Episode 251: And now a word from our Presidents

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·23m 40s·analyzed·Mar 26, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

IFPA suspends event sanctioning through March 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews IFPA President Josh Sharp on March 18, 2020, discussing the organization's decision to suspend sanctioning of pinball events through end of March due to COVID-19. They cover the reasoning behind the decision, impact on operators and location-based pinball, contingency planning for upcoming events like IFPA 17, and broader industry concerns about post-pandemic recovery.

Key Claims

IFPA will not sanction pinball events from now until end of March 2020, with date potentially moving forward based on CDC guidance
high confidence · Josh Sharp, IFPA President, officially announcing policy decision made after consultation with Zach Sharp, Adam Becker, and Women's Advisory Board
Stern Pro Circuit events will not penalize organizers with zero points for missed 2020 calendar year; events not run get hall pass to 2021 season
high confidence · Josh Sharp explaining Stern Pro Circuit rule accommodation for suspended events
IFPA 17 (end of May in Fort Myers) has not been canceled but discussions on contingency plans are underway as of March 18
high confidence · Josh Sharp stating event status and that he personally would 'bet it's going to be canceled' based on pandemic trends
Stern Army program encompasses approximately 200 location-based pinball venues globally
high confidence · Josh Sharp discussing impact of event suspension on Stern Army network
Early feedback showed tournament organizers were relieved by IFPA's decision to suspend events, as it removed pressure from having to make the call themselves
high confidence · Josh Sharp noting 'the most emails I got were from organizers that were like, thank you for making this decision'
Some players attempted to gain ranking points by playing in tournaments while others had suspended play due to pandemic concerns
high confidence · Josh Sharp describing players 'excited about the opportunity to jump up in standings for their state or province because they heard that everyone else wasn't playing'

Notable Quotes

“Zach had posed this. We have a Slack channel that Zach and Adam Becker and myself are in, along with the Women's Advisory Board. and we just hashed it out for it must have been a couple of days of just not knowing you know what kind of statement we wanted to make as a global organization”
Josh Sharp @ ~15:00 — Describes internal decision-making process and key stakeholders involved in IFPA's major policy shift
“The tournament directors are sort of the ones in power for running events. You know, we sanction their events, but they're still in charge.”
Josh Sharp @ ~8:30 — Clarifies IFPA's relationship to tournament organizers and why initial approach left decision to organizers
“The entire Stern Army program, that's whatever, 200 locations globally that are all about location pinball, bringing groups of people. Pretty much all the do not list for this virus is really what the Stern Army is all about.”
Josh Sharp @ ~25:00 — Highlights exposure and vulnerability of Stern Army location-based business model during pandemic
“If you have a group of players that don't agree with you, you know, it makes for just really bad situations. So it was nice for us... to make this decision because for every organizer that really didn't want to do it, if you have a group of players that really do want to do it, you start like, oh man, I mean, it's like, am I here to serve them?”
Josh Sharp @ ~20:00 — Explains pressure dynamics on tournament organizers and why organizational guidance was needed
“How much money do they have to earn before they start buying new equipment again? You know what I mean? I mean, at some point, a place that has a Dave & Buster's location that has 100 games in it, their first action might be, let's sell 30 of these games to raise a bunch of money to continue operations.”
Jeff Teolis @ ~35:00 — Articulates concern about post-pandemic recovery impact on capital equipment purchases by location operators
“I would bet it's going to be canceled just based on how things are trending as I'm watching the news right now on mute while we're talking that, you know, we're up 30% day over day of people being diagnosed.”

