Hmmm… Co-champions?
So if it’s going to move around, where will it be held in 2014? Seems like Japan is a pretty obvious choice.
Also, like Kyle, I’m pretty curious about the specific complaints players have about the current contest. When I read statement such as “disillusionment” and “static and stagnant nature of the contest” or “no longer serves the function that a world championship should serve” I don’t know what they mean. What exactly are we talking about here? Ed seems to get at it somewhat when he mentions marketing, venues, and structure, but I’m still not sure specifically what the top players want.
Just wondering, as I’ve never been to Worlds.
steve brown says we need authority? new jersey has frozen over…
In any case I’m just going to say that as long as I get one big contest a year out of this mess I don’t care where it is as long as my friends are there so I can truly enjoy it.
who knew the yoyo community could be so dramatic 
i could see it now “16 and throwing” lol
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I’m just hoping everyone forgets about this little shenanigan and it doesn’t happen.
It should move. It’s “Worlds”. Why is this a question?
Oh I agree it should move…
…but after 2015.
And what happens if Greg renews the contract with the Rosen before then? Should we just wait even longer?
i can’t speak for the ‘top players’. i’m not even a competitor.
most of the frustration that i sense (and that i feel) around worlds is that it should get bigger every year; that more people should get to experience it. some specifics:
• the venue should be moved out of a ballroom and into a legitimate production space.
• there should be a top-notch digital stream which has you yelling at your computer for not being there.
• we need to more aggressively pursue sponsorship from companies outside of yo-yoing (apologies, baliyo).
• it needs to be worth the players’ while to attend, both in terms of the winner’s purse and visibility. if the prize is substantially less than what it costs for MANY of the world’s best players to attend the event… it’s not enough.
• it needs to be held in a place more stimulating than the cultural vacuum and $9 burgers of i-drive; one that rotates, giving players a reason to interact and connect with peers around the world.
• there needs to be a greater, more concentrated effort to bring new, unexposed audiences into the event. say what you want about ‘tech’ play… i don’t know anyone who could watch mickey, harold, chris, and marcus in that final and NOT be on the edge of their seat… we haven’t tapped into the mainstream.
this is meant to be our PREMIERE WORLD YO-YO EVENT… and it’s content to feel more like a trading card show or comicon, pleasant and familiar to initiates, but not the spectacle of skill and work it’s meant to represent. it’s supposed to grow.
instead, every year feels like a carbon copy of the year before. a couple old people don’t make it and a couple of new faces do, but the contest seems happy to just keep on servicing the yo-yo community in the same way. i think that just like yo-yoers try to push the envelope regarding where tricks can go, they’re looking for a contest that pushes the envelope regarding what a yo-yo event can be. we don’t have fun at worlds BECAUSE of the limited food options, the couple-hundred attendees, and the minimal coverage… we have fun in spite of those things.
i’m not trying to minimize the work that’s gone into worlds. the yeoman’s effort greg gets out of his volunteers is incredible, and i love the convenience of rolling out of bed, driving 8 hours, and watching takeshi and takuma go blow for blow. but i think when you’ve gone for YEARS and it still feels the same, from carpet to chandelier… however COMFORTABLE, you start to wonder why the takeshis and takumas of the world are still coming. the only answer is that we haven’t organized to give them an alternative. the world’s best will go to the world’s best contest. the world’s next-best will go to see the world’s best. (i will go where those guys go.)
sorry for the rambling wall-of-text. i say again; i’m not an organizer. i’m not even a competitor. i could not have done as well as greg has done. but i’ve seen enough of worlds to have the sense that it could be bigger and grander if the essential response when players suggest change were something other than ‘our hands are tied’. looking forward to watching this discussion (and this event) continue to unfold.
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The food options are the worst. Absolute worst. It’s so sad we have people flying in from all over the world and all they get to be fed is hotel pizza for 4 straight days.
I know I’m biased because I live here, but I say if we’re going to do this thing in the USA, bring it to Vegas. Infinitely better food options! Infinitely more hotels! Infinitely more spectacle! It would make money as well. SO many people walking through a casino would stop, see a sign that says something like, “World Yoyo Championship finals, 6:30 PM tickets $10,” buy a ticket and spend 3 hours of their Saturday night watching. There could be better lights, there could be better spectacles. Even off strip casinos have better ballrooms, better food options, cheaper room rates. All our friends in Asia and Europe would have so much more fun coming to Las Vegas Boulevard for the weekend instead of International Drive…
I’m going to chip in here now.
I feel, like the majority of others here, that we have a need for either another WYYC or improvements/movement of the current one. I think the problem with what’s happening in Prague is that, with the matching dates, there will be a divide created in the YoYo Community between those who have attended one contest and those who have attended the other.
Starting a second Worlds is a great idea but holding it at the same time as the original worlds does nothing more than prove a point. Yes, it might cause Greg to wake up and make improvements to the contest, but do these improvements really make up for the significant drop in attendees? Both contests could be better if you give all the pros the opportunity to travel to both.
