Non-Profit Cue Sports Clubs: Feasible or not?
- Thread starter risky biz
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I know of several situations in which players have pooled resources, rented a space, and bought tables to have their own place to play. It depends on rent and how many members you can find and satisfy. They seem to work.
What seems to be dying for the most part are clubs like the Elks and such which are having a really hard time finding new, young members.
Obviously you'll find you need a minimum x number of members to make the monthlies, AND that number will have to be constant. It's worth a try but you have to make sure you have an exit strategy and don't get left with the bills.
It's really high risk on it's own, and then you have upkeep. I think if the big bills don't kill you, you might find the small stuff piling up. Like how clean will it be kept and will it start to look like cr@p in a few months. What if half the members want to smoke - that is a very strong possibility. Then you end up with half the membership getting po'd at the other and quitting, and as you know pool players get po'd real quickly real easily. Will everyone accept authority, or will the members all think they have equality so screw what anyone thinks. There's attrition. There's no way you keep membership up unless you get absolute loyal patrons of the game. Obviously, the big problem is the balancing act with the members.
And that's just off the top of my head. I knew a guy who owned a room in Northridge, Ca near the college. After that, he toyed with the club idea but it never went further. Trying this sounds really weird to me because the US of A is a capitalist country and you're basically toying with the idea of some kind of communal endeavor....it's like pool communism
. And I'm sorry, it might be some bias talking but every impression I get about communal anything, be it food marts or poor artists banding together or just living is like some kind of half-@ssed unprofessional warehouse environment.
It's really high risk on it's own, and then you have upkeep. I think if the big bills don't kill you, you might find the small stuff piling up. Like how clean will it be kept and will it start to look like cr@p in a few months. What if half the members want to smoke - that is a very strong possibility. Then you end up with half the membership getting po'd at the other and quitting, and as you know pool players get po'd real quickly real easily. Will everyone accept authority, or will the members all think they have equality so screw what anyone thinks. There's attrition. There's no way you keep membership up unless you get absolute loyal patrons of the game. Obviously, the big problem is the balancing act with the members.
And that's just off the top of my head. I knew a guy who owned a room in Northridge, Ca near the college. After that, he toyed with the club idea but it never went further. Trying this sounds really weird to me because the US of A is a capitalist country and you're basically toying with the idea of some kind of communal endeavor....it's like pool communism
. And I'm sorry, it might be some bias talking but every impression I get about communal anything, be it food marts or poor artists banding together or just living is like some kind of half-@ssed unprofessional warehouse environment.
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Trying this sounds really weird to me because the US of A is a capitalist country and you're basically toying with the idea of some kind of communal endeavor....it's like pool communism
Aren't there private pool and snooker clubs in Europe and England? They've been eating our lunch lately.
Yes, very obviously, the membership is the key factor. I guess I really wanted to see what players in the US thought was the possibility of a stable membership that was sustainable.
I don't think it's possible at all where there are plenty of rooms. Players will refuse to be tied to one room by paying the costs upfront even if it would lower costs in the long run.
It would be more attractive where there are less or no rooms. You'd have to locate prospective members by advertising. And, then, if there are a limited number of tables everyone is going to want to park on them all day because they "already paid".