Entities

Josh SharppersonJeff TeolispersonZach SharppersonAdam BeckerpersonIFPAorganizationIFPA Women's Advisory BoardorganizationStern Pro CircuiteventIFPA 17event

Signals

?
business_signal: Severe economic impact on location-based pinball operators; potential forced liquidation of machines to raise operational capital
high · Jeff Teolis: 'their first action might be, let's sell 30 of these games to raise a bunch of money to continue operations' and concern about timeline for capital equipment purchases post-recovery
?
community_signal: Tension between player groups wanting to continue competing for ranking points vs. organizers and public health concerns; some players attempting to gain unfair advantage during suspension period
high · Josh Sharp: 'people were literally excited about the opportunity to jump up in standings for their state or province because they heard that everyone else wasn't playing'
?
business_signal: IFPA decision-making involves Slack channel discussions between President, Vice President (Zach Sharp), Adam Becker, and Women's Advisory Board; decentralized but coordinated approach
high · Josh Sharp describing multi-day Slack discussions with Zach, Adam Becker, and Women's Advisory Board before policy announcement
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business_signal: IFPA Women's Advisory Board gaining visibility and agency; dedicated women's calendar now live on IFPA website; board given April Fool's joke proposal responsibility
high · Josh Sharp mentioning Women's Advisory Board involvement in decisions and April Fool's joke proposals; Jeff noting new women's calendar on IFPA website
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regulatory_signal: IFPA establishing precedent for global policy-making while acknowledging North American/American-centric organizational bias

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.071

0:00

It's time now for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teelis. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter, at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile, at gmail.com. Please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher, and check us out on Instagram, at pinballprofile. Yes, what, what, what? Where's the song? No, not today. It's time to hear from your presidents of the IFPA. Yours truly, the elected one and the one who just won't leave office. But you know what? I got to say, he's been doing some pretty good things lately. So we are on a united front here, myself and our guest, President Josh Sharp. Hey, Josh, how are you, buddy? I'm good, man. How are you? How are things? I'm good. We are in the home. I've been in my home now for a few days. I'm going to let people know that we are recording this. on Wednesday, March 18th, late at night. Some events may have canceled or been postponed since the time we recorded, but we're going to talk about more generic things, so this will not be a dated podcast. I did one on Final Round.

