Originally Posted by
mattm
The times, the are a'changin. (in a good way!)
Older generations will struggle with the concepts, newer generations will wonder why it took so long. Same old story.
There is a business end here I am trying to figure out. In for profit entertainment it is demographics and spending habits of the eyeballs that count. And the per view fee you can charge.
With ToC offering the same purse is a PR calculation, but different than a normal business one. To do a business around entertainment it is buying likelihood of the fans for sponsor product combined with what you can get in fees from spectators. That NBCSports annual fee.
Future I think - one/several of:
-AB cleaned up to define "identical"
-AB not be passed
-AB not be enforced at the local level (it has a $500 prize limit), although it applies
-Eliminate prize money
-Eliminate gender differentiation of categories.
I have long favored not splitting categories for anything but ability. So college type, age, gender etc. all create weird situations for promoters.