I would like to see this done with pool.

M

middleofnowhere

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I would like to see an actual study of where pool actually stands in the United states. I mean involve polling possibly done by a University as a project. Hell you can get a government grant to study peanut butter.

Pool is an actual industry and a sport but yet I wouldn't know the first place to go look to get some real numbers that can be backed up that tells us anything about it.

There's probably a hundred questions that need to be answered. How many pool rooms are there in the United States, what is their average annual income.

How many actual pool players are there in this country and what do they annually spend playing the game. What other common interest do they have. In other words is a golfer likely to also be a pool player.

How many home tables are there. What was the billiard industry actually worth last year in total sales and revenue. It seems we know this about almost every business.

What are the demographics could even break them down by age race and sex. How can something as big as pool not have these numbers reported. Hell maybe they do and I just don't know where to look.

There used to be some fake numbers that I think Brunswick or the BCA put out where they rated pool players as, you're a pool player if you've played four times in the last 12 months and things like that.
What are some real numbers.
 
I have to believe even if you found what you are looking for - you wouldn't believe them. Just sayin😉
 
There are some market research organizations that track this stuff. But you have to pay a hefty price for the information. Here is one for example.

www.sfia.org

Research I Sports & Fitness Industry Association

SFIA is the leading supplier of sports and fitness research, publishing over 100 reports each year on industry and product categories.
www.sfia.org www.sfia.org

I've seen some old free reports and the total participants are based on playing once a year and they also had stats for participating 25 times or more per year. The last stat I saw was 35 million total players and maybe 10 million regular participants. That was in 2012 or so. In the 00's I think we had around 65 million, but I can't remember when that report was or the exact number. Throughout each of the participant levels, the male to female ratio seemed to hold pretty close at 60/40.
 
alphadog said:
I have to believe even if you found what you are looking for - you wouldn't believe them. Just sayin😉
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Probably not if it was just a poll. Ask any adult male if they play pool and they will say yes. It's kind of a macho thing. Mean time they can't make a ball, don't own a cue, and play once a month, maybe, in a bar like 3 games.
 
The problem with pool participation in America has been a very simple one to define since the end of WWII - how to ATTRACT and MAINTAIN a lifelong base of participants that include a percentage of the population large enough and diverse enough to attract meaningful, sustainable, business, corporate, and media involvement in the sport of pool.

I believe that you are correct in approach- the first step should probably be an accurate assessment of present day actual ,meaningful participation in pool. That should form the basis for a plan to move the sport / game into the areas of schools, youth clubs, higher education venues, etc. Without forming and executing a cohesive plan - history of pool is bound to repeat itself, at least in the U.S.

I don't see a plan being formed and developed to an effective degree without some significant buy- in from education sources here in America. Existing pool rooms and pool related U.S. based companies have not traditionally dedicated sufficient resources to solve the problem.
 
From a post two years ago:

In the past Pool & Billiard magazine published a summary of the annual survey by the SGMA (Sporting Goods Manuf. Assoc., later National Sporting Goods Association?) of participation in the US in 37 sport/leisure activities. I recall that the playing at least once per year number was something like 10% of the US population. The most recent info I could find (without searching through P&B or paying $325 for a copy of the survey results), is that participation is now about 7%. That would be about 25 million in the US. A separate study shows that monthly or more often participants are about 60% of the total number. That would put core pool players in the US at about 15 million in 2018.​
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(If you need a more accurate, official number I guess you will have to get the report from the NSGA.)​
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(Edit: A brief search through back issues of P&B shows that they stopped covering the SGMA/NSGA report about 2003.)​
 
Bob Jewett said:
From a post two years ago:

In the past Pool & Billiard magazine published a summary of the annual survey by the SGMA (Sporting Goods Manuf. Assoc., later National Sporting Goods Association?) of participation in the US in 37 sport/leisure activities. I recall that the playing at least once per year number was something like 10% of the US population. The most recent info I could find (without searching through P&B or paying $325 for a copy of the survey results), is that participation is now about 7%. That would be about 25 million in the US. A separate study shows that monthly or more often participants are about 60% of the total number. That would put core pool players in the US at about 15 million in 2018.​
​
(If you need a more accurate, official number I guess you will have to get the report from the NSGA.)​
​
(Edit: A brief search through back issues of P&B shows that they stopped covering the SGMA/NSGA report about 2003.)​
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Good info, but wouldnt CSI, BCA or APA keep some sort of up to date information?
 
mikemosconi said:
That should form the basis for a plan to move the sport / game into the areas of schools, youth clubs, higher education venues, etc. Without forming and executing a cohesive plan - history of pool is bound to repeat itself, at least in the U.S.

I don't see a plan being formed and developed to an effective degree without some significant buy- in from education sources here in America. Existing pool rooms and pool related U.S. based companies have not traditionally dedicated sufficient resources to solve the problem.
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That's a great idea. You probably need to start people playing pool in venues other than pool halls. Get tables in front of people, and some of them will become players for life.

If anyone made the philanthropic effort to put tables in schools and youth clubs, and/or to maintain them, it would probably help the game.

Whether you really benefit the kids by getting them hooked on pool... who knows!
 
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