Great set of boards! I’m jealous.
Cornhole vs Pool
- Thread starter FeelDaShot
- Start date
Great set of boards! I’m jealous.
It's not hard to understand the popularity of a game you can easily play while still holding your beer and only requires a few dollars worth of equipment. I've playedit a few times at BBQ's or graduation parties.
Cornhole is a fun social game in my mind but it's way to simple to hold my attention for long the way a pool match can. When I'm traveling away from home and killing time or have visitors at my house I can play pool for 6-8 hours straight and love it. My cornhole limit is about 90 minutes.
Cornhole is a fun social game in my mind but it's way to simple to hold my attention for long the way a pool match can. When I'm traveling away from home and killing time or have visitors at my house I can play pool for 6-8 hours straight and love it. My cornhole limit is about 90 minutes.
Strange times.........
I never thought I'd live to see the day when a word like cornhole (which had such a vulgar connotation years ago) would become mainstream.
And especially have a game named cornhole which is quite popular with masses.
At a Moose Club near me, they moved all the pool tables into a storage area in the back... then stacked furniture, carpets, tools, whatever on those pool tables. And now they're trying to sell the tables.
They eliminated the weekly pool tournament nights and replaced them with cornhole and darts. The place is PACKED! They're selling booze right and left and having a great time.
Strange times in which we live. I am definitely out of touch.
:shrug:
I never thought I'd live to see the day when a word like cornhole (which had such a vulgar connotation years ago) would become mainstream.
And especially have a game named cornhole which is quite popular with masses.
At a Moose Club near me, they moved all the pool tables into a storage area in the back... then stacked furniture, carpets, tools, whatever on those pool tables. And now they're trying to sell the tables.
They eliminated the weekly pool tournament nights and replaced them with cornhole and darts. The place is PACKED! They're selling booze right and left and having a great time.
Strange times in which we live. I am definitely out of touch.
:shrug:
Comparing the popularity of cornhole to pool was not really the point of my post. I'm not really sure if one is more popular than the other. Just about everyone has played cornhole at a cookout or pool in a bar at sometime or another so most are familiar with both games.
My fascination is with the development/organization of cornhole and it's transition from a fun yard game to an organized sport with amateur and professional levels. Pool is well organized when it comes to leagues but it is very disorganized at the pro level.
Maybe I haven't delved into the cornhole scene enough yet but from a far away glance it sure seems to have a lot of things figured out that pool has struggled with for years. Especially when it comes to sponsorship, promotion, TV deals, support of the profession level, etc.
I don't understand how pool got so screwed up. The leagues which probably control 95+% of pool are doing great and pulling in millions yet none of them support the pro level at all. At the pro level, there isn't much money to go around so they are all fighting for peanuts. The low level pros have it worse than anyone. They aren't good enough to win pro events and they get barred from amateur events. There is no support to hold up the bottom.
I think the answer for pool is having a major league organization (APA, BCA, etc.) take over the professional side. Then the money from the leagues would support the pros and everything would be connected. The league would develop a series of stepping stones or divisions to work your way up to the pro level eventually. With each higher division the competition would increase and the prize pool would be higher.
You should look into Mark Griffin's USAPL.
I skimmed the website but I don't see anywhere that it's supporting professional pool. Am I missing something?
Next up, a new website .... azCornhole !!
Look it up. It already exists.
I understand. But I think how accessible, appealing and relatable it is to the masses is a big part of how it can and should be organized, marketed and promoted.
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I understand the frustration. But, I played organized hardball baseball for almost 50 years, since I was 5 years old. Not once, did we send money to the pros. Not sure why the pro's would need a Banger Welfare program. We have folks that won't cough up $10 a year to be sanctioned so league players can play in state and national tournaments. So, one league I play in is not sanctioned because of that $10. Don't think they will be sending any money to Earl any time soon. Plus, providing them a better living is not going to save pool. Folks have so many things to take their interest these days. And running down to buy a $1000 pool table that takes up a lot of space, is not in a lot of folks list to do.
