rumor has it usab is looking for a permanent home for the us open to be played in the san francisco bay area. i wonder which venue could hold it. i would personally vote for anywhere in san francisco. anyone else have ideas? the last 2 tournaments in new york were underwhelming as far as how a tournament is run. but it was still great to watch lee chong-wei play up close
i heard it wasn't enough to break even, as in, miles and miles from breaking even. right now the badminton center in the usa is in the sf bay area: # of recreational players, # of middle & high schools with badminton programs, # of large badminton clubs/training centers (10?), # of elite jr's and national team adults, # of elite coaches. the clubs are a vital factor in maintaining and replenishing the elite pipeline. the middle & high school programs contribute to the viewing audience. i bet if they took advantage of all the tech companies in sf & silicon valley they could get quite a significant # of sponsors for the tournament. there's an annual tech company badminton tournament going on, which would seem like an obvious community partnership on the promotion side. hell, while i'm in a thinking-out-loud mode why not move the nat'l training center (or build a new one) to the bay area.
What we need is a good marketing person. Need to be able to sell all these ideas to the companies. I have been involved in the annual corporate tournament. No one has the skill and time to market and fund the tournament. It is very successful but not due to funding (there is very little) but due to the enthusiasm of a small group of individuals.
Larry Ellison owns the Indian Wells Masters in tennis at Palm Springs. But that's sustainable since tennis is popular in USA. I feel getting 10s of 1000s of fans fund their own event will be more successful than a billionaire fan spending money. Across sports many of the major clubs are fan owned. Biggest examples being Real and Barca. Surely even if all registered players in US contribute even a dollar a year for US open, there will be a super series event there.
i am serious. yeah, population is 350m, but that doesn't matter when all the power & $ is behind the nfl, mlb, nba, pga, atp, nhl, etc. in the usa, unless the sport can get you a college scholarship, or is regarded as a possible career path as a professional athlete, nobody (people, schools, corporations) puts money into it. in the usa you must build your own sport specific infrastructure. the gov't won't help you.
I just want to clarify what i said. We need a good marketing person for USAB. Coz whatever they are doing no one is hearing about it. We don't need to market to the badminton playing public, we need to spread out to further out than that. as for the yearly corporate tournament, it has been very successful. the tournament is non-profit and run by a group of enthusiastic volunteers. we have been over subscribed for years. however, as to why we are corporate and no there is no big money, that's because everyone who are involved are not executives, just a bunch of badminton loving employees.
no one is registered coz there is no incentive to be registered. i have never registered myself with USAB. all we get is to pay $25/yrs (how much is it now?) and comes with that zero benefits. there is very few organized badminton tournament run by USAB, majority of local tournament are run by individuals or college clubs and are not USAB sanctioned. there is nothing that the USAB membership do that will benefit the average club players.
Not as bad as that. There is a very active junior scene going on which is much much stronger than it has been for decades. The juniors are privately supported by the parents though so it is also privately funded and few are funded by the national organization.
a reasonable idea. crowdfunding a non-profit organization... hmmm... i'm not sure if it's legal. yonex helps a great deal, but a tournament costs at least 2.5x the prize money to run.
you are correct. in reality there's no need to join the usab unless you're on the jr. or sr. nat'l team track... to earn ranking points. again, you are correct. it's a catch 22 for the usab. they need a marketing person badly, yet they cannot afford to have one full time. in order for badminton to grow in the usa we need anyone who has any spare time to help in any small way they can. someone in the badminton playing public with marketing experience can help market the sport much better than someone with a marketing background who does not play. if anyone out there fits the bill, please step forward and contact me through private message.
there are badminton programs in schools & colleges. there is no organized league in college. badminton in college is a club sport run by student volunteers. they aren't taken seriously and receive no funding from the colleges because it is not a career path.
