ESPN, rugby, rowing & no pool? what gives?

oldplayer

oldplayer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
practically every day i check the tv schedule for the morning and afternoon to see if there are any pool tournaments or related. the last i saw was an hour program on trick shots. i just tried a search thru google for the espn schedule with not much luck. this week they have shown rugby and rowing (i mean rowing?) along with all the other baseball, basketball etc....no pool, not even the women's league, they used to show that at least. what gives? has the sport been "blackballed" or what? :wink: :confused: i just don't get it. anyone out there have a clue as to what is going on with the lack of coverage?
 
oldplayer said:
practically every day i check the tv schedule for the morning and afternoon to see if there are any pool tournaments or related. the last i saw was an hour program on trick shots. i just tried a search thru google for the espn schedule with not much luck. this week they have shown rugby and rowing (i mean rowing?) along with all the other baseball, basketball etc....no pool, not even the women's league, they used to show that at least. what gives? has the sport been "blackballed" or what? :wink: :confused: i just don't get it. anyone out there have a clue as to what is going on with the lack of coverage?
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Not everyone is a pool player and very little people enjoy watching pool. ESPN will make more money selling adds during rugby or rowing than pool.
 
I would rather watch paint dry than rowing or tennis.
Big Bass fishing would also be running a close third.
 
oldplayer said:
practically every day i check the tv schedule for the morning and afternoon to see if there are any pool tournaments or related. the last i saw was an hour program on trick shots. i just tried a search thru google for the espn schedule with not much luck. this week they have shown rugby and rowing (i mean rowing?) along with all the other baseball, basketball etc....no pool, not even the women's league, they used to show that at least. what gives? has the sport been "blackballed" or what? :wink: :confused: i just don't get it. anyone out there have a clue as to what is going on with the lack of coverage?
Click to expand...
A lot of that stuff is stuff they have in the can that belongs to ESPN they own the rights. It is cheap to show, some of it may be many years old. To them programing is what goes on between paid advertising and the cheaper the better. .
 
Pool doesn't suck !!!!

9 on the snap said:
Pool sucks, nobody likes it.
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Pool doesn't suck it's espn that sucks, in fact that's why I left that in lower case that's all the respect they deserve. Pool doesn't suck it's the way they show it that sucks. That's my opinion!!!
 
There's a general consensus, which I hold to, that as things stand pool is a pretty crappy spectator sport most of the time. If pool could be made to be a better spectator sport then there would be more money in the game which would feed into producing more professionalism in the players and more prestige in the public's eye.

Snooker has achieved it, to a point that the pool world should be jealous. It's a game with cues, pockets and balls. So why the difference in exposure, money and success and why is one a dramatic, crowd pulling, tv rater and the other isn't? Is it simply down to the difference in the UK and China's collective psyche and preference when it comes to watching stuff?

I think the one area where pool is just as exciting to watch as snooker is the Mosconi Cup. There you have a brilliant format that produces drama, mistakes, pressure off the charts, courageous performances, heroes, villains and riveting television and live performances. All of these qualities contribute to making pool's richer older brother - snooker - fun to watch and a big drawcard. They are also part of the reason why Earl Strickland is one of pocket billiards most valuable commodities.

Perhaps the pool world should think about that - about whatever it is that makes Mosconi Cup great. Define it, isolate it, replicate it.
 
Pool doesn't get much airtime in the United States in large part due to the fact that it pulls extremely poor ratings. A 4-5 years ago, first run matches were pulling in the 0.4 to 0.6 range, but in the last couple years matches are barely making it over 0.2. In addition, there are only two billiards promotion companies that currently have relationships with ESPN: WPBA and Billiards International.

To give you some comparisons based on a recent ratings report I received from my rep at ESPN, PBA averaged a 0.43, NHRA drag racing pulled a 0.41, the Little League World Series pulled a 0.44 and Track and Field pulled a 0.53.
 
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