Wow seriously? Mark hasn't gotten anything right yet?
Please. This man is one of the few who have been directly responsible for keeping pool alive in the United States.
Have some respect.
Mosconi Cup, Team USA, the real problem still exists.
- Thread starter Celtic
- Start date
Wow seriously? Mark hasn't gotten anything right yet?
Please. This man is one of the few who have been directly responsible for keeping pool alive in the United States.
Have some respect.
I agree with one thing. He is directly responsible for how alive pro pool is.
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On a scale of 1-10 he gets a 2 rating from me, 10 being a great promoter. And don't mention Showtime or Spike, it only reminds me that CSI can't get TV coverage at all, or good sponsors, or generate fans period with a invitational that has some, I repeat SOME, of today's best players. The world champ isn't there but never mind that. But it's not his fault there are only 16 pros and we all know that only the hard cores will pay to see them right?! In fact pool itself is to blame right, not the promoting?!
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This is just a dumb statement. I don't think Mark is the total angel that some paint him out to be, nor he is trying to help pool strictly out of the kindness of his heart as some naively believe (this is a business and is about making money, although I'm certain his love for the sport is a part of his motivation too), but there is zero doubt whatsoever that pool is better off with Mark in it than it would be if he weren't. What would be left in terms of American pro events if Mark weren't involved? Not much. He has done far more good than harm and it isn't even remotely close.
what does that even mean?
Thats your opinion and you might be correct but I'm not so sure that pool would not be better off without him. It seems to me like he creates a lot of sh@t but it is business right. I don't like the guy but I'll shut up now because there ain't nothing going to change.
Satori? You feeling ok? What's with all the hate?
And why does the state of pool fall on the back of one promoter alone?
No mention of promoters who fail to pay out? No mention of IPT or The Drunken Monkey? No mention of pseudo promoters who promise sponsorships for juniors and then bail with no notice? No mention of the promoters who shit all over ESPN? No mention of players who dump, save, and wager against their own country in international matches?
Have you ever heard the story of Griffin trying to unite the various BCA factions, but to no avail?
I'm sorry that you are bitter towards CSI but in this case, I think your concerns are slightly misdirected. Mark is no saint, and I'm sure he'd be the first to tell you that, but this notion that they are somehow to blame for the state of pool is a little silly.
No other "promoter" bothered to deal with ESPN?
We had thousands of international hours of ESPN in the 90s and always had a great relationship with ESPN. Matt Braun continued to do 'The Challenge of Champions' for a number of years, although he couldn't do it forever on his own - and no other "promoter" bothered to deal with ESPN? Pool is certainly not to blame, it's still one of the greatest TV games IF it's presented properly like Poker, MMA, and Boxing.
We had thousands of international hours of ESPN in the 90s and always had a great relationship with ESPN. Matt Braun continued to do 'The Challenge of Champions' for a number of years, although he couldn't do it forever on his own - and no other "promoter" bothered to deal with ESPN? Pool is certainly not to blame, it's still one of the greatest TV games IF it's presented properly like Poker, MMA, and Boxing.
And Spike TV is pretty popular. Folks like drama. Earl brings that in spades. Pool needs a bad boy, just like every sport. Tennis did OK with McEnroe. Gold did alright with Daley and Woods. Football did all right with their teams full of felons. The NBA did ok with Rodman and a few other "characters".
There is more entertainment choices right now than ever before on TV. Just watching pool, by non pool players is NEVER gonna work. There needs to be a "catch" or "gimmick" of some kind. Something that makes them tune in again and again, till they finally go out and play the game themselves.
Come for the theater, stay for the game
Pool is and always has been filler programing. They don't make much airing it, but it's something. It's perfect for afternoon tv at a bar. Just how it is. I work for a sports network and know what's up.
ESPN The Ocho
1990 ESPN aka “ESPN the Toddler” broadcast pool because they hadn’t proven themselves as a big broadcast company yet. They had limited contracts to the real sports, but grew away throughout the 90s. It has grown up and has a different programming direction. Pool NOT being a big part of it has less to do with promoters or players as it does with market share. The game isn’t that popular, it’s not the NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA, NASCAR, FIFA, Tennis, Poker or ….. It’s probably as popular as surfing or beach volleyball and gets the consequential amount over coverage. Nah, not true, some of those sports are popular and get x-games coverage. Think of it like ESPN climbing stairs, Pool happened to be one of the first couple of steps. Now they’re at the top.
I don’t believe the BS about marketing in differently – if someone had the secret marketing to make pool something more than it is, it would be. But it’s not. If we want to watch pool from wherever – INVEST in our streamers – they do a fantastic job. Maybe the more that we invest in them, the more popularity we will gain.
