Future of mens pool

jason

jason

Unprofessional everything
Silver Member
Without an organized mens tour and a few scattered regional tours around the country, what is the future of mens pool?

Is the sport of pool destined to run the course of boxing with multiple, fragmented divisions or can it be unified like the NFL, NBA and MLB? Is the UPA as good as it gets?

Where will it go? Where should it be going and how do we get there?

Thanks for your ideas and thoughts
 
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I do not think I will be the only one who believes all of the tours and organisations should work together.
 
Investment is the main thing. Look at the World Poker Tour, (WPT), that has taken poker to a new level and created a lot of interest all over the world, maybe some sort of pool tour could do the same, with big entry fees for big prizes. People say that the image of pool would not work with audiences on TV, but how come poker is on tv? Whats so different about that?
 
The world poker tour generates money. They tried a million dollar pool tournament last fall, but didn't get enough entries (correct me if Im wrong). Who is going to pay $10,000 to play even against Efren and Earl? Not me, but I would play in a satelite tournament to get there. Its been proven the last few years that amatures can win the world series of poker (Moneymaker).

This is the question, What can pool do to create more desire, enthusiasm, larger purses, etc.?

Companies pay $1,000,000+ for a commercial during the Superbowl. I believe that networks bid for the rights to air the Superbowl on their network and the NFL recieves monies for this right. My point is that there is a demand for pool. We see it on ESPN several times a week. Maybe the players should band together to negotiate for their fair share. I would be interested in how other professional sporting organizations negotiate with the networks.

It sad that pools highest payday is equal to the fines of other professional sports.
 
Keep an eye on the Florida Men's Tour.

They have a great lineup this year culminating in a championship game with $15,000 added.

The Seminole Tribe is backing them and are building two sports complexes. One in Tampa and one in Miami where they will highlight pool along with other sports. At least that is what I have heard.

So far they are performing very professionally and really seem to have the player's best interests at heart.

The only way a men's tour will succeed is if the men get behind it and play in it. And start drawing fans.

Also heard talk about two independent tournaments backed by the Seminoles with $100,000 added.

Jake
 
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Future?

It has no future until people start watching it. Most tournaments are stuck in a pool room some where with no seating and even if you're enough of a pool enthusiast to go you're stuck around the edges of the room or in the doorway or something. If you're very lucky you're standing in a position where you just happen to see a good match. You don't dare move from that spot because you'll wind up, when you come back, standing behind some mountain of a man and able to see nothing at all. Yeah, the US Open, VF, and other majors have seating, but the run of the mill tournament you're screwed. Maybe if people could go watch a regional tour just for the hell of it and find a comfortable environment they would enjoy it and then maybe they'd be more likely to support it on ESPN and in bigger venues.
Let's face it watching a regional tournament often times isn't fun even when you're a player, leave alone if you're not.
JMHO.
 
I think the Seminole Tribe in Florida is well on their way to bringing mens pool back to where it should be. They have the money to put into it and as long as the players respect and support them, they will do great.

Kent Mc.
 
I dont know anything about the Seminole Tribe in Florida, but I take your word, it sounds good. We have a casino tour here in the north. Im assuming your talking about a casino tour also. Casinos maybe the sponsor pool has been looking for.

I still think, for the good of the sport, that everything needs to be unified. I propose 11 pro qualifing tournaments per year. 40 pro/am (52-12) to qualify for the 11 pro tournaments. Then one tournament to determine the world champion for that year. Established pros do not need to qualify for the 11 qualifing tournaments. Take a certain percentage (of the 11) to get in the final world championships. Then do the same format for the following games--eight ball, nine ball, one pocket, snooker, 3 cushion and banks. Any player that could hold every title in one year would truly be a world champion!
 
buses, to me this is the answer. recognition, the key. you need a BIG, but i mean a BIG poster on city buses all across america, with the profiles of earl strickland and mika immonen. both of their heads would be huge. earl strickland would be yelling his head off, with spittle, spraying out of his mouth, and mika would be red in the face with sheer anger. the caption would read " this isn't your mothers pool" then in smaller letters, underneath in red letters earl strickland vs. mika immonen espn2 march 21st. LIVE check your local listisngs. we need to inform folks, plain folks across this land the u.s.a. WHO THE HELL THE PROFESSIONALS ARE!!!!! damn it! ask 100 people at random, from all walks of life, from black and white, to rich and poor, to male and female, from 7 years old, to 107 years old, "excuse me, who is earl strickland?" not one in a hundred would know!!!!!! now, how the hell is pool going to make any money, without, that first impotant step? once america finds out earl strickland is pure evil, and at any moment can throw his pool cue clear across the room, that's when the ratings poor in. let's face it, we need an angle, we need to inform america who the pros are! we should start at the most intriguging figure, earl "the schmuck" strickland.
 
