There have been many DCC related threads in the last few days discussing everything related to the just ended Derby City Classic 2009. Most of these threads and posts were comparing the new venue to the old Ex-West venue, and all points of comparison have pretty much been covered.
On Thursday evening at the DCC I had the chance to talk for awhile to Greg Sullivan about the tournament, venue, etc. so I thought I would relate what he told me....and this particularly speaks to those that posted their desire to still have the tournament back at the Ex-west.
First of all, as for leaving the old Ex-west venue, it had to be....Not only did Greg want to leave anyway to try to establish a larger and better home for the DCC, but also the Ex-west had a loophole in their contract with him which allowed them to screw him around, disrespect the 10 years that he had with them, and dictate future dealings on their terms.
Then Greg told me that after very carefully considering everything, the casinos are where the DCC has to be - but this years venue/situation was just a start. He said that it has to be realized that in dealing with the Harrah's 'bigwigs' for the first time, he was not dealing from a position of strength - they were not convinced that a pool tournament was something that they wanted, and would produce the $$$ that they require. He said he would be meeting with them in a couple of weeks to see how they liked the tournament and the '$$$' that it provided them.
Greg told me that this first year with Harrah's was just to get a "foot in the door", and if Harrah's was satisfied with this initial dealing, then Greg can try to get a better deal from them from here on - which is what he hopes will happen...
This better deal would/could involve lower room charges, also, and personally I hope this happens, moving the tournament to a different Harrah's location - one that would have the larger space and layout to finally allow the DCC to be all that it could be.
Anyway, that's what Greg told me - hopefully this answers a few questions....And as most of us all know, Greg is a great guy, doing his best regardless of tournament glitches, and imo, any and every DCC he has or will produce, was/will be a landmark time in our world of pool - just like Johnston City was 40 years ago.
- Ghost
On Thursday evening at the DCC I had the chance to talk for awhile to Greg Sullivan about the tournament, venue, etc. so I thought I would relate what he told me....and this particularly speaks to those that posted their desire to still have the tournament back at the Ex-west.
First of all, as for leaving the old Ex-west venue, it had to be....Not only did Greg want to leave anyway to try to establish a larger and better home for the DCC, but also the Ex-west had a loophole in their contract with him which allowed them to screw him around, disrespect the 10 years that he had with them, and dictate future dealings on their terms.
Then Greg told me that after very carefully considering everything, the casinos are where the DCC has to be - but this years venue/situation was just a start. He said that it has to be realized that in dealing with the Harrah's 'bigwigs' for the first time, he was not dealing from a position of strength - they were not convinced that a pool tournament was something that they wanted, and would produce the $$$ that they require. He said he would be meeting with them in a couple of weeks to see how they liked the tournament and the '$$$' that it provided them.
Greg told me that this first year with Harrah's was just to get a "foot in the door", and if Harrah's was satisfied with this initial dealing, then Greg can try to get a better deal from them from here on - which is what he hopes will happen...
This better deal would/could involve lower room charges, also, and personally I hope this happens, moving the tournament to a different Harrah's location - one that would have the larger space and layout to finally allow the DCC to be all that it could be.
Anyway, that's what Greg told me - hopefully this answers a few questions....And as most of us all know, Greg is a great guy, doing his best regardless of tournament glitches, and imo, any and every DCC he has or will produce, was/will be a landmark time in our world of pool - just like Johnston City was 40 years ago.
- Ghost
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:wink: 
