Quote:
Originally Posted by carlo
My point is where ? During the series there are multiple playing venues such as Venetian, Wynn, Aria which offer strong tournaments plus the usual's and multiple poker rooms which fill during the series.
The series is a suction device for players but correspondingly the other events are saprophytic and add to the series. Personally , I go because there are so many possibilities;now remove the series from Vegas and see what you've got. Anyone can offer a building for a series outside of Vegas but the numbers will not follow.
I don't think any buyer would buy the series unless they knew exactly where it would go and they would also have the specifics of cost at their chosen site. If the numbers don't calculate , no sale. rio is an obvious choice and if Caesars wants to sell the series the patronage during the series wouldn't be a bad thing ; ie.they can use the business.
The satellite series held in Vegas during the summer exist because the WSOP exists, not the other way around. Sure, the Venetian, Wynn, etc might hold a series during that timeframe if there were no WSOP, like they do throughout the year. But they wouldn't be putting up the sorts of guarantees, expanding their footprints and taking the sorts of risks they do during the summer. And frankly, I doubt it would last. These venues make the majority of their annual tournament revenue in the summer. If the WSOP disappeared from Vegas, I don't think there would be nearly as much poker activity in general, and tournament activity specifically, especially in the summer.
My main point in this thread is really just this... if the WSOP is sold to some other concern which has assets in Vegas, then the WSOP will in all likelihood move to another location in Vegas. This would represent a non-insignificant change, since we don't know the logistical constraints such a move would entail. And if the WSOP is sold to some outside concern which isn't tied to Vegas as tightly, it could very well move out of the city entirely. This would obviously represent a major change.
And even if the WSOP doesn't get sold in the next year, this is the last year of ESPN coverage, barring some huge change of heart on the part of ESPN. Maybe the WSOP will make a deal with FS1 or some other network... but wherever they land for coverage, it will not be anything like it has been with ESPN. The WSOP will always have outlets to reach its core consumers here and abroad. But to reach more casual consumers will become much more difficult. This is bound to affect the WSOP in many ways. 2017 may be the last year we see the WSOP anything like its been in recent years. We should enjoy it. That's all I'm saying.