Baller lhoover Posted March 24, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 24, 2013 Ballers, The upcoming Atlanta tournament is our chance to control the purse, unlike any waterski tourney ever (well, at least since last month in Acapulco where Gordon showed it can be done!) All these years we have been wringing our hands and crying in our beer that there is no money in pro tourneys. Other organizations and well-intentioned sponsors have done their best, supposedly, but it has always been rather anemic. Atlanta is truly a FUBU (for us, by us) tourney, started at the grassroots level just last year by one of our own Ballers, George Obser. Now in year 2, BOS is contributing its clout (thanks, John!) and we can help make the purse what we want to make it. No limits. The current purse is $5,000 for OM and $4,000 for the ladies. There are thousands of us who can kick in even $10 and make this the most lucrative waterski tourney in history. Every dollar contributed goes directly to the purse, not anywhere else. So sayeth George and John. We could easily triple the payouts and show these skiers we mean business and appreciate their efforts more than they will ever know. Come on, a lousy $10, or more, from BOS readers can make this a historic event in our rather poverty stricken pro tournament history history. Kick in, and many thanks to all the Atlanta folks and BOS for making it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MattP Posted March 24, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 24, 2013 @Ihoover I love the enthusiasm and idea. Hopefully it takes off. I'm sure @OB @Horton can get some sort of paypal links set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BraceMaker Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 gotta be some way to take our vets and utilize some component of the litty to fund a cot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ForrestGump Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 @BraceMaker Maybe I've had too much wine tonight, but I honestly have no idea what you just said. I'm thinking of Chris Tucker in Rush Hour talking to Jackie Chan....... "Are you understanding the words that are coming out of my mouth???" :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Zman Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 Too many vodkas and fresh squeezed OJ here, didn't understand either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BraceMaker Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 There is no betting, or kitty... as there is no gambling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BraceMaker Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 Is this a real thing then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ MarcusBrown Posted March 25, 2013 Baller_ Share Posted March 25, 2013 I've been skiing pro events since 1996. While I whole heartedly appreciate the enthusiasm and gesture of this thread....I can't help but speak up. I may only be speaking for myself (although I'd like to think many of the skiers would be behind me on this) but I would rather see money raised put towards marketing, promoting, and event coverage....rather than back in our pockets. @OB, you said it yourself....the ROI for potential sponsors just isn't there....and so they just can't step up to the plate. That has been the theme for years....and That won't change, ever, if the paradigm of event production and management doesn't change: more resources to event marketing/promotion/coverage (GOOD coverage, edited, well-done piece) and less initial concern with the rest of it. If skiing was one day featured on network TV....that is potentially more valuable to us as athletes than a few extra thousand $'s at any one event. Is our prize money great? No. But I guess what I'm saying is prize $$ shouldn't be the only focus.....skiers might be able to hold out a bit longer..., if the future begins to look like something we can believe in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h2odawg79 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 @MarcusBrown, -that's Wisdom, on many levels... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Rpc29 Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 @marcusbrown if we raised an extra $5,000 what would be the best way to spend it? TV ads? Billboard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MAD11 Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 Maybe have to go different routes to get it started again. I was shocked to see a 20 min deal on South African Airways about 3 months ago about the Shanghai event a few years ago. Got to see Zach up on the podium. Exposure and spectators are what is needed not a few dollars of donation for prize money. Big events at private sites has help the scores but hurt the sport. More venues like the site for Malibu Open and Moomba are needed so these guys get exposure. Maybe have to start thinking out of the box. Fairly disappointing to complete at the Talking Rock, GA pro tourny a few years ago, which was a great event with a lot of effort put into it, and hardly anyone on the shores to see it except for other competitors. This is more typical in the last few years though. How about selling Delta on showing a 8- 10 min highlight recap of the event on all their flights for a month between boring sitcoms your forced to watch or some nature special. That's a lot of people in a captive environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ForrestGump Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 @OB My ski partner puts together wakeboard events and motorcross races. He has some good luck, at least in the Houston area, with external promotion. I know one of the things that got him a lot of promotional value was partial sponsorship a local restaurants summer concert series where they'd have 1000 people at a pop on Friday night concert all summer long. He got them to agree to let him get up in the middle of the concert and tell about his event and pass out event flyers there. The motorcross races he promoted statistically showed a 25% increase in concessions, so something was working. And the cost was pretty damn low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MattP Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 @Madd11 the ATL site is not a backyard site by any means. It's in the backyard of a movie theater, liquor store and holiday inn. To name a few places. The talking Rock site is great for backyard but way to far away from the masses to attract anyone. Almost 2 hours from ATL. I was at that event though. @OB works for delta. Don't think he did not try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller lhoover Posted March 25, 