Release - February 16, 2007

I was wondering what this was all about. When I read the press release, it looked to me as if the BCA has now hired a public relations agent. Meeting Expectations appears to me to be a meeting planner, an entity who handles the logistics of events.

JAM

 

[Njhustler1]

I was wondering what this was all about. When I read the press release, it looked to me as if the BCA has now hired a public relations agent. Meeting Expectations appears to me to be a meeting planner, an entity who handles the logistics of events.

JAM

Actually I interpreted it to mean that they were significantly cutting back their staff to save money, and outsourcing what they could to a third party vendor.

Similar to the way firms outsource their accounting needs to ADP because they just dont have the staffing or funds to do it themselves.

Basically, it's more of a cutback than an upgrade or reshuffle or however they want to sugar coat it.

 

[NoBull9]

I think making the event open to the public would be a great idea.You could make the first day or two of the event for Venders only so they get a chance to see the products first and order products.Then the rest of the event open to the public for a small fee.It will give the industrie a chance to reach the consumer aswell.Alot of pro players are on hand aswell so there could be clinics set up through out the week for everyone to attend.Or just to get a autograph.
Challenge the pro events.I played Corey in New Orleans.
Trick shot shows.
Sardo in the past had a table set up to clock break speed.

 

[Russ Chewning]

That is an excellent idea. IMO, I think the final day of the BCA trade show would be the best time to have the general public involved. To me it's always seems like the slowest day and it would give everyone that chance to meet with everyone in the industry and purchase products at the show.

I don't think it is an excellent idea. I am "general public". I wouldn't be making a special trip to any trade show. And if I DID happen to be in the area, I damn well am not going to pay $10.00 for the "privilege" of "maybe" finding something I want to buy.

The trade show needs to be held in concert with a tournament. 'Nuff said. Either a pro tournament, or a big league tournament. Period. No other way is going to get enough people there without compromising the integrity of the game.

Russ

 

[JAM]

Actually I interpreted it to mean that they were significantly cutting back their staff to save money, and outsourcing what they could to a third party vendor.

Similar to the way firms outsource their accounting needs to ADP because they just dont have the staffing or funds to do it themselves.

Basically, it's more of a cutback than an upgrade or reshuffle or however they want to sugar coat it.

In the past, I do know that the BCA subcontracted the running of the BCA Open to a subcontractor (vendor).

Also, last year there was only one pool player inducted into the BCA's Hall of Fame. Whereas, in previous years, there were two players inducted into the BCA's Hall of Fame.

Is the Billiard Congress of America still the governing body of American pool today? I was told that the WPA looks to the BCA for guidance when it comes to American pool. Why would they look to an organization which benefits industry members as opposed to pool players?

JAM

 

[ScottW]

I always chuckle whenever I see the phrase "the governing body of (something)", especially amateur things, like pool.

Who elected them? Who granted them that authority? They're not THE governing body - "the" implying that they are the only one - they are merely "a" governing body. And like most governing bodies (aside from dictatorships, etc), they only have the power over us that we (the people participating) allow them to have.

There's nobody stopping another person, or group of people, starting up something completely new. Sure, it would be rough going - but there's nothing prohibiting it. No laws, no military/police type forces that will roll in and put the effort down, etc. The "governing body of amateur pool" can't call in the troops to put down a revolution/insurrection.

I liken it to the overuse/abuse of the phrase "The official (something) of (something else)" in advertising. It completely cheapens the term "official".

 

[Blackjack]

Abolish the BCA and start over. That is my suggestion. The BCA has not only proven itself incapable of building this industry it is also directly responisble for siphoning off millions of dollars in booth fees and membership fees from the industry to further the aims of the small minority of it's membership who make up the largest companies.

There is nothing short of giving me free booth space and paying my expenses that would entice me to exhibit at any future BCA shows.

When they had the audacity to come right out and say that their main focus is to put on a trade show AND that they have NO INTENTION of stopping the DEPLORABLE practice of convincing companies who have no ties to the billiard industry to come and exhibit at the BCA shows.

I was told in Houston that the BCA people spend the member's money to attend as visitors, other trade shows around the country thoughout the year to entice companies who are exhibiting there to purchase booth space at the BCA show. Why are they trolling for more companies to COMPETE with the established companies in the billiard industry? Because they get a percentage of the booth space revenue and the mandatory membership dues go straight into the BCA's coffers. Meanwhile the true members of the billiard industry are left to compete for the buyer's dollars with those who sell table tennis, air hockey, and poker tablesm among other things.