1:13

I heard it. Marty Robbins and I were talking to Stephen Bowden about, ah, TPF coming up, ah, Deep Root Release, ah, Stern Pro Circuit, 0 for 3. Had Levy Naiman on talking about New York City Pinball Championship. Swing and a miss. I'm glad we're talking on this podcast and not the other one, or else whatever we talked about would be doomed to fail. No, no, no, no. Pinball Profile Karma, final round. Let's be honest. We're all about sponsorships on that show, all right? We're just about raking money. The content's all secondary. I heard Rolex is out of business after you guys started pinballing. No, no, no. If the sponsors do well, our topics maybe not so much. Well, let's talk about the big news with IFPA, and it happened last week. it was that you made the decision, and I'm sure it was a difficult one, I believe it was the correct one to make, in which there'll be no sanctioning of pinball events from now until the end of March. And again, that date might move forward once we hear more information from CDC and other places. So tell us how that came about, how difficult it was, who you were in touch with, all the goodies, Josh. It was definitely difficult. I think depending on the perspective of how you feel about pinball, I know the first person to bring up doing something like this was Zach, actually. And this was right after we had canceled the Stern Pro Circuit and things were obviously, I mean, every 24 hours, it's like some new level of hell or whatever. And I mean, we had a conversation where the Stern Pro Circuit wasn't canceled. And then 24 hours later, it was canceled. So, you know, extending that and Zach's interest in doing that globally, I was under the impression of like, I don't know, believing in humanity more than most or more than I probably should. that I assumed that most people would follow their local laws, do whatever their local recommendations, do whatever they can to put safety first. And it was clear to me that that was not happening based on some things, you know, reading on Facebook and Zach had posed this. We have a Slack channel that Zach and Adam Becker and myself are in, along with the Women's Advisory Board. and we just hashed it out for it must have been a couple of days of just not knowing you know what kind of statement we wanted to make as a global organization where there's there's places on earth where this is a huge issue like italy ahead of everyone else and places on earth at the time that we were discussing that things were fine you know new zealand you know is one example because we ended up also discussing with the country directors and people had various takes on what was happening in their area. And at what point is it worth us stepping in without feeling like, you know, for better or worse, we're kind of an American or North American, at least, centric organization. So for us to be making, I mean, you just brought it up when you said, you know, we'll look at what the CDC has to say. And it's like, well, that's an American organization here? What about the World Health Organization globally? Like, it's hard to follow the whole world, right, in terms of the impact this is having. So it was tough, but I think we made the right call, ultimately, just seeing and we got the best feedback that I got in something that I didn't realize was that leaving it to the, you know, our first announcement was leaving it to the tournament directors to decide what they wanted to do and trying to push for people to respect that decision. So if people wanted to play, but the organizer didn't, you know, don't come with pitchforks to the organizer to burn his house down. Yeah, I saw that on the homepage. Yeah. And that was sort of like, you know, I think this is enough. You know, people will respect those that have the, you know, it's like everything we do. The tournament directors are sort of the ones in power for running events. You know, we sanction their events, but they're still in charge. So leaving it to them made the most sense of like, hey, tournament organizers, depending on their area and following their local recommendations, you know, they'll figure it out and use their guidance. Yeah, you know what, I got to tell you, when you posted that, it made me think because I'm either involved, an executive position, or a participant in four different leagues here in southwestern Ontario. And I think I was the first in each of those to suggest maybe we should postpone leagues and any events that we got And I know you know at first some people were like chicken little here but you were seeing where this was going And I just thought to myself yeah sure I love to play pinball but kind of want to live through this And that's an exaggeration. I don't really want to get sick right now. I don't want to infect others. I don't want to be around others. I had League coming over to my house. I didn't want people coming to my house. It's now Wednesday. Except for my kids, no one's been in my house. And it's my wife, my kids. That's it. We let the dog out. and not leaving the place. And therefore, I don't want people coming to my place either, or be in those type of public areas with a lot of people. The one thing that we learned was like, so for someone like you, you know, in a decision making role of like, are we running stuff or not was the the most emails I got were from organizers that were like, thank you for making this decision. So I didn't have to, because, you know, for every organizer that really didn't want to do it, if you have a group of players that really do want to do it, you start like, oh man, I mean, it's like, am I here to serve them? And now I'm doing something I don't want to do. There's a lot of pressure of like, if the players didn't want to do the right thing and the organizer did, now you're kind of an ass. And it's like, I'm really just trying to do the best thing for everyone. And if you have a group of players that don't agree with you, you know, it makes for just really bad situations. So it was nice for us. And