[MeanGene]

The only way I see this working is if Harrah's adds A LOT of cash to the final-table prize pool. You're asking people to pick up and leave their lives again two months after the fact--not a big deal for a poker pro, but perhaps a substantial burden for a cardiologist who lives in Australia. Some folks do have responsibilities they can't easily abandon, not even for ten million bucks.

What if a player can't make it two months later? They break their back skiing? They get shingles? They get busted for solicitation (again) and have to spend some time in the pokey? Let's not even think about the possibility that a player might die in the interim. I don't think seeing the chip leader get blinded off for seven hours would make for compelling television.

I'd have to think that the final table players would all receive SOME prize money before the 60-day hiatus--maybe they'd each get the 9th place amount. What happens to the interest on the rest of the prize money? Certainly that's not going to be a huge amount, but that money should of course go to the players. But that's a minor quibble.

I don't really see how the WSOP final table could compare to shows like American Idol or Dancing With the Stars. Those shows do a great job of turning unknown performers, over a period of weeks and months, into people the audience cares about deeply. I don't see how the audience could ever form that sort of emotional connection to the players at the WSOP final table. And the WSOP Main Event is really the only tournament that could possibly be a big enough stage to pull it off.

It's an interesting idea, it's thinking outside the box and that should be applauded. How practical it is, or how successful a live broadcast would be...I'm not so sure.