No TV for Pool

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
When the heads of ESPN and other major sport networks went to college they all got hustled out of their party allowance from daddy. Now it's payback time to anyone in pool. Shoot em I say. Johnnyt
 

TX Poolnut

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been wondering when pool is gonna be back on TV. I haven't seen anything for a long while.
 

JDB

Idiot Savant
Silver Member
When the heads of ESPN and other major sport networks went to college they all got hustled out of their party allowance from daddy. Now it's payback time to anyone in pool. Shoot em I say. Johnnyt

I am pretty sure that if pool made money for the networks the Harvard MBAs would have it on non-stop. Unfortunately it doesn't so they don't.
 

ctyhntr

RIP Kelly
Silver Member
2003 Mosconi Cup was on one of ESPN's channels last week (11 AM, Tues - Fri). I'm guessing the powers that be at ESPN will show more pool when they can get more money selling the same commercials than airing during darts or bowling.
 

Rob_jerrylee

Bustamante's # 1 fan
Silver Member
There's Pool on TV all month from what I seen , Alot of the womens tour and alot of trick shot magic .
 

JustPlay

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You mean to tell everyone you don't get enough of "trick shot magic"?

Pool on TV is BORING. IF pool were a live event, more people would view it and ESPN would be able to sell commerical time and make money. :boring2:
 

gobrian77

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've missed out on a lot of sports (except soccer- er, I mean football:boring2:) during my 16 years in Asia (Japan and Thailand), but I've gotten to watch a butt-load of pool (and there's almost always some snooker on if I'm desperate).:thumbup:
 

SupaFoo

Starving Law Student
Silver Member
2009 San Diego Classic WPBA event was on ESPN - much to my shock - today from 1-4 EST, back to back to back showings of the semis and final.

First time in a while I've seen an event from the same year on TV though, I must say...

Also I agree that it's boring because it's not live. Same deal with poker (it doesn't help that watching people play cards is inherently boring). If you want to see who wins just look at a clock to see how close it is to the end of a 30 min/hour programming block.
 

real irish

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The problem is the rules of pool. Nobody wants to watch players play safety after safety. Also, people like to watch live events. When the outcome is up in the air more viewers tune in and stick around for the finish. As we all know, IT AIN'T OVER TIL IT"S OVER..Especially in pool!!!
 

Da Bank

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
lol... i'm quite certain it has nothing to do with ESPN execs having a vendetta against pool players. It has everything to do with money.

And shooting them is always a good solution... right Hitler? :rolleyes:



Pool, along with bowling... volleyball... etc. are all sports that must negotiate with ESPN to allow them some viewing time in off hours. These sports are required to bring full advertising packages forward to ESPN and basically pay ESPN for the TV time. This is only possible when ESPN has a lot of blank space in their line up, and because of the digital age and the popularity of Sportscenter... the price these types of sports have to pay, or their sponsors have to pay, is becoming unrealistic. If ESPN can play the same exact SC 5 times in a row late at night and get higher paying advertisers and higher viewership than they could by allowing the WPBA to show their tournaments and sharing profit with the WPBA... why would they?

ESPN is far and away the most powerful cable channel there is, they demand huge rates from cable providers and the rates are only going up.

The problem for pool on TV is only going to get worse. They are lucky to be given the time they are right now.

The ultimate solution is going to have to be some type of dedicated internet channel that features professional cue sports from around the world. Snooker, 3C, etc. are much more popular overseas and if we can incorporate all the cue disciplines and bring a solid product to the millions of players around the world consistently, you might be able to make money. But paying ESPN is not going to be the solution for the future.
 

Da Bank

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You mean to tell everyone you don't get enough of "trick shot magic"?

Pool on TV is BORING. IF pool were a live event, more people would view it and ESPN would be able to sell commerical time and make money. :boring2:


i do not think that the ratings would go up much if pool was a live event. And see my above post about why they can't do live events... those are during the day, usually during the weekend, and you will NEVER compete with the sports during the day on the weekend, so forget about that idea... will NEVER EVER EVER happen.

The fact is, that unless you play pool and love it like all of us do... pool IS boring. PERIOD. Same for golf. There is nothing physically impressive about a few ugly dudes pushing a stick into a ball.. nothing that makes people say... OH SHIT!

Occasionally you will see a crazy shot and that does interest people, but the nature of the competitive forms of pool is to strive to not to have to make crazy shots.

Trick shots are only mildly entertaining and are ruined by the so-called showmen like Tom Rossman, who is a great artist.. but a total goober. Trick shots are set up and not made on the fly, so they are not that impressive to the every day person... all it is is a magic show.

The only reason golf ever made it is because more people play it, there is beautiful scenery and it is the sport of the rich so there is ALOT of money in it. If not for those factors, golf would be much like pool is.

Go get Ted Turner or Rupert Murdoch interested in pool and you might have something.

If you really want to be able to see more great pool, then you need to start supporting upstarts to the future like TAR or IPT. And I mean, supporting them... not watching their free shit and never contributing a dime. The internet is the only future for pool, and that's a fact jack.
 
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dave sutton

Banned
pool on tv is awesome. unfort they have to appeal to the bigger market/small minded ppl who only want to see hott chicks and trick shots. they dont understand what good pool is. sometimes i cant stand watching the girls. dogging balls, saftey errors, position errors, playing the wrong angles. it makes me crazy.

i can watch the challenge of champions all day

there is a billiards networks i think but comcast doesnt offer them
 

Sam Waltz

My way...
Silver Member
Yes!

When the heads of ESPN and other major sport networks went to college they all got hustled out of their party allowance from daddy. Now it's payback time to anyone in pool. Shoot em I say. Johnnyt

Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out! Viva la Revolution! Pool for everyone...for free! :thumbup:
 

JimS

Grandpa & his grand boys.
Silver Member
Shoot em I say. Johnnyt

In the groin. :groucho:



We'll have to rely on streaming. With the quality getting better all the time streaming is better than TV. We get to see stuff like TAR puts up and if we had to rely on TV that kind of play would never make it to us peons in Illinois.. or Iowa, the Dakota's. Kudo's to TAR and the othe others that are following along.
 
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