2013 Author Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 Marcus, point well taken but very much disagree. We skiers have knocked ourselves out trying to market and promote for the last 15 years, and very little happens on the corporate and tv side. The occasional site, such as Milwaukee, is a wonderful exception, but Atlanta has refused for the second straight year. However, there are some very good sponsors on board, and they see an obvious ROI, so we are not talking of zero support. The Atlanta tourney has been produced, organized, and funded, so here we are with the current purse. All these so called "future sponsors" have had their chance and said no thanks. Fine. Now here is our chance as a huge BOS club to put more money directly in the skiers pockets. I have a feeling they will like it, and hope for more "Atlantas" where they get more than verbal thanks for their efforts. Ballers, we can impress cities and tv folks by showing them a huge purse is possible, that there are thousands of us out here who love this sport, and that they need to get on board this moving train. How about I start the flow with $50. Sign me up, George. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller aswinter05 Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 Are there going to be any give-away items at this event? Are any sponsers giving away free shirts, keychains, food, beer, skis, ropes or whatever? I know this sounds completely cheesy but it could possibly attract spectators to the event. Sure it may attract visitors for the wrong reasons (i.e., attend just for freebies). But lets face it, that's always prevalent with any promotional giveaway. We could use some of the donations from ballers to buy a ton of free t-shirts with a sponsor's logo on it. In turn, the sponsors benefit by boosting advertising and we benefit from a discount on those items which in turn boosts attendance numbers. I'm sure this has been thought of but I just wanted to throw in whatever input that I thought could help. If attendance and participation is important then lets try to get as much of the local public out at the site to see how amazing of a spectacle a water ski event can be (in first person). I agree with Marcus's suggestion to an extent. This would cover the marketing and promotion aspects of his idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MAD11 Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 @mattp I wasn't being critical of the site and I'm sure having a liquor store close will have benefits for all. Not sure it's going to put a few thousand people on the shore to watch, which is what is needed. I was just trying to encourage thinking out of the box to get exposure for potential sponsors. Somehow the promoter of the Shanghai event did. @OB glad to toss it around with you anytime on the phone. I have run several big tournaments at our site and it is hard to get sponsors on board and spectators to attend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller addkerr Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 A bit off topic but on the same lines of what we are aiming for. Just my opinions. Skiing has developed into a very covert sport, that does not see any light of day from the joe public. I mean just think how many sites are in the middle of know where in someones back yard. All that is happening is that skiing is becoming an inaccessible sport that only the rich can get into. If the mentality is that you have to be on the best lakes with the perfect shape, the perfect depth and the perfect direction, and these places are most likely invitation only basis, and as said before in the middle of know where, then yes nobody is going to know or try out our sport, because they can't. My lake (rented) is surrounded by over a 100 holiday lodges. Every year I teach hundreds of people to ski because they see us at the crack of dawn slaloming and jumping, and think hey lets have a go at that. 99% love it and want to be able to continue on, and so information is passed on for other sites. Yes our lake is bigger than you want, and the depth is all over the place, but we have 2 courses and most the time it makes for awesome skiing, and completely open to the public for pay as you ski. In comparison we have a purpose built lake 45 mins down the road. They are hard to get too (gravel track) in comparison to us been 2 mins off the main motorway (highway). They do there bit for promotion but its still an invitation only club, with limitations to just slaloming. Im not saying we are awesome,and everyone is doing it wrong as the main downfall is been in the freezing UK :) and I love going to jacks or swiss to ski, but for promotion you need to get out there showing people what to do, because we all know how addicting this sport is. Get people into it and they will continue. I guess as a summary I'm saying we need more wide spread tourneys like moomba and malibu open. But from this actually make it easy for people to have a go. Once you get the sport bigger then sponsors will come, and we will get back on live TV. Rather than just trying to make a single tourney bigger, that is a very short term approach, we need to look to a long term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ The_MS Posted March 25, 2013 Baller_ Share Posted March 25, 2013 A few years back I had a long conversation with Dave Hunter (world water ski pros) about the issues surrounding a marketable pro tour. Marcus pretty much said the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ Wish Posted March 25, 2013 Baller_ Share Posted March 25, 2013 Random thoughts for future advertising and the like. Maybe already thought of. Said above that the lake backs up to a local movie theater. Now a days movie theaters are catering to local advertisers by running short adds for them before the movie. Perhaps an avenue to advertise future Atlanta Pro-Ams. Typically inexpensive relatively speaking, captive audience and promotes to the locals who may fill the shoreline some day. And if the general public does make a significant showing, please please please for the sake of the new onlookers to the sport, do not announce in feet off the line or metric. Announce in how long the rope is "now" in feet. Soaked in Orlando was a big success from a spectator standpoint do to access and location but countless people would stop, watch and listen for a while, look confused, and then just walk away not understanding the feet off jargon. @OB from what I've read here...amazing job putting this together. Cannot even imagine all that goes into this. Also get a sense that you have left no stone unturned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BraceMaker Posted March 25, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 25, 2013 Food/beer tasting type event @the same local/time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller A_B Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 @OB, can you hook Paypal up to Joe Skier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller A_B Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 Didn't you have Paypal for tshirts last year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller A_B Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 @OB, I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ RichardDoane Posted March 26, 2013 Baller_ Share Posted March 26, 2013 @ob - save me a shirt plz ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ RichardDoane Posted March 26, 2013 Baller_ Share Posted March 26, 2013 good work - keep it up ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller JohnCox Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 The donate button doesn't work for me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller JohnCox Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 It's not much, but every bit helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller JohnCox Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 @OB, I can help you get in shape, but I'd rather ski like YOU! Thanks for reminding me about the demo days...will likely be there on Thursday, so need to book that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Mike Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 our donation now means a bigger turn out of pros later which will attract the attention. This sport feeds our souls like a lot of other things. Give it a chance and commit. Vote for our sport with your wallet like Bruce said. We are the seeds of growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller A_B Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 @OB, you can work on the graphic Joe Skier for next year.... How about some Josie Skiers stepping up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Marco Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 Glad to help. Great Job OB. Your hard work is very much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MattP Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 @ob Ill work on a different logo so I don't have to print that um thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Razorskier1 Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 Donation made -- go WaterskiATL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller 9400 Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 I'm in! Go Joe Skier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller aswinter05 Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 Donation made. It's not tremendous but hey.... cut me some slack.... I just purchased a SN200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller jedgell Posted March 26, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 26, 2013 Donation made! Wish I could be there, hopefully next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ForrestGump Posted March 27, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 27, 2013 @OB Well, when you put it that way, I just went and donated. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Chef23 Posted March 27, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 27, 2013 I'd love to get down for the tournament but it won't fit this year's schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MAD11 Posted March 28, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 28, 2013 @OB There ya go, done. Hopefully that's enough to help. Sent it all the way from South Africa. @TFIN going to win your event anyway so we can keep my money in TX. My favorite margarita in town is the Cadillac at the Iron Cactus. Don't forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ForrestGump Posted March 28, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 28, 2013 Oh damn, that Cadillac rita at Iron Cactus is the best there is anywhere on the planet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MAD11 Posted March 28, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 28, 2013 @shaneH Your right! It is the best. I made a decent donation so figured I wanted one other way to get some of my money back in case they cut @TFIN gates or something suspect at the event. Gotta have a back up plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ForrestGump Posted March 28, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 28, 2013 Yeah, you're likely not able to get a good rita in Durbin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller JohnCox Posted March 28, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 28, 2013 I get a bib? That will be my first... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MattP Posted March 28, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 28, 2013 @OB doing some other logo work at the moment. I will get with @the_krista today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller 6balls Posted March 28, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 28, 2013 @OB will get Joe Skier when back from Mexico..don't trust the security of the network here on vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Marco Posted March 29, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 29, 2013 @OB How much has been raised so far, if you don't mind sharing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller schroed Posted March 29, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 29, 2013 Just made my donation.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller oneski Posted March 30, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 30, 2013 Donated......It's a great way to support our sport and generate interest in a one of a kind tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller lhoover Posted March 30, 2013 Author Baller Share Posted March 30, 2013 I'm just posting so we get this topic back in the Top 10, but a big thank you to all who have donated. We still have plenty of viewers who can surely afford a lousy $10, or more, and we have time on our side to give everyone a chance. Pony up for a good cause! OB, keep us informed with the 10min ticker and let's bust the seams, Ballers. And now, back to our regular programming.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller aswinter05 Posted March 30, 2013 Baller Share Posted March 30, 2013 bump. Keep this at the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.webp.c1d9c97f9cd6aed3eb2f057593d2bd42.webp)
.webp.fe2f8a07724aa0b030c317bb8c02956a.webp)
.webp.8497384650ada8a3e4f1fd5dd6c3fb2a.webp)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now