Figured I should chime in as a long time competitive player as well as a tournament director. I heard about this awhile back and I was against it when I first was told about the possibility of this happening. I agree that national visibility and legitimacy of pinball as a sport is needed, I just didn't want that to come on the backs of the new/casual players. I see both sides of the coin as a top competitive player in the state who would most likely benefit from this and also someone that has run events for years here and is constantly trying to get people out playing at events and on route. From the player perspective, pinball is way behind basically every other sport and bar league event on a national prize and visibility scale from darts, to Golden Tee Golf, foosball, Pokemon and just about any other game you can think off. To help change that, money has to come from somewhere and without major sponsors (which the IFPA are constantly working on) this is one way to generate more prize money which attracts more visibility. When I won the State Championship last year and did interviews with newspapers and other outlets about it, it was always embarrassing when they would ask how much money I won for it and I would have to say only $100. It was a major achievement to win State, it takes a lot of work and dedication to do, especially in a state like mine with great competitors and tons of events that I can't always get to because of work, wife, kids, etc. The problem is the prize package doesn't reflect that currently, so it's easier for people who don't know or care about pinball currently to diminish the accomplishment because they could have easily just won more money playing pull tabs at the bar than I just did for a year's worth of commitment and competition. That perception needs to change somehow.
On the tournament director side of things, it is already hard enough to get people out to events so I was worried about how this would be received. Already operators here have to give the house away with free beer, pizza, additional random draw prizes, additional cash, free play and organizing huge special events here just to draw some people out only once in a while. I know lots of people already look at entry fees as "donations" and any additional fees, even $1, are just more straws that break the camel's back. To put fees on the groups of people we are specifically targeting to grow location and event pinball is not right in my opinion. It would hurt attendance in MN without a doubt in my mind. I know there may be some tricky logistics for other states/events, but the happy medium solution to this for myself and all events that I run is that if this goes into effect, all endorsement fees will be paid out of the prize pool. That is a simple option offered by the IFPA and I believe the best choice for my events locally. So if 20 people show up, the prize pool for the event drops from $100 to $80 on a $5 buy in event. A $5 event will still be a $5 event. This change would be invisible to the new/casual players and cost them nothing, while still seeding a larger prize pool for the State Championship Series, in which prize money would now be distributed to most or all top 16 qualifiers in state, instead of just the top 4 previously. I am interested to see how it plays out, but I want to make sure that everyone knows that I will not put the financial burden of this on the new/casual players that attend any of my events, so they don't have to worry about that.