How to improve the popularity of pool?

Chalk & Awe

Chalk & Awe

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Hi fellows,

We have to be honest with ourselves that pool is on the decline for various reasons, including but not limited to: scarcity of pool halls, stigmas; lack of exposure to youngsters; wide variety of entertainment options; desire for instant gratification; and lack of patience to learn. In addition, modern era homes are becoming quite expensive and smaller with tiny basements that are not pool table friendly.

What suggestions do you have to improve the popularity of pool in the modern era. BTW Paul Newman is now deceased, so that resource is now drained!

Maybe, smaller tables for faster games with a similar concept of tennis versus the rising popularity of pickleball? Here is a news article, for your interest; however, is selling an additional 200 tables during COVID mean pool is being popularized in Canada?!

Thank you in advance,

C&A
 
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Chalk & Awe said:
Hi fellows,

We have to be honest with ourselves that pool is on the decline for various reasons, including but not limited to: scarcity of pool halls, stigmas; lack of exposure to youngsters; wide variety of entertainment options; desire for instant gratification; and lack of patience to learn. In addition, modern era homes are becoming quite expensive and smaller with tiny basements that are not pool table friendly.

What suggestions do you have to improve the popularity of pool in the modern era. BTW Paul Newman is now retired :) so that resource is now drained!

Thank you in advance,

C&A
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Totally disagree. There are leagues everywhere and due to Fargo more tournaments than in last 25yrs. Thanks to MR pro pool is in the best shape its been in maybe ever. I wish there was a way to get more US players on 9ft's but that's gonna take some doing. In general tho pool is in good shape. I try to see the game from a 'half-full' view. Its too easy/typical to take the 'half-empty' road.
 
The only way is to groom and prey on college students. Student Rec rooms have pool tables so it’s best to plant the seed in their heads and somehow manipulate them and show them how fun it is.

In order to do that their must be an extrinsic reward. It’s the driving force and motivator for a young player. Some can argue the college level is way too late to start and I have to agree.

Most players such as myself started in our teens and players exposed to the game in their teens tend to be better/top player compared to their counterparts. I’ve asked all the top players I’ve come across and they ALL started in their teens and continued.

Now a parent don’t usually want to take their kids to a pool hall. They rather go themselves. LOL

So the only real driving force is to get the game better is grooming them. Expose the game to them. We can start with a social media influencer. What influencer can play solid?
 
The game is fairly healthy at both the amateur and pro level, but the poolroom itself is a problem if the game is to attract the younger generation that it has been losing of late.

The reasons include a) it seems every poolroom serves alcohol now, and the sale of alcohol is a selling point, b) the trend toward tightening of the pockets is making pool less fun for the occasional player, and c) pool has not yet outgrown its negative image, so parents fear introducing their kids to pool.

All of this adds up to pool being, far too often, a bar game, which by definition, excludes the kids from participation. Pool will not enjoy substantial growth until the kids are playing it.
 
I think we (the pool community) sometimes expect to be on the level of the NFL or MLB. That's just never going to happen and never will. Pool has few superfans (SJM excluded!). I think it is strong in the sense that the Pro level is as organized as it has ever been thanks to Matchroom and some others. Prize money has increased and more players can actually make a respectable living. It is what it is and that's good enough and not to bad considering where it was. I would like to see events like the Derby clean up there act and run a decent tournament again. The greed to push more players through is not good for anyone in the long run. Anti climax final suck and it is important for the fans to enjoy it and the players to feel it. The Mosconi is getting better and bigger. The US will be back to make it a challenge again one day. The APA (love it or hate it) is very successful in getting people to play. It is strong and will be around a long time. The glass is half full in my opinion.
 
Chalk & Awe said:
Hi fellows,

We have to be honest with ourselves that pool is on the decline for various reasons, including but not limited to: scarcity of pool halls, stigmas; lack of exposure to youngsters; wide variety of entertainment options; desire for instant gratification; and lack of patience to learn. In addition, modern era homes are becoming quite expensive and smaller with tiny basements that are not pool table friendly.

What suggestions do you have to improve the popularity of pool in the modern era. BTW Paul Newman is now deceased, so that resource is now drained!

Maybe, smaller tables for faster games with a similar concept of tennis versus the rising popularity of pickleball? Here is a news article, for your interest; however, is selling an additional 200 tables during COVID mean pool is being popularized in Canada?!

Thank you in advance,

C&A
Click to expand...
I think smaller tables is a bad idea , I don't like the 7 footers alot of leagues in the US , I don't mind 8 footers but still prefer 9 foot tables.
 
Matchroom needs to partner with Netflix. They are sitting on tons of super well recorded events. A drama filled Mosconi Cup would do great on there.
 
Society is setup so it won't happen::

a) to stay in business, a pool room must serve alcohol (and food)
b) charge more for table time than kids can afford
c) allow <low level> gambling even with the "No Gambling Allowed" sign on the walls
d) thus preventing parents from buying-in on the idea that pool would be good for Jane or Johnny.
e) And kids have their faces planted onto their cell phone screens--which nobody can do anything about*

(*) I used to play with a post-teen in my local bar, between shots, he was texting at least 3 different people and when it was his turn again he had to ask what group he was. Had he left the phone at home he could have been a solid APA SL6; as it was he played like a SL 3.5. {{His father was a 30 year veteran pool coach at UT, so he had no excuse...}}
 
Here in Nova Scotia they started a kids program and a local bar/poolroom has welcomed the idea. They are allowing the youngsters with parent supervision to come in early to learn/play and I believe cues and such were donated towards this program
 
lakeman77 said:
Starbucks reinvented coffee shops from greasy spoon to hip place. Would something along those lines work? The Brass Ring in Madison, Wisconsin comes to mind. I have no idea how profitable it is.

pool rooms madison wisconsin - Yahoo Local Search Results

search.yahoo.com search.yahoo.com
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Happened in the late 80s and 90s, almost all of those higher class rooms closed, took out the pool tables to make room for a dance floor or dining tables or dropped the pool table count to 1/5th of what they had.
 
hang-the-9 said:
Happened in the late 80s and 90s, almost all of those higher class rooms closed, took out the pool tables to make room for a dance floor or dining tables or dropped the pool table count to 1/5th of what they had.
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A lot of rooms that opened in the post-TCOM pool boom were too big and when the boom faded they had to downsize or close. The monthly nut for rooms 10,000sq.ft or bigger was brutal even then. I don't know how current big places stay in biz to be honest.
 
In DC as I imagine other cities, the pre pandemic real estate costs drove our rooms out of business. When every square foot has to make real money to pay for rent, any pool table is a luxury and 9 footers doubly so. A nine foot table is about fifty percent more square footage than a seven.

Just outside of town there are some new ideas unfolding. In Alexandria there's a 24 hour key club in an old disused office building. No food or drink sold, just pool and whatever members bring with them. It seems hugely popular and has improved the quality of our local players.

In Bowie MD, there's a big room in an industrial park by the freeway. They have food and drink, but it's not a bar with a pool table, it's a pool room with a bar. They have kids hours and leagues.

Neither is designed to compete with nightlife entertainment areas. Both are destinations for pool players more than bangers. Both seem to be doing well.

With downtown real estate prices falling, it would be great to see either model replicated elsewhere.

I belonged to a table tennis key club for a while. That club produced outstanding youth players. Similar clubs could do the same for pool.
 
It is all about availability. It is impossible to become a pool player if you don't have a pool table. Most homes still are not large enough to accommodate pool tables, so kids have to find one somewhere.
 
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