I think I had responded in one of the Facebook comments or something about it that like, it's amazing to me to see the dedication that people have to Whoppers and the term Whopperitis. Now it's the Whopper virus that people were literally excited about the opportunity to jump up in standings for their state or province because they heard that everyone else wasn't playing. and the idea of that to me is just like mind-blowing of like trying to sneak in as much as you can while everyone else is dark well i was lucky and our leagues were lucky because everyone was on board with the postponement so that was very nice of the people i participate with it was it was nice to see them come to that decision i saw others and i have friends too that were just adamant no we're gonna be fine and it kind of broke my heart a little bit so yes you did make it easier for those type of people do you know what it reminded me of you told me this story years ago and i can't remember i want to say it's 2012 i could be off but you told me a story once about the ifpa world championships in denver in which i believe the roof might have had some issues and oh yeah when it caved in there was water leaking on the machines or certainly the cables and you're like you got to stop playing or you will die people would not stop playing yeah yeah it's it's yeah it's the passion man the passion for this game knows no boundaries listen i play in a lot of tournaments i travel all over i certainly love this whole competitive pinball scene and the social aspects of it too you and i know december january has come along i'm like oh come on i think i can make it i think i can do it i think i can qualify for the world championships if it was 17 and then you find out in january you make it i'm like yeah yeah let me just tell you in the last week and a half I couldn't give two you-know-whats about that. I don't even care about points depleting. Who cares? There are bigger picture things right now, but you, again, made that decision easier for others. Although, you know, there's certainly some side effects to that. I know governments have stepped in with banning certain size groups in certain areas, but you had to feel for the arcade owners and the operators when you came to a decision like that. It definitely, it sucks. I mean, the entire, just talking with Zach, the entire Stern Army program, that's whatever, 200 locations globally that are all about location pinball, bringing groups of people. Pretty much all the do not list for this virus is really what the Stern Army is all about. And it's going to be interesting to see what the other side of this looks like, you know, for the industry. That stretches to my work being the Dave & Buster's of the world and Stern and Pinball's location-based gaming and barcades. What does that all look like after this? We've had such a nice resurgence over the last few years with the quality of games, the manufacturers, people like yourself at Raw Thrills. Let's not gloom and doom everything. I mean, right now we're probably in a four- to eight-week halt zone. Dave and Buster's is only down like 85% in the last month. Yeah, not too much doom and gloom. They're almost to zero. It's unbelievable. I get that. But also, too, everyone is in that same boat. And it depends on how you were set up, I guess, before something like this happens. You know, there are many, many people in the bar and restaurant industry that are month to month, and they are going to suffer the most. and there's the liquidity problems too that some of these companies are going to have. We're going to see some government relief. We know that it's going to be difficult for a lot of people. It hits everyone down the line. I mean, if you look at companies like Rothrills and like Stern, they're selling, at least on the commercial side, you're selling capital investments for people who are going to use that to make money. And for these companies that are hopefully, some are not going to make it, some are going to hold on. At the other side of this, the moment that the lights get turned back on, that's great that those places can start earning money. How much money do they have to earn before they start buying new equipment again? You know what I mean? I mean, at some point, a place that has a Dave & Buster's location that has 100 games in it, their first action might be, let's sell 30 of these games to raise a bunch of money to continue operations. And you know they a long way from hey let spend 15 grand on this new game You know it For us it definitely you know we pretty spooked right now about how long it going to last and what the other side of it going to look like It's certainly a matter of managing expenses right now. The problem is it's getting those receivables and payables and all those other things you have to worry about. You know, how many parts do you have on order before this came in to make your great games at Raw Thrills? Who are you going to sell it to, Jeff? Well, that's for the government to decide. We are not the government. We are just these fine individuals who care about pinball. We're the presidents, Jeff. Well, I love that you said that. Listen, you are the official one. I'm just the people's president. I am in the Slack channel, and you're not. So, yeah, that does. I've asked not to be it. I've asked. Listen to this interview. Every time you hear buzz, that's you getting stuck. I'm good. You got your phone on do not disturb, and it's still buzzing off. It's still breaking through. Yeah, I'm good. Yeah, right now is the time to certainly care about others. We're concerned about our families and things like that. But the IFPA has come to some tough decisions. We talked about the Stern Pro Circuit final. There are other events, a lot in Europe, certainly have been canceled prior to this. New York City canceled TPF and, again, recording this on March 18th. Who knows between now and the time this airs. And Allentown pushed back, right, to like June? Yeah. So, fingers crossed these come again.

