Cliff notes
* Prior to joining Caesars in ?08, worked 5 years for the NFL. Has a background in sports/entertainment on the communications/PR side.
* Came with the intent of Caesars launching a TV channel focused on Las Vegas as well as a sports arena on the strip. Both projects later got shelved.
* Was initially concerned (after Black Friday) that large buy-in WSOP events would suffer. Was otherwise optimistic that the rest of the series would not be impacted.
* There is a large international contingent, which was not impacted (at the time of the WSOP) by Black Friday.
* Can?t take credit for record attendance and prizepools. It?s the players that decide to participate.
* Have never been in bed with any US-facing sites. Have had some relationships with international sites.
* Decided to limit logos to one, and keeping them on shirts. No hats. There were concerns about overt advertising laws in several countries. ESPN?s reaction to Black Friday (temporarily pulling all WSOP replays off the air) was a factor as well.
* Epic poker league has no chance to succeed. No business model is in place.
* WSOP is a business, but is not ?getting rich? from it. Can?t see how Epic will make one penny. They seem to have a heaven-sent investor who isn?t too concerned.
* Poker is not about elitist competitions for the select few. It?s not truly meaningful.
* The goal of Epic is legalized online gaming, and taking advantage of the pros to be their ?full tilt? sponsored pros.
* Getting corporate sponsors for live poker tournaments is not easy. Unlike other sports, there aren?t stadiums with tens of thousands of people spectating.
* The one error of the ?thunderdome? set was embedding LED lights into the rail in front of the crowd, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The boards were not reinforced, and prone to damage.
* After the first few televised events, ESPN went on break for June and had the rail boards reinforced. The drinking ban was lifted after this.
* Russ Hamilton?s banner was not blacked out for most of the Summer. Last year, the fire marshal had issues with the banners, as some of them block sprinklers. There are lots of banners, so spacing is always an issue and things get moved around.
* Felt that Hamilton?s banner should be taken down and that he doesn?t deserve it. There was fierce debate among colleagues, but ultimately was overruled, argument being ?you can?t change history?.
* WSOP doesn?t alter or edit images of players on banners and such. Isn?t part of the job to censor.
* Mellissa Hayden did not have a true credential. She got a day pass. Unclear how she got that, perhaps under the guise of assisting a player. I [Seth] deserve blame for letting this happen.
* There were a couple days that the smell stood out. Don?t think it?s a distinct player smell. More of a plumbing issue. Nowhere else do you have thousands of people flushing toilets in 10-minute span. Air conditioning is a factor as well.
* No plans for any sort of dress code. Players are considered customers and can wear what they please.
* No idea bout Lord Griffon. WSOP has a relationship with On Tilt. You [Zac] may know more about this.
* Becoming a partner with WSOP is not easy. Lots of due diligence is involved. Full compliance and background checks.
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