AZBilliards Money List 2009 - depressing read

Roy Steffensen

Roy Steffensen

locksmith
Silver Member
I just checked the azbilliards 2009 Player Money List, and it is a pretty sad read...

The US Open is not included yet, but with it included, this is the facts:

Only 1 player has more than $ 100,000 this year (Mika with $ 167,000).

Only 1 player has made between $ 75,000 and $ 100,000 (Ralf Souquet)

Only 3 players have made between $ 50,000 and $ 75,000 (Shane Van Boening, Thorsten Hohmann, Darren Appleton).

On Sunday we are entering the 11th month of this year. All the top 5 mentioned will get minimum $ 10,000 more because of the Mosconi Cup, and Niels Feijen ($ 46,000) will make more than $ 50,000 this year with his performance in the Mosconi Cup.

The rest of the players will have to perform well at either the World Ten Ball Championship or the All Japan Championship (invitational for foreigners, I believe) to have a chance of making more than $ 50,000 on tournaments in 2009...

In 2006 (IPT + world 9-ball championship) all top 30 made more than $ 55,000, with Efren making $ 644,000 and the next 10 players all passing the "magical" number of $ 100,000.

Man, I am so happy that I was not given a talent in this game, and that I was forced to make a living without depending on cashing in events each week...

Crossing my fingers for more and bigger pro events in the future...
 
Yes Roy it is sad, esp when you here some baseball players have 200 million dollar contracts for 3-5 years. Johnnyt
 
What's worse is that players have hefty travel expenses. Some have sponsors that cover those costs, but for most players you almost need to deduct a fairly substantial percentage of their winnings away in consideration of these fees.

However thankfully the figures only represent a handful of tournaments this year (for instance, Galvetson and many Predator tour stops are not included). I know Mika's cleared about twice the amount that's listed, so hopefully other players have done the same.
 
As a kid in the 1950's I watched Jersey Red play Willie M in Straight pool for the world title on Black & White TV. Jersey Red was a world class player

In 1979 I saw Jersey Red in person at a tournament. Both he and his wife or lady friend looked like they were homeless and when he played he couldn't made a ball. It was right then and there I knew I never wanted to be a professional pool player. BTW That is only one of many similar stories I know.

I don't like repeating what nathandumoulin has already said but he makes an excellent point about travel expenses.
 
It's missing lots of events however I dont think the picture will change much. If players could make money like Mika and Ralf, there would and should be a lot less gambling to make ends meet.
 
Now how am i supposed to talk my girlfriend into letting me quit my job and play pool for a living?????
 
Roy Steffensen said:
I just checked the azbilliards 2009 Player Money List, and it is a pretty sad read...
Click to expand...

The list looks incomplete to me, even pre-US Open. While I can't be bothered to consider the matter at length, I'll note that, if I'm reading the earnings right, a) Immonen's earnings don't include the $5,000 he earned at the World 14.1 Championships in August and Souquet's earnings don't appear to include his sizable payday (perhaps $15,000, but I'm not sure) in the World Cup of Pool in September. Can't say what other events are missing, but earnngs appear understated.
 
Well, it sort of depends on how you look at it. comparing it to Baseball or other sports isnt really right. For one, those sports have a LOT more money coming in. Besides that they make WAY too much money anyway. I know some wont agree with me, but when someone plays a sport for a living and makes milliions I just dont get it. The fees to attend games are getting to where its hard for the average Joe to take his kids to a game.

Sure it would be great if there were more money available for the players. And I understand the spend a considerable amount for travel and lodging. But Id be more than happy to give up my job and play pool for a living if I could make some of those numbers :) Once you made a name for yourself you could also supplement your income with lessons and appearance fees.

I respect those that have such great tallent and have worked hard to get there. But when you look at what sports figures make in comparison to most teachers, firemen, police, military, and soooo many others it kinda makes me question what the hell we are doing.

Woody
 
Although they may have looked a little "rough"

While I'm sure he struggled from time to time (who doesn't) I'm quite certain that in 1979 Jersey Red could MOST DEFINITELY "make a ball" :D

Ball Banger said:
As a kid in the 1950's I watched Jersey Red play Willie M in Straight pool for the world title on Black & White TV. Jersey Red was a world class player

In 1979 I saw Jersey Red in person at a tournament. Both he and his wife or lady friend looked like they were homeless and when he played he couldn't made a ball. It was right then and there I knew I never wanted to be a professional pool player. BTW That is only one of many similar stories I know.

I don't like repeating what nathandumoulin has already said but he makes an excellent point about travel expenses.
Click to expand...
 
Ball Banger said:
As a kid in the 1950's I watched Jersey Red play Willie M in Straight pool for the world title on Black & White TV. Jersey Red was a world class player

In 1979 I saw Jersey Red in person at a tournament. Both he and his wife or lady friend looked like they were homeless and when he played he couldn't made a ball. It was right then and there I knew I never wanted to be a professional pool player. BTW That is only one of many similar stories I know.

I don't like repeating what nathandumoulin has already said but he makes an excellent point about travel expenses.
Click to expand...

