When will pool be dead?

BC21 said:

Many people say it's because pool has a dark and dirty public image due to gambling. But that's bs.

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It is the common image though.

Whether that's true or correct doesn't really matter in an age where people scream out their thoughts as if the volume makes it more factual. If they hear something they don't like, they will find a random internet quote that backs up whatever inane things they come up with and then it becomes true for them. That or they come up with a quotable name for it like yelling out, "fake news", or, "libtard", even when it doesn't fit. There was a time not so long ago people made it to the moon with slide rulers. Today we have to remind people what turn signals are for.

Pool is losing ground, but only in North America. It's alive and well in most other places.

jaime_lion said:

So to sum up pool is dying. But I am in denial so I dont think it is.

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Yeah, sure...if that's what you wanna believe. You're already convinced.

Ghosst said:

It is the common image though.

Whether that's true or correct doesn't really matter in an age where people scream out their thoughts as if the volume makes it more factual. If they hear something they don't like, they will find a random internet quote that backs up whatever inane things they come up with and then it becomes true for them. That or they come up with a quotable name for it like yelling out, "fake news", or, "libtard", even when it doesn't fit. There was a time not so long ago people made it to the moon with slide rulers. Today we have to remind people what turn signals are for.

Pool is losing ground, but only in North America. It's alive and well in most other places.

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Good points. And as far pool in America, it depends on where you go. I've been playing 37 years, all over the place, mostly eastern US. The pool scene dies in one place and blossoms in another. Then a few years later it dies there and sprouts up somewhere else. It's been like that as long as I can remember.

jaime_lion said:

So to sum up pool is dying. But I am in denial so I dont think it is.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5gbtaEQ

Dave

CocoboloCowboy said:

Most of the business models are working because they have sponsors. NASCAR is a good example, their sponsor are everything from Big Pharmicitacal Companies, to Candy Companies. Their list of sponsor is too long to list.

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So I have a kind of chicken/egg question for you if you don't mind. I agree pool could use a lot more players and that sponsors are key if the sport is to blossom. I'm just wondering which comes first? Do you need sponsors to generate the interest, or do you need the interest first to attract sponsors? I don't follow most other sports closely enough to know how that works. Thanks.

to get a sponsor you have to show them that you can get them more money back than they give and a return that makes it worth their while.

Worst thread title in the history of this forum.

Trying to predict the death of something I love is an immeasurably unpleasant task. I, for one, greatly object to the introduction of pool's death as an incontrovertible and inevitable event on the horizon.

I would not have objected to a thread title of "Is Pool on Death's Doorstep?", for even though it would have had a negative connotation, it would have invited all points of view on both sides of the question.

… but a thread offering pool's death as a foregone conclusion with only the timing open for discussion is beneath the dignity of this forum.

Absolutely disgraceful!

maha said:

to get a sponsor you have to show them that you can get them more money back than they give and a return that makes it worth their while.

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That simple as taking them down to the local Pool Room, or Pool Bar, when they see the parking lot is full if Lexes's, BMW, Mercedes Benz's Infinitie's, and high end car. Sponsors will line up to sponsor Pool.

The two rooms I go to rely a lot on leagues, APA, weekly house tourneys.

At those times, the places are packed......all tables in use.

What’s gonna happen if they can reopen, but can use only half the times, limit the about of people allowed to play and so on?

They still have the same amount of bills but will not have the same level of income to cover operating cost.

Just my thoughts......

Zeager and Evans predicted Pools future many years ago, the words are theirs.

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
Pool will have survived
They will find

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
Everything you think, do and say
Is in the pool you play that day.