WHY would the BCA ALLOW any booth that advocates another pastime? I am sorry but it is beyond me why someone should be allowed to pitch a billiard room owner on the merits of a foosball table at a BILLIARD show. When these buyers show up they all have a limited amount to spend. Thank you BCA for providing some many recreation options beyond billiards for the buyers to spend money on. A room full of foosball tables REALLY encourages people to play more pool and buy more pool stuff.

Why doesn't the BCA purchase BOOTH space at all these shows they attend and ENCOURAGE the attendees to get into the billiards business? Why not try to entice more BUYERS to the show? Because perhaps that would actually be something like work?

I won't spend another nickle on the BCA shows as long as it is called the Billiard and Home Recreation Show. That is utter BS. We are not in the Home Recreation business, we are in the billiard business which is a PART of the Home Recreation business. The BCA has no right to dilute the billiard industry because it wants to sell more booth spaces.

And we haven't even touched the issue that the BCA ignored the will of the MAJORITY of it's membership in regard to the dates in favor of the MINORITY who buy large blocks of booths. This just goes to show that the BCA is nothing but a fiefdom for a handful of companies who leech of of the majority of the membership.

I completely agree with John Barton. The BCA needs to redefine what its purpose is, plain and simple. They are no longer the governing body of pool - they have minimal influence today compared to 20-25 years ago - and there interests in pool (as a game) is diluted in the interests of the industry and business. I believe that they should start all over just as John described and reestablish a firm foundation for why they exist and what they intend to do. They have dropped the ball on several occasions over the past 20-25 years and did a poor job of leading pool into the 21st century. They should be the body that is established to protect and legally assist the players in situations like what happened with the IPT. There is too much spectatoring from an organization that was designed to call the plays. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Njhustler1]

Tap, Tap, Taperoo.

 

[ScottW]

That is an excellent idea. IMO, I think the final day of the BCA trade show would be the best time to have the general public involved. To me it's always seems like the slowest day and it would give everyone that chance to meet with everyone in the industry and purchase products at the show.

That, plus Russ's comment about having a dual trade show/tournament or other public event, is IMHO the way to go.

But I wouldn't open the trade show just for the last day - I'd do just the opposite. I'd have ONE day that the trade show is PRIVATE to the exhibitors. Let them get the majority of the business/handshaking/etc done on that day. There would be far fewer other exhibitors to deal with than there would be pool players/non-exhibiting businesspeople/etc to deal with.

Make the private day the last day of the trade show, the day after the general public event is done. Exhibitors could use the days prior to do some networking if they wanted. But frankly, I think that the exhibitors would be better served pitching their wares to the public as well as opposed to only other exhibitors.

 

[MikeJanis]

I recently read somewhere online about who, how, when and why the BCA was originally started. Does anyone know where that article is ?

I did a search but failed to find it. Please direct me to the article if you can find it.

Thanks,

 

[JAM]

I recently read somewhere online about who, how, when and why the BCA was originally started. Does anyone know where that article is ?

I did a search but failed to find it. Please direct me to the article if you can find it.

Thanks,

Well, the BCA mission is this: Enhance the success of our members and promote the game of billiards.

Here is the BCA's vision: Achieve a united, growing, prosperous and highly regarded billiard industry through BCA leadership.

http://www.bca-pool.com/aboutus/

If there is dissention among the troops, who's gonna step up to the plate and take their place?

JAM

 

[ScottW]

Here's a snippet I found:

http://www.hickoksports.com/history/billiard.shtml

The Billiard Congress of America and other organizations have been campaigning to make billiards an Olympic sport. That doesn't seem likely to happen in the foreseeable future, if ever.

One major difficulty is that there's no strong governing organization at the national or international level. The BCA is a national sanctioning body, but it has no genuine control over such groups as the Pro Billiards Tour, which oversees most major men's tournaments, or the Women's Professional Billiards Association, which conducts women's professional tournaments.

The World Confederation of Billiards Sports is a rather loose organization of various national billiards and pool associations, while the World Pool-Billiard Association is a similar amalgamation of national groups that conduct and/or sanction pocket billiards leagues and tournaments.

