Any news on whether it will be on ESPN 3 this year? I haven’t seen anything yet.
Mosconi on ESPN?
- Thread starter RichSchultz
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MR usually doesn't say until it gets pretty close but i would imagine E3 will do it again. You might contact MR and ask Luke.
No, different platform. Announcement in a couple of weeks.
Pay per view?
please no.
Yup. Takes away many of the casuals that might otherwise watch and care about pool.
Really? How many "casuals" regularly watch ESPN3? The only people that watch the MC are die-hards like us .
That's true in the US but there is clearly a large international viewership or the event would not continue. I think the main reason there is limited US viewership is that it has not had a chance to be on US TV. And I think the reason for that is that US broadcasters would rather show the main US betting sports like football and minor events they control completely like kids on skateboards trying to kill themselves. Or something called "cornholing".
For example I have probably 10-20 friends who play league that watched at least a portion of the MC last year after I told them about it. Several have even asked me about when it is this year and expressed excitement.
I can say with high probability that if I had told them last year to fork over dough (regardless of how much) for a PPV stream, they would have laughed at me.
I am sure I can't be the only one...
They don't even need US viewership. Its a British deal from soup-to-nuts: Matchroom and their various partners run the whole show. My point is that pool is a niche sport and the MC is a niche event in a niche sport. IIRC the MC has been for the most part PPV worldwide for a few years now. Here's the broadcaster list. Most are PPV: http://www.matchroompool.com/mosconi-cup/#watchlive . To show any sport/game on regular live tv requires BIG-TIME ad revenue. The kind that pool will never generate. BTW, you mentioned skateboarding. Did you know its a 5BILLION+ dollar business? There's a reason( a lot actually) that these GenX crazy-ass games are on all the time. Those kids spend LOTS of $$$$ on their gear, clothes, bling etc. WAAAAY more than what's spent on pool/billiard related stuff.
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The November 2018 Billiards Digest says: "This year, American pool fans will be able to watch the competition live on Facebook, which has purchased the rights to the event."
I don't watch much TV, but a while back I was flipping though, landed on ESPN and lo and behold, to my surprise there was a pro cornhole tournament on.
Immediately within seconds as the shock wore off - I thought to myself, what a SAD and pathetic state of affairs Pool/Billiards is in, at least in the USA when cornhole gets ESPN coverage and billiards does not....
My wife laughed and said "ESPN the Ocho" ..(see Dodgeball)
This is nothing new of course, as we've seen many other questionable sports and games have more TV interest than pool - but to see that of all things, cornhole on ESPN means that pool is in the deepest pit it has ever been in. It's a new reality check slap in the face for pool.
No tour, no real sponsors. No TV. No money.
I disagree about pool not having a chance. Pool had TV coverage back in the day. I just think we have to accept the fact that interest in pool, at least in the USA has been on a very long, but steady decline.
Thanks. I need to get my Facebook app set up on the new Sony Bravia tv.
If you have a fire stick, you can add the Facebook video app to watch on your TV easily. I imagine you can use other devices as well, certainly a Chromecast but those are a bit harder to use.
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I have a chromecast but I'd like to just pull it up natively on my TV. I loaded the Facebook app on there today. Supposedly it has a built in Chromecast feature too but haven't tried that. I have a Chromescast USB stick but would like not to have bothering using my pc to cast it over, When everything works like it should it is tough to beat a smart tv with working apps.