Suggestions for starting a recurring tournament

[CueHunter]

Thanks for reading. I am going to put on a local tournament here in Pittsburgh. I have been kicking around a handful of ideas and instead of me learning by making mistakes, I am asking for insight from you folks. Lets not reinvent the wheel here. What I would like to see happen is have a medium cost tournament ($25 to $50 range) that would bring some of the best players from our area. Money added is a big part of that. I am looking into a beer sponser to toss in some cash. Maybe the local billiard supplier would do something as well. I would like to have this happen a few times a year or so. Is that realistic and does anyone do this now? I am sure people do this everyday but not here in Pittsburgh thats for sure. We need to get pool "on the map" here. I have a place in mind that has (8) 9' footers that are in perfect condition. They actually have 12 tables but I want to leave them some tables for other customers. And the other 4 are in another room. Should be a good fit. Thanks and any help is appreciated.

Eric

 

[Perk]

Call up Mike Janis from the Viking Events to either see about having them host events, or maybe get some ideas from him. Seems to be successful.

Mike Janis at 800-200-7665

 

[CueHunter]

Call up Mike Janis from the Viking Events to either see about having them host events, or maybe get some ideas from him. Seems to be successful.

Mike Janis at 800-200-7665

Thanks, and nothing against Mike but that is a different type of tournament. And I have played many Viking events. There are strengths and weaknesses. The Viking events are different because first they are a travelling event. Second, they are sponsered by a cue manufacturer. I do not have either of those in my favor. I guess I left my question a little vague. I need help drawing people to a tournament that they will want to play in all the time. How do I raise the money added? Is there a specific type of company that would throw us some cash? The format and races and so on are really the easy part of the tournament. I want to make it attractive to the best amateur players around and the best way to do that is cash and good equipment. Thanks to Mike, I love your events, even though the calcutta is wayyyyyyyy to long and we never get started until almost dinner time the competition is good.

 

[sjm]

As Inside Pool Magazine honcho and former pro player JR Calvert is, if memory serves, from the Pittsburgh area, you might want to consider Inside Pool Magazine as a potential sponsor. Even if they aren't interested, JR might be able to offer some insights into how to put on a good event in the Pittsburgh area.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Thanks for reading. I am going to put on a local tournament here in Pittsburgh. I have been kicking around a handful of ideas and instead of me learning by making mistakes, I am asking for insight from you folks. Lets not reinvent the wheel here. What I would like to see happen is have a medium cost tournament ($25 to $50 range) that would bring some of the best players from our area. Money added is a big part of that. ...

In this area, there are a couple of rooms that have monthly tournaments with about $300 added. They have nine ball on Saturday and one pocket on Sunday. I think they add about $300 to each event with no greens fees. The rooms themselves add the money. The only way they can make it up directly is on food, beer and increased table time. They don't lose a lot of table time since noon-6 is normally slack even on weekends.

Go to Page 34 (or so) of the current issue of http://www.onthebreaknews.com/ to see the local schedule. I see now that the room in Sacramento adds $500 if 50 show up. You may want to contact those room owners to see what they do for finances.

 

[jaz]

One thing that I have seen work well for recurring tournaments is to take a portion of the entry fees from each tournament and carry over it into a final tournament for the year/season. If you add that the final is limited to only those who have played in X tournaments through out the season you should get a more consistent draw for each individual tournament

The main thing I would say about this is to make sure you have it well planned out and documented for all of the players.

regards,
jaz

 

[KBP]

Thanks for reading. I am going to put on a local tournament here in Pittsburgh. I have been kicking around a handful of ideas and instead of me learning by making mistakes, I am asking for insight from you folks. Lets not reinvent the wheel here. What I would like to see happen is have a medium cost tournament ($25 to $50 range) that would bring some of the best players from our area. Money added is a big part of that. I am looking into a beer sponser to toss in some cash. Maybe the local billiard supplier would do something as well. I would like to have this happen a few times a year or so. Is that realistic and does anyone do this now? I am sure people do this everyday but not here in Pittsburgh thats for sure. We need to get pool "on the map" here. I have a place in mind that has (8) 9' footers that are in perfect condition. They actually have 12 tables but I want to leave them some tables for other customers. And the other 4 are in another room. Should be a good fit. Thanks and any help is appreciated.

Eric

I run an amateur 9-ball tour in several southern states and I have owned and operated a pool room before. I do have some suggestions on the added money. Budweiser is a good source of getting some added cash. Check with all your distributors. Sell ads above the tables for the events. There are all kinds of things you can do. Talk to local car dealers about it. This is just some ideas for you to check into.
Kay
Kings Bay Promotions, Inc
Amateur 9-Ball Tour
Title Sponsor: Fury Cues

 

[Rich R.]

I have a place in mind that has (8) 9' footers that are in perfect condition.

If you want to draw a lot of players, I think you need a place with more tables.
Remember, with 8 tables you can only accomodate 16 players at a time. That means you till have to turn those 8 tables over 4 times, just for the first round of a 64 player field. That can make for a very long tournament with a lot of delays.
Of course, things would get easier, as players get eliminated, but one slow player can really screw up the whole schedule.

JMHO.