U.S. Open cash problems.....AGAIN!

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keystone71

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Why is it that the U.S. Open once again had money problems? I see that we here from the promoter (who I will not name) over and over again on the headlines of the front page of AZbilliards. This goes on for 6 months before the date of the open. He tells us how great it will be, how this and that will happen, and then once again there is a delay in paying out players.
I understand that pool is not in a great state but does anyone else realize that this once again hurts any promoters chance of getting any sponsors in the sport........once again!!!!!
Other promoters who are trying to negotiate for sponsors or any other types of deals have to hear how this happens in supposedly the greatest tournament the U.S. has to offer. The sponsor merely has to bring this to the negotiating table and can make his own offer (if any) and the person representing the pool industry just sits there and nods his head in agreement.
I understand that this promoter is trying to good for the sport, but if you want to do something good for the sport he should do it in a different manner. Guarantee less and add more in if everything goes well rather than guarantee something and make players who are now out money wait for their paychecks.
I don't believe this promoter realizes that he hurts every promoter in the sport when this happens and this isn't the first time that it has happened!
ENOUGH SAID!
 
Hey Keystone......it's ok to say his name BARRY BEHRMAN.......we are already discussing this on my previous thread. He is ridiculous!!!!
 
I know a lot of people have a problem because of these issues, but if I was in Mr. Behrman's shoes, I'd say I don't need this hassle, and let the US Open fend for itself. I'm sure this is the last issue he wanted to reappear, and with a new location, there was sure to be some problems. Yeah, we all hate this occurred, but who else is going to step up and promote pool and the US Open? Charlie Williams and Dragon Promotions is trying to do some things for our sport, and they're being bashed on every side too. Let's see how this ends up before we crucify people who are actively promoting US billiards.
 
If Barry Behrman would release the 'US Open 9-ball' name I do believe some reputable promoters would step up, but he won't it's his or no one's
 
Does anyone else realize that because of his "screw ups" in the past it hurts every promoters chance of getting sponsors. We can no longer have him as a promoter of the sport. I have only started two threads on AZ and both were about him. The first was that I was tired of seeing him on the headlines when we were still 6 months away from the event and than this one. Seeing him on the AZ headlines is nothing compared to him screwing this up.
The bottom line is ........IF YOU CANNOT DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO, DON'T SAY IT!
 
keystone71 said:
Does anyone else realize that because of his "screw ups" in the past it hurts every promoters chance of getting sponsors. We can no longer have him as a promoter of the sport. I have only started two threads on AZ and both were about him. The first was that I was tired of seeing him on the headlines when we were still 6 months away from the event and than this one. Seeing him on the AZ headlines is nothing compared to him screwing this up.
The bottom line is ........IF YOU CANNOT DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO, DON'T SAY IT!
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How does Barry's problems affect other promoters and their sponsors? Barry's sponsors probably don't really care if the players get paid or not. They are paying for exposure during the event and in all the videos released after the event. All that happened and will continue to happen as long as Accu-Stats sells the match videos.

Why would any sponsor bother to mention the US Open's player payment problems when dealing with another promoter? From a sponsor's perspective there is no tie-in? Does Pepsi pull it's name off the stadium if the owner of the team doesn't pay his players?

I mean I get that this is another year of being let down when payday comes but seriously this has zero effect on other tournaments as far as I can tell. Maybe some actual promoters like Greg Sullivan or Mark Griffin or Jimmy Fusco can chime in to tell us if they have been affected by Barry's slow pay when it comes to finding sponsors for their events.
 
Even if 60 minutes ran a story..nothing would change.

The only reason I care is..what if by chance Joe blow won ?
It's hard to say if he'd ever see the money..Joe's no body.
He just happend to win it..doubt this is going to happen.
just saying thats my point for caring..

forgot to add..60 minutes wouldn't much care about the
US Open 9-ball..Now the real US Open...Yes..now would
that be Tennis or Golf..maybe both..but not Pool.

So you see..no one really cares..not really..at least
not those that really play in the event..
I can understand..if they spoke up pubicly..they may
not get paid..an ousted by thier peers..

Good day.
 
scratchs said:
Even if 60 minutes ran a story..nothing would change.

The only reason I care is..what if by chance Joe blow won ?
It's hard to say if he'd ever see the money..Joe's no body.
He just happend to win it..doubt this is going to happen.
just saying thats my point for caring..

forgot to add..60 minutes wouldn't much care about the
US Open 9-ball..Now the real US Open...Yes..now would
that be Tennis or Golf..maybe both..but not Pool.

So you see..no one really cares..not really..at least
not those that really play in the event..
I can understand..if they spoke up pubicly..they may
not get paid..an ousted by thier peers..

Good day.
Click to expand...

If Joe Blow won he'd get paid. Barry always pays. Late but he pays. has nothing to do with the name of the player. Barry has slow-paid the big name guys for years

But no, no one really cares anymore. Why not you might ask? Because we have been dealing with this for a decade now with Barry since 9/11. First it was 9/11, then it was Hurricane XXX, then it was this and that and whatever, every year it's the same song.

