Is pool growing?

L

livemusic

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Have only been a casual player, kind of getting it into it more. Wondering if pool is growing, stagnant or going down? I am in the USA. It would also be interesting to know what it's doing globally.

An analytical 'problem' that comes to mind is... you have people playing on home tables... sales of pool tables... and then you have league play and pool halls... and then you have professional tournaments. Buy any insight into the industry would be interesting.

For decades, I was a golfaholic. Had an injury and that set me back, I haven't played in years... but I note that, surprisingly, golf is waning as a popular sport. At least, it is in the USA. There are several factor but it's worth nothing that a huge problem is that young people's interest has declined. The closure of golf courses and decline in building new ones has been quite shocking. And many golf companies have simply gone bankrupt due to declining sales.

What's up with pool and why? Thank you!
 
Pool is alive and well in Colorado.
Lots of leagues and tournaments.

As to golf i used to play but not anymore.
A round of golf with a cart is $75 plus or minus a bit.
And the fact that you are committed to 4 hours or so in the sun, heat and bugs may not appeal to the young kids today.
There are deals on twilight golf for less.
Pretty expensive for most young people to take up the game.
 
livemusic said:
Have only been a casual player, kind of getting it into it more. Wondering if pool is growing, stagnant or going down? I am in the USA. It would also be interesting to know what it's doing globally.



An analytical 'problem' that comes to mind is... you have people playing on home tables... sales of pool tables... and then you have league play and pool halls... and then you have professional tournaments. Buy any insight into the industry would be interesting.



For decades, I was a golfaholic. Had an injury and that set me back, I haven't played in years... but I note that, surprisingly, golf is waning as a popular sport. At least, it is in the USA. There are several factor but it's worth nothing that a huge problem is that young people's interest has declined. The closure of golf courses and decline in building new ones has been quite shocking. And many golf companies have simply gone bankrupt due to declining sales.



What's up with pool and why? Thank you!
Click to expand...



Golf would be great if it were not exclusive to folks with plenty extra cash....no such thing as free golf some one is gonna pay those high fees. (Of course it costs a lot to upkeep course)

Nothing’s changed much pool professionally in USA is pretty meh no my syndicated events in ESPN (everyone’s but hurt cornholing has air time).

The live streamed events are ten fold what they had not but 7-8 years ago. There are plenty of regional proam events to play.

Leagues popular as always.

It’s founding traction I guess me could say in the proam/amateur cats but the pro game no ones jumping up on tour cuz there ain’t one.

If just the number of kids who play golf played pool competitively.....things would start to change a lot I think. But we need to address that more like Europe and Asia...they have a good design that’s gonna pay off for along time for them while we still rehash mostly.

There are a lot more one pocket and Banks events these days as well (my favs)

Ladder leagues in one hole and rap 14.1 are pretty popular in particular areas as well.

One pocket has pretty much EXPLODED in popularity to the general 5sp from where it was in the past imop. Lol


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I would say golf is interesting because it’s still on TV, out-of-industry sponsors are active, professionals are well paid, and casuals are still approaching it in mass.

Pool was there two decades ago but none of those things are true today. So its hard to see if we are making minor gains today because they would pale in stark contrast to the major fall I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.

But it’s a massively interesting game and I believe there will always be passionate enthusiasts and glory to be had.


Respectfully, Matt
(I don’t take myself too seriously. I hope you can return the favor.)
 
MattPoland said:
I would say golf is interesting because it’s still on TV, out-of-industry sponsors are active, professionals are well paid, and casuals are still approaching it in mass.

Pool was there two decades ago but none of those things are true today. So its hard to see if we are making minor gains today because they would pale in stark contrast to the major fall I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.

But it’s a massively interesting game and I believe there will always be passionate enthusiasts and glory to be had.


Respectfully, Matt
(I don’t take myself too seriously. I hope you can return the favor.)
Click to expand...



Agreed I’ve always said pools doing just fine it’s the players that ain’t lol...the game ain’t going no where.

Football will die before pool does bet money on that.


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greyghost said:
Agreed I’ve always said pools doing just fine it’s the players that ain’t lol...the game ain’t going no where.

Football will die before pool does bet money on that.


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Click to expand...

I agree.
Have to sidetrack a second..... I love football. But with the head injuries CTE etc......
Now we're not feeding people to the lions or anything but,
I think history will look back on this era of huge stadiums and football games and wonder "what the hell were they thinking.?" Ha
 
I don't know if pool is growing, but non-professional pool is very much alive and well in the Lone Star state.

That said, knowing how popular pool is in the great state of Texas, it baffles me as to why we cannot get some sort of professional tour going down here...or at least some big-time tournaments of some sort.

