From it's rise in popularity (in the U.S.) up until the 1940s and 50s, professional billiards was cultivated, organized, managed and marketed primarily by billiard companies. Brunswick in particular. And then for a short while by the BCA. But neither anymore.
Since that time we have seen a plethora of individual promoters, events and organizations rise and fall. Some do stay a while, but most fail.
Why?
Not enough players out there?
Pool is dead?
Pool players too cheap?
Nobody wants to watch?
No.
Pool is nowhere near dead, as illustrated by the vast number of active leagues, local tours and even large events going on ALL year round. You'd be hard pressed to find a weekend in the U.S. without a tournament going on somewhere.
The money is there too, regardless of how cheap the average pool player might be.
Add up the entry fees of just the major events in the U.S. and you'll find hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent. And tens of thousands more being spent on lodging, gas and food for these events. Pool players as a group spend quite a bit of money.
The problem is, as Brunswick, and ultimately the BCA, stopped managing pro pool, the pro pool pie got splintered into a hundred small pieces. Now, instead of one big successful professional organization, you have a hundred small ones, all with their own ideas and standards, trying to squeak by on the little money they can get.
As Justin and Cleary both wisely pointed out, a successful plan for pro pool will have to, by necessity, involve the "masses" to be able to justify it's own existence. It will not survive on 1/100th of the pool pie.
The least expensive solution, but not the only solution, would be to utilize the league systems and local tours that are already in place. (With some obvious changes)
The venues are already there, the players already play there, the operators and owners already have plenty of players that do not need to be solicited or marketed to, they already love pool, and there are tens of thousands of them all across the land.
(Usually no need for them to travel very far either)
Also, using existing leagues and tours would allow everyone that is currently involved (rooms, operators, etc) to keep their job and keep making the money they are already making. Likewise the average player would not have to spend much more than they already are. This supports the industry at the most grass roots level - the common player and common room owner.
1. Set up a pro players organization with modest dues.
Players answer to a governing body and promoters association.
2. Set up or "fix" the governing body, to set and enforce standards and keep records.
Governing body answers to player's association and promoters association.
3. Set up a promoter's association. (if the governing body isn't promoting events)
Promoters/venue owners answer to players association and governing body.
Governing body establishes standards by which any large enough (non handicapped) amateur league, tour, or event can be "sanctioned" as an official qualifier for a new "American championship".
Perhaps place a limit of 15-20 sanctioned qualifiers to make sure they stay in high demand.
The top winner of each sanctioned league system, tour, or event will qualify to play in a "final championship" against established pros.
These players will also get to "represent" the organization, tour, or event that brought them there. Again, support at the grass roots level.
Then, create a pro pool "season" leading up to the new American championship.
A "pro tour" if you prefer to call it that.
8 "regular season" events, one each month, Feb - Sept.
ALL professionally recorded and broadcast.
(çoming back to this subject in a minute)
In October the final championship will be held. All the qualified players from the league/local tour events, mixed with a handful of the highest top ranked pros from the 8 event tour, to determine a true U.S. champion.
Afterward, only the top handful of winners of the ' final championship' will remain at "pro status" and get to keep playing on the pro tour the following year.
This will allow for players to get "bumped" from the pro tour if they don't place high enough in the end, and for a newbie to take his or her place.
The whole system also allows for any given player, in theory, to go from playing in his or her local bar, to the American championship finals, in one single year, for a minimal investment.
In other words, a real opportunity for the average player to advance thru the ranks and make money as a pro.
------------------------------------------
Publicity and Distribution
To whomever produces the above mentioned "tour" and American Championship, whether it be a governing body of pool, a private individual, or a company:
Whatever you plan to spend on the event(s), you should double that, and plan to spend an equal amount, if not more, on professional production and MARKETING of your broadcast events and championship. After all, this tour could very much bring U.S. pool back into the spotlight if done properly. Likewise proper marketing is one of the few ways to guarantee a return on your investment. I cannot stress this enough.
Simply taping or "streaming" the matches will NOT be enough. The production should be HD, Stereo, graphics and music, aka broadcast quality 100%
There needs to be pre-match and post-match interviews, woofing snippets, promotional commercials on social media, biographic back-stories, player profiles, and an ongoing storyline just like a movie or tv series.
All of this for each of the 8 regular season events, and one championship at the end.
-----------------
Funding?
Prize Pools and Video production costs?
It should be remembered that it takes money to make money. And in the case of pro pool, so much of the proper infrastructure is not there, it will be both time consuming and costly, at first. Not so much once everything is in place.
The players and promoters association and the governing body can and should fund themselves. Cross-funding creates conflict of interest.
This is where the involvement of the "masses" and the leagues etc can really pay off, figuratively and literally.
If, for example, "most" of the major amateur leagues out there decided to get sanctioned, such as the APA, you might easily have 25,000 players involved.
And if, for example, you asked every player to pay a small 5$ registration fee, you'd have $125,000 to work with.
$125K could fund much of the prize funds for the entire pro tour, or could cover video production costs and part of the prize funds.
(ppv)Video coverage of the events can bring some decent revenue as well, as long as its super cheap and marketed heavily, but the bigger money maker is viewership based sponsor money.
How to get tons more viewers overnight and impress the hell out of your potential sponsors? - Even sponsors outside of pool?
Remember the potential 25,000 league and tour players?
Remember the $5 they paid for registration?
In return for the 5$, every registered player and association member, amateur or pro, gets to watch the entire pro tour and championship for free.
Now instead of a few hundred viewers that are mad about how much they paid, you have (potentially) thousands and thousands of viewers, generating much more ad revenue and much happier sponsors.
---------------
Favorable publicity and respect ( aka huge fan base) cannot be gained without professional pool getting fixed first. Don't waste time or money trying to impress the general public yet.