Last part of the rant - a commissioner for a sport drives the sport, choses the direction, how fast, how much, etc. Pick from the list above, until you get to Poker, each have a person or group that is going for a collective goal. Pool is individuals pursuing individual goals to make a living or make their company better off – it’s not a collective goal for pool. I don’t believe that MOST people really care about the sport other than that is where they’ve ended up making their living.
1990 ESPN aka “ESPN the Toddler” broadcast pool because they hadn’t proven themselves as a big broadcast company yet. They had limited contracts to the real sports, but grew away throughout the 90s. It has grown up and has a different programming direction. Pool NOT being a big part of it has less to do with promoters or players as it does with market share. The game isn’t that popular, it’s not the NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA, NASCAR, FIFA, Tennis, Poker or ….. It’s probably as popular as surfing or beach volleyball and gets the consequential amount over coverage. Nah, not true, some of those sports are popular and get x-games coverage. Think of it like ESPN climbing stairs, Pool happened to be one of the first couple of steps. Now they’re at the top.
I don’t believe the BS about marketing in differently – if someone had the secret marketing to make pool something more than it is, it would be. But it’s not. If we want to watch pool from wherever – INVEST in our streamers – they do a fantastic job. Maybe the more that we invest in them, the more popularity we will gain.
Last part of the rant - a commissioner for a sport drives the sport, choses the direction, how fast, how much, etc. Pick from the list above, until you get to Poker, each have a person or group that is going for a collective goal. Pool is individuals pursuing individual goals to make a living or make their company better off – it’s not a collective goal for pool. I don’t believe that MOST people really care about the sport other than that is where they’ve ended up making their living.
Tell me just what game is it better than ,, you can bet your left nut that if it was turning over a good profit they would have found away to keep it going
But when they took over all the other sports from the other channels pool was a after thought at best ,, not that is was much more than that anyway
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What could you possibly know, you're just a hater
(That facebook exchange last night was pretty special, huh?)
Yeah those euros are so LUCKY. If we have to win with a team that acted the way the last one did, I'd rather lose the next 40 of them
Too funny. No offense.... but baseball has history like no other sport. There was no "magic bullet".
Quick, who are the top three all time HR leaders? Who is the first black man to break into baseball? What team did Babe Ruth play for? What baseball player has the longest consecutive game playing streak in all of sports? Where do the Cubs play?
yep, most folks know the answers to these questions, and they never picked up a baseball.
Yet, as I type this, I'm watching the MLB all-star game. Over 40,000 fans paid an average of $50 a ticket to watch an exhibition game. Each player on the All Star team is earning an average of $10M a year. The league average is almost $5M. The league minimum is $400K.
Players are signing long term contracts over $100M. The recently built Target Field in Minnesota cost $400 Million to build. MLB makes Billions per year on their 30 teams, TV contracts, merchandising, advertising, etc.
There is no magic bullet to baseball, and thus why your thinking that a magic bullet is going to help/save/build pool to success is ludicrous.
My kid was glued to the TV last night watching them in the Home Run Derby. Basically, taking batting practice, and another 40K folks showed up to watch, and another 10M turned in to watch on TV.
so, pool folks need to stop comparing pool to mainstream sports, like baseball, football, etc. Bowling was big one time too. Not so much anymore. Pool will never be big, but it does not have to be tot survive... heck, it's been surviving in many forms for the past 400 years, in numerous countries worldwide.
Need to "real eyes" the game is not for everyone, heck, it's not for many at all, and never will be. It is NOT a great sport for TV, it's a terrible sport to watch in person only because you can't fit enough folks close enough to see it. Thus, only less than 40 folks can actually watch it to enjoy it.
And because the shots look easy on TV to the novice, it's not going to capture anyone's imagination like hitting a 500 foot home run or stealing second base, or striking out a guy with the bases loaded. We all know how difficult it is to do what SVB, Earl and the rest can do, but the average fan, it is not very exciting to say the least.
So, I don't see anything changing average folks who don't play the game into investing time or money to watch it... heck, we can't get folks that play the game to do that
You are soooooooo living in the past, media-wise:
It doesn't matter what happened 25 years ago.
It doesn't matter what happened 25 months ago.
And it doesn't matter what happened 25 weeks ago.
Stop being the dinosaur that doesn't know its a dinosaur.
Lou Figueroa
the comet hit
a long time ago
What could you possibly know, you're just a hater
(That facebook exchange last night was pretty special, huh?)
LOL yes it was. But this came out of it and this is spot on and simple epic.