We had the Galveston World Classic and the Ultimate 10-ball tournaments, but they both were a one-and-done endeavor. I'd like to see some kind of yearly/annual pro tournament of some kind somewhere in this state.

But like I said...amateur pool is everywhere down here.

Maniac
 
gxman said:
Are the pool halls in Houston jam pack? How many of them.
Click to expand...

If you are directing this question at me I cannot give you an answer as I am in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. But in my area, any decent pool hall (not including bars) is jam-packed on most nights...even weeknights. The ones I have been known to frequent in the last four or five years, Rusty's, Speed's, Click's in Arlington, Pocket's in Euless, Rusty's in Ft. Worth, and several others in the D/FW area all are full on any given night.

Maniac
 
I think Pool has found a place for itself in the whole microcosm of things and
that place is where its going to stay until someone does something special with it and develops it.


livemusic said:
Have only been a casual player, kind of getting it into it more. Wondering if pool is growing, stagnant or going down? I am in the USA. It would also be interesting to know what it's doing globally.

An analytical 'problem' that comes to mind is... you have people playing on home tables... sales of pool tables... and then you have league play and pool halls... and then you have professional tournaments. Buy any insight into the industry would be interesting.

For decades, I was a golfaholic. Had an injury and that set me back, I haven't played in years... but I note that, surprisingly, golf is waning as a popular sport. At least, it is in the USA. There are several factor but it's worth nothing that a huge problem is that young people's interest has declined. The closure of golf courses and decline in building new ones has been quite shocking. And many golf companies have simply gone bankrupt due to declining sales.

What's up with pool and why? Thank you!
Click to expand...
 
Judging by attendance and age distribution at nation wide ranked events, it's clear that the sport is in decline. The avereage age of members is rising and young players seems to loose interest.
 
Kim Bye said:
Judging by attendance and age distribution at nation wide ranked events, it's clear that the sport is in decline.
Click to expand...

My theory on that is that it is more fun to play pool than it is to watch it. It can be a boring thing to watch, but a delightful thing to play.

Again, amateur pool in North Texas is thriving. Many young players both male and female are getting out to the pool halls nightly.

Why is professional pool always used as a benchmark as to whether pool is growing or declining anyway?

Maniac
 
gxman said:
Are the pool halls in Houston jam pack? How many of them.
Click to expand...

big tyme billiards is pretty busy alot, has an annual major event that brings in pros, the big tyme classic

both bogies are pretty popular, the old bogies has annual things like the space city open, gulf coast tour etc,
then theres legends billiards

alot of people playing at slick willies all locations of town


alot of carom rooms too
the biggest room us bida
with 12 carom tables, is the bussiest room in houston pool or carom
with 8 verhoevens 1 gabriels, and 3 hollywoods

around 8 total carom rooms
mostly gabriels, its kind of like brainwashing, thats all they have here, so thats all they want to play on or buy

by lunch time weekends all tables are full with dozens of bystandards looking on, gambling etc etc


we have some nice snooker rooms as well, qball houston has 8 top notch star snooker tables
before they had more i thought, had a few rileys as well, have bar boxes and 8ft pool tables too

champions snooker, and atleast a few more
 
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Pool is growing

Maniac said:
My theory on that is that it is more fun to play pool than it is to watch it. It can be a boring thing to watch, but a delightful thing to play.

Again, amateur pool in North Texas is thriving. Many young players both male and female are getting out to the pool halls nightly.

Why is professional pool always used as a benchmark as to whether pool is growing or declining anyway?

Maniac
Click to expand...

I don't see that Pro Pool was included in the Op's question but I think its true
that Pro Pool is often used as a litmus to measure by. The new reality is, it isn't. We all
know that Pro's take and rarely contribute to the venues they play at. I'm unsure why
any room owner would want that demographic if business is about making money.

Looking at Pool through the lens of just Pool itself, I think it could be said that Pool is
growing. Now I'll go look at that link that Brussell found that indicates internet searches and see if I'm right.
 
Yes, pool is growing.

League pool is big in the Chicago area. APA is a big draw.
These players all buy pool stuff so the cue companies should be doing well.
Of course for the most part I wouldn’t call these players serious. Maybe 20 % can run a rack.

Most APA players do not care or know about pro pool players. Although there is still a lot of serious players here. If you had a pro tournament in the Chicago area, you would sell out the gate with knowledgeable fans.
 
Pool leagues are doing ok.
Pool halls with knowledgeable players like in the 60s and 70s not so much.
Ask the pros that are ranked 8th/10th and higher how their doing.
 
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