Pool as a players game.

"POOL IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT and it never will be. Lets face it pool is horrible t.v. that nobody not even pool fans are going to buy".

I have to disagree with this statement.
Pool is more interesting to watch than poker, tennis, baseball, or golf.
It is the presentation the hype and the commentary that make the difference.

Tell that to the snooker players.

thekaiserman said:

"POOL IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT and it never will be. Lets face it pool is horrible t.v. that nobody not even pool fans are going to buy".

I have to disagree with this statement.
Pool is more interesting to watch than poker, tennis, baseball, or golf.
It is the presentation the hype and the commentary that make the difference.

Click to expand...

Pool is more interesting to you, but I bet if you surveyed the general populace you'd find pool at or near the bottom of that list, probably by a good margin.

Personally I like watching pool and golf and tennis because I play those sports. If I didn't play I probably wouldn't watch any of them.

thekaiserman said:

I have to disagree with this statement.
Pool is more interesting to watch than poker, tennis, baseball, or golf.
It is the presentation the hype and the commentary that make the difference.

Click to expand...

Tennis, baseball and golf are easy to watch because everyone is familiar with the games (or they can become familiar with them in pretty short order just by watching).

Poker is easy to watch because the "joy of victory and the agony of defeat" is immediate. The player wins or loses $10,000 within a few minutes based on cards that everyone can understand -- Aces beats Jacks; three-of-a-kind beats a pair. No rocket science.

A pool match takes two hours, during which 99.99% of a general audience wouldn't have a clue what's going on.

Perform this experiment: stop 10 people on the street and ask them if they know what 1) is a home run? 2) is a hole-in-one? 3) is a full-house? and 4) is pocketing the 9-ball on the break?

Pool and chess. Loved by their players, but no one else.

thekaiserman said:

"POOL IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT and it never will be. Lets face it pool is horrible t.v. that nobody not even pool fans are going to buy".

I have to disagree with this statement.
Pool is more interesting to watch than poker, tennis, baseball, or golf.
It is the presentation the hype and the commentary that make the difference.

Click to expand...

It's more interesting to most pool players, but since the pool players that will watch it are out numbered by a huge, huge margin from each of those mentioned then NO it's not more interesting, especially if you consider everyone from each catagory mentioned. NOT EVEN CLOSE.
I luv this game and always will but it will never appeal to the masses like other sports.
:frown:

Island Drive said:

Tell that to the snooker players.

Click to expand...

Which would matter, except for the fact this is not England.

How much Snooker TV coverage is there in Canada?

Dale

Good to see you again Bud. Don't be so scarce.

I can watch pool live for hours. Just amateur league pool even. I am right there, watching and learning.

TV and UTube videos, not so much. I click on a UTube video, watch 20 or 30 minutes if even that and I'm off watching skydiving or something else.

Games, like Alex P playing Ralph S in the World Masters. I can watch the entire series and be wanting more, but it has to be certain players.

pdcue said:

Which would matter, except for the fact this is not England.

How much Snooker TV coverage is there in Canada?

Dale

Click to expand...

Snooker is very popular In Germany and China, over 100 million watching.

One of the main problems with pool is that there are to many variants of the game
no obvious standard rules. Even the Mosconi cup format keeps changing.

10, 9, 8 and 7 ball
!4-1
bank
one pocket
bonus ball

source http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=250543

Demographics of pool players

- “Men account for 63% of all participants
- 43% of all participants are between 18 – 34 years old
- 37.5 million people play pool
- 14 million played 12 or more days
- 8.3 million played 24 or more days
- 4.6 million played 50 plus days”

So we have 8 million people who play at least every other week. Not a huge number but we have players.
and 4 million who play regularly.

From the same source

“Retail Sales of Pool tables represent 50% of all purchases, while 90%
of all tables are purchased for in-home use. The annual, wholesale
billiard marketplace is $268 million.”

Approximately 48,000 tables are sold annually to home owners (estimating $5,000 wholesale price of a table and accessories). Of course they is no way of knowing how many table are purchased for show or used for folding laundry.

We have new players every year and the opportunity to develop kids into players. We just need to find a way to get their interest.

I reject this idea.

People will watch just about anything. It's all in the production value -- if you ask me.

Just putting a camera on a pool table isn't going to work. That's fine for us hardcore fans but doesn't work for everybody.

I've actually met quite a few people that have told me they enjoyed watching the women play on ESPN (men too except they noticed they were hardly ever on). I think a lot people would enjoy watching the Mosconi Cup if they could be enticed into it at first.

The competition side of pool is lost too often. It often comes off as two guys (or gals) that are playing seperate matches against the table. They just so happen to be playing on the same table. Get what I'm saying???

Events like the Mosconi Cup really bring out the competitve side of pool. People enjoy watching competitions. Exhibitions are boring.

The Great American Public needs to be "reintroduced" to pool every so often...that's why "the Hustler" and TCOM had the impact they did. Streams and sporadic coverage on ESPN won't catch on...or at least it hasn't yet. IMHO pool needs to jump on the reality TV craze before it burns out. If the right project gets on TV, the rest will jump in popularity and maybe the sport can catch some momentum.

