This is an interesting article that I think you guys should read. http://assets.usoc.org/assets/docum...endezvous_with_the_Bay_Area_Clubs-2-10-10.pdf It's a report by USAB members visiting the clubs in the bay area and how much badminton has grown since the past and how it will continue to grow in the future!
nice article. I noticed in the BBC section it didnt mention Ben Lee as being a partial owner. Is this a typo or has there been a change in management. I noticed Dennis was now listed as a partial owner.
http://assets.usoc.org/assets/docum...endezvous_with_the_Bay_Area_Clubs-2-10-10.pdf Heres the actual link..the above link was not working.
Thanks for sharing the link. The last page proposes some great ideas, in terms of more inter-club tournaments. The first bullet about the need for world-class coaches seems a bit ironic, after touting the coaching talent in the preceding pages. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the bigger OCBC tournaments (e.g. US Open) makes it way up north to the bay area clubs
... ..i'd love to see a U.S. Open type baddy tourney makes its way up north and be played in one of the Bay Area clubs. I think with the amount of baddy followers and esp. Asian population up in the Bay Area (which is probably more than in SoCal), it would be greatly received. But as of now, is there a full-time baddy club which can accommodate several thousand spectators and have spectator seatings like OCBC? Or will they build one in the future? If not mistaken, that's one of the main criterias for a venue to hold a BWF sanctioned tourney. If don't have one, then the only other way is to rent a facility like the San Jose Convention Center or something similar to hold a U.S. Open type tourney.
Thanks for this information, any more details surrounding this? Does Ben have another facility in the works, or perhaps just too busy with other entrepreneurial projects?
I believe BBC can hold a decent # of people? There were a lot of spectators at last year's BBC tournament when Taufik Hidayat participated.
BBC has standing room, but i think its more of a matter regarding seating space, not floor space. All gyms have floor space -_- OCBC has bleacher style seating which is why they can hold major tournaments
San Jose Convention Center does not have seating either. Possible venue in the San Jose areas include the HP Pavilion but might be too big for US Open. Other smaller places such as San Jose State Event Center and the San Jose Civics Auditorium (do a Google image, the place is pretty good for badminton, I think). And I am sure there are many other good venues in the East Bay, Peninsula, and SF also.
Also there are only a few gyms in Bay Area that has high enough ceiling to host major tournaments. BBC's ceiling is too low to host US Open type tournaments. At the latest BBC open many A players complained how they were not able to lift or clear as high as they wanted due to the low ceiling.