. . . according to Harrah’s Sports and Entertainment Director of Communications Seth Palansky. Palansky appeared on Gary Wise’s podcast Wise Hand Poker (the 11/19/08 episode) to talk about various subjects, including doing a little post-mortem of the delayed WSOP Main Event final table and broadcast.
As the pair discussed various promotional opportunities — as well as the distractions of the economic crises and presidential election that punctuated those last couple of weeks prior to the final table — Palansky stated how he had some news to break on Wise’s show. Per Kevmath’s transcription:
SP: We had a player booked on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, they chose not to do it.
GW: Are we allowed to ask which player it was?
SP: I don\’t want to name names and get into that for anyone. We also had the Ellen DeGeneres show booked with another player, who chose not to do it.
GW: Why were these players choosing not to do these shows?
SP: That\’s something that the players and their agents and advisors, etc. that should be in the position to answer.
Palansky goes on to express a concern that the unnamed players didn’t seize the opportunities to appear on the mainstream shows. They’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities that get presented to them, said Palansky. And it\’s unfortunate that in situations where we had a successful pitch and an opportunity for our players to be on that national stage, they chose not to.
Discussion has ensued on the 2+2 forum (where Kevmath’s transcription of the pertinent passages, unabridged, can be found).
