Friday, June 1, 2012

Monday to Friday tournaments

I’m afraid that the Atlanta July sectional is going to see an attendance increase this summer with the ridiculous Monday to Friday schedule. However, I hope it drops from its normal attendance of around 1000 tables so they won’t be tempted to try this again. In case you hadn’t noticed, this summer is the first time that Atlanta has had a tournament with no weekend games and it pisses me off. Seriously. Yeah, I get that bridge players are mostly retired people but making the tournament go from 10am Monday until 5pm Friday is REALLY terrible for those of us who have to work.  I generally love the Atlanta July 4th super sectional because it is in a great location, has a strong field, has lots of free beer and ice cream, and I can normally play 7 sessions and sleep in without using any vacation time but with only the middle day of the tournament available to me without being on vacation, I won’t be able to enjoy the tournament nearly as much as normal.

 I’m sure every person who has an office job feels this way about having weekend games and you would think the retired folks wouldn’t care much whether the tournament is Wed-Sun or Mon-Fri. However, this is clearly not the case as almost every tournament drops off in attendance toward the end – maybe it’s because people don’t like playing on the weekend but maybe it’s just that the masses prefer going at the start of tournaments regardless of what day of the week it falls on or get irritated with their partner and go home early. I bet that if someone made a tournament be Saturday through Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday would be the biggest days. For people who don’t want to play the whole tournament and have flexibility, I think going at the beginning rather than the end is what most people would prefer.

In 2011, the tournament organizers did something that only slightly pissed me off. The tournament ended on Sunday, but the federal holiday was Monday, so out of the 3 day weekend, there was only bridge on 2 of those days.

I really want to boycott this tournament in protest of this schedule that is so anti-anybody who isn’t retired or on summer break. The problem is that most people I would play with are in or near Atlanta and going elsewhere would likely mean a trip to DC for the regional there. Financially, that’s not a smart thing to do but I may do it anyway. Not playing any bridge that week would be fine too, if I had something else going on, which I don't.

7 comments:

  1. I'm retired and I don't want to go play and Monday through Friday. What are they thinking?

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  2. Saving money is probably what they are thinking
    For local sectionals I'll sometimes just play Fri afternoon if I have wknd plans, but I would hate not having the option to play on the wknd. I'd be relegated to playing just on BBO.

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  3. I thought ACBL was trying to attract more young bridge players...

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  4. My understanding is that the hotel would not give us a weekend. It was either hold the tournament on the weekdays or not hold it at this site. Our sectionals are so large that we have a very difficult time finding a hotel willing to host the tournament.

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  5. I've heard the same thing, Sam. It just seems surprising that the Hilton, which has hosted the July sectional as long as I've been playing, wouldn't give us a weekend. And I really hope this doesn't become the norm. There are many little things about tournament schedules that I dislike but this is the only thing that will keep me away from the tournament and I want to be sure the tournament organizers know this.

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  6. It semi-official. I'll be road tripping to Bethesda with my husky to play the Asheville sectional and DC regional in lieu of this years Atl super sectional.

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  7. This sounds like a very odd idea for a tournament - and certainly in the Chicago area, my observation is of increased attendance at the weekends, when the working people show up. I would be "boycotting" this tournament perforce, and like you, I hope the tournament is a failure to avoid weekend tournaments going the way of evening club games.

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