& FEATURE ARTICLE
Amateurs I had the opportunity to speak to Mark Griffin, owner and CEO of CSI and the BCA Pool Leagues after an announcement came across my desk that they were moving! Moving what? Moving where? Who’s moving? Why are they moving? So many questions, so I went to the source. The experience of going to a league national championship has been changed from playing in singles or teams to an experience, to a pool players bonanza if you will. Sometimes you can be playing next to a professional pool player who you may have seen on TV, to watching a U S Open Champion and even a World Champion. The cost of being a spectator at their professional venue is cheaper than having a good meal in Las Vegas. You can walk through the hallways, pool room or the vendor area at any time, and find a world-beater (champion). It doesn’t end there. You can sit back in your room or suite and watch the pro events as they unfold courtesy of CSI and TAR. Technology allows you to receive a text or email telling where you are playing your next match. You can browse through the brackets online, find your next match or a friend’s match, your team schedule as well as anybody who has ever played in a CSI event, their opponents, scores and payouts. All of this brings the pool players experience to a new level not seen before. That is BCAPL Nationals. Mark conducted an extensive survey this past May 2011 among the 7,000 attendees of BCAPL Nationals. 1,400 pool players who took the time to complete the 11 page survey and give their opinion. After countless hours of reading every survey and categorizing the results, acccording to Mark, “We were faced with a decision that if we wanted to continue to grow and change things we needed more space.” So, CSI started making plans to improve the experience that is Nationals in Las Vegas. I’ve seen a lot of changes to the BCA Pool League Nationals in Las Vegas over the years, and Mark and the CSI Staff do a magnificent job. As a pool player, looking at what is available at nationals with the different divisions as an amateur, as a pro, it’s a pool players candy store. Mark remarked, “I think it is the best event there is because of the blend of amateur and pro. We do different things, like last May (2011) we had the high run challenge, all the high tech online bracketing, charts and player information.” So what is the MOVE all about? It has two parts: the FIRST MOVE is to The Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in 2013 and the SECOND MOVE is to take the BCAPL Nationals from May to JULY 17-27, 2013. WOW! What a change. Mark said, “We are hoping to do some more events, but not until 2013 when we move to the Rio. We haven’t done our layouts yet but we will have more space. Right now at the Riviera we have about 110,000 square feet. At The Rio we will have over 160,000 square feet to work with. We have simply outgrown the available space at the Riviera.” Increasing the floor space by an additional 50%, high speed internet, flat screen TVs on the walls and 2,500 suites available to pool players, their family and friends, not to mention all the amenities that The Rio has to offer, it will be a welcome change for the players. And Mark promises the room rates are “extremely attractive.” The Rio is also home to the World Series of Poker. In fact, the poker will be ending as the BCAPL Nationals is beginning. “What I’m hoping for is a little bit of synergy here. Some of those poker players really like pool. We might get some interesting things happening. They will back the players. There are a couple of poker players that play really good pool. And they will bet”, mentioned Griffin. The BCAPL has continued to grow back to the membership numbers before the sale. Nationals has seen added divisions, a better player ranking system, and feature Challenge Events the amateur pool player can participate in. Then there are the U
BY: D O N “ C H E E S E ” A K E R L O W
S Open One Pocket and U S Open 10-Ball events, open to all, who’s fields are filled by the best players in the world. You can play in Nationals and watch the most well known players in pool just steps away. The functionality of the online bracketing and all the information that can be gathered from it has added a new dimension to all of the tournaments that are produced by CSI. The online brackets can be seen at ctsondemand.com Mark said, “Moving to The Rio is part of the evolution that we are doing. Our leagues are evolving and this is a step forward. I think it will make a brighter future and that makes a win-win for all the people that we do business with. It’s going to be really cool.” Mark remarked that he owns the registered trademark to all the U S Open Titles except the U S Open 9-Ball so there is a desire to incorporate more U S Open events in conjunction with the BCAPL Nationals. “With the Rio we could have 16 tables and you could play each event in 3 days but really it only takes 2 1/2 days because when you get down to the final four, you are only playing on 1 table and you could start another event while one is ending. So in 12 days you could have 4 or 5 events and it is cheaper for the players because you will have a lot of players that will play in the same events. The biggest hurdle is the added money.” The U S Bar Table Championship is also being MOVED to the Grand Sierra from the Sands Regency in Reno, Nevada. There is a 40,000 square foot room. Dates are Feb 12-19, 2012, and CSI is planning on having 40 - 7’ Diamond Smart Tables where they were limited to 32 tables at the Sands. Talking about the move, Mark said, “We can handle a lot more tables and run it a lot more efficiently. The exciting thing is the WorldPPA will be holding a 9’ table event in conjunction with the Bar Table. The players are really excited about it.” Mark Griffin has a lot of events under the CSI Corporation that he has revived or started new for pool players to participate in besides the BCAPL. There is the Jay Swanson Memorial Tournament, U S Bar Table Championships, BCAPL Nationals, U S Open One Pocket, U S Open 10-Ball, National Championship Series, USAPL, online bracketing at cstondemand.com and an online league management system leaguesys.net The CSI Staff consists of: Mark Griffin - Chief Executive Officer, David Vandenberghe - Chief Operating Officer, Bill Stock - Director of Referees, Glenna Stock - League Administrator, Tesse Vilahu - New Membership Administrator, Sara Bayliss - New Membership Assistant, Ron Guilmett - IT Manager, Holly Ryan - Manager PR/Marketing, Sunny Griffin - PR/Social Media, Mark Estes - Manager USA Pool League, John Casey - League Field Rep The staff is available to assist anyone who may have questions about CSI, the BCAPL and USAPL. September 23-25, 2011 TAR 21 broadcast a challenge match between Shane Van Boening and Alex Payulayan held at the TAR Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is
Professionals
6 Stroke Magazine - October 2011