I’ve never been to a WYYC, and I don’t know if I’ll ever have the opportunity, however there’s something that really doesn’t make sense to me. It seems to me the entire intention of moving the contest is to provide a more equal playing ground for everyone all across the world, which would undeniably help the yo-yo community. However, with the way that things are playing out it seems to me like it’s creating an opposite effect… Having two contests that are conflicting with each other is in no way going to help Yo-Yo players, Yo-Yo companies, or anyone in general. It’s seemed to me that the reason why the WYYC has been so fun, is not only because of the competition, but because an entire body of people sharing a similar interest felt like they were in a space where, for the most part, everyone felt like they were at “The” contest, if you know what I mean… Having two conflicting contests, claiming to be that… It’s only going to divide an already fairly small community in such a way that either contest will have no real meaning to it.
Steve is right, there needs to be some sort of authority in the matter.
A reasonable compromise needs to be met instead of all of this insanity.
Is anyone willing, or able to step up and take control?
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On the flip side of the coin, by having organizers in direct competition with one another, it will only force them to improve their product or get left in the dust. The sport of yo-yoing has grown beyond having the biggest contest in the world decided in the same hotel ballroom each and every year. Worlds has gone stagnant, and with the push for a venue change being met with continued resistance, people are now bringing about that change by force.
Take professional wrestling, for example. In the late 90’s, you had WWE and WCW battling head to head on Monday nights, and the entire wrestling industry thrived as a result. Both brands had to put out a better product than their competitor, and the fans were the ones who ultimately benefitted from it all. But if you look at pro wrestling now, after WWE bought out WCW/ECW, and you’ll see that their product has gone stale. Without the competition there, they have no reason to be as innovative as they once were. And now the fans are losing out.
Now in the short term, forcing yo-yo players to choose sides is guaranteed to result in some sour grapes, especially amongst all the entitled American players on these forums. We have been spoiled by having Worlds in our backyard for well over a decade. But that isn’t much of a level playing field for the rest of the world, and if you feel we should have a monopoly on the world championships, then you are just being selfish.
In the long term, however, the sport/industry/community will only benefit from this. Just wait and see.
Yes, to all of it.
In the two years of its existence, Triple Crown has given out more prize money than Worlds. It just shouldn’t be that way…that’s flat-out ridiculous.
I do favor WYYC staying in FLA only for my own selfish reasons as well as a limited budget. I am able to attend annually as it sits. I couldnt come up with a $1600.00 airfare not to mention room/food /spending. this would quadruple the cost for average american players. I am fully aware of the number of players outside N.America and what they also would spend to travel here. it does seem unusual that on this thread so many American players support moving the contest to Prague. when the time comes I would be curious how many of these individuals will be finacially capable of attending. its easy to say that you will be in Prague but next August put your money where your mouth is.
I think another thing that’s not really been mentioned - because I don’t think a lot of people know…
the guys organizing the Prague event didn’t just start by badmouthing the current world’s event.
They went above-board and tried to be diplomatic w/ Greg. He didn’t talk to them about it (in any real depth), ignored their requests for a dialogue, and that left them with no other real option but to just go out on their own.
I support this.
Will I be making it to Prague next year? Doubt it. I’m still in full support of it being there. 100%.
Change is unpleasant, uncomfortable, and absolutely necessary if you don’t want this to die.
I think the major concern I hear from people (other than cost) is that they’re worried about the divide it’ll cause. In a sense… so what? what about the atrophy that’d be caused by NOT doing anything?
I’m more concerned about the damage that could happen if we don’t take the risk to change it for the better.
come on Prague!
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I’m all for a moving worlds. But, it should rotate for now between the Americas, Europe, and Japan. Where a majority of our community is. Eventually, it should go everywhere, but for now, it should just be a few areas.
I don’t belive that is true. Worlds gave out $6000 this year and $3200 last year as well as somewhere in the $3000 range in 2010. Triple Crown was $6000 last year if I remember correctly and I don’t see the figures for this year on the Triple Crown site.
Now, more prize money was/would be much better and the Worlds prize money is very poorly publicized but it is there.
From what I’ve been told, Vegas is -insanely- expensive to host events. It’s a union town and as such you have to hire workers to do -everything-… from stage to lights to sound… it adds potentially 10s of thousands of dollars to the cost for things that are easily handled by a handful of volunteers. This is part of the reason that the WJF (juggling festival for those unfamiliar) was so expensive in Vegas and now seems to move around a bit.
Kyle
Thanks for the correction. We gave out more money that Worlds last year ($6k vs. $3200) and this year that number was reversed (Worlds gave out $6k, we gave out $3k). Which puts us within $200 of the same prize money as the World Championships for a two-year total…which while not as bad as I thought, is still pretty weak sauce.
One nice piece of progress that I’ll allow is that I’ve spoken to Greg about having my fine art company quote on re-designing the Worlds trophies, which currently look like resin snotrockets pulled out of a dumpster.
Thanks for the correction on the numbers and my apologies if it seemed like I was pulling one of those “I’m going to make up numbers to back me up” shenanigans. NOT my intention at all, but the point remains that the World YoYo Contest is supposed to be the premier yoyo event in the world and it’s simply not…and every year other events progress while Worlds stays the same.