Billiards as a sport down 12.3 percent last year.

[linuxtech]

According to this CNBC article the annual Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association’s Sports Fitness and Recreation Participation Overview says "About 43 million Americans said they played billiards last year, down 12.3 percent from those that played just a year before."

I seem to recall reading something in the past few months that said Billiards as sport was up due to the down economy, but I can't recall the source.

I would like to know how that compares to other down economy years.

 

[zy112]

Comparitively speaking, that is not terrible relative to many other businesses and industries. Still not what you like to hear though.

 

[8up]

They never asked me either year 2008 was a no but 2009 was a yes. So I offset it by 1 Does anyone know of anyone on here even know 1 person who was asked?

 

[Drawman623]

My opinion is fairly negative on the subject. When I was a young player and billiard learner, I didn't mind paying my dues. It was an honor to get beat over and over rack after rack set after set. I wanted to improve and I worked at it until I could play a little. I earned respect.

The young players I encounter today want to act like they are somebody without investing in this learning process. It would seem, games of chance are more appealing to this type than games of skill. I bet poker enjoyed a 12% upsurgence during pool's decline.

For a long time, I intended to retire into a pool room and show others what I know. Tell stories about who I have seen and the moves they made. Trade a lesson and a story for a cup of coffee like the mentors I knew. Fewer and fewer people care.

just my 2 cents

 

[TheBook]

Wonder how that was determined. No one asked me if I play. If they used league players than there is a lot of double or triple dipping.

 

[linuxtech]

They never asked me either year 2008 was a no but 2009 was a yes. So I offset it by 1 Does anyone know of anyone on here even know 1 person who was asked?

Surveying azbilliards (aka Sampling statistics) users may not be a good indicator of how the sport is overall. But the group doing the survey is likely to want reasonably accurate numbers since their businesses depend on it.

One stat azbilliards could provide that may be a helpful comparison is rate of growth. For example was the rate of growth greater in 2008 than 2009?

 

[Cameron Smith]

If you read the article lots of activities took a hit, including baseball and basketball. Now what I'm not entirely clear on is, in that 43 million are those people who only played just one game last year? Or are they people who played once a month or week etc? How is the question worded?

Regardless pool has needed marketing for a very long time. There seems to be this mentality that if you put on a big event people should just come streaming in. A couple threads on a forum, a website and advertisement banner on azb isn't effective marketing.