What Good Is the WPA and do the players need it?

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
I'll be the first to say I don't have a clue if the WPA is useful or even needed. They charge a sanctioning fee of 20k(got this figure from a post on here) for the World 10 ball tournament and no one has been paid yet. Are they responsible to make sure the players get their money, if not, what good are they for the players.

From what I have seen lately is that the US players would be better off playing in non-sanctioned tournaments with their entry fees, added money, and fees in escrow. No escrow no play. You would see how fast legit promoters and tour owners would go the escrow route. There are promoters and tours out there that have been operating for years with no problem, and it would be a shame to not trust them. Maybe some kind of rating system and amount of tournaments they have put on would let them not have to put money in escrow. Maybe the players should pay for half the charge of an escrow account...they will probably get the whole thing charged back at them anyway. Johnnyt
 
As far as I know, there has never been a WPA sanctioned event that did not pay out. And I think we are jumping the gun if we are going to assume that the World 10-Ball is not going to pay.

As for what the WPA is good for and whether the players need it...

2007 held the World 8-Ball and World 9-Ball Championships. Approximately $400,000 in prize money.

2008 has seen the World 8-Ball and World 10-Ball. Roughly another $600,000 when it is all paid.

That is basically $1,000,000 in prize money over the last 2 year.

Nah, the players probably don't need the WPA for anything.

Mike
 
The WTBC is a WPA sanctioned event, WTBC promised payments in 2 weeks after the event, that 2 weeks lapsed last monday, were the payments sent last monday to the players? it's now wednesday, PI time.

it's not an assumption anymore, they did not pay.
 
So, some promoters get 10-12 months leeway. But, Raya didn't pay in 2 weeks so it is a done deal that they won't.

Hmm, seems like an interesting double standard to me.

Mike
 
WTBC is in the same magnitude with the last 2 WPC, in fact, the promoter even said that it's grander and more prestigious than the WPC. The last 2 WPC pay-up within 2 weeks. According to phope choy for Alex's case and from the grapevine of Ronato Alcano and Roberto Gomez.

WTBC is not a small tournament.

It's not double standard.
 
please list those tournaments... but it would not matter anyway, like my argument on my 2nd post in this thread, WTBC is in the same magnitude of the WPC, let's also not forget that the people behind the past 2 WPC and WTBC are the same minus Matchroom.

So why so late? what's the fuzz?
 
Not being privy to the inner workings of Raya, I could not tell you what the hold up is. But I just think they deserve a little more leeway than they are getting.

One of the 10-12 month events was an IPT event. That one was pretty big.

Mike
 
AzHousePro said:
Not being privy to the inner workings of Raya, I could not tell you what the hold up is. But I just think they deserve a little more leeway than they are getting.

One of the 10-12 month events was an IPT event. That one was pretty big.

Mike
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I don't believe the IPT was sanctioned by the WPA. Johnnyt
 
AzHousePro said:
Not being privy to the inner workings of Raya, I could not tell you what the hold up is. But I just think they deserve a little more leeway than they are getting.

One of the 10-12 month events was an IPT event. That one was pretty big.

Mike
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Well, there are some who claims they know what's holding up Raya, but if there really is, they should have sent information to the players... Well, Pulpul got a promise of payment on the 24th this month, so we'll see.

anyway, players deserved to be paid, we all agree on this.

By the way, some people here are now comparing KT with YM and WTBC with IPT. premature? maybe, there could be reasons why.
 
A WPA is good for pool. I think pool will survive with it or without it. As far as players needing the WPA. Well this can be looked at from a different angle. If no one played then there is no WPA. I think everyone can agree both are needed. I think players are more important to a sport than rules and regulatory boards/promoters/advertisers. The only thing more important to a sports success is fans.

Yes, that is right the fans are the most important part of any sport. Without them there is no growth in your sport and it dies...
 
IPT was not sanctioned by the WPA. Funny thing is that one of the reasons why they were not sanctioned was that Ian Anderson and WPA wanted the money to be in escrow...

World Ten Ball is sanctioned by the WPA. What will WPA do IF Raya will not be able to pay? I think that is the purpose of this thread, and it certainly deserves a proper answer. Unfortunately I don't have the answers, but I am guessing that WPA will not pay 400 000 $.
It is a WPA-sanctioned event, and the WPA said in a press-release that everything will be ok. So if it is not, why the WPA?

AZHousePro: Do you think it is ok if Raya do like the IPT, and pays up during the next year?

