Well Done! Fury World Summit at Amsterdam

[jjinfla]

Hey Jude, (I'll bet you hear that all the time.) Anyway I was surprised to hear that your place has such a large seating capacity. Most places around Florida are lucky to get 50-100 seats and ony half of them have decent views. You must have bleachers along a wall.

But it is good to hear that you had good attendence. Hopefully the paying customers spent enough at the bar and kitchen to make the tournament financially successful for you. Not many pool room owners around here are that fortunate.

And, I understand, Amsterdam is smoke free too. Which proves if the setup is right the people will come.

Congratulations on a successful event.

Jake

 

[jjinfla]

Hey Grem Lighten up. You expect a program too. LOL. Stealing my line, are you. Hey, I'll bet either the Spiritour or the WPBA will be first ones to come up with a program.

I wonder how long before the UPA demands part of the gate? Conservatively speaking I figure that Amsterdam Billiards took in $24,000 from ticket sales for the 4 days. A portion of that should go to pay the players salary.

Jake

 

[manlyshot]

The U.S. Open provided a program for sale, which had all past U.S. Open winners' pictures, sponsor mentions, autograph space, history of U.S. Open and Behrman family, and the like.

Big Apple City tournament provided a program free, which included a letter from the Mayor of New York City congratulating them for bringing this event to the city, sponsor mentions, and some pictures, if I recall. Programs are nice keepsakes.

Gremlin is right about rail expense, and hotel and other savings would be a welcome feature that should be considered by promoters with hopes of attracting a large money-spending crowd.

For the pool players, the UPA currently provides ranking points, the same ranking points that were used at the 2003 U.S. Open for seeds and byes, even though the UPA's president felt it not fitting to attend. Hopefully, Corey, Troy, Keith, Earl, and others like them will be able to attend non-UPA events and enjoy earning a living in their profession. Maybe some new pool players will be attending future events as the UPA continues to create stop signs and contracts preventing the existing ones from participation with creative category designations targeted at whoever the UPA wants to target.

It is pleasant to hear the Fury World Summit of Pool was successful.

ManlyShot

 

[Jude Rosenstock]

Ticket Sales

Why would you assume Amsterdam Billiards kept the ticket revenue? I'm not certain of the arrangements and even if I were, I wouldn't be at liberty to discuss such but that's an assumption not worth posting on the internet.


Jude

 

[manlyshot]

I wonder how long before the UPA demands part of the gate? Conservatively speaking I figure that Amsterdam Billiards took in $24,000 from ticket sales for the 4 days.

Actually, Jake, the tournament was 5 days. The pool players are supposed to attend the players meeting the evening before the commencement of the tournament. However, as in Big Apple and Capital City Classic, selected UPA members can arrive whenever they want, enjoying a seed and a bye, and don't have to incur the same expense. Other pool players are required to be there for the players meeting and pay an additional 2 days of lodging. Kind of expensive in NYC, even with the pool player's hotel rate of $125 plus NYC tax for one party, $150 plus NYC tax if you have more than one person in your room, daily car parking costs as well as transportation from the hotel to the pool room. Including food and other unforeseen expenses, the daily cost is $250 per day to play in a tournament in New York City. Gremlin's point about providing discount packages to spectators is a valid one (IMO).

Also, when pool players called this pool room a week in advance of the tournament to inquire about logistical arrangements and UPA-mandated requirements for possible attendance and the like, the manager could only accept entry fee payments and directed prospective pool players' questions to the Charlie Williams. The UPA website provides a phone number listed in Hardy, Virginia, and one may only leave a message on this UPA phone number (no human ever answers the phone) and hope for an answer in time for the tournament. E-mailing the website was useless and provided no response.

In an ideal world, hosting pool rooms are supposed to revamp some of their added money from the gate. This is why a tournament that should have and could have taken place in 2 days is stretched out to 5 days (IMO).

The pool player who is not given a seed and a bye by Charlie Williams ends up paying $1,500 to $2,000 for expenses to attend a 5-day tournament in New York City, even with the discounted pool player's rate at the luxurious Grand Hyatt on Park Avenue. This may explain the fact why some pool players were not in attendance the last few days, if they were knocked out of the tournament early.

I do find it incredulous that Dragon Productions (Charlie Williams) was unaware of the Dubai event when scheduling this Fury World Summit of Pool. For the sake of the pool room who was kind enough to host this tournament in NYC, I do hope they enjoyed a profit and will continue to provide prestigious events in the future. They are to be commended.

ManlyShot

 

[jjinfla]

Jude, All I was pointing out is that Amsterdam proved a pool tournament can be profitable if they can get fans to attend the show. Otherwise the Pros are just paying each other to play with each other. And I was actually surprised that you filled the house with fans for the first few rounds. I sure wouldn't pay $50 a day to watch a bunch of no-names play. Even if they are playing Archer or Mika. The last Patriot Cup in Tampa was $39 a day and many people didn't show up because the price was too high and the players were ten of the top names in pool.

But New Yorkers make and have more money than the rest of us, that is, until they retire down here in Florida and then they all cry poor mouth. All looking for the bargain reduced lunches. LOL.

And since you stated:

"Lastly, these guys are doing these tournaments FOR NOTHING. The only money Charlie Williams pulled down were his tournament winnings."

And since Charlie Williams is the UPA I took that to mean that the gate receipts went to the house to offset their loss at not being able to rent out their own tables and to hire extra help and security.

When baseball started out the teams would get paid from the gate receipts of the fans in attendance. The more fans who showed up the more money the players received. If the baseball players couldn't draw many fans then they didn't make a lot of money. And look where baseball is today. The fans came and baseball prospered.

Standing room at Wrigley Field last night was going for $350. I guess our economy isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

Jake