So you know what the best thing to do is, sit back and enjoy the show. Watch the players play and let them worry about dealing with the promoter. Eventually he will figure it out or he won't. Either way they show will go on or it won't. As long as it does just enjoy the ride.
 
scratchs said:
Even if 60 minutes ran a story..nothing would change.

The only reason I care is..what if by chance Joe blow won ?
It's hard to say if he'd ever see the money..Joe's no body.
He just happend to win it..doubt this is going to happen.
just saying thats my point for caring..

forgot to add..60 minutes wouldn't much care about the
US Open 9-ball..Now the real US Open...Yes..now would
that be Tennis or Golf..maybe both..but not Pool.

So you see..no one really cares..not really..at least
not those that really play in the event..
I can understand..if they spoke up pubicly..they may
not get paid..an ousted by thier peers..

Good day.
Click to expand...
Maybe, since it's so easy to host a 264 player event in a tropical storm, either dragon promotions or someone else can take on the event. Mr. Berhman should just let all the complainers take it, let's see where it goes then. Where is the gratitude from players and fans? No wonder there are 4 pro events in the us.
 
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dbldown said:
Maybe, since it's so easy to host a 264 player event in a tropical storm, either dragon promotions or someone else can take on the event. Mr. Berhman should just let all the complainers take it, let's see where it goes then. Where is the gratitude from players and fans? No wonder there are 4 pro events in the us.
Click to expand...

Never said it was easy..in fact I know its not..
the event was over before the storm this years.
 
dbldown said:
Maybe, since it's so easy to host a 264 player event in a tropical storm, either dragon promotions or someone else can take on the event. Mr. Berhman should just let all the complainers take it, let's see where it goes then. Where is the gratitude from players and fans? No wonder there are 4 pro events in the us.
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No one is making Barry hold the US Open during hurricane season. All promoters have to deal with weather issues.

Let's compare shall we?

The Derby City Classic is now in it's 12th? year and we have never heard a peep from anyone about prize money not being paid out. This despite being held in Louisville in the middle of winter every year.

I have never once heard of a CSI event having any payment problems whatsever no matter where or when or under what weather conditions they were held.

Jimmy Fusco holds a major event way up north in winter every year and still manages to pay his players every dime on time.

So it seems that come promoters can do it. Why can't Barry?

Yes it's a big endeavor but come on the guy has been doing it for 36 years? By now they have most of the details down so is simply that Barry is betting on the gate EVERY YEAR?

If that's the case then my advice is to lock up the prize money any way possible with sponsors before the show begins and let the gate pay expenses. If the word guaranteed had any meaning then it's very likely that 256 people would show up to play.

I don't understand why there aren't hundreds of US Open qualifiers to fill the field months in advance. Golly, having the US Open full three months in advance and say $120,000ish in the bank before the tournament would be great huh? Well how about some VIP seat qualifiers? Lets run tournament series to allow people to win tickets to the open. In other words tons of things that COULD be done year round and which normally start during the current event.

I could give you a dozen ways that Barry could use the professionals to schmooze the local businesses out of more money. But will that happen? Never.

Some people need to go back and read history and the biograpghies of PT Barnum among others. There were times when billiard tournaments drew packed houses and promoters PROMOTED. Now it's absolutely PITIFUL the amount of promotion that is done for so-called world class events.

The Guangzhou Billiard Expo is more adept at promoting than all the American billiard promoters combined. So much so that they are irritating. But I damn sure know when it is, who will be there and that I have an invitation in my inbox because one arrives every week to remind me.

So let's not make excuses. The fact is that Barry just doesn't have it together enough to not have this issue show up every couple years or even every year. It's a money issue and he won't do what it takes to insure that enough money is there on day one to cover the bills on day seven. That's the bottom line.
 
JB Cases said:
If Joe Blow won he'd get paid. Barry always pays. Late but he pays. has nothing to do with the name of the player. Barry has slow-paid the big name guys for years

But no, no one really cares anymore. Why not you might ask? Because we have been dealing with this for a decade now with Barry since 9/11. First it was 9/11, then it was Hurricane XXX, then it was this and that and whatever, every year it's the same song.

So you know what the best thing to do is, sit back and enjoy the show. Watch the players play and let them worry about dealing with the promoter. Eventually he will figure it out or he won't. Either way they show will go on or it won't. As long as it does just enjoy the ride.
Click to expand...

JB
I think he figured it out long ago..yes the Open is a good show
talent..My hat is off to all of those who play.
the Joe blow was a figure of speach..whos to say he'd get paid.
yes I know every one in the past has been paid to date, or so I've
read.
you have a good John.
 
I'm disappointed too, but overall Barry and Shannon do a great job and all players do eventually get paid.

