Superseries Final Not Good Business

Discussion in 'Super Series Final 2012' started by RedShuttle, Dec 16, 2012.

  1. RedShuttle

    RedShuttle Regular Member

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    According to the tournament organizer, even on Sunday, the attendance was only 60% to 70%, with half of them on free tickets.

    ShenZhen is fairly well off city with a large badminton population. It is also conveniently located for domestic and international visitors. If SSF fares so poorly in ShenZhen, the future of SSF does not look good.

    BWF should seriously consider cancelling this event. A gala dinner plus some promotional activities may work better.
     
  2. pcll99

    pcll99 Regular Member

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    I think BWF should make the following changes to the SS Finals:

    1. The SS Finals should award the same World Ranking points as World Championships. As of now, it's just another PSS.
    2. There isn't enough time between SS Finals and Korea PSS for players to rest. As Korea Open will no longer be a PSS from 2014, let's see how things will develop in 2014.
    3. BWF needs to seriously change their overall Super Series strategy. Injuries, withdrawal, walkover and "not doing one's best to win" are just too common. Something is very wrong.
     
  3. Tactim

    Tactim Regular Member

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    The feeling of this tournament was not very special as a year ending event I admit.

    Partially I feel that it has partly to do with the event being the same year as the Olympics, but I think the problem lies in the the inaccuracies of world rankings in relationship to the actual skill level of the players. This has to do with a lot of top players from China missing a lot of super series events, causing them to massively drop in ranking points. The lack of attendance from top players really hurt the year-end Super Series Finals in attraction, thus the reduced ticket sales.

    On the other end if you look at the Tennis ATP Barclay World Tour Finals, it's an extremely successful event that is a highly competitive field because each player is fighting for their spot in the final 8. It includes gala dinners, photo ops, etc, for the top 8 players. It's a very highly publicized event that's well organized and well compensates the winner with a healthy amount of ranking points and prize money (2nd only to the grand slams). All in all it feels like a very special and exclusive tournament even separate from the grand slams.

    I just don't see the same thing with the Super Series Finals, it just feels like another normal tournament and it doesn't carry enough weight in rewards for players to really want to fight to be in the top 8. However that problem is with all tournaments as the BWF has only a small fraction of the budget that the ATP and WTA tour have at its disposal (millions and millions, with ever increasing prize money almost every other year).

    The year ending championships idea is sound, but I agree that it just doesn't seem practical given its showing this year. It just doesn't seem special enough.
     
  4. pcll99

    pcll99 Regular Member

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    hopefully, the new President of BWF, who will take office in May next year, will do some major changes to the Super Series.
     
  5. sen

    sen Regular Member

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    Also it is difficult to find countries who want to host the event.

    My suggestion : merge with Copenhagen masters. Make Copenhagen permanent host. Only invite top 4 ranking, give ranking points.

    Look at FIFA, soccer world club championship was merged with the Toyota cup after unsuccessful early tries.
     
  6. pcll99

    pcll99 Regular Member

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    Major cities in Europe or Asia are fine. That city should host the SS Finals for four years.

    The city needs to have a huge badminton population. It shouldn't be currently hosting any PSS event. Further, it should not be hosting any World Championship, Thomas/Uber Cup, Sudirman Cup and Asian Games during its four-year cycle.
     
  7. scorpion1

    scorpion1 Regular Member

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    Only invite top 4 ranking, give ranking points. --- Why?? My personal opinion in this if you invite only top 4 ranking then it would be like playing a local tournament for a particular country.. :D . Definitely, BWF will oppose that.. Badminton should be for all. Their view on this is excellent. If you include 8 top players, you tend to see atleast 5 to 6 countries participating in a particular category. It will improve the number of viewers worldwide to this particular tournament which is what necessary for the welfare of the badminton sport and will be an enthu to all the youngsters who will watch their own country players playing in the tournament to take this sport as their career... That should be the motto..:).. I hope BWF will take necessary steps in order to make it more enthusiastic.. This year seems to be lacking that attractiveness due to more injuries from top level players in the arena.. I hope to get a new SuperSeries finals next year...:)
     
  8. sen

    sen Regular Member

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    My suggestion is based on Copenhagen master has good crowd, tickets sold out(of course, the seats are limited) but at least it is successful in terms of attracting people to watch even though it is only invitational.

    When you have 4 entries, you can hold it over 3 days. Top 4 in SS standing should get priority but need not have to be that way. Maybe there should be rules of at least 1 Europe and 1 Asian players.

    No need to "force" players to play. Maybe this will result in less "prestige" but currently the SS final winners are not considered that prestige anyway(compare to WC, Olympic)
     
  9. sen

    sen Regular Member

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    The problem is in finding who wants to host it. Hardly anyone wants it. This is not a host selection problem because there is no choices.

    China is the only willing one to host.
     
  10. yamsyams

    yamsyams Regular Member

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    And this is what confuses me. I mean look at the bids in the 2014-17 cycle of SS/PSS. Many many enthusiastic countries placing generous bids. Why is it so hard to find a bidder for a event that's on the same level as a PSS (ranking points/prize money-wise)
     
  11. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Increased ranking points - good idea

    Increased publicity for players - good idea (helps increase their sponsorship)

    Increased prize money - good idea but behind in priority to the first two.

    Join with Copenhagen Masters - maybe but looks unfeasible. I think that's a private invitational exhibition tournament. The control is out of BWF hands.

