Pool in High Def

I was just curious if anyone has ever seen a broadcast on TV of pool in HD? I know 2-3 weeks ago, ESPN2 showed International Speed Pool on HD. Everything was in HD, literally, even the pocket cams. I'm curious as to why I haven't seen an HD broadcast of a 9 ball tournament. Surely 9 ball is more popular than speed pool?

Don't know if anyone else saw the International Speed Pool tournament on ESPN2HD, it looked much clearer.

Got this from http://www.pro9.co.uk/html/print.php?sid=891 :
"The 2008 ESPN ZONE BILLIARDS SHOOTOUT was held October 1 in Las Vegas. Bobby McGrath defeated Dave Pearson for the INTERNATIONAL SPEED POOL CHALLENGE crown and the $40,000 purse. ESPN Zone Las Vegas was host to the event, which was taped for three 1-hour telecasts on ESPN and the first ever to be broadcast in High Definition."


So I guess it is the first ever HD broadcast for pool.

ATM said:

Whenever pool is on espn2 its also offered at the same time on espn2hd on Comcast here in Ct., 9ball, speed pool, trick shots, whatever. I do a search and save them with the dvr.

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Maybe my question wasn't clear. I know that ESPN2 and ESPN2HD always show the same thing. The thing is, only a few shows are recorded with an actual HD camera. For pool, almost all the shows are recorded in standard camera, so even if you view it on ESPN2HD, it is still shown in the standard format, 480i. Like today, the WPBA San Diego classic was not HD. However, the speed pool challenge played on ESPN2 on April 18th was recorded with HD cameras and shown in 720p, which is the first time I've seen this for pool. Even the pocket cam was an HD camera, and the commentator said something about it being the smallest HD camera available. I guess my question is, if speed pool is filmed in HD, why can't the 9 ball events? Surely the 9 ball events are much more popular.

nathandumoulin said:

You read my mind.

And it all comes down to dollars and cents. Why spend 3x more money to produce something, when it barely makes a profit to begin with? Without demand, why supply?

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Yes, your right. Pool will have to significantly grow in popularity to ever be filmed in HD from a business standpoint. I guess its just ironic that the first pool event to be broadcast in HD is speed pool. From my experience, I just feel that speed pool has the least demand of all events.