Silencer,

I agree pool needs to be promoted better. It would be nice to see Strickland and Mika on buses and billboards. It would be super if plain folks across this land knew who the top pros are.

How are you going to pay for this? Its difficult to get 100 people to watch a pro tournament. It would cost more than the average prize fund to pay for the advertising.

Pool needs rivals, personalities and drama. It needs a climax every year similar to the Superbowl, World Series or the Masters. Thats why I proposed the format in my last post.

First and formost it needs good management. It needs a great promoter such as Don King or Vince McMahon...aaah did I say that! It needs someone with the business skills and vision to take pool to its true potential. How this is accomplished, I dont know.
 
Promotion needs sponsors

Sure pool needs promotion, and I believe it is promotable, that's why I made it my business to do that.

But who does the promotion? In shouldn't be the BCA or a group of benevolent investors, that is not the way.

What the US needs is a Barry Hearn type organizer/promoter who can sell events to the major broadcasters and major corporate sponsors. Then the sponsors will put the adds on buses, billboards, magazines, news reports etc.

The players will fall into line and the areana will be top quality because their will be enough enough money to budget and prepare these things.

So when a smart guy pops up who knows how to present an attractive package to the marketing agencies and the broadcasters, US pool may be reinvigorated. Let's hope it happens soon:-)

jason said:
Silencer,

I agree pool needs to be promoted better. It would be nice to see Strickland and Mika on buses and billboards. It would be super if plain folks across this land knew who the top pros are.

How are you going to pay for this? Its difficult to get 100 people to watch a pro tournament. It would cost more than the average prize fund to pay for the advertising.

Pool needs rivals, personalities and drama. It needs a climax every year similar to the Superbowl, World Series or the Masters. Thats why I proposed the format in my last post.

First and formost it needs good management. It needs a great promoter such as Don King or Vince McMahon...aaah did I say that! It needs someone with the business skills and vision to take pool to its true potential. How this is accomplished, I dont know.
Click to expand...
 
The Seminole Tribe could be the best thing to happen to pool in a century. But it will depend on a lot of other factors to make it work.

The men need a big attitude adjustment. Players like Strickland hurt the game more than they know. Players like that are why we don't get much play on big Channels like ESPN while the Women thrive. The Female players go out and get sponsors. They do exibitions, talk to people, and can accept a 2nd place finish without throwing a fit. The men seem to think that sponsors should chase them, most think they are above everyday players, and most think they deserve to be #1 all the time.

If you take someone to a tournament for the first time you, what would they think of our sport if they saw Earl pitching one of his bi**ch fits, Siegal breaking cues, etc... They wouldn't attend the next one for sure and keep their kids out of any pool room. And the big thing is you can't blame them if they did. These guys may play very well, but kill the game. Suspend these azzholes for ? each time they act up, then maybe they will learn.

I hope that these bad attitude players stay away from the Seminole Tribe events. The Seminoles made a good decision in selecting Corey Duel to represent them. He is actually a good guy that seems to act decent winning or losing(he was at ProBilliards in Orlando last night). We all get upset when we lose, but need to contain it. We need to keep the Seminole interested and happy.

We need a good Big Tour that will last to ever get our foot in the door of Big Time sports. I hope it works out.

(off subject.. I saw and talked to Nick Varner last night also. He is up and around starting to look good. He's not back hitting any yet, but will be soon. Nick is a nice guy and a "Real Legend")

That's my penny's worth of thoughts on this :)
 
I agree that some of these players who throw fits need to be suspended. The problem i see is that the tournament directors seem to be afraid to do so. Maybe they think they will lose a good crowd drawing player. But they do have to keep these people in control before the Seminole Tribe gets fed up and hauls their money out of there.

Kent Mc.
 
Ruthless,

Why do you have this burning hate for Strickland? Does he really do anything that a bunch of other players don't also do? With the exception that he plays better than most. And do you really help the image of pool by constantly criticizing one of the top players? And if you are such a nice guy why do you want to be known as ruthless? Seems like an oxymoron to me. A ruthless nice guy?

At Spring Hill Earl was conceding games by giving his opponent the last two, three, and even five balls once. In other words he was complimenting the other player in that he could easily make the shots. And of course he got criticized for doing that. I suppose you never conceded balls?

In baseball it is common to see a player break his bat, or toss his bat in the dugout or at a pitcher, or the players to attack a pitcher. Why is it considered part of the game in baseball but when Earl gets pissed at missing a shot, and it is himself he is pissed at, a lot of the fans jump on him.

Anyway, as you might have guessed, I am a fan of Earl and I enjoyed watching him play at Spring Hill. I wished I thought of thanking him for showing up. And I also noticed that other than Rodney Morris, all the other players seemed to get along well with him. But I would not expect for him to show up at Pro Billiards anytime soon, unless you can guarantee him that you can guarantee his safety and his car will be protected from some of the low lifes there.

