Why wouldn't Barry Behrman agree to the ABP request?

justnum

justnum

Billiards Improvement Research Projects Associate
Silver Member
The ABP issued a press release stating a dispute over an issue about prior disclosure on the prize money which motivated them to formally state a boycott of Barry Behrman events.

The issue is about Barry not agreeing to the ABP request of prior disclosure of the prize money. For many business people large events require lots of preparation. Barry might be too busy to deal with something as small as proving to players he has the prize money. Another possible case is Barry runs a business and if his word is not good enough then the players can participate in other events. And the least likely situation is Barry doesn't want to show he doesn't have the prize money. What is the most likely situation is he is afraid that if he does prove he has the money the players might try to steal it from him.

In either situation regardless of what I think Barry or the ABP should do, players are unhappy and Barry is unhappy. The fans miss out because of this management dispute about prize money. And players that compete in the open won't get their normal shot of proving themselves against a touring pro.

If the prize fund was in the bank prior to an event, then it would be as simple as showing someone a bank statement to prove the funds are available. But the situation is more complicated then what the press release makes it out to be. And that is a dispute between how Barry manages players before a tournament and the players he manages has not been resolved and both groups are not working at resolving it.
 
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Every once in a while I will get myself wrapped up into a thread and this is the case with this. It may be my own ignorance that causes me not to be able to see it from Barry's viewpoint. But I can clearly see the players point of view on it.
 
He gets part of the prize money from vendors and sponsors, I'm guessing. If he can't get them to pay in full and in advance, then he can't provide proof that the entire pot is there.

However, none of us know Barry's private business details, so none of us can comment with any facts.
 
Hierovision said:
He gets part of the prize money from vendors and sponsors, I'm guessing. If he can't get them to pay in full and in advance, then he can't provide proof that the entire pot is there.

However, none of us know Barry's private business details, so none of us can comment with any facts.
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Based on what I know you are pretty spot on. I suspect his pool room plays a factor as well.

What I for the life of me cannot figure out is why Barry just doesnt say "Ok. I'll post the money but instead of $50K added it will be $XYZ" (whatever he knows he can post)

Hell its possible he will post the money but it doesn't say in that statement if they would even play in that case. Weird situation.
 
I don't know anything about his finances but strictly as an observer, I think that Barry has got himself caught in a loop. The loop is that he needs earnings from the actual event in order to cover the event. Not only is that an extremely stressful way of doing things, but there's no guarantee that he will have collected enough at the event. He can only hope.

The Open has a big name and Barry is faced with the daunting task of trying to raise big money every year. I've seen him going from vendor to vendor at the Trade show. The market is simply too lean right now. There isn't that kind of money to go around.

Downsizing is a tough decision to make. No one wants to downsize, and I'm sure, neither does Barry. I'm sure the players realize that they're putting the squeeze on him with their demands. Maybe what they're really trying to do is to get him to be realistic about what's possible and what's not; and if downsizing is the answer, then so be it.
 
poolhustler said:
Please explain this.
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A big concern of business people is being the victim of theft, their business is their livelihood. I am not suggesting the players might steal it, but Barry has publicly stated he has concerns about the prize money.

The Open Letter of Barry saying he will protect the prize money with armed guard.

The Thursday before the U.S. Open, October 14th, $75,000.00 will be in an account for the players only and $75,000.00 in cash will be on display with an armed guard on the arena floor the final day of the event at 1:00pm.
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Barry wants to protect the prize money he spent maybe all year working to gather. It is reasonable that regardless of the situation he wants to protect it in terms of privacy and physically. In the case of a prior disclosure to an event he doesn't want the location of the money to be known for safety purposes. I am not saying the players will steal it, but word travels and other people might use that information for criminal action.
 
justnum said:
A big concern of business people is being the victim of theft, their business is their livelihood. I am not suggesting the players might steal it, but Barry has publicly stated he has concerns about the prize money.

The Open Letter of Barry saying he will protect the prize money with armed guard.



