| The Board
Questions have been posted regarding the location of the current
board members' residence and whether this has an impact upon the
association and about the election process generally.
Elections take place in accordance with the Articles of Association.
The make up of the board must reflect at least four people from a
business background and two current players. The seventh can be
either of the above. Each board member has one vote, the president
has the casting vote if required, this currently is Lee Beachill. A
simply majority exist on all votes to be taken. Where a conflict
arises that board member cannot vote. Conflicts are policed by the
lawyer on the board Richard Bramall.
We do not accept that there is a particular bias with one continent
or country. Board members live in wide ranging areas of the world.
As a board we feel the progress that has been made which hopefully
will be recognised following consideration of these replies by the
readers that an individual's country of origin or residence is
irrelevant , it is what the board does for the good of the sport
that is more important than any of these factors. It should be noted
that 7 Board members are from 3 different countries, residing in 4.
Considering their current roles and the potential for
conflict of interest when either praising or criticising a player
should Peter Nicol & Alex Gough & Andrew Shelley be expert
summarisers on the televised broadcasts (believe me I deleted this
question several times but the PSA is a business!)
Any conflicts have been answered elsewhere.
What steps will the
PSA be taking to get the major squash events televised.
Perhaps efforts should be made to create a "squash channel" on cable
television.
Nice idea, but how do we finance it at this time? We are, as
mentioned above, creating a higher standard for filming the sport;
we are negotiating with numerous media companies, some of the best
in the business, on the distribution of media for TV, Streaming, and
other avenues....we hope to have a company selected within the next
few months and increase our exposure worldwide...we feel strongly
that with a higher standard, and the right media partner, our sport
will definitely receive more coverage.
Does PSA still have a contract with Pro-Active Television? If
so, what have they done to promote the sport in the last, say, 5
years? Does PSA plan to maintain this arrangement or do something
else with TV rights?
We don't want to discuss what anyone has done in the past, but
rather concentrate on what needs to be done in the future. The
contracts between the PSA and its web streaming provider and TV
companies cease in 2009.
The PSA owns its media rights in these
areas. Negotiations with existing providers and prospective
providers are continuing and we hope as a board to announce the new
contracts over the following months. These contracts will deal with
the filming, distribution and viewing of squash on either a web
based or TV based outlet. We are also looking at tour sponsorship
and tour revenue generally.
Why did Richard Graham leave the PSA board so soon after
taking up his post?...
The readers of squashsite will understand why we can't go into the
full details regarding Richard Graham's departure. As a board we
will ensure that a CEO is passionate about sport in particular
squash and works to the highest standards to ensure that the sport
progresses as the board and squash fans around the world would want.
Will Ramy Ashour continue to be sponsored by ATCO now that Mr
Al-Turki is Chairman of the PSA?
We do not consider that any conflict of interest exists in respect
of the sponsorship of a player or indeed any other player that
individual board members assist either through personal sponsorship
or through sponsorship with sporting goods manufacturers.
A board member who is not a current player must show a substantial
interest in squash to be elected. As such conflicts of interest will
sometimes exist with a number of issues that arise.
The board have
strict guidelines within the board structure to ensure that if ever
a conflict does exist that board member would not take part in the
decision process on that particular subject. |
TV & Marketing
Questions have been raised with
regards to the use of KHP / Greenspace.
Prior to his election to the Board of the PSA its Chairman Ziad
Al-Turki spent a great deal of time considering the marketing of the
sport and the sport generally which he used to a significant effect
with his own tournaments. The existing Board of the PSA recognised
the need for specialist help in this area and following his election
to the board and after considering a number of companies who could
help KHP were instructed to prepare a blue print of the future
professional tour. We would refer you all to the press release given
at the time this company was instructed. It was done so with the
full acceptance of all board members.
Scott Garrett presented his thoughts to the board during a preiarranged meeting in New York which took place during the Tournament
of Champions. The Board are considering the material and further
announcements will be made in due course in connection with the tour
shortly. Suffice to say changes will take place which will be done
to promote the sport to a wider audience.
As a result of the hard work undertaken by Scott Garrett he was
approached by the WSF to assist them with the Olympic bid. This is
testament to his work and his inclusion in the Olympic bid will be
of significant value to the sport.
As an association we are already seeing the benefit of working with
Companies like KHP and Greenspace. Other companies such as
prospective media providers have witnessed the professional way in
which Squash is approaching these matters and have written to the
Board, showing keen interest in taking part in our future
progression. Again further announcements regarding these issues will
be made in due course.
Just wondering if the PSA make marketing professional squash a
priority? I am a massive squash fan and have played to a high
standard as a junior. I love the sport, and just wish it received
more media attention, and the pro players received greater financial
rewards for the commitment and hard work they put into the game.
I
have just watched the TOC final at Grand central in New York and
also have watched squash at Canary Wharf, so there is obvious appeal
in the fact that a squash court can be erected almost anywhere
(within reason!). So my question is, does the PSA have plans to
improve marketing for our great sport (and hopefully get it into the
Olympics)? If so, what plans do you have in mind?
Hope I haven't rambled too much and you understand the question!?
That is one of our biggest priorities ... the mobility of squash is
an amazing tool, not comparable with any other sport, and has not
been exploited to its fullest potential; the TOC is a great example
of what squash can do for sponsors in terms of exposure.
With KHP, and GREENSPACE, we are working on revamping our total
image ... there is great potential that just needs to be exploited;
we hope to do just that.
The biggest gripe I have is that there is so little publicity
for events. I stumbled across the Canary Wharf Classic, had to seek out the
Super Series Final last year.
It's ok if you are a saddo like me who
has time and resources to scour the internet, but within my club
(membership of 50) despite many being keen to attend such events
don't hear about them unless I tell them and it's the same at with
many other players and clubs I talk to.
Are there any plans to engage clubs more in marketing Pro events?
Promoting events has been left to individual promoters in the past
... the PSA can't be involved in promoting every event in all the
countries it has tournaments in ... but we are working on ways of
guiding promoters on ways to increase exposure for their events ...
engaging clubs is very easy, and a very effective.
We are also working on ways to promote the top events, as a package,
worldwide ... we hope this will not just give the sport more
exposure, but show a more coherent tour which can attract
sponsorship behind it.
I was just wondering how much impetus there is in making the
game more TV friendly? It's been mentioned a few times in this forum
about the difficulty faced when watching squash on TV, mainly due to
not being able to see the ball.
The tournaments have some great
locations, but I feel are let down (sometimes) by the inability for
the normal viewing public to see what is happening.
May bethis
isn't the cause of why squash isn't on TV more often, but in terms
of attention to the sport, the easier it is to watch may provoke a
little more interest by the public.
Squash can be "TV Friendly" if done right ... the PSA has never had
a standard set for how the matches are filmed ... Alex Gough, and
Ziad Al-Turki watched hours of squash over the past few months,
looking for the right camera angles, court colours, etc ...
We asked
input from those in the industry already filming squash, and asked
the opinion of some of the most creative minds, such as GREENSPACE,
Saatchi & Saatchi, and Avantgarde ... we believe that we have the
right formula now to create a standard, which we hope to introduce
in the 2010 Tour |
