Apparently only 1 country bid for next WTC: Belgium (the same people that organized the first Warmachine/Hordes WTC 4 years ago)
Now the questions by the WTC committee are as follows:
Now, attached to the mail was a short bullet point presentation of the probably location and related costs:We need to hear back from your players on two points:
1. Are there any major concerns about the 2017 bid?
2. This is the 2nd year in a row where only one nation has put forward bids for the following year's event. The Committee is concerned about the long term prospects for the events and so are looking at structuring the host system in a different way. We want your players' feedback on two possible options:
A. Should the event become smaller so that it is easier to find nations willing to host the event? This would mean only 32 teams and a 32 man Solo Masters.
B. Would it be acceptable to your players to have the event in the same location over a period of 3 years? The idea is that by letting one logistics team be able to plan for a 3 year deal, they would be able to recover their costs more readily and secure better deals with hotels, etc.
C. Other ideas to attract bids are welcome.
Please have your responses back to us by August 3rd (Wednesday in 2 weeks). Thank you.
Location:
Floréal Club Blankenberge
Koning Albert I laan 59
8370 Blankenberge
Belgium
This hotel/resort is on the northern edge/coast of Belgium, so it is roughly the same driving distance as Amsterdam for us (if we road trip it), but it is a bit less accessible by airplane (since the closest international airports seem to be Brussels and Lille (in France).
The expected price per team is 1050 Eu (so 210 Eu per player) and includes 6x meals (Dinner on the Friday, 3 meals on Saturday and 2 meals on Sunday) and coverst the stay for 2 nights (Friday and Saturday night). Supposedly sleeping over there on Sunday can be arranged for roughly 65 Eu per person.
That said the organizing team there claims the location could accommodate up to 600 players, if there was enough interest to expand in successive years.
What do you guys think?
Personally I'd prefer if the WTC stayed at 64 teams, so that there is a wider pool of teams, while I don't have any major problem with the idea of having the WTC in the same location for the next 2-3 years in a row if it allows for the event organizers to get better deals with hotels and keep it properly large. The projected event price in Belgium is just slightly higher than this year's (20 Eu more per person) but the road trip should take more or less the same as this year's, so I am fine with it.
What do you guys think about it? (this is directed to anybody that has any interest to maybe try and participate in WTCs in future years, not just this year's team members)
