From what I understand from the "powers that be" at ClubUBT, they were REALLY banking on the TV shows to bring in the thousands of paying players they'll need to just break even. I doubt these shows have done much for them so far. Doing a recent quick look at the number of players in completed tournaments on the Club, it doesn't look like they've increased their paying membership by much. And if future shows are similar to the first two -- with all those nutty commercials -- they won't be generating too many additional players.
Well I can't speak for UBT or those "powers that be" but I can say this. Whomever vetted the commercials should be taken out to the shed and soundly whipped.
What were they thinking?
"There's no risk" What do you call a monthly membership fee? So if someone pays the 19.99 they're guarenteed to get it back in prizes? I HIGHLY doubt it. Hey you can win up to 10,000 in the poker and BJ tournaments.
Once again false advertising. Sure they have monthly 10,000 tournaments but the winner doesn't get 10K. I know you've alread covered that Ted but it bears repeating that these commercials really stretch the truth.
How about the commercial with Kenny E, dressed like a kid from the 'hood saying, "hey it's legal". Darn right it better be! Why bring up that topic in the first place?
Wouldn't it be better to have World Champion BJ player, Kenny E, dressed in his moniker yellow jacket say, "Hey I play on Club UBT where I get my game on before taking it to the streets. Are you up to the challenge. See if you've got what it takes to compete with the best of the best. I'll see YOU on "The Club". Then have a play against Team UBT day of the week. Have all of Team UBT in a single tourney.
Now I know Kenny E, Phil H, Annie Duke, Freddy Deeb, HD, etc., don't want to waste their time playing online and possibly getting beat. So hire flunkies to play under their names. It's ONLINE guys! John & Jane Doe just wanna have their shot at beating the "pro's" - See the prior thread from the players at the UBT final tables.
Toonces said: I expect that they are planning to run ClubUBT for at least a year at a loss before they will figure out how to make it profitable. But while it runs at a loss is probably the time you will have the most equity in that.
If that's so, then their investors must be willing to shell out over one million dollars. They have to be losing at least $100,000 every month when you include the cash/prizes given away, the salaries of the entire staff, the overhead costs (software, hardware, rent, etc.), advertising, and production of the shows. And what is the upside? Do these investors expect to double their money? By when? My fear is they'll pull the plug after the last of the Season 2 broadcasts. Other than Barona's two tournaments later this year, there isn't a single live UBT event planned. Oops -- oh yes, there's that cruise. Makes one wonder.
1 million? Better multiply that by 3 or 5 times. You forget how much UBT pays CBS for the rights to air UBT. Remember this is nothing more than an hour-long infomercial for Club UBT.
Now I won't suppose to guess what the cost is to host the site, IT support, Live support, but the prizes that they are giving away are probably in the 75,000/month vicinity (lets face it most of the actual prizes, keyboard, radio, necklace, are overpriced by 50% and they had to get a good deal of the cruises so they list it as retail but purchase wholesale and group rate). But for argument sake in order to cover the 100,000 outflow each month they need 5,000 monthly members paying 19.99.
Now the eager beavers and BJ AP players paid in full so they, Club UBT, doesn't have the residual income there. Think of it like a stadium seat deposit. The question is how many John Q Publics will plunk down 19.99 for MULTIPLE months?
And I agree that now is the best time to play at the Club while there are fewer and less knowledgable players to compete against.
I've got my fingers crossed, hoping the cruise will still sail in April.
As for the cruise - I wouldn't worry Ted. With this being a US based business I'm almost certain they've paid for the tickets already - to get the best deal. My thought is that you've won yourself a nice 7-day Carnival cruise but what about the onboard tourney's. You'll probably have 1 BJ and 1 poker tourney and they will likely award the left over prizes from the defunct Club UBT offices - plenty of polo shirts, visors, caps, keyboards, mouse pads and maybe even the golf bag.
If Club UBT does have onboard tournaments I would expect that they will collect an entry fee from the participants. But that is purely a guess on my part.
