The best sponsor for pool?

Mcdonalds, okay. That's not thinking outside the box, that's just picking the name of one of the world's biggest brands out of the hat. Could have said pepsi or coke.

McDonalds bankrolling pool is a nice idea, but what's in it for them? Why would they get involved with a PPV pool event when they can sponsor something that people can watch for free?

Honestly, McDonalds don't need brand awareness, and if they want to bump up sales they release a new burger and do some advertising.

Here's an old, but interesting, article from the UK about why McDonalds sponsor sports. You might be surprised at the reasons.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11332724

Persuade Matchroom Sports/Barry Hearn to take over pool = problem solved, end of story. :thumbup:

marek said:

Persuade Matchroom Sports/Barry Hearn to take over pool = problem solved, end of story. :thumbup:

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You know besides the MC and the WCoP he used to run the World Championships. Under BH it grew to be the top title in the world. Then the WPA started watering it down with other "World" titles and BH bailed. I wish Barry and Darren Appleton would team-up. As of today they might be the ONLY two people with the passion, experience and the know-how to pull-off some sort of "world" tour.

The very best suggestion in my view was: Make it an olympic event. But, as we all know it's not going to happen. Unless some industry tycoon or IOC member was a huge pool fan and promoted this idea.

Another way would only be to make pool interesting for the masses - like the Mosconi Cup. The problem with that is, however, that the way quite a few players behave there is not attractive for tv stations. F*bombs and rude behavior just are not their kind of idea. Plus, the MC would have to be an all-nations contest.

The McD idea is not bad. However, PPV is not really too attractive - at least not over here in Europe and if it's not soccer or Formula 1 - no chance. I don't think you would get so many more people to sign up for PPV even if that McD thing would happen. If you would put up prizes instead, like pool cues, pool gloves, ball sets, a Diamond table for first prize and so on - this might just be a little more attractive. But I believe you would have to provide all those prizes to McD and getting any money out of their meals would be a pipe dream. They might even ask you to bring some extra money. At least until you finally established pool as a sought-after recreational sport. Which would take quite a while.

Another great thing would be to have background pool on the tv sets in McD restaurants. Like the famous Chris Manning runout. Spectacular Efren magic. And so on. But you would probably have to pay McD for that - they currently show terrible hip-hop-pop-whatever instead.

If you, RKC, have a buddy owning 150 stores, things might be slightly different. That man with a love for pool might do something. But I seriously doubt that a regular McD CEO would show much interest.

All you could hope for is some Warren Buffet-style person with a love for pool started to get pool into tv by staging a world championship or something. A one-time investment wouldn't help unless you set the stage for further interest. And that would mean to get pool back into ESPN, Eurosport or other tv channels. Like snooker. Once it's there for more than a single event, it would take off.

Finding the person to get it in there is the tough part, though.

Off topic: The GI crime thing in Europe is not true. Sure, there were some cases publicized here many years ago and they made the big news. It was not a case of bad GI's committing horrible crimes, though. Rather, horrible crimes are still relatively rare compared to the US over here. Very little gun violence, not a lot of rape-murders and so on. So those cases still make the news over here, occasionally. Yes, there is regular crime like husbands murdering their wives and so on, but the really spectacular bloody things are still rarer than they are in the US. And those cases almost always make the news, no matter who the perpetrator was. I haven't heard of a GI case in years now but then I don't follow those kinds of news a lot. The "Yellow Press" mostly reports on that kind of thing. But there is some crime in there always. 90% of the stories in those papers is crap anyhow - sort of like the National Enquirer.

On tv, only spectacular crime gets coverage.

realkingcobra said:

To straighten the sport of pool out, it don't involve McDonald's until AFTER it's been straightened out, is organized, Pro players are identified internationally on a TOP 16 player list first. Playing under one set of Pro rules, that enhance the sport, not hold it back or cripple it so that players that have no business representing this sport have a chance to play because they feel they're entitled to. And to tell you the truth, all it takes to represent this sport is the top 16 players all getting paid to start the beginning of change, and for the first time in the history of this game, represent it as true PROFESSIONALS, and this sport will continue to grow internationally as one body of Professuonal players! Then when someone comes on AZB and asks how long it takes to become a Pro, they'll be able to see what skills are needed.
And one thing is for certain, you do NOT make the Pros play against all the amateurs in the world just so they can squeeze out something that looks like a living just so the amateurs can get their rocks off being able to play against them for their cheap entertainment.

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You're giving these "true professionals" FAR more more credit than anyone i've EVER heard. This great "coming together"(of 16 players. LMFAO at this) to represent the game as true professionals is a pipe dream. You know what they're gonna say? SHOW ME THE MONEY. That's ALL they care about. You think PGA tour players really give a rats a^* about "growing the game" of golf? Hell no. Its ALL about the $$$$$. You think 16 players(its still laughable) will all come together and be the bedrock of some pie-in-the-sky pool tour? If there's anyway you could run this by Barry Hearn i'd almost pay to hear/see his response.

PhilosopherKing said:

You're putting the cart before the horse.

Pool would have to be on par with the NBA or MLB before McD's would ever agree to a deal like that.

Realistically, why would McDonald's agree to give a hypothetical "$1" from every #1 meal to pool when pool will bring in probably less than one percent of those #1 sales... That dollar must be close to 15 percent of the menu price.

Sorry, but it's pie-in-the-sky.

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Pie-n-the sky with whipped cream on top!!

