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No one is barred from the US Open events
- Thread starter Mark Griffin
- Start date
Yes it could inspire more people to play pool, however you seem to be putting the cart before the horse. First you need to get more poeple intersted in pool, it would be diifficult and expensive to put pool on tv with little if any sponsorship. Just putting pool on tv doesn't guarantee that people will watch. What major or minor netowrks are willing to brodcast a tournament?
And why is it the responsibility of the leagues to subsidize a tour?
It took golf, like all major sports, many years to produce a strong enough following to have large purses for their events. While pool has been around for many years, the proffensional scene is still in its infancy compared to other sports.
How would you get people interested? I was never interested in poker BEFORE it got on TV regularly. I started watching the WPT and started reading the poker sites and started entering small tournaments and dabbling online a little bit. Millions more got into it even more than me. The World Series has grown to huge levels because of it.
Pool is already a proven draw on TV. Packaged right it would find a slot on cable.
It is also well documented that anything that is popular on tv creates a market. This applies to wine, rubik's cubes, Michael Jackson gloves, Apple computers, whatever it is if it's on tv people want to do it or buy it.
The reason it is the responsibility of the leagues to fund a tour is because professional events are what can sell more people on playing pool. When the pie is bigger, i.e. adding millions of players to the game then everyone wins, there is more money in the game overall, more sponsorship, more prizes for league players, more trips to Vegas, more competition and more fun. Add one million new players to the game and each of those players is worth several hundred dollars to several thousand per year in revenue to pool. Say 500 dollars, that's 500 million NEW dollars in the game in the first year and every year after that.
Would it be worth it to take .25cts from existing league member dues and end up with a couple million dollars to take a shot at that 500 million by being able to brodcast regulalry to millions of viewers? I think so.
Maybe as Joe League Banger you don't feel all that much difference but when the sport you love to play is healthy, when the bar/poolroom you love to play in has plenty of business, when the companies you buy from are ABLE to survive and even put more back into the game, then it makes a difference even if you don't actually feel it tangibly at your level.
Why?
Because the league's are successful, and the pro's are not. Thus, the pro's need the league's in order to become successful. If you listen to people here.
Sheesh.
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Of course it could be a win-win, if everything were to work out.
Still, methinks the pro's need the influx from the league's FAR more than the league's need the pro's. So the constant refrain here on AZB about how "the league's should underwrite a pro tour", that's a little tired.
Have the pro's make the effort, and see what happens. There is no TV currently, in any event.
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I think its pretty obvious that the leagues don't need any involvement from the pro's to continue to flourish. Since there has been virtually none thus far, and the league's are by far the most successful (financially) of any aspect of pool in this country.
Do you think this is not true?
Do you feel that pro pool in the US compares in any fashion to leagues in terms of financial success? Because if you do, there really isn't any point continuing the dialog....
Leagues will continue very nicely without any pro involvement. The pro's can continue doing what they are doing, at their current level of success, too. And you can continue saying how the pro's deserve someone to support them, too....
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Pros in ANY sport need other people to be successful. What are pro foot ball players without the team owners and fans willing to fill stadiums?
What are golf pros without major sponsors?
Pros are just the best players who are trying to make a living off their skill. If there is no platform to do then the living that they can make is limited. I don't see this as charity at all. I see it as a way to have a place where the very best players can ply their trade for my entertainment and enjoyment.
Frankly I see nothing wrong with the leagues owning the professional tour. I see as a purely marketing venture to create more pool players. The amateurs also are not responsible for their own success, the leagues and league operators are the ones that organize the venues and the tournaments and the amateurs show up and play. I see nothing wrong with a league deciding to do the same thing for the pros and using a small fee from each amateur player to fund it. Eventually I would think that a tour could become self-supporting.
I agree with the bulk of this.
I don't think the league's owe it to the pro's. I think it could be an opportunity for the leagues, were they to decide to make the investment.
It couldn't work in reverse.
You have made some *excellent* points in your posts on this thread.
FWIW, at least the way I see it, league pool players play pool recreationally for fun and socialization; thus, pool is a game. Professional pool players play pool competitively for championship titles/money; thus, pool is a sport.
Therein likes the difference!
In a perfect world.....
Pool would take JB's idea and fund a pro tour with that 25 cent per player investment. That would throw money to the pro league so pro's could make a nice living. All $ would go to a pro league, not all to the players. It would also pay for marketing, TV negotiations, etc.
And then when Pool on TV is mainstream again, and they get a nice fat TV contract, the Pro pool league would reciprocate and pay back to the amateur leagues. Adding money to their leagues, tourney's etc.
Could happen, right? NAHHH
Pool would take JB's idea and fund a pro tour with that 25 cent per player investment. That would throw money to the pro league so pro's could make a nice living. All $ would go to a pro league, not all to the players. It would also pay for marketing, TV negotiations, etc.
And then when Pool on TV is mainstream again, and they get a nice fat TV contract, the Pro pool league would reciprocate and pay back to the amateur leagues. Adding money to their leagues, tourney's etc.
