Invitational Tournaments

Splint · Post by **Splint** » 14 Apr 2006 14:27

Does anyone else think that one or two invitational tournaments a year would be a cool idea? I'd say inviting the top 75 competitors in the world, getting real sponsorships, real money, and real media coverage (perhaps Fuel TV)

Skippy! · Post by **Skippy!** » 14 Apr 2006 14:51

As much as it's a neat idea, wouldn't that create a bit of a rift in a scene that's pretty tight knit? I mean, you know that someone's gonna be offended about not getting invited...not me personally, but still.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 14 Apr 2006 14:56

If it will really help you get sponsorships, money, hoes and media coverage, knock yourself out.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 14 Apr 2006 20:23

Yeah I think it would be a great idea. I think definitely when footbag becomes a serious sport you'll need to qualify to enter in serious competitions - rather than just showing up.

BalinorNZ · Post by **BalinorNZ** » 14 Apr 2006 22:15

Jeremy wrote:Yeah I think it would be a great idea. I think definitely when footbag becomes a serious sport you'll need to qualify to enter in serious competitions - rather than just showing up.

This is true. I think that if it will help get media coverage go for it! You don't even need 75 competitiors, 10 or 20 will do, just the best of the best in an invite only tournement aired over a massive TV network. That is what footbag needs.

andr00 · Post by **andr00** » 14 Apr 2006 23:05

This reminds me of my ski racing days.

aside from high school teams there is Junior Racing (local ski hills), USSA racing (regional such as all of the midwest will converge at one hill), and then FIS (which brings nationwide and sometimes international competitors). Then there is the World Cup which is truly the olympic level athletes. You need to be invited to join FIS and obviously World Cup, but USSA level and below just cost money. I could see footbag going this direciton.

Splint · Post by **Splint** » 15 Apr 2006 00:03

I figured if you invited 75 you'd be bound to get about 20 or 30. The purse would have to be pretty damn big too.

sniikeri · Post by **sniikeri** » 15 Apr 2006 04:32

Splint wrote:I figured if you invited 75 you'd be bound to get about 20 or 30. The purse would have to be pretty damn big too.

I think that hardly none of the invited players would say no, especially if it all was paid by the sponsors. Footbag is a small sport, people would take the offer.
About 20 players would be enough in my opinion, this way the level would be high enough and there would be a lot of potential challengers outside the invited ones. This way the tournaments would have every time more variety on players, styles and tricks.
This would also push the game forward.

Great idea.

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 15 Apr 2006 08:30

Invitational tourneys are great, if you have a bunch of spectators.

Without spectators, there is no incentive for sponsors to fund one of these invitational events.

Seriously, where is all this money coming from and why are the sponsors going to provide it. How does having 20 of the best players being invited to an event make it more worthwhile for them. Nobody is going to see the event anyway.

It's spectators attract money from sponsors, not talent from players. Advertisers and Sponsors don't care about the sports, they want exposure for their products.

Splint · Post by **Splint** » 15 Apr 2006 10:21

I envision it like this:

You have a 2-3 day event depending on how many competitors you have. The first day or two are all about preliminary rounds at some location that isn't necessarily publicized. Each competitor must compete in all events. Shred 30, 2 minute routine, Sick 3, Big 1, and Rippin' Run. The seeding for the finals will be based on the scores for all of those events. The final event would take the top 10 players to compete in 3 of those events. The finals would then be held at a popular night club that draws it's own natural crowd. Prizes would then be given in all the individual events from the preliminaries as well as all of the final events.
Sponsors would be appeased by specialized announcements and prizes given in their names.

krawallier · Post by **krawallier** » 15 Apr 2006 21:02

brad, more or less, what you described in your last post pretty much sums up what the bigger footbag tournaments i've been to anyways, just that they aren't invitational. and it is totally voluntary who competes for what. there is no need for an invitational tourney, if you don't make the first rounds public anyways... the only invitational way that'd make sense would be if you could raise enough $$$ to fly in your 20 best of the world...

but that is a general sponsorship question whether footbag actually really is apealing enough for the big cash - i doubt the invitational character will change much about that....

Splint · Post by **Splint** » 16 Apr 2006 01:25

I've been to Worlds twice and I think the turn outs on Finals night were less than stupendous. I could be wrong, but my impression is that they tend to be held at the cheapest place that can be rented, they aren't generally packed out party places and there is otherwise no reason for people to go to those places. Pretty much it's all of the people who attend Worlds that show up. It's all the net players and golfers and freestylers and a very small percentage of spectators outside the sport.

I think if you were to invite 75-80 of the worlds top players, and even 30 of them showed, it would be an amazing event. Registration wouldn't be cheap (possibly $100+), but the prizes would be spread out beyond 1st. 2nd, and 3rd places. I absolutely disagree that the palyers would have to be flown out. They aren't flown out to events now and they show up for big events. I think that the enticement of a $3,000 first place prize (which I think is a possible goal) would be more than enough to guarantee a good showing.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 18 Apr 2006 23:01

Worlds Chicago finals were on the skyline stage on Navy Pier, a choice location with tons of seating. And the last worlds in San Francisco was in a crazy location that was more suited to a 1000+ audience, the place was built like a colisium or something.

sampotter · Post by **sampotter** » 18 Apr 2006 23:20

editted out