Ideological Idiocy
By Mike Panozzo
There's a new whipping boy in town. The United States Professional Pool Players Association is off the hook for now. So are the Women's Professional Billiard Association, the World Pool-Billiard Association and MAPS (Mothers Against Poolplaying Sons).
All have been given a temporary pass to make room for the BCA.
No, not the 50-plus-year-old Billiard Congress of America. The new BCA - the Billiard Cuesports Alliance.
In a nutshell, the Billiard Cuesports Alliance is a rogue amateur league system formed in late March as a knee-jerk response to efforts by the Billiard Congress of America to find a suitable buyer for its own 26-year-old, 60,000-player league program. The cleverly tagged Billiard Cuesports Alliance (BCA ... get it?), formed in clandestine meetings in Chicago in March, is comprised of disgruntled BCA (the first BCA) league operators and state association heads. They've been kicking, and pouting and threatening to take their ball and go home since word got out that the Billiard Congress of America board had voted to divest itself of the league program and limit itself to business as a traditional trade association.
To be sure, the manner in which the Billiard Congress of America (to avoid confusion, let's refer to the Billiard Cuesports Alliance as the IOC - Ideological Operators' Club) conducted its league sale was less than ideal. The operators and association presidents complain that they never were consulted about selling the league, that not enough was done to keep them in the loop, and that their pleas to spin off the league system as a not-for-profit entity were discounted. And BCA honchos have conceded that the association could have done a better job maintaining communications with the league's regional chiefs.
Understandably, operators who caught wind of the BCA's intentions felt betrayed. Some felt that the BCA was selling something it didn't own - the operators' loyalty to the league system.
In fact, since there is no contract between the BCA and its league operators, what exactly was the BCA selling? "We are selling a league structure which culminates in a national tournament," said BCA League Sale Committee chair John Stransky, referring to the hugely successful BCA National 8-Ball Championships. "Our hope was to find a buyer interested in making the league better for operators and players."
But before discussions with prospective buyers even got off the ground, some BCA league operators and state association heads launched preemptive strikes - letters and phone calls condemning the move, and some threatening to scuttle the BCA's efforts. Their primary bone to pick was the association's willingness to sell the league program to a for-profit buyer. (The current BCA league system is run as a not-for-profit entity.)
"Someone in this group simply doesn't understand the word 'profit,'" counters longtime BCA league operator Randy Goettlicher of Texas. "My leagues have been successful for 21 years because we're for-profit."
But the IOC members are certain that the best interests of players would not be served by a for-profit owner, whom they believe eventually would make maximizing profits its top goal. And they fear that their many freedoms - such as their ability to choose their own rules, create their own handicaps, design their own prize funds, and play on whatever equipment they like - would disappear. The bottom line: They're dead-set on operating their own league, no matter what the BCA says or a buyer has to offer.
So, fueled by questionable presumptions, and armed with sanctimonious "we have to save the players from greedy profit-makers" doctrine, the IOC issued a formal press release in late March announcing its formation. That the IOC states its purpose is to "carry on the vital and positive role of the [Billiard Congress of America] in promoting and managing organized competition" should be viewed as arrogant and insulting to the BCA, which selflessly fueled the league system for 26 years.
And as a result of the IOC mutiny, the league system has lost some potential value to buyer Mark Griffin, who could improve and expand the system without scuttling elements the IOC holds dear.
In the long run, players - the ultimate customers - will pay the price. They will be pulled in various directions, and some will surely drop out.
But at least IOC players will be warmed by the knowledge that their league is not-for-profit.
[Just before press time, the Billiard Cuesports Association announced an official name change to the American Cuesports Alliance. The American Cuemakers Association will be thrilled.]
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