*In the year 4545
You ain't gonna need your gimmicks, you'll need your eyes
You won't see a thing*
Pool's gonna get to you

In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs keep your game in stride
See what pool keeps doing for you

In the year 6565
You won't need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube

In the year 7510
If God's a-coming, He oughta make it by then
Maybe He'll look around Himself and say
I'll give you a game to my ten

In the year 8510
God is gonna shake His mighty head
He'll either say he won*
Or tear it down, and start again

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wonderin' if man is gonna be alive
He'll*be playing pool up in the sky
No resistance, balls go forever, that's no lie

Now it's been ten thousand years
Man has played ten trillion games*
For what, he never knew
Now man's reign is never through

But through eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

In two weeks.

iusedtoberich said:

Its a generational thing. Every generation says the prior one was great. I started playing in the 90's and the rooms were packed with a waiting list. Now in the 2020's my local rooms are about all shut down, and the remaining ones are rarely half full.

And from what I hear of those older than me, in the 70's there were even more rooms, more players, more action, etc.

And in the 1950's even more.

And in the 1920's there was a room on every block in major cities.

Etc.

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I started playing in the mid 90's too, and I remember having to get on a waiting list at my local pool hall, to get on a table. Fast forward 15-25 years, that same pool hall is and has been mostly dead. Only reason it has remained open through all these years, is because it is part of a large University student center, with a nice bowling alley attached to it. So, yeah, I think compared to 20 - 25 years ago, pool is pretty dead (at least in the small college town where I grew up at).

jaime_lion said:

So yesterday I went to my billiards hall again. Told the guy that worked there that I asked on a forum and they said pool was a bunch of old people and dying. He said "Not sure about it being all old people around here. But yes pool is dying." So if pool is dying what constitutes it as dead? When does that point happen? Also what would constitute it as being alive and thriving?

By the way covid 19 is still going on so it might not be the best indicator of how many people are usually in this pool hall. But I got there around 5:30 pm and was there till 7ish. And it was just me and the guy that worked there and 2 other people.

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I do not think that pool will ever die. It will always be a game enjoyed by hobbyists, and I do not see the leagues ever dying, because they have always been very popular.

I am not sure about Pro pool in the US though. How many current real Pro's are from the US? When I say Pro pool player, I mean players who are able to make a living playing pool, and maybe also doing instruction on the side.

Pool just does not seem to pay players enough money to make a living at it.

Anyways, I am going off topic. On the topic of pool in general, I do not think it will ever die. It is too great of a game to ever die. I call it a game, because I am not sure if it can be called a sport.

People will always be buying pool tables for their homes, even if they very rarely ever play, so I do not foresee the sales of pool tables and cues ever dying either.

animatedvmaker said:

I started playing in the mid 90's too, and I remember having to get on a waiting list at my local pool hall, to get on a table. ....

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Just one data point, I have waited for a table at a local pool hall several times in the past year. They have about 22 tables iirc.

Dave

Pool rooms years ago were bookie joints. Pool was just a front. Now with off track betting, casinos who wants to gamble playing pool anymore? At least at the casino if you win there's no one crying that you quit winners getting mad at you. No one shooting one barrel at you or cracking you in the head with the butt end of a cue. I was playing one time and while down and shooting the guy I was playing punched me in the back of my head. Years ago there were great house cues. Table time was cheap. Everyone could afford to play. If you had a buck in your pocket you could play for a hour. Now it's 8 to 12 dollars a hour per stick. All the money goes to the house. Then there's tournaments and you got to sit around all day and night between matches. Used to be after the tournament was over there was all kinds of action. Now everybody leaves. There's so few rooms anymore that one has to drive 50 to 100 miles to get to one. Gas isn't cheap either. Then you have to keep looking outside to see if your car is alright. So why is pool dead???

Pool Dead?

Mostly dead. Mostly Dead is not dead.
Nick

The longer this Covid 19 thing lockdown thing lasts, the more mom & pop business will never reopen.

This is sad as many of these small business owner have their life saving invented in their businesses.

In the last 10 year if I counted all the Pool Room, and Bar with Pool table, in the Valley of the Sun that have closed, I would say more 15 - 20.