Barry wants to protect the prize money he spent maybe all year working to gather. It is reasonable that regardless of the situation he wants to protect it in terms of privacy and physically. In the case of a prior disclosure to an event he doesn't want the location of the money to be known for safety purposes. I am not saying the players will steal it, but word travels and other people might use that information for criminal action.
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Just when I think you can't top yourself.......
 
justnum said:
A big concern of business people is being the victim of theft, their business is their livelihood. I am not suggesting the players might steal it, but Barry has publicly stated he has concerns about the prize money.

The Open Letter of Barry saying he will protect the prize money with armed guard.



Barry wants to protect the prize money he spent maybe all year working to gather. It is reasonable that regardless of the situation he wants to protect it in terms of privacy and physically. In the case of a prior disclosure to an event he doesn't want the location of the money to be known for safety purposes. I am not saying the players will steal it, but word travels and other people might use that information for criminal action.
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I suddenly got this vision of DeNiro and Val Kilmer with big ass automatic weapons walking out of the convention center, but with a little sandwich baggy full of $75,000 :)
 
"the players will try to steal it from him"? Isn`t the truth that it`s the other way around? He probably thinks that if he shows he has some money all the players he owes will sue him.
 
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FranCrimi said:
I don't know anything about his finances but strictly as an observer, I think that Barry has got himself caught in a loop. The loop is that he needs earnings from the actual event in order to cover the event. Not only is that an extremely stressful way of doing things, but there's no guarantee that he will have collected enough at the event. He can only hope.

The Open has a big name and Barry is faced with the daunting task of trying to raise big money every year. I've seen him going from vendor to vendor at the Trade show. The market is simply too lean right now. There isn't that kind of money to go around.

Downsizing is a tough decision to make. No one wants to downsize, and I'm sure, neither does Barry. I'm sure the players realize that they're putting the squeeze on him with their demands. Maybe what they're really trying to do is to get him to be realistic about what's possible and what's not; and if downsizing is the answer, then so be it.
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Well stated.
 
sammylane12 said:
"the players will try to steal it from him"? Isn`t the truth that it`s the other way around? He probably thinks that if he shows he has some money all the players he owes will sue him.
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Who does he owe and how much?

I would love to hear some actual names and figures instead of just wild accusations.
 
sammylane12 said:
"the players will try to steal it from him"? Isn`t the truth that it`s the other way around? He probably thinks that if he shows he has some money all the players he owes will sue him.
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That type of talk is blasphemy, especially since several posters are from the business end of the pool industry. A better phrase would be the management of the US Open event has delivered high quality productions and plans to do so regardless of what touring pros think. If they want to make some money playing in a high dollar prize event, then they should play the open. The private matters of the management of the US open are not open to negotiations.

As for what gets said on the forum. Well everyone needs to learn how to work customer service at some point in their life. Whether by intimidation or slander, or lack of alternatives, even the run around people use the techniques that worked on them. It is fun to see if they invent some new ones.

The classic is look how much has been paid out already, give the guy a break, he is credible and has a record. The noise is just people unhappy because they didn't get a good deal or missed out.
 
Downsizing the expenses of the event and possibly reducing the added money seems to be the way to go here. In the last few years a successful event seems to be one that has two main criteria: It's well run (flow of matches) and everyone gets paid at the end of the tournament.

A post from Kickin' Chicken on this was pretty brilliant imo:

-Post up a concrete prize fund based on entries and only the added money that you can post up at that point in time. This would be the absolute guaranteed prize fund.

-Once expenses are tallied they can add to the added money if there is any. This would be the possible added prize fund.
 
peteypooldude said:
Every once in a while I will get myself wrapped up into a thread and this is the case with this. It may be my own ignorance that causes me not to be able to see it from Barry's viewpoint. But I can clearly see the players point of view on it.
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I think that either AZ Billiards do an article interviewing what Barry Behrman's point of view is or publish a statement directly from him.
 
Couldn't this be stated as the same response on all these league bashing threads. "It is a business and businesses don't have to open their books to the public." Or is that just a one way statement to uphold leagues from fleecing their players.
 
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