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More Chicks With SticksHey! ESPN! We want the boys to play nine-ball against the girls!

By Joseph NoceraPosted Wednesday, June 28, 2000, at 9:00 PM ET

Well, whaddya know? It turns out that my idea of pitting men against women in a Battle of the Sexes nine-ball tournament, which I floated in my recent paean to the great Allison Fisher, is not exactly an original one in the world of professional billiards. "The idea has been tossed around for a long time," says Lisa Stancati, the executive director of the Women's Professional Billiards Association. "We've had promoters come to us who would love to stage it." But, she adds ominously, "It's just not something we're prepared to do right now." Sigh.

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Here are her two big objections. First, the men's tour, according to her, is in a state of disarray. It has no TV contract, its players are less well known than the top women nine-ball players, and it has fewer sponsorships and smaller purses. Though she wouldn't say so directly, she gave the distinct impression that she wasn't much interested in helping to bail out the men's tour by giving the men the kind of billing—and TV time—that the women's tour now has. In fact, she didn't sound much interested in having any dealing at all with the men's tour, at least not until it got its act together.

Second, Stancati said, a mixed-sex tournament is a non-starter without the "big-time backing" of a TV network—including (and these are her exact words) "a huge rights fee." Clearly, this position stems at least in part from her general frustration with ESPN, which not only doesn't promote the tournaments it televises, it doesn't even pay for them. The cost of staging the events—about $240,000 for six tournaments—is picked up by the tour itself, which hands the network three pre-cut hours of television for each of six tournaments. "We give them 18 original hours of television," she said, sounding annoyed at the way ESPN uses that programming. "I encourage you to contact ESPN with your complaints about its lackluster scheduling," she told me.

How are the ratings? "Pretty damn good for something that gets zero promotion," Stancati said; when the tournaments are shown in prime time, they get around a 1 rating—which is to say, right up there with CNN or MSNBC on most nights. And what does she mean by a "huge" rights fee? "I'm certainly not going to mention any numbers in public," she replied.

I can't blame her for that; I wouldn't reveal it either if I were in her shoes. Still, it sounds to me that she should put her annoyance aside and enter into negotiations if a network steps up. How about it, ESPN?

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Joseph Nocera is executive editor of Fortune magazine.

COMMENTS

Reader Response from The Fray:

ESPN and the Women's Professional Billiards Association have been fooling the public long enough. Most people don't know anything about our sport, so here's a few facts:

1). The women's events are not open to men. The Pro Billiards Tour ("The Men") has welcomed women since 1993. No female pro has ever shown up to compete. Why? Because they know they have no chance. No man can compete in women's events--because if any of the top 50 men showed up to play, the ladies wouldn't make any money, and the women's tour would become the men's tour.

2). The women play on tables with big pockets. Very big pockets. There is no physical reason for the difference.

3). The Pro Billiards Tour uses a much longer, and more demanding competitive format in it's tournaments. ESPN shortens its pool to race to seven, meaning the first player that wins seven games wins the match. That is not a true test of ability for a professional. That's an amateur format for bar players.

4). You can count the number of good women players on one hand and only two or three are willing to play "The Men". The general level of competition on the ladies tour is very, very weak--compared to a men's tournament field. You have to play the best to become a true pro. The women seem to actually believe they can, indeed beat the best. They have bought their own hype. Wake up girls. You're dreaming! If you really think you can beat Johnny Archer, Kim Davenport, Buddy Hall, Nick Varner, Mike Sigel, Earl Strickland, Jim Rempe, Reed Pierce, Jim Wetch, or any other top man, put up whatever amount you'd care to wager and let's get it on.

--Don Mackey

(To reply, click here.)

For those of you don't know, Don Mackey used to be the main executive and promoter for the PBT. His main purpose in life was to bring professional men's pool to prominence. Don't let Don's comments make any real impact on your opinions. His opinions and "facts" are irrelevant. Mackey and his cronies (the players he mentioned are among them) are bitter and are looking for any opportunity to scuffle (i.e. paltry hustling) for a little money. He can't stand someone else stealing his thunder, and he's whining in the distance like an impotent bully who got kicked out of the playground.

--Rod

(To reply, click here.)

[Note from the Fray Editor: If you are at all interested in the sport--men's or women's--you should read this thread in detail. It includes a reply to Rod from Mr Mackey, and a post from Chris which answers many of Mr Mackey's points, and says the pockets on the women's table are actually smaller.]

Seems to me that Fox or WB would be the ideal candidate for a unisex pool tournament--or an all women's pool tournament. They could work all sorts of angles: the gender battle, the strong women, the Title IX, the general sexiness, the winner gets to marry a millionaire angle. Options are endless. And did you watch Jordan on ESPN? I don't think so. Woods? Maybe, but not for much longer. An entertainment channel is what you want, not a sports channel. Leave that for kids riding BMX bikes.

--Anand

(To reply, click here.)

I have always wondered why this sport is marketed so poorly. With dangerous nicknames--Duchess of Doom, The Black Widow, The Texas Tornado--attached to these beautiful women who are absolutely lethal at the table, one would imagine they have the perfect formula for a marketer's dream.

--Lacey

(To reply, click here.)

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