Send a TV crew up to New York and follow Earl around for 6 months in the lead up to his next U.S. Open appearance. Pure gold on so many levels, you couldn't script a more compelling show. People that know nothing about pool will be fascinated by life according to Earl.

Send a TV crew to cover Mark Wilson's efforts to meld a winning Mosconi Cup team. By the time the MC comes to TV, you've already got interest and buzz to drive up viewership.

You name it, no matter what it can't be as bad as Honey Boo Boo.

DGilb147 said:

Snooker is very popular In Germany and China, over 100 million watching.

One of the main problems with pool is that there are to many variants of the game
no obvious standard rules. Even the Mosconi cup format keeps changing.

10, 9, 8 and 7 ball
!4-1
bank
one pocket
bonus ball

Click to expand...

I am not a Geography expert, but I'm reasonably sure that this is not
Germany either - and I am quite positive it isn't China. To belabor the
painfully obvious for you - there is an ongoing longing on this forum to
somehow magically transform pool into a spectator sport IN AMERICA
which would also magically revitalize "the game".

There are a myriad of reasons why this is not going to happen -
not the least of which is that Americanos just are not interested in
watching highly skilled pool players - neither live nor in person.

And - BTW - the variety of games has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Find me ONE witness who has ever said he doesn't watch pool because
they play it too many ways. That is, one witness who is not an efete
Snooker Snob.

Dale

Some years ago the public was beating down the doors of department stores to buy "Pet Rocks". Pet freaking rocks!

I said it before, pool can prosper if it is marketed correctly.

It would be in the best interest of all related manufacturers to invest in that marketing. But alas, I think they are much better at making their individual products than they are at coming up with something that will kick pool in the butt and spring it into popularity.

IMO the best and perhaps only guaranteed way to jump start pool is to have "inter-school" competitions. Starting with Jr. High and above.

Parents are constantly at sporting good stores buying baseball or softball uniforms, cheerleading outfits, tights .... whatever. Why? Cause the kids get into these things and the parents get involved through the kids.

Somebody has to invent ( if they already haven't) a pool table that folds up on it's long side and rolls around out of the way. Then when it's school competition time, tilt it down, level it off and let the kids play.

Think of it. parents in the bleachers of the school gym, watching their kids compete. Talking about cues, showing each other the new equipment they just got, books they purchased.

You all know as well as I do that once you get bitten ... there is no turning back.

This is the ticket to the future. Anything else IMO is pissing in the wind.

I don't think it can ever appeal to the masses because I think you have to appreciate how difficult it is when you're watching the greats make it look simple. A "regular" person sees them shooting straight in shots and doesn't appreciate the shot, position, etc that go into shooting all these easy shots.

I LOVE to play & watch golf. I know how motherf*^@ing hard the game is and when they make it look soooooo easy I appreciate it.

Just my $.02 and you get what you pay for.

I agree that pool is a players game... And I think it will stay that way as long as the only games that get TV time are non 8-ball games.

I get why it doesn't get more media exposure... Not very spectator friendly, fragmented leagues and governing bodies, lot's of different games & rules, etc... And not enough money involved compared to other sports.

And If pool is to ever truly be successful on TV, I think the primary game on the air needs to be 8-ball so that the general population doesn't need a basic re-education to the game. I know the pro's typically prefer other games, but for the good of developing interest, they should suck it up and embrace 8-ball to sell the game on a broader scale. EVERYBODY knows basic 8-ball rules.

mnorwood said:

Its been a while since I have posted anything. I have been off the forum for a while and completely out of the pool loop. When I came back to the forum the other day everything appears to be normal: players getting stiffed, rooms closing, the poor state of pro pool, bonus ball etc. etc.

After reading a few threads about the sad state of pro pool and the ambivalent attitudes folks have about bonus ball confirms something I have believed for years: POOL IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT and it never will be. Lets face it pool is horrible t.v. that nobody not even pool fans are going to buy.

The only people making serious money off of pool are the leagues and suppliers. I say all of this to encourage anyone who wants to "promote" pool to invest their time and money in to bringing in more players of pool and not more spectators of pool.

Click to expand...

This is coming on the heels of one of the best matches I've seen in years. Carlo Biado and Dennis Hatch last night went hill-hill in a race to 25 10 ball.

The table was challenging, the pressure immense, the crowd into the match, emotions on both sides running high. Players were making spectacular run outs and stupid mistakes. The commentary by Jay Helfert was perfect. The bet was high for pool players. There was drama everywhere. A lot of sideline betting.

Done right, pool can be very interesting to watch. The key words are "done right".

Another thing.

Good thread mnorwood.

Perhaps we should petition and demand that our government (USA) recognize pool as a sport and support the players and the sport as many other countries around the world do.

If our government spends a few dollars on the sport, the perhaps the citizens of the USA would pay more attention to the sport.

I do know that some pool athletes from other countries are provided with financial support to assist with costs of competing around the world. The government of any country has a lot to do with how any sport is recognized and appreciated.

With all the spending going on a few million dollars wouldn't make a noticeably deeper dent in our debt. :embarrassed2:

Maybe Mark Wilson can get a grant from the government for the advancement of pool in universities around the country.

JoeyA