The TV spike if any would be minimal , pool experienced its best growth ever not because of TV but because of birth of Handicapped leagues mainly the APA but now there's less avenues to explore for more players
There is not a pool room that goes in that there is not a league operator there competing for those players
The problem is pool rooms are a tough business to succeed in they need a lot of square footage to operate and the dollar made per square foot in a stagnate economy is not that much ,that's not a great recipe for success
1
How do you know that? The networks have consistently reported that pool gets good ratings. The APA consistently advertised on WPBA events so they must feel that there is some benefit to television exposure.
Who ever thought any one would watch poker on TV? But not only do people watch they still watch a lot of it and poker boomed because of it.
The best rooms welcome leagues and have many of them playing out of their rooms. In my travels I have seen rooms that had league almost every night, I have seen rooms set up exclusively for leagues, have seen rooms set up exclusively for league tournaments. In fact I know one room owner who sent the local league op on an all expense paid cruise as a token of gratitude for bringing her league to his room.
We know that TV influences people. And networks are hungry for content, especially if they don't have to pay for it. What professional pool lacks is money to produce events and to produce content.
If anyone watches Bonus Ball this is at least one thing they were trying to get right. Trying to show the players and their characters, to develop the personalities and give people pros to root for. That part at least is the right way to go.
Who is Chris Ferguson? "Jesus"
The poker players know who he is. My ex-wife knows who he is. I know who he is because I found him to interesting and my ex found him to be interesting. I can name a bunch more poker players but not all of the top guys and occassionally I will go play poker ONLY because of the World Poker Tour sparking my interest. Prior to that show I had ZERO interest in playing poker. And I am certain that there are millions like me who got turned onto poker through the World Poker Tour broadcasts and subsequent copycat shows.
The point is that no one knows what it could be because no one has done it. There was a time when pool was frequently on TV though in the 90s. But pool was booming coming off the Color of Money in 1987. So who knows if pro pool had any positive influence.
I will say this. In 2005 I went to a pub with Kelly Fisher. We were interrupted every five minutes with people wanting her autograph. So obviously the general public was indeed paying attention to the WPBA pros who were constantly on TV.
