Death of the Pool Hall

Do you think people would come back to Pool if there were a lot of money paid out at tournaments... on a weekly basis.

I just came back from a tournament at White Diamond Billiards where the Calcutta was almost $70,000.00

That was some show... don't know why folks weren't charged a cover charge to watch the tournament.
 
ceebee said:
Do you think people would come back to Pool if there were a lot of money paid out at tournaments... on a weekly basis.

I just came back from a tournament at White Diamond Billiards where the Calcutta was almost $70,000.00

That was some show... don't know why folks weren't charged a cover charge to watch the tournament.
Click to expand...

I think they don't charge a cover charge because they like lots of people to sweat the event. Besides, you'd have to hire a door person for 18 hours a day. That salary mounts up. Besides it's hard enough to get people to sweat a big tournament match, let alone expecting them to pay.

Tweaking a tournament event every now and then, even a successful one like White Diamonds, is a good idea, but messing with the visiting people's wallet is a slippery slope for sure.
 
Every single pool hall i ever played in Nashville back in the day is closed down now except for JOBs and its under new ownership now.
 
In my opinion one of the major reasons for the slow demise of pool has bee the proliferation of Casinos. In its heyday pool had many players who were compulsive gamblers and they thrived on the money action. Even those players who were not compulsive gamblers still loved the excitement of the "action." The gambling found at the Casinos and poker rooms and eventually internet gambling pulled the players away from pool. The potential rewards were just too tempting.

Before I ever even played on a big table at the age of 60 I would go to Hard Times in Bellflower on the weekends too watch the action. It was like the Wild West with stake horses coming in with body guards to back their player in pre arranged matches and posting up 1,000 to 10,000. There were games going on all over the room for the money. It was absolutely wild. But gradually the Casinos won that type of action over to their tables. There are, of course, other contributing factors but this is one of the major reasons in my opinion.
 
This country needs to fix government and the middle class before we can fix pool. Pool is a low and middle income sport in an age where low and middle income people have no money. Pool has fifty issues that will never be addressed if there are no customers. After Reagan lowered taxes (and raised the national debt) the general public had a lot more disposable income. The Color of Money came out at this same time. Before casinos and easy access to gambling. A perfect storm for the economy to boom in the pool world. It spoiled the average pool fan into thinking that was normal economics for the pool world. Those days are long gone for most billiard halls.

My father purchased a dying pool hall in 1966 and we have done well because of switching to the retail side of pool. The billiard parlor has rarely done well in our 46 year run. I rarely even meet other billiard room owners that make a profit off of pool. Most profits are from alcohol and retail sales. The old business models do not work and customers and proprietors both have to adjust to new business models and try and support them. If it means higher rates or cover charges for spectators or no more free water....the pool playing public has to get used to it...or just reminisce about the good old days when there used to be great pool halls...
 
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