The 1 Thing BB Had Right

[Johnnyt]

BB had it right with the teams format from all states. But then they go and have all the matches in one place on one coast. One of the biggest hurdles for the pro in tournament players is the size of the U.S. Four promoters from the east, west, north, and south is what's needed with play-offs in a central location at end of year. Johnnyt

 

[hang-the-9]

BB had it right with the teams format from all states. But then they go and have all the matches in one place on one coast. One of the biggest hurdles for the pro in tournament players is the size of the U.S. Four promoters from the east, west, north, and south is what's needed with play-offs in a central location at end of year. Johnnyt

If the new thing Tucker is trying works out, it could be what the BB thing should have been, a local to national competition with peopel rooting for their local player. Although what they are doing is more of an effort to bet up on the locals first so that may not turn out quite the same way.

As I asid in another post, very few sports fan root for a specific player to win, they want the local team to win. I really could not care if Tom Brady got another Super Bown win, but I'd sure like the Patriots to win again :grin-square: Same thing for the Mosconi cup, while I was really rooting for Dechaine to play well (sigh...) because I know him locally, I would have been almost as happy if he lost but the team won.

The issue with BB and almost every other pool business is that the exposure it gets is limited to a small group of hardcore players that follow what goes on, and maybe some flyers in the pool hall bathrooms and posters in the major rooms. When I was in Snookers, there are posters for tournaments there, yet in Ayer, about 100 miles North, there was nothing. Many rooms would not go out promoting events not taking place there.

 

[Diamond69]

If the new thing Tucker is trying works out, it could be what the BB thing should have been, a local to national competition with peopel rooting for their local player. Although what they are doing is more of an effort to bet up on the locals first so that may not turn out quite the same way.

As I asid in another post, very few sports fan root for a specific player to win, they want the local team to win. I really could not care if Tom Brady got another Super Bown win, but I'd sure like the Patriots to win again :grin-square: Same thing for the Mosconi cup, while I was really rooting for Dechaine to play well (sigh...) because I know him locally, I would have been almost as happy if he lost but the team won.

The issue with BB and almost every other pool business is that the exposure it gets is limited to a small group of hardcore players that follow what goes on, and maybe some flyers in the pool hall bathrooms and posters in the major rooms. When I was in Snookers, there are posters for tournaments there, yet in Ayer, about 100 miles North, there was nothing. Many rooms would not go out promoting events not taking place there.

I was thinking similar to the bold quotes. Not about BB specifically, or advertising local tournaments.

Back when I was a kid, I got to meet Willie Mosconi. How did my father know he was going to be where he was? From the newspaper advertising that he was going to be there.
Much is said on here about how few people know who SVB is in the world outside of pool, but that can be said about inside of pool as well for many league players.

That being said, if you do have a tournament where a pro would be, would it be too expensive to advertise it in a local paper? I would think that may get many of the league players to show up and see the great players, thereby increasing publicity for the player and the sport.

Just a thought. Feel free to beat it up how you want.

 

[Johnnyt]

How much is an average small ad in the sport section of a local paper for a week? Johnnyt

 

[ceebee]

I would have liked Bonus Ball to have been 9-Ball, with 3 holes to score in, for each team. I liked the major cities idea & think the players from the Houston showing up in Phoenix, might have added to the rivalry which is what Teams Sports is. The rivalry would have built a fan base & the fans would have paid the bill, just like grown up sports venues.

Getting the media involved would have put the events on the marquee, at each town they would play in.

Good Luck to the Players

 

[Scott Lee]

Johnnyt...Unlike us old fogies, newspaper readership is WAY down. More local papers are closing their doors every day. People get their news & sports digitally, so a local ad in a local paper (if there is one) will likely attract few people. Of course, doing nothing attracts nobody. Word of mouth is best, and could be accomplished through local league players.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

How much is an average small ad in the sport section of a local paper for a week? Johnnyt

 

[Fatboy]

How much is an average small ad in the sport section of a local paper for a week? Johnnyt

who reads the paper?


i get what your thinking JT, but they are "selling" Vegas to the investors not just pool. And Vegas is a easier sell than Toledo Oh....