No question pool players have it tough but I heard a statistic on a financial program recently on the radio that 80% of NFL players are bankrupt or in severe financial difficulty within two years of leaving the NFL.

A lot of other people end up like Jersey Red.
 
the $$$ lists look the same every year, one player in the 6 figure range and the rest are well below that. its a shame
 
my point in another thread was that Mika is at 167,000$ on par with previous years, however, those years had $100,000 for the worlds. Add that on and he is on route for a $300,000 year. That is a great year for pool
 
Just want to agree with the post made alstl. I remember from a sociology of sports class I took in college several years ago, that most of the pro football/baseball/basketball, etc. players were bankrupt after just a few years. The reasons were:

1. they lived way above their means, even though they were making LOTS of money. They did not have the discipline to save money.

2. The average career was 4 years. Yes, 4 years. We are not talking about the mega super stars, we are talking about the average player on a pro team. After 4 years, their injuries were too much and they were off the team.

3. Most of these guys had no skills to fall back on after their 4 year career ended.

I dont have any sources for this information. Its what I remember from that class.

In contrast, pro pool players can be at a top level for 15 to 20 years, before they get too old to compete with the young guys (compared to 4 years for the above sports).

I'm not saying the money in pool is good. Just saying it can be earned for more years than other sports.
 
Johnnyt said:
Yes Roy it is sad, esp when you here some baseball players have 200 million dollar contracts for 3-5 years. Johnnyt
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lol what? who has a contract like that? no one..

and the ones that do have big contracts get it because they produce. if a team can get an X amount in revenues and the player doesn't ask for a bigger contract, the team just makes more money. The team won't lower ticket prices since they know they can get away with charging more.

furthermore, the baseball example isn't very good, those guys have to try to get as big of a contract as they can because of the major leagues rules in baseball. until u put in 6 years, u get jack all. longoria is one of the better players in the AL and he barely makes anything cuz he's only in his second year. For the first 3 years, the team can pretty much sign for as little as possible before u're eligible for arbitration but the team still owns the rights to you. only after 6 years can u become a free agent. it's not a huge problem for guys like clayton kershaw who get into the league at 20 years of age. but for others like ryan braun who enter the league at 25, by the time those 6 years are up, he'll be 31 and only have like 5-6 productive years left in him so he has to get a contract for as much as possible.

and with stuff like the actual draft and the rule 5 draft, it's easier for teams to pick up decent talent for next to nothing. so for those guys who produce, they get the money they deserve. if the money doesnt go to them, it goes to the owners, they're not going to lower ticket prices and stuff like cuz the tickets still sell at their current prices which gives them no reason to lower it.
 
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danktrees has some very good points about contracts.

one main difference btn baseball/football/basketball and hockey (who watches that!!) is that owners pay based on past performance.

sports like golf, tennis and pool is purely based on how you perform that given tournament. in my opinion, much harder to stay on top of your game and dominate - that's what makes tiger and federer so amazing.

secondly, pool is not really a spectator sport, aside from us rail birds. if tournaments could charge 50/each to watch mika v ralf with TV rights, then we could get these guys more prize money.

until then, it's a niche sport.

BUT!!!! show me one sport/game (whatever you wanna call it) that has handmade equipment.
 
jay helfert said:
Mika just won 65K in two weeks. Add that on and he isn't having a bad year.
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Jay, I don't thik player of the year has been this obvious since Nick Varner had his incredible run of titles close to twenty yers ago.
 
rheester said:
danktrees has some very good points about contracts.

one main difference btn baseball/football/basketball and hockey (who watches that!!) is that owners pay based on past performance.

sports like golf, tennis and pool is purely based on how you perform that given tournament. in my opinion, much harder to stay on top of your game and dominate - that's what makes tiger and federer so amazing.

secondly, pool is not really a spectator sport, aside from us rail birds. if tournaments could charge 50/each to watch mika v ralf with TV rights, then we could get these guys more prize money.

until then, it's a niche sport.

BUT!!!! show me one sport/game (whatever you wanna call it) that has handmade equipment.
Click to expand...


i just get tired of ppl always saying athletes in more popular sports make more money etc. but they never bring up atheletes who generate a ton of money for a club that get underpaid.

plus pool is a different sport anyways. u're ur own boss in pool so u get what u make instead of working or being employed by a team. obviously even if there was some sort of a pool league/team u'd still make less money than someone like texiera but that has more to do with how much the sport generates. and pool will never generate that much money simply because of the crowd of people it caters to. how many times do u hear people bragging or asking about hustles and stuff like that. that stuff would never work if pool went mainstream cuz sponsors dont want to deal with that type of stuff. pete rose is banned from baseball for betting on his own team. how often does the average serious pool player gamble on themselves? nightly? every other day? to me, there's nothing wrong with gambling but its stuff like that which prevents corporate sponsors from associating themselves with pool cuz they frown upon it. so unless pool goes by the rules set forth by the corporate sponsors, nothing's gonna happen.
 
If they want more money they need to get more sponsers, get there faces out in the general population and help make professional tournaments more desirable to average players. I know lots of apa pool players who dont know more than 2 professional pool players(allison fisher, mike massey). You need an audiance to sell something to if you want more prize money.
 
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