Pool Cue News and Review

Well folks, the BCA Annual Report has been released and it is interesting to say the least. The most interesting aspect of the report shows that the Billiard Congress of America is sitting on over $3.3 million in cash, short term and long term investments. They’ve increased their short term investment coffers by over $300,000 and overall have added approximately $100,000 to their cash and accessible investments.

The question becomes, why should anyone care? The answer to this is simple. The BCA generates the majority of their revenue from events and memberships, including the highly profitable Trade Expo in which they spent $647k and generated over $1.8 million in revenue. Keep in mind that the BCA is a non-profit. Their stated mission is as follows:

“The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is a non-profit 501(c)(6) trade organization, dedicated to achieving a united, growing, prosperous and highly regarded billiard industry through BCA leadership. The BCA enhances the success of its members and promotes the game of billiards through educational, marketing and promotional efforts, annual industry trade shows, tournaments and other programs designed to make pool everybody’s game.”

So how exactly does the BCA hoarding $3.3 million in cash and equivalents will enhance the success of its members and promote the game of billiards? Why does this organization feel that it is appropriate to do nothing as the sport continues to decline in popularity.

The BCA will tell you that they’re doing plenty, having Alan Taylor Communications promote the sport for the BCA. By their own reporting however, Alan Taylor Communications has been a miserable failure. According to their 04-05 annual report, billiards received over 112 million impressions via Alan Taylor. In this year’s report, that number has dropped by almost 100 million impressions down to 13,955,003 total ATC impressions.

Granted, new BCA CEO Rob Johnson isn’t completely to blame here, but the fact remains that since he took the position in August 2006, the only news worth noting from the CEO’s office is his decision to restructure and outsource to a 3rd party that knows nothing about the billiards industry.

Just as a reminder to the BCA, I thought I’d include Wikipedia’s definition of a non-profit organization: A non-profit organization (abbreviated “NPO”, or “non-profit” or “not-for-profit”) is an organization whose primary objective is to support an issue or matter of private interest or public concern for non-commercial purposes. Maybe at some point the BCA will come up with some ideas as to how to build interest in the game of pool because they’re current action (or lack thereof) simply isn’t working.

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