The BCA was founded in 1948 by the National Sporting Goods Association and was basically run by that trade group until 1980, when it established its own headquarters in Iowa City, Iowa. One of its chief functions is to operate the sport's largest trade show, the BCA International Trade Expo. The association also publishes a rules and records book and maintains a hall of fame.

 

[MikeJanis]

I recently read somewhere online about who, how, when and why the BCA was originally started. Does anyone know where that article is ?

I did a search but failed to find it. Please direct me to the article if you can find it.

Thanks,

The article I'm looking for regards the History of the BCA. It stated something like the BCA was founded in Dayton, Oh ? by such and such for the purpose of.

 

[MikeJanis]

I recently read somewhere online about who, how, when and why the BCA was originally started. Does anyone know where that article is ?

I did a search but failed to find it. Please direct me to the article if you can find it.

Thanks,

The article I'm looking for regards the History of the BCA. It stated something like the BCA was founded in Dayton, Oh ? by such and such for the purpose of.


It was along the lines of the below.

Billiard Congress of America
The Billiard Congress of America is a governing body for billiards in the United States. It was established in 1948, in order to promote the sport and organize its players via tournaments at various levels. Its stated purpose is to "promote the sport of billiards." The BCA's headquarters are in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The BCA sanctions various leagues and tournaments, and publishes a rule book that is considered the "world standardized rules" for games such as 9-ball, 8-ball, straight pool, as well as general billiards rules. The BCA holds an annual trade show, the BCA International Billiards & Home Recreation Expo, which is the largest billiard trade show in the world.

During its first 32 years of existence, the BCA had no physical headquarters. In 1980, they opened a permanent office in Iowa City, Iowa. In 2000, the BCA relocated to its current headquarters in Colorado Springs.

The BCA runs an annual open 9-ball championship. The winner can be considered to be the pool champion of the United States in some sense. Professional pool players do not have a well established association of their own, so the best players usually compete in the BCA open.

 

[John Barton]

Sorry Mike, the only constructive thing I could say for the BCA to do that would bring buyers and exhibitors back to the show would be to move the dates back to July.

 

[John Barton]

Another thing the BCA should do immediately is to weed out all the companies who are members whose primary sales comes from sporting equipment and games/activities that have nothing to do with biliards. No poker, no pinball, no video, games, no ping pong, no foosball, no shuffleboard, this is Ames mister, all we got is pool.

Please, please tell me how someone who is pitching all these other things is not trying to get more floor space in the buyer's showrooms and establishments?

I have never been so disheartened at a show as I was in Houston to not only see vast amounts of other activities besides billiards being hyped BUT to see that a lot of people were listening to the pitches. In effect the BCA has set up a situation where billiard proprietors can come and be wooed away from the billiard industry.

So IF it were me then the first thing I would do is send the membership money back to any company who is marketing an activity not related to pool. Then I would change the rules of the show to state that ONLY billiard related activities are to be displayed. PERIOD.

 

[rlw]

The image of needs to be changed!! The average person that is not connected to pool in any way, shape or form has a very low opinion of pool rooms and pool player's. Until the BCA can start to address that problem there's not much that they can do for the vendor's.

 

[edatplaypool]

The BCA has become non-relevant

It is time to give up on the BCA entirely.

Several years ago the BCA was taken over by the trades. Since that time they have done away with everything that did not directly support the business members. They did away with their tournaments (All American Tour), they sold their league system. None of the other activities have been given any attention such as rules, rule books, juniors, etcetra. They now have the incorrect understanding that this was always a trade organization. That isn't true. Once it was so much more. Now it isn't. To add insult to injury they BCA made these changes in secret without getting input from their members who fund their existance.

Unfortunately the BCA will find that trying to help the industry without trying to increase participitation in the sport is doomed to failure. To be honest I doubt that the BCA will exist ten years from now. If they do exist they will have changed their name to Home Recreation of America and billiards will be an afterthought.

What I recommend is that people foget about the BCA and support the organization that is most likely to replace it. In my opinion that is the ACS. They are running non-profit leagues, tournaments, and coaching. And this is after only being in existance for a couple years.

http://www.americancuesports.org/

 

[MikeJanis]

It is time to give up on the BCA entirely.

