This is really nothing more than a repackaging of the age old question of how to get pool to become bigtime. Perhaps with a slight twist, which is throwing money at a problem. The government does that, and it doesn't work.
I'll be a sport and at least answer the question by saying I would pour millions of dollars into sponsoring and establishing cue sports at the University and College level. Brings legitimacy, brings a change in perception. Or at least, one would hope.
Another idea might be to create a pool reality tv show. Except, none of the usual people. No pros. None of the promoters of the game. Perhaps a couple pros as advisers or coaches. Not a tournament. Maybe revolve around a pool hall. Drama, relationships, conflict, action...all that good stuff. But with some component of competition revolving around pool involved. I don't know. Just thinking out loud. But the key would be to completely throw out the old, bring in the new. Anytime something new is tried in pool, it's the same faces. No offense, but I'm sick of their faces (some pros, promoters and persona's in pool today). You aren't appealing to the non-pool world and are even tiresome to the already pool-loving base.
Perhaps going the other route. Instead of trying to clean up or legitimize pool, go all out negative. Appeal to those who want to play the shady game. Gambling and the whole pool hall scene. Make it the bad guy sport. People are attracted to that sort of thing.
Basically, doing something grassroots. To rebuild. Most people on this forum have horrible ideas that have already been tried 100x over with slight variation. Dinosaurs. There's no squeezing blood from a stone. Progress is learning from past mistakes, not making them over and over. Progress is not having a hundred debates over which rule to change regarding breaking the balls ( like in 9-ball ). In the big picture, from an outsider's perspective that is so insignificant and minor. It's irrelevant to the greater question of what will bring pool success. Yet, some actually think the break through will come based on what game or by what rules games are played. Hate to break it to you guys, but changing the rules of 9-ball ain't going to make pool hit the big time. No average joe is going to flock to pool because some rotation game rule change. How silly. That's thinking at the micro level. What has to change is the greater strategy.
By no means do I claim to have the answers. I'm probably just as wrong as everyone else. The college thing was just an example to illustrate my theory that maybe taking a different approach is in order. Now, that approach doesn't make anyone any money. At least not in the short or medium term. But in the context of this thread, where the idea is that some rich person will essentially donate or grant money to the cause of advancing pool - then ideas that do not necessarily bring immediate profit can be explored.
Time is short too. Electronic entertainment is the direct competitor of pool. More and more youth are stuck behind an LCD screen, rather than bored and finding their way to a pool room to pass the time. I see pool going down, not up in the coming years. People misinterpret what they see. There is no growth in pool now, despite some claiming growth. I based that on velocity. Given the globalization of the world as well as the internet, pool is lagging behind. If it kept up with expanding markets and the dramatic increase in exposure, it should be several times larger than it is now. Maybe not big time, but easily greater than now.
If pool is to ever make a come back, it will have to have willing patrons, who have the patience to follow a solid plan for years, perhaps decades to ensure success. The will and understanding that Rome wasn't built in a day. It will take a generation of "founders" to work toward it without the expectation of instant success.
What we see today is still the same model of the 1970's to early 1980's being reimplemented with slight variations. Those ideas, made with good intentions to revive pool, have not worked. Time for something new. A final note on that. New ideas come from new people. The current ones in charge are dinosaurs. The dinos aren't going let a bunch of new people do what they want or think. At least not on their dime. Which is understandable. In other sports and industries, there exists a separation between investor and inventor/innovator. The people paying to make something happen, and the people making it happen. Not in pool. Those with some money obviously don't have what it takes, and they show no interest in hiring those that do have what it takes.
It can be done. I may be pessimistic about most things, but I still believe it can be done.
Pool is very attractive, but it is made ugly or it is veiled. Pool is a super model with a burka on. People don't know what they're missing. If "old school" games like golf and others can survive in the modern age, so too can pool. It can prosper.
If I were a billionaire, I would hire people who have a proven track record of reviving things and promoting things or making the unknown successful and put them to the task of working on pool. See what they come up with.
Step 1 is figuring out the problem. I think I got a handle on that. Described it in many posts here on AZB over the years. Step 2 is developing a strategy. That's the big question.