Could happen, right? NAHHH
After digesting all the thoughts expressed on the thread, I realize that leagues should have grown after professional pool flourished. Instead, we have the opposite.
Personally, I think league play is fun. It gets people socializing, out of the house, and they get to enjoy a little competitiveness via a team. It's cool to have your team mates rooting for you -- you know, team spirit and all that stuff. It's a great way to meet other people. After you get out of school, one does not have as many opportunities to meet and make friends.
Professional pool gets a bad rap on pool forums. Pro players, their every move is scrutinized because they are accessible to the public, much more so than sports celebrities in, say, football, basketball, baseball. Anybody can speak and hang out with a pro pool player by attending one of the dozen or more events providing pro competition in the United States.
With the mutliple pool league systems already in full swing, I'm not sure that any of them would care about pro players. I'd venture to guess that 95 percent of them don't know who Efren, Earl, or Ralf is, yet we know who these players are by the mere mention of their first names.
I've come to accept professional pool for what it is today: a rich man's high. All those who aren't rich and shoot pool professionally do so because it's their passion. Playing pool well is more important to these folks than job security, a roof over your head, and the traditional family lifestyle with a spouse and children. That's the sacrifice many professional players make to enjoy their passion. With few exceptions, most of these pro players will not have any loved ones surrounding them when they grow old, go broke, become sick, or die.
Let the leagues keep on keeping on. Professional pool is now circling the drain. In the year 2013, we get to enjoy and witness the last of a dying breed, the professional pool player. The leagues will continue to grow, I hope, in popularity. It has taken me almost 40 years to say this: Pool is not a sport. It is a recreational game.
The most fun I ever had in pool was when I played on the leagues. Pool should be fun. Professional pool, because of the stink created by the American pool culture with the advent of Internet technology, isn't as fun as it once was in pool's golden years. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.
If I am alive in 2025, I am going to pull up this thread. If I am right about the demise of professional pool, by then it will be evident. If I am wrong about professional pool, I will be elated. :smiling-heart:
Personally, I think league play is fun. It gets people socializing, out of the house, and they get to enjoy a little competitiveness via a team. It's cool to have your team mates rooting for you -- you know, team spirit and all that stuff. It's a great way to meet other people. After you get out of school, one does not have as many opportunities to meet and make friends.
Professional pool gets a bad rap on pool forums. Pro players, their every move is scrutinized because they are accessible to the public, much more so than sports celebrities in, say, football, basketball, baseball. Anybody can speak and hang out with a pro pool player by attending one of the dozen or more events providing pro competition in the United States.
With the mutliple pool league systems already in full swing, I'm not sure that any of them would care about pro players. I'd venture to guess that 95 percent of them don't know who Efren, Earl, or Ralf is, yet we know who these players are by the mere mention of their first names.
I've come to accept professional pool for what it is today: a rich man's high. All those who aren't rich and shoot pool professionally do so because it's their passion. Playing pool well is more important to these folks than job security, a roof over your head, and the traditional family lifestyle with a spouse and children. That's the sacrifice many professional players make to enjoy their passion. With few exceptions, most of these pro players will not have any loved ones surrounding them when they grow old, go broke, become sick, or die.
Let the leagues keep on keeping on. Professional pool is now circling the drain. In the year 2013, we get to enjoy and witness the last of a dying breed, the professional pool player. The leagues will continue to grow, I hope, in popularity. It has taken me almost 40 years to say this: Pool is not a sport. It is a recreational game.
The most fun I ever had in pool was when I played on the leagues. Pool should be fun. Professional pool, because of the stink created by the American pool culture with the advent of Internet technology, isn't as fun as it once was in pool's golden years. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.
If I am alive in 2025, I am going to pull up this thread. If I am right about the demise of professional pool, by then it will be evident. If I am wrong about professional pool, I will be elated. :smiling-heart:
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I dont think that it would bad for league involvement with pro pool, I just don't think it's owed to the pro's. The league's have done their thing quite nicely without the pro's.
I think it could be great. I dream pretty well, I could see a number of scenarios of how it could be. How I would like it to be.
Because the leagues are doing well, some forward thinking people could make it work. To do that, you would also need forward thinking and a willingness to work together for a common goal amongst the pro's, and that's no certain thing. You would also need some governoring body to run and administer such a venture, and there would need to be some sort of tour structure created to play in. Oh yeah, then you also have to get it on TV, too.
None of those are simple issues. Just saying "have the leagues pay for it" is rather shortsighted.
I think it could be great. I dream pretty well, I could see a number of scenarios of how it could be. How I would like it to be.
Because the leagues are doing well, some forward thinking people could make it work. To do that, you would also need forward thinking and a willingness to work together for a common goal amongst the pro's, and that's no certain thing. You would also need some governoring body to run and administer such a venture, and there would need to be some sort of tour structure created to play in. Oh yeah, then you also have to get it on TV, too.
None of those are simple issues. Just saying "have the leagues pay for it" is rather shortsighted.
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I just noticed your join date to AzBilliards. Interesting . . .
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