The problem with the WSOP is simply one of size - there are too many players. If you have 2000 players, but want them all to have good starting stacks and a good structure, it's going to take days to get a winner. The entry fees for all the Holdem events should be increased simply to limit the numbers.
I think this response is very much in line with many of the players. Harrah's must somehow ignore the desire for more and more players , and focus more on simply trying to offer the players what they want. Who knows, they may wellbenefit in the longer term. Either way, something has to change!
I understand Harrah's need to make money from the World Series, and hence their preference for more and more players, but it needs someone there to see that even in business terms this is being shortsighted.
If one of their executives could look beyond their next bonus, and look at the long term future of the company, they might realise that the heritage that the WSOP is currently trading on is going to look less and less important the longer the current situation continues. In ten, twenty or thirty years time the origin of the festival is going to be overshadowed by the decades of mismanagement that we have started to see since the explosion of internet poker and corresponding size of the field in the Main Event. In this circumstance a rival of the World Series is likely to take over as the premier event of the year - this is likely to lead to the winner of that event being known as the
World Champion. This will, ironically, lead to the WSOP field reducing as players abandon it for the more desirable event - and there goes Harrah's cash cow.
Boxing shows that multiple World Champions are viable in a sport, but it also shows that some have more respect and integrity than others. If Harrah's doesn't want their gilt edged poker festival becoming tarnished and undermined in decades to come they have to do something about it now whilst they still have the goodwill. If the organisation and structure can be upgraded to truly World Championship standards - and maintained - there is no reason why it should ever truly be challenged, and consequently Harrah's will maintain their revenue stream from it in perpetuity.
Incidentally
www.bls.gov has an inflation calculator which tells me that $10,000 in 1972 has the same buying power as $48,540 now (about $50k then).
Hmmm I'm sure there's some conclusion that could be made from that.
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