The 2008 TOC was recorded for TV by Jean Delierre (photo:©2008 Debra Tessier)

An important squash television production deal encompassing the new Players Cup Circuit squash tournaments in North America and featuring a live web cast during March 4-7¹s Players Cup playoff final in Boston was signe by Players Cup Circuit founder and president of Event Engine, John Nimick, with Jean De Lierre, president of Telimage Productions.

For John Nimick, organizer of the Players Cup series, TV coverage has always been one of his major focal points.

It has been frustrating for US-based squash promoters to be hamstrung by disadvantageous deals negotiated by the UK-based PSA with UK producers which involve both significant cost for promoters and suboptimal benefits, as they are heavily UK and European focused.

Delierre, the talented but controversial squash producers, who has clashed with the PSA on several occasions, has always had a good working relationship with Nimick's Event Engine events.

And this deal, which includes web-streaming as well as conventional TV, has the potential to potentially break the stranglehold on web-streaming that the PSA and their partner Horizon had created.

³Boston is becoming the hub for great things in squash. Our television-come-web-cast deal with Telimage Productions, the leading producer of video squash programming, affords us the opportunity to make squash accessible to larger and larger audiences,² explains Nimick, whose Event Engine sport and entertainment company is promoting the Players Cup Circuit and three of its associated tournaments.

The Players Cup TV programming package for 2008 includes match highlights from the Players Cup Circuit events, as well as complete coverage of selected matches of the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions, PACE Canadian Squash Classic, the Davenport Viginia Pro and the Players Cup playoff championships in Boston. De Lierre shares, ³We are thrilled to broadcast the Players Cup matches in Boston, which features the largest first place prize money in the history of North Americans squash, via the web from March 4 - 7, all free of charge and free of download hassles. Ten million-plus viewers will be able to tune in the programs simultaneously without affecting the quality of the images. The production will further be distributed worldwide to the PSA affiliated networks abroad and to The Tennis Channel in the United States following the completion of the Circuit on March 7, 2008.

With the conclusion of the PACE Canadian Classic, the feisty Ramy Ashour
(EGY) stands firmly at the top of the points table, with new American resident David Palmer retaining second spot, Englishman James Willstrop third and Karim Darwish, also of Egypt, moving into fourth place. Frenchman Theirry Lincou and Egypt¹s El Hindi Wael round out the top six, with the remaining top nine players well poised to make a move for the final two slots. The Circuit is currently in Portland for the Evergreen Oregon Open, February 19-23, and the ranking finale will take place in Richmond at the Virginia Pro, February 25 - March 1, in which nearly all the top Circuit players will compete.

The Players Cup Circuit is comprised of five world-class pro tournaments sanctioned by the Professional Squash Association, the international governing body for world-ranking professional squash competition. Beginning with the Bear Stearns Tournament of Champions, which concluded on January 16 in New York City, and ending at the Virginia Pro, the continuous five-tournament Series will climax with the Players Cup in Boston, March 4-7. The $50,000 Players Cup is an 8-man, single elimination competition presented over four nights. Six competitors will qualify for the Players Cup based on their cumulative prize money earned in the five preceding events, while two players will earn a berth through local qualifying events.

2008 Players Cup Schedule, Boston:
Quarterfinals Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Quarterfinals Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Semifinals Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
Finals & Exhibition Friday, March 7, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.

For further information and tickets, call 877.524.5685 or visit www.playerscupsquash.com <http://www.playerscupsquashseries.com/> .

 

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