Plus, a 15 year old just won the international Fortnite gaming competition last weekend. He walked away with $3M. That's for playing video games, a video game that is free and has 40 million subscribers. That's $3.4B for those keeping track at home
Well, free for some, others get to buy better weapons and such which costs money. The avg person spends about $85 per year. Which is still not much for the amount of time they are on line playing, but you multiply that $85 times 40M players, and the company is making a fortune. Thus, they can pump $5M into tournament winnings and just write that off as a marketing expense. Must be nice
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Exactly
Most people seem to fear competition especially when it requires a specific skill. Anyone with the motor skills to toss a bean bag underhanded is ready for prime time .
Most people seem to fear competition especially when it requires a specific skill. Anyone with the motor skills to toss a bean bag underhanded is ready for prime time .
Look at the rest
https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/competitive/en-US/events/world-cup/apiStandings/final?r=3
2nd: 1.8 million
3rd: 1.2million
4th: 1.05Million
5th: 900K
...
100th (ONE HUNDRETH): 50K
That 1 video game tournament dished out more money than all pool tournaments combined in probably decades in the U.S.A. at least.
I understand the frustration. But, I played organized hardball baseball for almost 50 years, since I was 5 years old. Not once, did we send money to the pros. Not sure why the pro's would need a Banger Welfare program. We have folks that won't cough up $10 a year to be sanctioned so league players can play in state and national tournaments. So, one league I play in is not sanctioned because of that $10. Don't think they will be sending any money to Earl any time soon. Plus, providing them a better living is not going to save pool. Folks have so many things to take their interest these days. And running down to buy a $1000 pool table that takes up a lot of space, is not in a lot of folks list to do.
Plus, a 15 year old just won the international Fortnite gaming competition last weekend. He walked away with $3M. That's for playing video games, a video game that is free and has 40 million subscribers. That's $3.4B for those keeping track at home
Thus, they can pump $5M into tournament winnings and just write that off as a marketing expense. Must be nice
If the pros were paid well then the pool world would be doing great. The money and participation already exists. The amount of people that play pool is not the problem. It’s just the money.
If a league took over and made a tour where the entire field was paid out, then participation would be way higher too. It would be worth it to travel the country playing on tour. They wouldnt be making Fortnite money but they wouldnt be going home broke either.
The comparison of pool to baseball isn’t fair. Baseball is a huge spectator sport so the MLB is entirely self sufficient. Let’s looks at disc golf. Disc golf is also a small niche sport like pool and cornhole.
In disc golf, you need a PDGA membership to play in any sanctioned amateur or pro event. The PDGA takes money from memberships and a portion of event entries and distributes it around so that all amateur and pro divisions are financially supported.
From 2018, there were 46,457 PDGA members and the top player made $57,880. They aren’t doing good either but it’s a very small sport.
APA has 250,000+ members
BCAPL has 50,000+ members
TAP has ??? members
VNEA has 100,000+ members
So pool has way more players. And the numbers above are mostly just from the US. There are way more players internationally.
The top pool player (SVB) in 2018 made $112,222 (from AZB). Based on the participation numbers above (actual is way higher), there are about 8 times more pool players than disc golf players. Yet, the top pool player only made twice as much as the top disc golfer.
Participation is not the problem. Organization/structure is the problem.
Check out the PDGA website for comparison: www.pdga.com
They have financial reports, board member info, incorporation documents, member info, game development team, and a million other things.
The PDGA is out to grow the sport. The pool leagues are out to make money with no regard for the health of the sport.
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Friend, you are absolutely correct.
I attended a Gaming Trade Show recently with my adult son.
$35 each for admittance.
Three floors of every conceivable gaming machine and one floor devoted to nothing but competition. More people there than I ever saw at any pool tournament.
Adults and kids as well.
I mentioned to my son that I could see why the interest in a "dumb" game like pool couldn't draw flies and this stuff with noise, lights flashing, all kinds of devices had the place packed.
Pool got left by the wayside long, long, ago.
And the picture attached is EXACTLY the reason why.
Bro, your post is literally titled cornhole vs. Pool. You made it a contest. Just saying.
When cornhole is paying more and getting more airtime then pool, pool players will certainly hold a grudge.
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As to the physical stress of twenty beers, then picking up the bags, there is an answer. Like a table with ball return you can get yourself a Border Terrier and he will happily jump down the hole to grab those pesky bags. Bag life expectancy, one game.
Slight correction to your post, by-your-leave, sir:
"Pool's leadership is a row boat with 10 know-it-all people paddling in different directions."
:wink:
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You are doing it wrong, Old Milwaukee comes in 18 packs at Walmart.
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