I think it is great if they do, because after all the players do get paid. But if they do it that way, they didn't do what players expected of them.
 
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No, the IPT was not a WPA sanctioned event.

I am simply saying that the IPT took many months to pay off. And most people still say that it was the best thing to happen to pool in years. (That is a whole different discussion though).

If the IPT paid off in 10+ months, then I don't think we need to run off saying the sky is falling if the WTBC hasn't paid in 2 weeks.

If the WTBC takes 10 months to pay, then I do not think that is a good thing. I would think that if it did not pay in the next 2 weeks, then there is a problem.

But so many people are hoping to mark the WTBC as a failure that I don't think they will jump on anything to accomplish that.

Mike
 
IPT is a unique case for the reason that it's not sanction by the WPA and i feel that it's not right to use it to justify an act of a WPA sanction event which is the WTBC. I'd like to know other tournaments sanctioned by the WPA which didn't pay up immediately, but it will be pointless. It will not justify for the late payment (so far).

Let's go back to the topic.
What good is the WPA and do the player need it?

"WPA Quells Rumors
Despite the wild rumours that have been circulating, the World Pool-Billiard Association wishes to state unequivocally that the WPA World Ten Ball Championship will take place as scheduled in Manila on September 29 to October 5. At no time have we considered this event to ever have been in danger of being postponed or canceled.

Preparations and arrangements for the tournament by Raya Sports are proceeding as planned. The venue is the Philippine International Convention Centre. Seven hotels led by Sofitel Philippine Plaza are official hotel partners and will take care of players and guests. Brunswick, Iwan Simonis and Star Billiards are providing world-class equipment and service. The tournament will be broadcast internationally by ESPN.

A prize fund of $400,000 is on offer, and indeed there may be an additional prize donated by sponsors that will be announced by next week.

The entire tournament will be conducted under the full supervision of the WPA. Mr. Thomas Overbeck, WPA vice-president and sports director, will be the Tournament Director.

For updated information about the WTBC, log into the official website: www.worldtenball.com"

This advisory i believe gave the players the assurance that everything will be alright and made them joined the WTBC.

Now that the promoter have not sent the payments yet, what will be the next action of WPA for the benefit of these players? Wait 10-12 months?

Really, i'd like to know.

Edit: I never hope to mark WTBC as a failure, what i hoped before is for it not to happened for the benefit of the players who will join. What I'm hoping right now is for the players to receive their payments.
 
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And I fully believe that they will.

I know Yen and I will be very surprised if the players are not paid very soon.

Mike
 
One Question

Why was WPA asking IPT for prize money to be placed in escrow yet not ask WTBC and still issue such player enticing press statement? Is it because they're going to receive 5% from WTBC and still just forcing the issue with IPT?
 
I don't recall the WPA asking that the IPT money be placed in escrow. I think that they just wanted the IPT to sanction with them.
 
AzHousePro said:
And I fully believe that they will.

I know Yen and I will be very surprised if the players are not paid very soon.

Mike
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Mike, I appreciate that you support your friends. There are enough backstabbers around. BUT, before the WTBC, Makabenta and even WPA were active, writing articles and press releases about the upcoming event - partly due to the fact that concerns were expressed in this forum.

Now, there is a thundering silence. Why?

I also believe that this is the first time in WPA history that a tournament has failed to pay the prices as promised. - and since we are now more than two weeks overdue, its an undisputable fact that the promises from Makabenta and WPA has been broken.
 
JB Cases said:
I don't recall the WPA asking that the IPT money be placed in escrow. I think that they just wanted the IPT to sanction with them.
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I stand corrected. The escrow part was mentioned on this thread and no one corrected that.
 
pooladdict said:
Mike, I appreciate that you support your friends. There are enough backstabbers around. BUT, before the WTBC, Makabenta and even WPA were active, writing articles and press releases about the upcoming event - partly due to the fact that concerns were expressed in this forum.

Now, there is a thundering silence. Why?

I also believe that this is the first time in WPA history that a tournament has failed to pay the prices as promised. - and since we are now more than two weeks overdue, its an undisputable fact that the promises from Makabenta and WPA has been broken.
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That's what I don't understand. There's all this clamor about prize money not getting paid as promised yet all we get is an "I fully believe that they will"? Yen writes articles that are delivered as front page news here yet we read no response from him on this extremely important matter. How then can we be expected to think otherwise?

When they think they're doing GOOD (good to who?) they shout out for everyone to hear. What does their being quiet mean? Do they think that they're not doing GOOD?
 
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