Men's Pro Pool vs Women's
- Thread starter leto1776
- Start date
I'm always amazed at how behind the times pool and pool players are in terms of internet marketing and social networking. Only Jeanette Lee and Thorsten Hohmann have actual facebook fan pages that I know of. Having a personal facebook page isn't the same thing. Facebook itself is behind the times really. All of these pros should be on Twitter and using it a lot and interacting with fans. It's all free self marketing. Even most pool websites suck and are full of things that are stylistically and informationally outdated.
Here's how it works with sports networks: If you can bring them something that makes them money, then they will throw you some hours for free to use for money-losers like billiards. They may even pay you for those hours. But if billiards is all you have to offer them, especially in the U.S., then you will have to pay for it.
Back when Big Fights managed the first televised men and women's tournaments, we all got paid from ESPN for the coverage, only because Big Fights, as you know, brought ESPN a ton of money from the fights they produced in Atlantic City. Bill Cayton flat out told ESPN that they had to pay us or he would pull his fights. So ESPN paid.
When Richie Florence offered ESPN coverage of his events for free in order to compete with Big Fights, Bill Cayton got angry and pulled out of billiards.
We were never paid by ESPN again.
The women were willing to accept that they were no longer going to be paid and they moved on. The men were not so willing to forget and they got stuck.
Matchroom has contracts for many sports. Not just billiards.
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Because they would never be able to raise that money without the promise of TV coverage. That's what the sponsors were paying for.
In fact, the WPBA raised more than the production costs during that time, which is what allowed them to raise the prize funds for those 15 years.
Snooker is still riding the wave of their past when there were only 3 television stations, and they had tobacco.
Times have changed and they are not doing as well as they once were. Now there's more tv competition from other sports and tobacco is gone.
Your comments would have been correct a few years ago, but since Barry Hearn has taken over the number of tournaments has increased dramatically.
World Snooker tournament schedule
http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?template=2&season=2012#current
Growing internationally
England
China
Thailand
Australia
Germany
Poland
Belgium
Bulgaria
Scotland
Wales
Ireland
£7.1 million of prize money - more than $10 million
To get an idea of how well a player can do
http://www.prosnookerblog.com/2013/02/10/snooker-rankings-201213-points-v-money/
and that is only to the end of January.
The World Championship, for example, has a top prize of about $400,000
Play is more competitive - In the first 13 ranking tournaments this season - 13 different winners.
A Ranking system
http://www.prosnookerblog.com/ranki...ages/201213-official-rankings-revision-three/
Qualifying system
http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0,,13165~3058523,00.html
Contributes to charity
http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/blogsarticle/0,,13165~2212646,00.html
Coaching
http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/Officialcoaches
Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, U.S.A., Israel, New Zealand,
Coverage is mainly by Eurosport - live
http://tv.eurosport.co.uk/search.shtml?query=snooker
Youtube has many match videos in many different languages - Russian, German, Mandarin.
Live feed is available for about $5 a month
http://www.worldsnooker.livesport.tv/
High quality video and top commentators.
Would it have happened without a player organization ?
Would it have happened without a top promoter?
No.
Will American pool find a market without a player organization and a top promoter?
No.
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How many tournaments per year does the WPBA have? Just looked on their website and I see they had one this year and then two or three for the past few years.
:smile:
Funny thing...it is 2013 and it is rare to see a woman on TV that is from America. Where are all the good women that are from America?
Oh...that's right. When schools start having classes teaching pool, that will certainly turn things around. I just don't see it happening anytime soon.
Based on some comments in this threadand the OMGWTF thread, if I were a woman I wouldn't play pool either.
-Matthew
That's why I wrote 15 years. They had a great run. Now things have changed with this current economic climate. Sponsors just can't afford to keep it going.
Yes, I heard he took over the organization. My guess is they're still struggling. I hope he can reinvent the game for them but he can't go back in time. Times change. He's fighting a tough battle.
:thumbup:
I was checking out some pictures on facebook last night and I think it is great to see the women players keep in touch with each other and seems they are all friends.
Lots of group photos.
Kind of like being family. :smile: I really miss the way things were in 1985.
I think the women play more---for the love of the game and not the money.
2011 Masters Final
TV audience - 100 million +
First Prize: £150,000
This year - £175,000
In 2014 it will be £200,000 ($300,000)
Runner-up: £90,000
Semi-finals: £50,000
Quarter-finals: £25,000
Last 16: £12,500 - Since it is restricted to the top 16 players, that is about $19,000 for showing up :grin:
High break: £10,000
Total: £600,000
American pool should have it so tough :grin: