WPBA Telethon

Nostroke

Nostroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
One of my FB friends, a part time WPBA player is reporting that the WPBA is going to hold a streamed "Online Telethon" before the Atlanta Event next week to raise funds.

Any thoughts?
 
Here is a cut and paste from the AZ headlines a little while ago in case anyone missed it.
It kind of makes me feel like they are officially a charity case if it's come to this.

WPBA Membership Drive Telethon at the Atlanta Classic

If you are a fan of the WPBA and its players, you may be interested in the following information. On Wednesday, September 29, between 2pm and 8pm in the pro arena, the WPBA will be holding a Membership Drive Telethon that will be streamed live and free for the viewers. Tune in to wpba.com, the official website of the WPBA, for this special streamed show. Interviews and tips for your pool game by top players will be shown throughout the Telethon. For those who are interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes, there will also be coverage of the players meeting and charity event. Several of the professional trick shot players will be making a special appearance for added entertainment.

The WPBA will soon be launching a completely overhauled website. One of the many exciting new features of this site will be a player & fan membership area with listings of all Fan & Patron Members. With this in mind, the Membership Drive Telethon will kick off the WPBA Atlanta Classic. Fan and Patron Memberships range from $25-$2500 with varying levels of exposure and benefits including items such as player posters or headshots, WPBA merchandise, VIP tickets to WPBA Classic Tour event and tickets to the private WPBA Annual Awards Banquet that takes place at the Tour Championship each year which will be in Niagara Falls for 2010.

The WPBA Atlanta Classic features 64 of the top female players in the world and will take place September 30th – October 3rd at Gwinnett Center, Duluth, Georgia right outside of Atlanta. It is the main event at the Atlanta Billiard Show. The Atlanta Billiard Show also provides a variety of tournaments for amateur players including the following divisions: Open Amateur, Senior Amateur, Women's Amateur and Junior. Additionally, the Ultimate Trick Shot Tour will hold their Southeast Classic. For those interested in rooting on their local players, the American Poolplayers Association (APA) will be holding their Southeast Fall Singles Regional.

Follow tournament action of the WPBA Atlanta Classic on the free live stream found at www.wpba.com. The stream will feature key matches Thursday, Friday and Saturday rounds leading up to the semi finals. Join us at the event for the filming of the final three matches which are produced for ESPN. For ticket information visit atlantabilliardshow.com

To register for Amateur events at the Atlanta Billiard Show visit www.atlantabilliardshow.com.

Special thanks to the WPBA Classic Tour Sponsors:

APA - Official Amateur League www.poolplayers.com
SalucSA/Aramith - Official Ball Sponsor www.aramith.com
Cuetec – Official Cue Sponsor www.cuetec.com
Delta 13 - Official Rack Sponsor www.delta-13.com
Diamond - Official Table Sponsor www.DiamondBilliards.com
Simonis - Official Cloth Sponsor www.simoniscloth.com
Mueller Recreational Products – Advertiser www.muellerrecreationalproducts.com
PoolDawg – Advertiser www.PoolDawg.com
 
what happened to "Professional" ?

Hmm , if "professional" pool is really going to resort to begging , can it truly call itself professional pool anymore ?
The Board of Directors at WPBA really needs to look much harder at finding a corporate sponsor . Soon.
Or fold.
Sad reality in harsh times .
 
I think using the term “Telethon” is making this sound far worse than it is. I believe they have had those fan memberships offered through their website for quite awhile. Nothing unusual about it nowadays. I am a fan of the Red Sox and they advertise persistently for fans to join the different levels of the Nation (fan club), with the higher cost levels getting opportunities for events and high demand tickets. That is the extreme end, but most things have clubs of some level nowadays to try and create revenue. With the items stated to be covered in the press release posted above, it could actually be interesting to see some of the pre-tournament activities. For one thing they say they will air coverage of the players meeting, God knows enough people on here have *****ed and speculated about what has transpired at these in the past (ex. the revolt against that recently elected Pres who’s name I’ve already forgot).

Get rid of "Telethon".
 
After reading the press release that Superstar pasted, I don't think it's a bad idea. It's an innovative way to market the WPBA. The only problem that I have is the language used. The word telethon conjures an image of a charity. The WPBA should have used the phrase "membership drive" versus telethon.
 
Well, they're at least providing a unified front to tackle the problem of sponsorship and funding.

What have the male pros done to date? So far, they seem to have only angered the pool promoters with demands, not offering much in return.

Time will tell how this all spells out, but I have to admire their drive to move forward.
 
They have had the membership on their website for years. I think the streaming for it is a good move, but they need to replace the word telethon with something else. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
They have had the membership on their website for years. I think the streaming for it is a good move, but they need to replace the word telethon with something else. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

Agreed, Johnny. Maybe call it a "membership drive".
 
Yeah, maybe "telethon" wasn't the right way to phrase what they are intending to do. But, heck, I'll watch and probably buy a membership. Show my support for the ladies. It's tough out there, and I appreciate that they are asking for the billiard community's support.
 
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