13:14

I mean, you have to assume that they will, because if they don't, then whatever we're talking about doesn't really matter because we're all dead. Stop it. Come on, man. Pre-presidential. Do I have to teach you everything? I'm being just like our president. Fake news, man. This virus, it's nothing. Yeah, exactly. Anyway. Wow, I thought Levy was the only guy going to bag on the president, but all right. Teach their own. Freedom of speech, I'm all for it. But I guess the thing to know about these Stern Pro Circuit events that are being postponed, and other ones too, some of them try to get on the Stern Pro Circuit, and it's kind of the top 20 events with the best three-year average. Yes. So if their event is missed, they're not going to be punished by taking a zero for 2020. So that will help those people that are trying to remain on the Stern Pro Circuit. Can you elaborate on that? Yeah, so not only will their average not be impacted by having a zero for the calendar year, but any event that is not run this year will get a hall pass to the 2021 season. That's great. Assuming there is a 2021 season, Jeff. Oh, for God's sakes. I guess since there isn't a 2020 season, have you enabled the streaming selfie league or the pinball arcade on your iPad or PS4 whoppers? We're going to have to think outside the box. Maybe at some point. I think we're far away from that. I mean, we have, what, literally three years from March 16th until, or I guess three years until everything decays to zero. So we'll have a ranking system for three more years and then everyone will be at nothing. And then maybe we'll start doing the virtual stuff because at that point, yeah, I mean, I think even Becker would be bored not handling anything for three years. I know he's happy today to be caught up on everything. But, yeah, you know, I feel like we have a good system and we will evolve with however the world evolves with pinball. Well, I imagine Becker's busy in the sense that people are submitting for future events and future leagues and things like that. Not really. I mean, how do you know when your season's going to start, man? Well, I'm talking like November or something like that. Yeah, most people don't submit with that. Most people submit... 31 days before? No, I was going to say, no. Most of the time it's like, oh, I forgot that X month only had 30 days. Or February is always the killer because it was 29 days this year, but normally it's 28. And it's like, oh, I missed it. Most people are usually in that 28 to 29 day window asking for an excuse, an exception to be accepted. As of today, which is March 18th, the time we're recording this, IFPA 17 is coming up in Fort Myers, Florida. It is the end of May. But who knows what's going to happen. So we could be dead, Jeff. Jesus. By the end of May. You know, I've played this pretty straight. You know, I usually have taken shots at you nonstop on every episode you've ever been. I've been the straight guy here trying to relax the constituents. I'm just trying to put pinball in perspective. Like saying we're all going to die. That's great. How many times have you watched the movie Contagion since this started? Oh, my God. I had to turn it off after 20 minutes. I was like, oh. Zach asked if I was going to rewatch it. I said I rewatched the trailer, and that was enough for me. Yeah, that was a tough one to watch. Oof, yeah. Where do we stand right now, IFPA 17, here on March 18th? March 18th, we are currently talking with the hosts and IFPA staff on contingency plans. We'd be stupid to not begin those discussions, but we have not canceled it as of yet. I think the timing we're looking into at the end of this month, it's eight weeks away, which I still think is a decent amount of time for people to be able to book their travel if somehow, you know, the world turns a corner and everything's wonderful. But, I mean, if I had to bet, I would bet it's going to be canceled just based on how things are trending as I'm watching the news right now on mute while we're talking that, you know, we're up 30% day over day of people being diagnosed. You used the word cancel, not postponed? Oh, yeah, postponed, not canceled. You know, with this time working from home, maybe you can check a Webster Dictionary or the source Yeah this working from home is going to be a disaster Three kids dad dad i bored i bored yeah i did i came home early a couple of days ago for uh one of our engineers to he was working through setting me up at home so i got home early so i could start that process and literally i was able to to send a picture to amanda of all three kids in the office with me while she was somewhere else in the house and it's like this is going really well yeah this whole like pretend like i'm not here so not cancel postpone is what you're looking at if that should come to be yeah i would guess if things do get postponed i know that zach and i are in florida for iapa leading into free play florida every year so i've brought up you know moving it in conjunction with that time frame which would save me a trip one hall pass it would save a few people It's a hall pass, man. Yeah, that's a good point. Which you know who really, the super president of the IFPA is my wife. Oh, yeah, for sure. So she's like, that sounds like a great time to do it. True or false, the state and provincial finals always happen on the third week in January in conjunction with your wife's birthday. In conjunction with not my, making sure it's not my wife's. That's my point. You usually celebrate the fourth week, so that gives you the third weekend to have that hall pass. See, actually, like the way the calendar works, it's always weird what that third Saturday can like date range between like whatever the 14th and the 27th or however that works. What's her birthday? So hers is the 28th. You're safe the third week. Yeah, but I think I actually got to because Carl always gets annoyed when I pick, you know, when Amanda picks whatever state's day is. And Carl's just like, God damn it, when they're trying to plan in disc. And I actually gave Carl two weekend choices for states. And I told him, Amanda says you can pick it. Which one do you want? And he picked the one that was better for Indus. I think there's a gap.