Sad thing is it just doesn't draw the fans. I brought a buddy with me and attended for my first time ever this year. We went on Monday and Tuesday, so we at least threw $80 in the pot. Although it was nice for us to be able to sit right in front of whatever table we chose, it was sad that we seemed to be about the only "fans" there. It was us, the players, the vendors, the tournament operators, the guys from the billiards web sites and magazines, and a very few family and friends of the players.

I figure it was going to get better as the week went on, but on Monday and Tuesday they were bringing in almost no money from ticket sales.

I have to say it is partially their fault for very poor marketing. No where on the US Open web site did it say we could get in for $20 a day. It looked like you had to spend $180 to see any action on Monday (the Monday-Saturday pass). I scoured the Facebook site for information and made repeated phone calls to Q Masters. I called once a day for almost a week at the end of September. Barry and Shannon were always busy, so I left messages and they never called back. I finally got someone at the desk to say they would be running the $10 a session general admission again. I didn't have a warm fuzzy making hotel reservations and travelling when I couldn't see it anywhere in writing but I went ahead with it anyway and it actually worked out great to pay $20 a day per person.

Barry and/or Shannon, if you're reading this, great job with the tournament, but please, please make it easier for me to give you my money next year.
 
Barry blamed low gate receipts. Coincidentally, the hurricane kept me from coming and potentially spending a few hundred bucks.

Maybe it's as simple as mother nature screwing him over.
 
You know what circuses do to fill slow days? They hand out tickets to schools. Barry could give away tickets to local boys and girls clubs, schools, senior citizens homes, local sponsors, local businesses, movie theaters, etc.....

How about handing out tickets to all the pool rooms in a three hour drive radius. Give people a little free taste and get them to drive in and maybe decide to spend a couple days?

Empty seats are dead inventory once the day is gone might as well give up the seats and sell some popcorn and a t-shirt instead.
 
CreeDo said:
Barry blamed low gate receipts. Coincidentally, the hurricane kept me from coming and potentially spending a few hundred bucks.

Maybe it's as simple as mother nature screwing him over.
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No doubt but the entire prize money should be on hand and ready to be paid during the event unless the players know before hand that this won't be the case.

Barry is probably being completely truthful but it does not matter. You can't take 200+ people who are your performers and make them dance without paying them as expected. These people have lives, they have bills, expenses, and so on. Some of them have to travel back around the world empty handed now and wait and hope that things turn out allright.

That is a sick sick sick feeling after you just battled your guts out for a week to finish high in tough event.
 
SOLUTION TO PEOPLE NOT GETTING PAID.

ONE POOL GOVERNING BODY FOR ALL OF POOL in the USA, NOT 7 OR 10

ONE POOL GOVERNING BODY GUARANTEEING ALL TOURNAMENT WINNINGS, WITH FUNDS GUARANTEED BY PRE DEPOSITED INTO AN ESCROW ACCOUNT

ONE POOL GOVERNING BODY, HAVING ONE SET OF RULES FOR ALL POOL TOURNAMENTS

Could this idea work? IMHO Good chance When was the last time Winners got Bad, or No Pay at a PGA, or LPGA EVENT?
 
Some of the sting can be avoided if the players are told going in that the payout will be 30 days out vs being told after the fact.
 
JB Cases said:
You know what circuses do to fill slow days? They hand out tickets to schools. Barry could give away tickets to local boys and girls clubs, schools, senior citizens homes, local sponsors, local businesses, movie theaters, etc.....

How about handing out tickets to all the pool rooms in a three hour drive radius. Give people a little free taste and get them to drive in and maybe decide to spend a couple days?

Empty seats are dead inventory once the day is gone might as well give up the seats and sell some popcorn and a t-shirt instead.
Click to expand...

When I worked in the restaurant business the owner asked the whole crew what was the most expensive thing in the restaurant and the answer was an "empty seat".

Their biggest concern should be how to put asses in the seats. If they can't do that then it is only a matter of time before there is no event.

Pool seems to be enjoyed more by an older crowd. I am 44 years old and I was one of the younger people at the US open last year and the challenge of champions this year. Maybe they should get people from retirement homes and community centers to fill the seats for the first few days. They may enjoy it enough to come back and spend a few dollars.
 
efirkey said:
When I worked in the restaurant business the owner asked the whole crew what was the most expensive thing in the restaurant and the answer was an "empty seat".

Their biggest concern should be how to put asses in the seats. If they can't do that then it is only a matter of time before there is no event.

Pool seems to be enjoyed more by an older crowd. I am 44 years old and I was one of the younger people at the US open last year and the challenge of champions this year. Maybe they should get people from retirement homes and community centers to fill the seats for the first few days. They may enjoy it enough to come back and spend a few dollars.
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That's a really good idea. I'm 42 & also noticed an older crowd is there every year. My daughter's 20 & we started taking her when she was 4, she brings different friends every year so some younger ones are getting into it as well. I honestly don't see the event ending anytime soon, Barry's been doing it for 37 years now; yes there are problems but it doesn't stop the pros from playing in it or the fans from coming & watching.
 
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