To really grow the sport at the top level, you only need one thing. You need a generation or two of people willing to do it for free or at a loss, or someone with deep enough pockets to fund such a loss. Every sport, including major sports, have endured decades of loss before their sport gained enough popularity to sustain itself. Pool actually had that for a short few years. Unfortunately, the corporation with deep pockets was selling a product that kills people, and the corporations of today don't have a long-enough-term vision to endure that kind of loss. In the mid to late 90's, R. J. Reynolds had a vision of growing the sport at the grass-roots level (think NASCAR level), and was willing to endure decades of losses and mismanagement at the top level of the sport, but the Master Settlement Agreement severely limited their ability to sponsor sports, and pool was one of the ones that got the axe. It was probably a good thing, since the image of the sport was not helped by that sponsorship. But it costs billions and billions of dollars to go through that process, no matter how you do it. Juniors and schools? Good luck, that's a black hole of expenses that a LOT of people have to eat forever. Schools have zero budget for it, already have overcrowded classrooms, and it would literally take thousands of them to achieve the kind of growth that's needed to sustain the sport. The turnover and the limited attention span is insurmountable too. Everyone leaves the program in what, four years? I'm not saying it's impossible, only that it will take so much time, effort, and money that nobody would be willing to do it. If you combined all the for-profit companies in the sport today, manufacturers included, their total worth wouldn't be a drop in the bucket of what it would take. Thinking the BCA, or APA, or anyone else can do it is extremely short-sighted.
So unless someone has a few billion dollars to spend or the "me too" generation morphs into the "you only" generation, real growth like that is not going to happen. A location (like Fargo Billiards) or an area can have a successful program for a short time, as long as those in charge are willing to fund it and run it, but each one is most likely only a few dozen people. Those in charge should be commended for their efforts, but there aren't nearly enough of them and they aren't sustainable. Youth sports is completely dependent on parent volunteers, and they cycle like the youth. Little league baseball, Pop Warner football, AYSO soccer to name a few, all have survived because of the dedication of parents and the funding from the top of the sport and its sponsors. From there they go to the high school level, then the college level. Without programs at every level, it becomes a dead end. Unless pool finds that, it will not grow like many of you want it to.
So what can be done? First, during times like this, keep the existing pool playing community thinking about pool, even if they can't play right now. That doesn't take a lot. Then as the pandemic ends, if it does, they will come back in droves to those locations that survive. The demand from the community will produce new locations, which may look different than the locations of today. But the key is staying in touch with your community. They, after all, are people looking for something to keep their interest. If we fail to do that, they will find something else and it will be much harder to regain anywhere near the (relatively) low level of interest we had before the pandemic. But today we need the connection to the community, the willingness to stay engaged, and A LOT of patience.
