I See Old People . . .

Kickin' Chicken

Kickin' Chicken

Kick Shot Aficionado
Silver Member
While watching the streams in Tunica, it's hard to look away from the fact that it's an aging crowd, in large part, who are there viewing the matches.

Danny DiLiberto commented yesterday; "I believe I could beat everyone here in a footrace", referring to how old everyone was in the live audience.

Is this indicative of the difficulty pool has attracting that much-needed younger audience?

or was it just an off day for the youngins?

best,
brian kc
 
I've posted threads to the same effect. It's in nearly every match I've watched. Some people responded that "old people watch, young people play."

That's true to some extent, but IMHO it's more indicative of the disappearing pool audience.
 
For a second, I thought you were coming out with a sequel to the movie, "The Sixth Sense". :thumbup:

Maniac
 
I think that's only a small part of it.

I joined a 14.1 league last.. fall, maybe? You simply scheduled your own matches and off you went. Well, damn near every one of them were retired or something it seemed, so they'd all want matches in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. Uhh.. not happening for this desk jockey.

Old people have more free time. In my area, I'd say young people out-number old people in our APA and BCA leagues at least 4:1, if not 10:1 or more. In our regional events, both leagues schedule team matches for closer to the weekend, while singles matches are during the week. They do that because it's easier for many people to go.
 
How did the age of the people in the crowd look over the weekend?

I would expect an older crowd M-F because most younger people have full time jobs that don't afford them the luxury of taking in a pool tournament during the week. If the crowds don't get a bit younger on the weekend, then there may be merit to this.

It could also be the demographic of the area. I'm 30 and see plenty of people close to my age watching tournaments in Southern CA when the big boys come out this direction.
 
older people have the time and money to be spectators
most of the young ones are there to play and I assume you don't see many players watching matches when they are not scheduled to play
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
While watching the streams in Tunica, it's hard to look away from the fact that it's an aging crowd, in large part, who are there viewing the matches.

Danny DiLiberto commented yesterday; "I believe I could beat everyone here in a footrace", referring to how old everyone was in the live audience.

Is this indicative of the difficulty pool has attracting that much-needed younger audience?

or was it just an off day for the youngins?

best,
brian kc
Click to expand...

whats your definition of "old"?????:grin:
 
i believe

most of the younger generation is playing electric games, not the real thing these days, very few younger people are playing pool.
 
I went to the US Open a couple of years ago and I remember thinking that at 43 years old I was one of the youngest spectators there. There were not many female fans either.
 
Yeah I would say that the spectators at pool tournaments are definitely an older demographic. I'll see a handful of people around my age (20s and 30s) but not many. Shouldn't be surprising though as no one in pool really does PR of any sort. Look at golf for example they have set up The First Tee and promote it in a big way. Every golf course and driving range in America does a junior golf program. Pool doesn't really have any organization doing what the PGA of America and the USGA do. I'm aware of the BEF, but from what I understand it's just getting ramped up again. That would have been a much better pursuit than trying (and failing) to get pool in the olympics for the last 20 years.
 
I go to the US Open every year & so does my daughter, I'm 43 and she's 20; I've been taking her since she was 4. She tries to get friends into it every year & it does seem that most people her age just aren't that into it like she is.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
 
Attracting the wrong demographic is not a new problem for pro pool. Over the years, the problem has not been restricted to live attendance but also to TV viewership.
 
sjm said:
Attracting the wrong demographic is not a new problem for pro pool. Over the years, the problem has not been restricted to live attendance but also to TV viewership.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Mark Wilson said during the Accu-stats broadcast the other night that when he was working for ESPN he would make suggestions for ways to increase production value, and they would basically tell him that based on demographics the people who watch pool aren't interested in that type of stuff. He also said that they told him that its the age of the demographic that keeps a lot of bigger sponsors away.
 
I know exactly what you mean.
Only yesterday I was talking to a young fellow (teenager) about this very subject.
Of all the guys who come into our pool room he's the only one under 40 years of age. All the rest are from there up to 70.
I think it's a sign of the times, Brian. :smile:
 
You can only do So much in your life with video. The arts have so much more to bring to ones character through its journey.
 
America, we have a problem!

Its only here in the states that pool cant get the attention of the young crowd. I have been to most of the pool playing countries and they all have a good number of young players and spectators, Japan, China, Mexico.

But there is a problem here in the states and its getting worse, don't know what the answer is, but I hope someone comes up with something soon, the games in trouble here.
 
Mikey Town said:
How did the age of the people in the crowd look over the weekend?

I would expect an older crowd M-F because most younger people have full time jobs that don't afford them the luxury of taking in a pool tournament during the week. If the crowds don't get a bit younger on the weekend, then there may be merit to this.

It could also be the demographic of the area. I'm 30 and see plenty of people close to my age watching tournaments in Southern CA when the big boys come out this direction.
Click to expand...

Agree with all this. As well I would say that younger players don't make good spectators. They want to be playing or sweating action matches.

I also think that the older folks are the ones who most buy the VIP ringside seats so they will appear on camera more.
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
While watching the streams in Tunica, it's hard to look away from the fact that it's an aging crowd, in large part, who are there viewing the matches.

Danny DiLiberto commented yesterday; "I believe I could beat everyone here in a footrace", referring to how old everyone was in the live audience.

Is this indicative of the difficulty pool has attracting that much-needed younger audience?

or was it just an off day for the youngins?

best,
brian kc
Click to expand...
Well, when you were 20 years old to 40 years old where were you on a Thursday afternoon?

Probably at work.

No big surprise here
 
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