Jake
 
Ruthless said:
The Seminole Tribe could be the best thing to happen to pool in a century. But it will depend on a lot of other factors to make it work.

The men need a big attitude adjustment. Players like Strickland hurt the game more than they know. Players like that are why we don't get much play on big Channels like ESPN while the Women thrive. The Female players go out and get sponsors. They do exibitions, talk to people, and can accept a 2nd place finish without throwing a fit. The men seem to think that sponsors should chase them, most think they are above everyday players, and most think they deserve to be #1 all the time.

If you take someone to a tournament for the first time you, what would they think of our sport if they saw Earl pitching one of his bi**ch fits, Siegal breaking cues, etc... They wouldn't attend the next one for sure and keep their kids out of any pool room. And the big thing is you can't blame them if they did. These guys may play very well, but kill the game. Suspend these azzholes for ? each time they act up, then maybe they will learn.

I hope that these bad attitude players stay away from the Seminole Tribe events. The Seminoles made a good decision in selecting Corey Duel to represent them. He is actually a good guy that seems to act decent winning or losing(he was at ProBilliards in Orlando last night). We all get upset when we lose, but need to contain it. We need to keep the Seminole interested and happy.

We need a good Big Tour that will last to ever get our foot in the door of Big Time sports. I hope it works out.

(off subject.. I saw and talked to Nick Varner last night also. He is up and around starting to look good. He's not back hitting any yet, but will be soon. Nick is a nice guy and a "Real Legend")

That's my penny's worth of thoughts on this :)
Click to expand...


How do you explain someone like John McInroe? Ask the average joe on the street to name a male pro tennis player and I'll bet his name comes up quite a bit, even though he's been off the scene for a decade or more... Why was he a crowd draw? I used to love watching him, 'cause you just knew he was going to piss and moan about something and cause a big scene. He stuck out.
Just like Earl, and was good for ratings...
 
Im sorry I like my competition with drama. The great years of tennis for me as someone who doesnt play the game but watches was John McEnroe vs Jimmy COnnors. Not just their ability but their personality. I loved Arthur Ashe not only as a player but how he dealt with these people with these wild personalities. He was a role model.

I loved the Billy Martin years of Baseball. With all those battles in what Sparky Lyle calls the Bronx Zoo. Never missed watching a game. Denver might have had a great team with John whats-his- name but for my tv it would be the Oakland Raiders with its band of outlaws or the Steelers during Franco Harris' time.

Earl is an asset to the game. My personal opinion. But we have to stop blaming the players and see that pool has its own unique problems that lie in its history, players, organizers, and FANS! But who knows it time might come soon. Look at what happened to poker.
 
yobagua said:
Im sorry I like my competition with drama. The great years of tennis for me as someone who doesnt play the game but watches was John McEnroe vs Jimmy COnnors. Not just their ability but their personality. I loved Arthur Ashe not only as a player but how he dealt with these people with these wild personalities. He was a role model.

I loved the Billy Martin years of Baseball. With all those battles in what Sparky Lyle calls the Bronx Zoo. Never missed watching a game. Denver might have had a great team with John whats-his- name but for my tv it would be the Oakland Raiders with its band of outlaws or the Steelers during Franco Harris' time.

Earl is an asset to the game. My personal opinion. But we have to stop blaming the players and see that pool has its own unique problems that lie in its history, players, organizers, and FANS! But who knows it time might come soon. Look at what happened to poker.
Click to expand...

"Im sorry I like my competition with drama."
Well said! Look at men's tennis now. Boring, boring. No drama at all. Not one of 'em has any charisma as far as I'm concerned. Sports need their McEnroes, Rodmans, Dalys and maybe even their Tysons to keep things interesting.
 
JJ you obviously do not know Earl very well. I've had to play him a few times and without all the drama he creates his game isn't as strong as you may think. He does play great but not any better than 500 other players in the world. As far as FL Tournament history of Earl just since 2000: At Pro Billiards in Orlando he about got in a fist fight with a spectator. In Tampa he walked out of a tornament after some heated drama with a young player(won't name) and left the person that paid several hundred dollars for him in the calcutta high & dry. He may be a hero to some unknowing people, but to players he is a pain to play and not because of his skill. Away from the pool table he acts different a little bit. He's not bad with a few people when out to eat. Also McEnroe only had issues with the officials, Earl has issues with everyone, a little different situation. After you have been around him for more than 5 years come back and give me an opinion.
 
What????

"without all the drama he creates his game isn't as strong as you may think. He does play great but not any better than 500 other players in the world"

I am not a Earl fan or defender but your description of the man is suspect. 4 time US Open Championship. Several World Champion trophies. Top money winner. What planet are these other "500 other players" are playing on?
 
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