Beer Pong as a Business

[CiD743]

It's been a while since I've been able to post here. I started working with some people on a Beer Pong Networking site. At first, much like you, I thought the idea was a joke. But then I found out that there is actually a World Series of Beer Pong. This January was the WSOBP IV in Las Vegas, where the winner walked away with 50k. There were 414 teams that entered and thousands of people watching.

Our site, Pongleague.net, has set out to make this game official. We've developed stat tracking software for PDAs called Pong Pilots. (Much like professional sports scouts use) This way we can create national standing and actually run seasons.

We had our first tournament using the Pong Pilots on the 26th and it went very well. With little to know effort, we hosted a 46 team tournament.

We are currently working on a deal with a national restaurant/bar chain to host a tournament in every store once a week.

On top of more players, we are looking for tournament hosts. To sign up as a player and join a league is free. To be a host the process is a little more lengthy and can cost up to $700, depending on the equipment you need.

A standard tournament is 32 teams, $20 a team. The winner takes $500 the host keeps $140. If you can host 1 tournament weekly, you're looking at $500+ / month; depending on your bar tab .

We started as simple local hosts, just for fun. Once we teamed up with local breweries and bar, we saw the true potential in this venture.

The site is still being debugged, but the basic functions are there. We have multiple developers work on different aspects. With so much happening at once, there will always be problems; according to the developers .

Check out the site or feel free to ask me any questions.

[SIMPLEROBB]

Nice. Keep it up.

[VCNetwork]

wow, I've been trying to figure out ways to capture some money off of that popular game.. good idea, btw who developed your site?

[CiD743]

It was / is a group effort. I am working on pongleague.net/blogs ; among other things. Why do you ask?

[businesgoonline]

great effort i would say

[MisterMcJib]

Sounds awesome, there is definitely great potential in beerpong. I swear, EVERYONE plays.

Also, I love how you are capitalizing on the competitive nature of the game, brilliant. Keep it up, and let us know how things go!

[byzantium]

Watch out for the Moral Guardian Nazis, those "upstanding Christian folk" who want to control their sheep by making sure said sheep never have any fun of any kind. They're like the Taliban, killing people for playing cards, although the MGN's aren't killing anybody-yet. Making a Beer Pong League is setting up a big fat target for MGN's. You need to know how to proceed WHEN, not if, they come after you. MGN's are politicians first and foremost, so you need to approach it like politics, and set the message before they do. If you want, I can email you articles from a small town newspaper in Nevada about how a beer pong game led to a girl getting raped, or at least that's what the media said. How do you deal with stuff like that, as a beer pong promoter?

[leonyu]

CiD743, I checked your website and I really should say you are doing a great job!

There is a beer Festival in my city each year (Qingdao International Beer Festival, website: µÚÊ®°Ë½ìÇൺ¹ú¼ÊÆ¡¾Æ½Ú) and once you have time, welcome to my city and show how u guys play beer pong!

[Tavarez]

Lol. Beautiful man: congratulations on this.

[mthomas]

Fascinating. The site is very well designed, and I must commend you on picking up on an opportunity and capitalizing it.

The lesson here is that while something might seem like a "joke", take it seriously and understand the demand for it before writing off an idea.

Excellent work!

[rogercbryan]

Good Idea but I think you are sort of missing your main marketing point. Don't tell a venue that they will make $140 + bar tabs. Do some research to see what the average person at a tournament spend on beer and food while they are in the tournament. Then use that equation to sell people on the fact that 64 people x $25 = $1600 in increased sales that you would not have had. This is much more effective when it comes to promotions.

I suck at beer pong but I play kick ball once a week and there is always a flip cup and beer pong tournament right after our game... same with soccer leagues.. .softball leagues... you see what I'm saying... its a big 'sport' so to speak

[buynick]

Would be better if you had a .com not .net. Also, consider selling similar game type items like cornhole or hillbilly golf on your site.