:smile::smile::smile:

 

[Nostroke]

I think what they got the most right (for possible TV success) was the very nearly set time for a game

 

[Johnnyt]

I would have liked Bonus Ball to have been 9-Ball, with 3 holes to score in, for each team. I liked the major cities idea & think the players from the Houston showing up in Phoenix, might have added to the rivalry which is what Teams Sports is. The rivalry would have built a fan base & the fans would have paid the bill, just like grown up sports venues.

Getting the media involved would have put the events on the marquee, at each town they would play in.

Good Luck to the Players

Agreed. Johnnyt

 

[Johnnyt]

who reads the paper?


i get what your thinking JT, but they are "selling" Vegas to the investors not just pool. And Vegas is a easier sell than Toledo Oh....

:smile::smile::smile:

LOL. Very true. Johnnyt

 

[KoolKat9Lives]

who reads the paper?


i get what your thinking JT, but they are "selling" Vegas to the investors not just pool. And Vegas is a easier sell than Toledo Oh....

:smile::smile::smile:

Newspaper has been a cold sliding cadaver since the turn of the millenium, due to the 'net. However, to answer JohnnyT's question, when I ran newspaper ads in my region (1 million populus), it was for a coupon for oil changes for my franchises. I'd run them mainly in the sports section. For perhaps a 3" x 3" ad it cost me @ $500. Ridiculous! I'd put a code on them and track the returns in my POS system. The returns stunk. Solo piece direct mail (Advo, etc) was my best print medium (wtf did I pay... 6 cents a piece IIRC?) and realized a 1.6% return - send out 100,000 to specific zips/demographics and get back 160 - of which @ 30% were new customers. Marriage mail stunk.

Whoever said 50% of advertising works, was exaggerating.

 

[bdorman]

A couple of concerns:

Who pays the travel expenses?

Only a handful of the players actually live in the city they're representing...so they have to travel to a "home" game too.

How does a pro fit a BB travel schedule into his already-hectic tournament travel schedule?

If it's played in different cities, you pretty much write off any possibility of TV-quality production...unless you're going to invest in that for each city too.

You have to train Bonus Ball Girls in every city. It's a highly skilled job. Of course, I guess the BBGirls could travel too. I'm sure some AZers would be willing to put them up when they're in town.

I think JoeT is on the right track. Pyramid from local competition to a nationals playoff/finals. The "locals audience" are the patrons of the sponsoring pool rooms. Get them excited enough to bring their friends, and it's got a chance.

 

[dorabelle]

Bottom line: players need to get paid and to pay these players, revenue must be generated. There is no demand nor customers that can generae enough revenue for something like this. Period.

 

[joelpope]

Johnnyt...Unlike us old fogies, newspaper readership is WAY down. More local papers are closing their doors every day. People get their news & sports digitally, so a local ad in a local paper (if there is one) will likely attract few people. Of course, doing nothing attracts nobody. Word of mouth is best, and could be accomplished through local league players.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Scott, The world is changing indeed

Then, I subscribed to the local paper for 20 years. When I traveled on business (several times a month) I would read them in order when I returned.

Now, I haven't read a newspaper in over 20 years... It all ended in the late 80's when RSS became available and most news sources provided internet access. What I have noticed is that you do lose some local perspective and gain some broader geographic perspective which should help regional to national tours.

On the marketing side, it is now cheaper to communicate than ever in history. News feeds to sites like AZB, me getting pretty much the same news I see on AZ a few days later via RSS on Yahoo. Countless mailing lists and the vast majority of people have access in their pocket during their waking hours.

Shame on any promoter "who can't get the word out.". It used to be a cost issue, now it is an effort issue.

The world is changing, evolve or die off. That's the way it works and smart people get it.

What is lacking is not promoters or marketing. What is lacking is people willing to spend a few bucks and support promoters and sponsors. Why would a sponsor or network back BB when the line of demarcation is "I'll watch for free but I won't pay $10 for 16 hours of programming featuring the best players in the world."

The investors and significant sponsors have quants looking at demographics and I don't think they like what they get when they run the numbers on pool right now.