Comments on: Hardbat Classic Las Vegas – Please Bring it Back Budweiser!

By: FoolsGold

FoolsGold — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:30:57 +0000

IF a casino is already involved you could approach their sportsbook, else I would consider the sportsbook at The M Resort to be the most innovative and the one at the LV Hilton the most comprehensive.

By: JoeDuck

JoeDuck — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:29:08 +0000

FoolsGold I really like the Sports Book idea. Football manages to have vibrant youth programs even in the face of massive betting, so why not pong? In Asia gambling on games is a common practice and I think it injects a lot more viewer interest than otherwise.

By: FoolsGold

FoolsGold — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:51:51 +0000

Anytime you approach a sponsor its best to have your own existing networking contacts at the various table-tennis clubs. Not just a listing that the clubs exist and have certain contact persons, but the actual contact persons who have agreed to help coordinate any such sponsored local events.

The publicity rights are important to the sponsor but getting the word out to the enthusiasts is still your job.

Handicapping? Heck, talk to a Sports Book in Vegas. You want real publicity for the event, get a starting line at a betting site going.

By: JoeDuck

JoeDuck — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:29:57 +0000

Good point and ideas about running the CA events though I don’t agree that any state was well represented in Vegas. If they keep the spots very aggressive (so everybody can win the big money) and promote this using the social media I’ve suggested you’ll have *thousands* of interested players coming from all over rather than a few hundred.

By: JoeDuck

JoeDuck — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:27:35 +0000

Scott USTTA “official” Hardbat has been around for many, many decades and it has failed to get much if any attention, though I agree it’s more fun to watch than sponge play.

I think Bud’s right to do aggressive spots – that’s a common bar style betting bravado thing and people can relate to the fun of “spotting the weak player”. However maybe you could up the ante even more by allowing players to increase or reduce their spots to change the payouts or something along those lines.

By: JoeDuck

JoeDuck — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:21:06 +0000

Hi Jay – where are you getting all that info? If Bud is happy they should at the very least say they’re likely to do it again – I’ve pretty much given up on the prospect after lining up several guys from our club who would have gone this year.

By: Jay Turberville

Jay Turberville — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:57:26 +0000

The local bar events were run by the distributors for those areas. That’s why there were no events in Phoenix but many events in Tucson. The Phoenix area distributor (Hensley) chose not to participate. Based on the number of events and the way the Tucson distributor (Golden Eagle – http://www.gedaz.com/) chose to promote the events, I’d say that the local Tucson club would be ill-prepared to run such a bar based promotion. The bar tournaments were very much unlike a standard table tennis tournament.

Few players in California knew about the tournament because there were no bar tournaments in California. Contests in bars that have significant prizes are not legal in California. One top California player, however, did travel to Tucson to compete there. Also, two of the four finalists were from California, Trevor Runyan and Wayne Obertone – one player in the elite category and one from the basement category. California was well represented in Las Vegas despite no local promotion. Maybe for Hardbat Classic II they can work out some other way to have California bar tournaments. Maybe the winners can direct prized to their favorite charities. That seems California-like to me.

I think the idea of two tournament tracks is a good one if you drop the notion of using modern rackets. We had multiple U.S. National Champions show up to play in Las Vegas – with hardbats. Get decent hardbats and rig the handicaps better and the Hardbat Classic II will be bigger and badder than ever.

By: Scott Gordon

Scott Gordon — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:15:14 +0000

It isn’t necessary to bring in sponge to highlight spectacular play. The problem was that the heavy spots eliminated the best hardbat players. Sponge events have struggled to gain viewers in the U.S. What makes the Hardbat Classic different is that great hardbat play has the potential to be more coherent to general viewers, with longer rallies. Once you bring sponge in, the clever basis for the event is gone. Reduce or eliminate the spots, structure the tournament differently, and get some real classic hardbats and you’ll see some spectacular play that everyone can relate to!

By: Jay Turberville

Jay Turberville — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:10:15 +0000

My understanding is that Budweiser was very pleased with the promotion that they received. And I can imagine why. In the Tucson area alone there were many tournaments, and many dozens of players. And in the final tournament, there were also a LOT of onlookers.

From what I’ve been told, other sponsors were lining up for the next Hardbat Classic.

Note that there were other sponsors as well. K-Swiss comes to mind. And while I’ve heard nothing about whether or not they were pleased, it is worth noting that they included two clips from the Hardbat Classic and one other table tennis clip in their “Awsome Day” television spot. That suggests to me that someone at KSwiss was happy.