The American Poolplayers Association (APA) is the largest pool league in the world. It has close to 270,000 members across the United States, Canada, Japan. Franchise Business Review has ranked them among the top small business opportunity.
The sanctioning body for amateur pool competitions in Canada and the United States is APA. They organize major pool tournaments throughout the year, including APA World Pool Championships. Guinness World Records proclaimed the APA World Pool Championships the "World's Largest Pool Tournament" for 2010.
APA also hosts nine-ball or eight-ball tournaments. Each player in an APA team is required to have a membership in APA. Members of other pools associations are also eligible to participate. To join APA, submit a membership application at your local APA League Operator. You will then be interviewed by the President of APA.
Aside from the APA Poolplayer Championships, APA has three other annual championships. These include APA Junior Championships that are open to kids and teens between 7-18 years.
The APA Poolplayer Championships will be held in Las Vegas Nevada. They typically occur in the latter half of April or early May. This tournament gives qualified players the opportunity to compete against poolplayers from around the world.
Several other international tournaments are conducted by APA, including the APA World Pool Championships in Singapore. These tournaments will be organized by APA League Operator franchisees. Qualifying tournaments can be taken part by those who don't qualify to compete at the national stage. Some players refer to the "Equalizer" handicapping system at APA as the "Equalizer". Unlike other tournaments, APA's handicapping system is not based on A-D rankings. Rather, it uses a proprietary system that rates the best 3 scores. An individual may receive more than 3 ratings.
Some APA franchisees may have conflicts of interest. One franchisee was accused of exiling players. APA is entitled to make this determination, but the franchisee has posted in multiple ** groups and recruited players to his area. The franchisee tried to claim that APA had thrown out a few players from his territory.
Many APA League operators have been awarded the coveted APA League operator of the year award. Five of these five operators were recognized at the APA Annual Convention in Las Vegas. One of them was also the only APA site to receive the award twice.
Another reason to consider joining APA is its network of franchise locations. APA is home to more than 270 League Operators from the United States, Canada, Japan and Japan. Some of these locations offer in-house divisions. APA is the largest pool league worldwide, but a local League Operator cannot switch to another league.
APA has a network of over 270,000 members. However, there are more that 270 League Operators who organize tournaments. These locations may be associated with APA and may incur additional costs. Depending on which market the franchisee is in, the franchise fee could include licensing fees as well as equipment and marketing expenses.