The best thing that could happen with pool in this country would be to make it an interscholastic sport, played in high schools everywhere, just like tennis and golf is currently. Having the facilities for pool is far less expensive than those other sports. An ordinary classroom will suffice for space and a couple of tables is not a big expense. Cue sticks and other equipment is also inexpensive. Will it ever happen, who knows. Probably for that to happen, pool would have to have a real professional tour so that young people have something to aspire to.

Now back to the original subject. What is the best sponsor for pool? IMO the answer is obvious - a shoe company like Nike or Addidas. After all we are on our feet all day playing the game. The trick is finding a way to reach that company (through their advertising agency) and sell them on the concept. To do that you would need a business plan with a televised tour in place. Not so easy is it?

I've been down that road and had an opportunity to make overtures to a couple of large companies (Coca-Cola was one of them) but ultimately they decided against investing in pool. All I had was a business plan with nothing else in place. Richie Florence had Budweiser kicking in 25K per event back in the 80's but the pool players shot themselves in the foot when they opted not to sign television releases for his last event, held at Caesars Palace. The show on ESPN never aired and Richie was out of business. The Camel Pro Tour came along in the 90's and the players at that time hitched their wagon to the Don Mackey cart and his greed ultimately ended that relationship, just when Camel was ready to step it up a notch with bigger events.

Then in the 2000's along came Kevin Trudeau, selling dreams of glory to players everywhere. It was all well and good for exactly two events but in event number three the lies and non payments began. Trudeau showed his true colors and did his best to stiff the players for two years before finally agreeing to a payment plan of 9% a month until they were paid in full. That ended up stretching out for a year and a half until they finally got all the money owed them. What few people knew is that Trudeau only paid under the duress of severe restrictions, civil penalties and even criminal prosecution.

So when given the opportunities of the last thirty years the players have failed themselves on two occasions and got hoodwinked in the other. Maybe the last was their karma.

BINGO!!!

Look at bowling. Junior programs, high school sports, collegiate programs, national amateur programs, international competitions. And 20 years ago, the US professional tour had one foot in the grave, but they managed to bring it back.

jay helfert said:

The best thing that could happen with pool in this country would be to make it an interscholastic sport, played in high schools everywhere, just like tennis and golf is currently. Having the facilities for pool is far less expensive than those other sports. An ordinary classroom will suffice for space and a couple of tables is not a big expense. Cue sticks and other equipment is also inexpensive. Will it ever happen, who knows. Probably for that to happen, pool would have to have a real professional tour so that young people have something to aspire to.

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so now all we need is a pro tour...

realkingcobra said:

No to bad, but the real question is who's the sponsor?

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After reading your McDonalds proposals, I'll stick with my original answer of NOBODY.

I can think outside the box enough to imagine that McDonalds could be interested in a sponsorship for an established professional billiard tour. Now all you need is an established professional billiard tour. And that discussion is way more maddening than trying to come up with a sponsor for said imaginary tour.

Chico’s Bail Bonds.

Sponsor - doesn't matter who just matters that it's sponsored. The Champions League (European Soccer Club Championship) used to be sponsored by Continental -a company that makes car tires!

1) Matchroom/ Barry Hearn or similar mindset to what pool can do for them and what they can do for pool.,

2) Olympics - snooker, one version of carom and one version of pool under the umbrella of billiards. If they want in they will get in. Snooker doesn't need in (but - neither did football/soccer, golf or professional basketball), pool does and carom is carom. But they would all benefit big time, especially pool.

And yep you need the pro tour to drive the sponsorship. No pro tour no sponsorship.

Swighey said:

And yep you need the pro tour to drive the sponsorship. No pro tour no sponsorship.

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That's very true. No one is going to step up and sponsor something there being a true Pro Tour.

cars to the rescue

The auto industry would get the biggest bang for their buck. GM sells cars all over the world and would be my pick since Fast Eddie had the white Caddie. a commercial with Shane, Alex, and Efren fishing with Efren catching the biggest fish. Remember Efren beating Rodney for pools biggest prize ever. Shane loves Caddilacs and so does his gramps. The Voice, andAmerican Idol have Toyota, and Ford. Golf and Arnie and Caddies and Why not pool. Pool has the biggest base worldwide of any sport. My mom is Ninety and likes to play, God bless the Pool Players.....:thumbup:

garczar said:

You know besides the MC and the WCoP he used to run the World Championships. Under BH it grew to be the top title in the world. Then the WPA started watering it down with other "World" titles and BH bailed. I wish Barry and Darren Appleton would team-up. As of today they might be the ONLY two people with the passion, experience and the know-how to pull-off some sort of "world" tour.

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Darts and snooker have done well from the relationship. They are still fairly small fry in the grand scheme of things - your average joe might know Ronnie O'Sullivan and Phil Taylor but unless you are either a fan of the game, a fan of all sports on TV or some unlucky uninterested woman (or occasionally man) shacked up with a lover of those games then you are unlikely to recognise or even know the names of any of the other players. Still, that small fry would be great - minority sport that gets on TV regularly, makes its top pros a very good living, gets the occasional channel hopping sports fan (who has undoubtedly played some kind of pool on some kind of table in some kind of pub) watching the game and reflecting on it, and generally just being there on the telly now and then.

A pro tour where pros don't pay to play? At the moment it sounds like a 1950s housewife's dream of having a machine to do some of her work.

realkingcobra said:

I have a very strong feeling everyone's going to be way off base on their answers, but here's the question anyway.

Who is the greatest SPONSOR Professional pool could ever hope to land that could afford to turn the top Professional's into million dollar earners?

This should be good, so lets see what kind of ideas people come up with, which may indicate why pool isn't already at the level it should have been at a while ago.

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Jeff Livingston