Diamond bar tables are the only major change in the past 20 years, that and real estate prices have both pushed out a lot of the 9 ft tables with what pool rooms still exist. Before that casinos and after that what action wasn't stealing already that wasn't ruined was completely gone after Fargo became established. Once the action dried up then stakehorses would follow and surely a small % of their staking was to tournaments even if the primary objective for attending was action.
There's not even half as many players in the 30 - 40 range as are in the 40 - 50 range and the 20 - 30 age range is gonna be even less. What if SVB was 21 years old in 2026, would he still be an 800 Fargo player in 5 years or a US Open champion?? He'd have virtually zero action to get seasoned on although tournaments would be plentiful but he was a gambler before he was a dominant force in major tourneys.
The US needs to copy Europe/Taiwan for player development and the Philippines for seasoning as both seem to work quite well with completely different approaches that have similar results for dozens of top tier players.