    China hosting Superseries finals for next 4 years - good idea. Let them feel it's compensation for losing China Masters.

    Have only 4 entries per event - no point. Benefits too few players.
     
  12. Heong

    Heong Regular Member

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    If it's held in Australia I'm sure we'll see the statistics change

    You see the thing is, China is too spoiled with all these tournaments. This year they've hosted the Thomas / Uber Cup, Asian Championship, China Masters, China Open and a few major national championships

    Okay sure, China is the powerhouse of badminton, they have the best players, the greatest population and badminton is one of their iconic sports. But if you give a major like this to countries deprived of badminton then you will see the difference in numbers and financials.

    Australia might not be good at badminton nor is it a popular sport here. But, there are ALOT of enthusiasts and people who enjoy watching the game. Compared to China, we only have one major tournament here and that's the Australian Open Grand Prix, which did exceptionally well for a GP in an Oceania region... every seat was filled up and tickets were sold out momentarily, people lined up an hour before entry to the final and the queue was very long...

    Not to brag. But it really breaks my heart to see tournaments with higher status that is struggling to fill out half their stadiums. They should either hand it over to the hands of countries that are willing to put in the money in their marketing and promotions to ensure the event will be successful or review the tournament itself

    To me, the SS final seems less important than even an ordinary SS despite the amount of prize money and its including of the top ranked best players. The worst thing for me is they follow the "pool" format. And whats worse is they follow the rankings... so whats the point of a SS Final when more than 80% of participating countries is Asian and 70% of these are players from China. It seems like an ordinary local China tournament... And since they only select few players, what happens when they forfeit? It can very easily become a messed up tournament because of this kind of system... I sincerely hope they make a change
     
    #12 Heong, Dec 17, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2012
  13. pcll99

    pcll99 Regular Member

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    I think it would be good to have PSS or SS Finals held in Australia (especially for Western Australia because of its time zone). :D

    But there is one minor problem. Players/coaches and BWF people would have to travel a long way from Asia/Europe to Australia!!!

    Btw, how big was the stadium which held this year GP event? what was its capacity? 2000 or 3000?
     
    #13 pcll99, Dec 17, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2012
  14. Heong

    Heong Regular Member

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    The officials like Sydney the most because of its national icons including the bridge and opera house. And Sydney is also one of the states with the greatest Asian population beside Melbourne. So you can expect badminton to be more popular there compared to Western Australia.

    There is more travelling involved for the officials, organisers, umpires etc. But we do the same when tournaments are held in Asian countries. Europe will have some issues though because of the distance.

    Because it was a GP event this year the stadium was quite small and had little seats, but I heard they'll be using the Sports Centre at Sydney Olympic Park when it'll be upgraded to SS in 2014, which is much bigger and can support a greater capacity.


    But we'll see how 2013 goes.
     
    #14 Heong, Dec 17, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2012
  15. RedShuttle

    RedShuttle Regular Member

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    Staging a year-end event to celebrate the conclusion of a year is a great idea and a professional thing to do.

    However, a top tier competitive event seems more and more a bad idea to me. The top players are those who played the most matches (more tournaments and/or deeper into the draws) in the year. They had extended themselves the most. It is unfair and counter-productive to ask them to play even more.

    The players should be rewarded for what they had done over the year, not what they would have done over five days at the end of the year. At this year's SSF, the Thai MD pair was literally down on their knees to beg for the prize money. That is just not right.

    The year-end event can be better staged in the form of a fun and relaxed gathering in which:
    - No competitive matches.
    - Maybe fun exhibition matches with fan participation.
    - "Fanfest" activities for players and other notables such as coaches and former players to interact with the fans.
    - All expense paid for top 10 players and their guests (their significant others or parents) and optional attendance for other players.
    - Year-end bonus awarded based on ranking points for the year (OK to use only SS points, depending on where the money is from).
    - A gala dinner for rewards and recognitions for players, coaches, officials, organizers and sponsors. Players and their families can attend for free. Fans can purchase tickets.
    - workshop for players on how to market themselves
    - workshop for organizers on how to organize and market their tournaments
    - meetings for players and BA to hold dialog with BWF
    - a trade show for badminton related products (rackets, floors, lights, fashions, training aids, travel packages, etc.)
    - charity auctions

    Timing wise, this can be held after the last SS event. If the World Junior Championship can be moved to late November/early December, it would also be a good idea to hold this event at the same time.
     
  16. bad's fan

    bad's fan Regular Member

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    pretty nice idea i think.
     
  17. pcll99

    pcll99 Regular Member

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    I agree with you, except the part in bold. Back when SS Masters Finals was in its early days (ie, 2008 and 2009), BWF didn't award any World Ranking points. Only prize money was at stake--US$500,000 if I remember correctly. Top players from China didn't come. It wasn't very competitive.

    This year's SS Finals might not have been as good as other major events such as OLY, WC, TUC/SC, Asian Games and All England. But it is ok as a PSS event. It is still in its infancy. Give it time.

    But clearly, there is something very wrong with the Group Stage format. BWF needs to completely rethink this.
     
    #17 pcll99, Dec 18, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2012
  18. ronaldindin

    ronaldindin Regular Member

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    because of too less players playing by that day? Well that have no solution to improve the numbers of audience. But if every finals featuring LCW vs LD I think the ticket will sold out before the match start
     

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