Hello everyone, we hope all is well. We have some news for everyone along with some exciting changes that we have made.
We regret to inform our past champions that they will no longer be receiving paid entry fees into the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships. We have deep admiration and respect for our champions and will continue to express our appreciation to them with our yearly traditions such as the parade of champions, which takes place every five years, as well as during additional traditions that we all enjoy. Only the defending champion will receive a paid entry fee each year, in addition to a free hotel room.
We have made many wonderful changes for the 37th Annual U.S. Open and feel that this is a step in the right direction. With these changes, the total purse has been raised to $200,000.00 instead of $178,000.00. We will be adding $72,000.00 with a full field of 256 players, which we know will be full every year now since we have structured the prize fund breakdown extremely well, paying the champion $30,000.00 and now 65th-96th place receiving $1,000.00 each.
Here is the full breakdown:
1st $30,000.00
2nd $15,000.00
3rd $8,000.00
4th $6,000.00
5th-6th $4,500.00 each
7th-8th $3,500.00 each
9th-12th $2,500.00 each
13th-16th $2,250.00 each
17th-24th $2,000.00 each
25th-32nd $1,750.00 each
33rd-48th $1,500.00 each
49th-64th $1,250.00 each
65th-96th $1,000.00 each
Since we have discontinued the past champion entries, we have still included the $10,000-$12,000 additional to get to the 72,000 added. Unfortunately, there will also no longer be any discounts on entry fees this year since we are adding more. The entry fee will remain at $500.00 and will be collected by the BCA just like last year. You may begin sending in entry fees Tuesday, April 2nd, to The BCA. Details will be on our website, www.usopen9ballchampionships.com. We would like to thank Rob Johnson, President of the BCA. We are very happy to see the BCA become even more involved with American Professional Pool.
In addition, we have decided to seed the top players from around the world and America. We believe that it only makes sense to provide true seeds to the players from each continent, as they have genuinely earned a seed. This will assure that even more foreign players will be coming and the U.S. Open is the only professional tournament that has 256 players. This is a wonderful opportunity and with the help of Ken Shuman, Jay Helfert, and Bill Stock, we will work together to decide to have 32, 48, or 64 seeded players. The seeding will come from the WPA, BCA, ABP, as well as 4 promoter's discretion seeds from Barry and Shannon. In addition, we will gladly seed players from the WPBA which will be determined by the number of participants.
Along with the added purse and seeding, the U.S. Open will be held at a new location. Our new venue, the Holiday Inn, is located just three blocks away from Q-Master Billiards. The Holiday Inn had a $14,000.000.00 remodel and everything is beautiful. Visit www.hivabeachnorfolk.com to check it out. The U.S. Open rates for single or double rooms are only $79.99, use the code USO. We believe strongly that everyone is going to love the new location and layouts for the tournament. Shannon and I will have the exact ballroom layouts very soon. Our ticket prices and VIP ticket prices will remain the same as they have been for the past 20 years and will stay that way for quite some time.
We feel so blessed to have wonderful sponsors that are so giving each year and we hope in the near future to raise the added money more and more. These days professional pool players need all the help they can get and we want to help more and hopefully others will as well. Professional pool in America is not in very good shape and we cannot fix it alone. Our advice is for promoters to reach out more to the industry leaders. After all, we are all working hard to put on wonderful events and industry leaders should take advantage of the opportunity and the exposure they would receive due to our efforts. We are all in this together.
We thank you all for taking the time to read our letter and we hope to have your support at the 37th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships!
We thank you all, with love and respect,
Barry Behrman & Shannon Behrman Paschall