Several years ago the BCA was taken over by the trades. Since that time they have done away with everything that did not directly support the business members. They did away with their tournaments (All American Tour), they sold their league system. None of the other activities have been given any attention such as rules, rule books, juniors, etcetra. They now have the incorrect understanding that this was always a trade organization. That isn't true. Once it was so much more. Now it isn't. To add insult to injury they BCA made these changes in secret without getting input from their members who fund their existance.

Unfortunately the BCA will find that trying to help the industry without trying to increase participitation in the sport is doomed to failure. To be honest I doubt that the BCA will exist ten years from now. If they do exist they will have changed their name to Home Recreation of America and billiards will be an afterthought.

What I recommend is that people foget about the BCA and support the organization that is most likely to replace it. In my opinion that is the ACS. They are running non-profit leagues, tournaments, and coaching. And this is after only being in existance for a couple years.

http://www.americancuesports.org/

edatplaypool, you point out that you feel one the BCA erred in getting rid of the leagues and the tour. I feel that in some ways those changes seemed necessary and a good move for the BCA. I say this because the BCA should probably of never started them in the fisrt place.

I feel the BCA should never have started the tour or the league because it was in direct conflict with their business members. Thr BCA has members that are in the league business and they have members that are in the tour business. Having those companies would have veen just like the BCA having it's own Pro-Shop or Billiard Room Chain or Billiard Product Manufacturing company. Any business that they run that competes directly with its members is a conflict of interest to those members. I feel the BCA's job should always be to promote our sport and the members of the BCA not compete with them.

I would suggest to the BCA that they spend some of their membership dollars on television commercials that lets the public know more about the leagues, tours and business of their members instead of competing with them. To me that is a way they could better serve our sport ond the members of the BCA. Just imagine a commercial on the Super Bowl that tells you how fun it is to play pool in your local billiard rooms or on leagues with your friends. They could also show someone buying a custom cue or a pool table then at the end of the commercial they send everyone to their website so people can get more information about their members business. They could have it broken down by region or by category. Somethig like this would be much better for the members of the BCA.

 

[MikeJanis]

Mike,
Based on the press release last week, it seems the BCA is restructuring and redefining their focus. I guess we will have to see what develops.

Billiard Congress To Change Management Structure, Move Offices
Colorado Springs, Colorado: The Billiard Congress of America (BCA), the industry trade association for the billiards equipment and establishment sectors, will partner with Atlanta-based Meeting Expectations, a strategic consulting firm specializing in providing services to national trade associations. The BCA’s International Billiard & Home Recreation Trade Show (set for Las Vegas in June) highlights innovation in billiards, including pool tables and supplies for home recreation use as well as commercial billiard enterprises.

Meeting Expectations will provide membership, marketing, financial, IT and administrative services to the BCA. The contract with the firm begins in March, as the BCA reduces staff.

“Our membership has clearly stated a desire for the BCA to emphasize enhanced marketing, research, and strategic business improvement services, and we believe the best way to meet such needs is through a partnership with a seasoned organization such as Meeting Expectations,” said BCA CEO Rob Johnson.

Johnson also announced that the BCA will relocate its national office to Denver in May, citing the convenience of the Denver International Airport for regular meetings of the BCA national directors.

"Our goal is twofold; increasing efficiency and exceeding the expectations of the BCA’s members," said Brian Meyer, president of Meeting Expectations. “This partnership will enable the board to focus on providing guidance to the organization in order to ensure improved member satisfaction through marketing-oriented services. We will also assist the BCA with strategic planning by sharing the best practices we've developed through our years of experience in the association management field."

Johnson said restructuring with Meeting Expectations will allow the BCA to become more responsive to the membership’s desire for marketing-enhanced services such as information on consumer attitudes and opinions relative to the billiard industry, trends within the industry, business improvement tips and seminars, and consumer marketing programs.

By Press Release - February 16, 2007

pooltchr, I don't even know wher to begin with my thoughts on this. What the hell are they thinking ? Umm, is this really a good business decision. Appearantly the powers that be feel it is but seminars and marketing programs already exhist at the BCA shows and from what I saw they are barely attended. My thoughts go more along the lines of the BCA should hire someone that has a hands on working knowledge of our industry, someone from within that really wants to see the BCA grow and become more effective for our sport in a whole. The BCA has had several presidents that never worked in our industry. WHY ? I can't possibly understand what their thought process is in this. If the guys they hire from outside our industry were soo effective at what they previously did then why aren't they still doing it ?