Updated Player List U.SOpen?
- Thread starter Johnnyt
- Start date
Biggest Flop in History ????
Guess, this Open (40th I believe) will be the biggest flop of any major event in billiards history.!!!
We will have to wait and see, but I have a bad feeling about this one.! :frown:
Accu-stat still has only 18 players out of 128 needed. Most of them are past champions that Barry has to pay the $1000 entry for them. I wonder how many of them sold there Green jackets?Johnnyt
Guess, this Open (40th I believe) will be the biggest flop of any major event in billiards history.!!!
We will have to wait and see, but I have a bad feeling about this one.! :frown:
Kinda what happens when entry fees go to a thousand isn't it?
Appropriate music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjBwAYIxUso
You can't screw the players and fans year after year and raise the entry from $500, $600, $750 to a $1000 and expect them to keep coming because you have another press release saying, it's going to be great this year. I'm very suprised that they kept falling for it for so many years. If Barry was SO SURE this tournament will be so different and all monies will be there, he needs to put his own $75,000 in escrow now...but he can't, won't, and is far from SURE everything is OK. I can see the new press release now, dropping the entry and raising the amount of players. Johnnyt
Even though I don't agree with CSI's outlook on the 7' tables, they were right about Billiards being a participation sport rather than a viewership sport.
The US Open has lowered the number to 128 (in what suppose to be an Open event) and keeps increasing the entry. Not really much future in that (from the mind set of any good Business man).
Curious if the entry fees and sponsors money is being put in the hands of the Accu-Stats guy now or is it going to happen at a later date ?
As to entry fees, yes, Accu-Stats is handling them: http://www.azbilliards.com/news/stories/11967-us-open-status-report/
As to money from sponsors, I don't know, but here's a quote from today on usopen9ballchampionships.com: "Just a quick update on the status of the escrow. As of today $40,000 of the $75,000 is accounted for from VIP ticket sales as well as sponsors so now Barry's goal of having the full $75,000 by June 15th is looking very good! We have sold 109 VIP seats so far so there are 141 left so get them quick, thank you everyone for your continued support!"
Translation = "I still don't have the money that I already guaranteed but like every other year yet again I am either intentionally scamming or am just negligently and recklessly hoping that I will somehow magically be able to pull it out of my a$$ before the end of the event so I won't have to once again screw the players this year like I repeatedly have in years past."
How can you guarantee money you don't have? And if you don't really even have much control over whether or not you will even be able to come up with it? Guaranteed money is money you that already have, period, not money that you hope shows up after you have to depend on x, y and z all having to fall into place perfectly (that you have no control over) or having to depend on others to come through for you (which you have no control over). If you don't have the money in pocket you can't guarantee it, and if do you have the money in pocket then you can escrow it.
Barry should be advertising and marketing this as "Hoping to add $75,000", not "$75,000 added guaranteed", because unless someone has a long and established track record of paying out all that was promised (like a Mark Griffin), a "guarantee" is nothing more than a bold and intentional lie and a naive hope unless it is backed by having it in escrow up front.
Now if all the guaranteed added money also gets escrowed with Pat Fleming in advance by a promised date then all is well in the world but everything I have seen so far is very specific about Pat having all the sign up money in escrow but is unclear and vague about whether or not the intent is to have all of the purse money (which would include all the guaranteed added money too) escrowed in advance with Pat.
Accounted for and in the escrow account of Pat F. are two very different things. I still don't think 128 players or their bankers are going for the $1000. Johnnyt
who has bought VIP seats? anyone? (our 10 guys haven't; won't)
i thought Pat was going to hold the entire $150K?
Yes, Pat is to hold all the money. This includes the added money of $75,000 (due by 90 days before the event, which means approx. July 25) and the entry fees.
The last figure I saw for the total projected prize fund is $188,000. This would be the $75,000 added plus $113,000 in entry fees (which may be coming in all the way up to the event). The entry fees are an estimated amount, because active former champions receive free entry. Apparently Barry is estimating that 15 active former champions will enter, leaving 113 paying entrants at $1,000 each. I don't know whether the $50 late fees (for entering after Oct. 5) will become part of the prize fund.
Another reason the prize fund is "projected" is that we don't know whether the field of 128 will fill.
Absolutely fantastic news if true. Has Barry said this in any of his press releases? I certainly could have missed something but all the ones I have seen only mentioned that Pat was collecting and holding the entry fees, and would be issuing the checks, but I never saw it mentioned that the added money was also being escrowed with Pat. By only promising to escrow the entry fees it seemed like Barry could be setting up an intentional "loophole" so if he decided not to escrow the added money he could say "well I never said anything about escrowing the added money, I only said that Pat was collecting and holding the entry fees." If you have a link to something I missed that would be great. Thanks!
I would bet they will have a full field.
I had certainly missed this one. Thanks. Sounds like things are being done properly this year for a change and it is exciting news. Based on the wording it might be possible that the WPA has finally put their foot down and are doing something to protect the players for a change (they may be refusing to sanction this event if all the money is not in escrow in advance?). Hats off to them for finally doing the right thing if that is the case.
I will bet you 50 there is no full field- I also win if they lower the entry fee whether it then fills or not. Let me know. Paypal or Chase quickpay only