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Philippines, 24 Apr 2024 |
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Cancelled: 2020 World 14.1 Championship Cancelled due to WPA/BCA PhilBoxing.com Mon, 28 Dec 2020 Orlando, Florida- The 2020 World 14.1 Championship CANCELED due to WPA & BCA: We regret to inform the fans, players, and sponsors of the World Straight Pool Championship ("World 14.1"), that due to threats to the players of membership termination and overall strong-arm interference from the World Pool Association (herein referred to as “WPA”),Billiard Congress of America (BCA) and the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) , we will be canceling the 2020 80th World 14.1 Championship previously scheduled December 29-31, 2020 at Trick Shots Waterford Lakes in Orlando, Florida. We sincerely apologize to the fans, sponsors, and especially the players whom we only try to help by providing them a world-class event to showcase their skills, increase their brand visibility, and earn income. Straight Pool is a game that died out 30 years ago before we decided to invest in resurrecting the game. That being said, we do not want to jeopardize the livelihoods of the professional players who signed up to participate and now are being threatened if they choose to play. In 2006 the WPA approached Dragon Promotions proposing that the World 14.1 be sanctioned with them with the requirement of paying 5% of the prize purse to the WPA. Though originally we had no interest in sanctioning, we agreed to do it and the World 14.1 was a WPA sanctioned event from 2006 - 2010 during a 5-year agreement. The WPA then unsuccessfully attempted to bid out the World 14.1 though they had no rights to the event that we had resurrected and built the previous 5 years. From 2010 till the present day, Dragon Promotions has successfully produced the World 14.1 with no sanctioning from any association. We raised all sponsorships and provide all the work in organizing and marketing the World 14.1 for the past 14 years in a row, the longest streak the World 14.1 has ever known in its illustrious 108-year history. Dragon Promotions has been the sole entity that has loaned and invested significant funds and sweat equity to ensuring the World 14.1 continues each year. No other association has loaned any money, resources, or help of any kind to the event. Presently, Ian Anderson, the WPA President, Rob Johnson, the Chief Executive Officer of BCA, and Shane Tyree, BCA Membership Manager & WPA Board Member, Gre Leenders of the EPBF have deemed it fit to give players threats on being banned from other events if they choose to participate in this event this particular year, despite the fact that 2020 has been a horrendous year for the sport with almost zero events. Thus to the further financial detriment of the players, especially the players invited with all expenses paid and guaranteed prize money this year, these association representatives and leaders have arbitrarily made these decisions and took action without consulting any of the players being affected. This has been a re-occurring protocol of the WPA & BCA for many years. The WPA supports their ban on players that participate in the World 14.1 event by claiming they have ownership of anything that says "World" in the title. We can assure you, there is no legal backing for this claim. This is evident in the numerous examples of "World" events that do not have WPA sanctioning. The World 14.1, during the 14-year tenure of Dragon Promotions, has never had financial difficulties in paying prize money or any cancellations of matches or postponements of dates. The WPA/BCA has a historically bad history of sanctioning events that have massive financial issues and have failed to give protection to players from promoters domestically and internationally. In addition, they require "some" players to sign agreements and pay dues. Yet there is no protection or guarantees, let alone a pro tour schedule of events. The BCA is a trade association built of manufacturers and distributors., The BCA has never properly explained why they are recognized as the representative of pro players in North America as the vast majority of their office time has little to do with pro pool or competitions. The WPA/BCA has a poor history of sanctioning events that have massive financial issues and have failed to give protection to players from promoters domestically and overseas. The World 14.1 event during the 14-year tenure of Dragon Promotions has never had financial difficulties in paying prize money or any cancellations or postponements of dates. In addition, they require some players to sign agreements and pay dues yet not all ranked professional players have signed. Furthermore, these agreements provide no protection or guarantees nor do they include a pro tour schedule of events. The World 14.1 event is currently sanctioned by the World Sports Alumni (“WSA”), a professional athletes association of sports including football, baseball, basketball, MMA, boxing, and many more sports. WorldSportsAlumni.com Our attorneys on the WSA Board have already sent a letter to the WPA, BCA, and EPBF and we will be pursuing damages to the event, our brands, and on behalf of the players financially impacted. The World 14.1 is a sizable investment of which Dragon Promotions takes on the financial burden between $60,000- $75,000 every year with over 1 million fans worldwide following the news, social media, and live stream airings. We also put on the Straight Pool Hall of Fame each year to honor the special individuals in the sport such as past inductees of John Schmidt, Nick Varner, Oliver Ortmann, Ray Martin, Allen Hopkins, Bobby Hunter and numerous other distinguished professionals. This event must also be canceled this year due to the WPA/BCA. In all, we have easily paid out well-over half a million dollars over the years to the players and spent over $1 million during our tenure in organizing and promoting the events. We will be providing full refunds on ticket sales, player entry fees, and refunding all sponsors. Again, we apologize to the fans and players for these unfortunate circumstances as we have tried our best to produce another world-class championship for the sport. If any players have had issues, neglect, or interference from any of these pool associations please contact us. Once more, apologies to the fans and players who are distraught over this debacle in which we promise we are working now towards resolving for the future of the event.  |
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